Having recently lost my beloved 12 year old lab, my family and I are considering bringing a new puppy into our home. This isn't something we want to do immediately, but I'm of the understanding that most reputable breeders have waiting lists of several months to a year, so I decided to start reaching out.

I've found several lab breeders in my area (NW England) and had one recommended to me by a neighbour. All seem reputable, are KC registered and health check their dogs. I'd like to get in touch with them to discuss any planned litters and potentially visit and get onto a waiting list. However, I'm having trouble actually making contact with any of them.

I sent out emails several days ago - none of which have had a response. I've also tried calling a few of the nearer breeders but the phones are either ringing through or going to voicemail. As they aren't currently advertising a litter, I'm not sure what the etiquette is with contacting them with an enquiry? I don't want to seem rude but I am eager to start the process. My previous dog was not from a KC breeder so this is my first time trying to purchase a puppy through the proper avenues.

If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it.

Firstly, KC registration isn't any guarantee of a good breeder, although most good breeders do register their dogs with the KC, so do a lot of puppy farmers and everyone inbetween, so it's up to you as a puppy buyer to do your research and try to find out whether a breeder is the sort you would like to support.  And it's entirely up to you what your interpretation of a good breeder is, although there are a few obvious things that would tell you someone isn't such a good breeder, there are also a lot of grey areas as well.  Such as health tests, I can think off the top of my head some very old and reputeable kennels who are doing very few health tests, because they just haven't historically, but since we've developed more and more relevant health tests, you would hope they would be used to try and make more informed breeding decisions.  I can also think of ABS members who have done things that aren't in the spirit at all of the assured breeder scheme, but they have no problem selling their pups, and being a member of the KC's AB Scheme probably does help them to do this.  So it's a big mine field I'm afraid. 

Secondly, health checks means nothing, some breeders use this term to confirm their vet has said their dog has four legs, a waggy tail and a wet nose; there are a number of health tests for Labradors, my preference would be for both parents to have hip scores around or below the breed median of 9, and nice and even, so 5/5 is good, 9/0 isn't as good.  Both parents should have elbow grades of 0, and both should have a current, clear BVA eye cert (within the last 12 months).  And at least one parent should be tested clear for PRA, CNM, EIC, HNPK and SD2; if one parent is clear, then none of the pups can be affected and go on to possibly develop the condition.  However, if one parent is tested as carrier or affected, then the other should be tested clear.  Having a dog that is a carrier or affected status for a condition doesn't (to me) exclude them from breeding on from, as long as the dog is healthy (affected status does not mean they automatically suffer from the condition, just that they could potentially develop it), but this should be explained to potential puppy buyers. 

You may have to widen your search, I've had a pup go to Germany (the owner came over to choose her puppy then came over to collect her) and have pups in Kent and Surrey in the UK, and have people wanting pups from me from across the UK although I have no breeding plans within the next two years (I've only had three litters in total in eight years of breeding).  A lot of breeders have been inundated with enquiries at the minute, and not all reply to every enquiry whether or not they have pups, or have any planned litters.  Rather than look at breeders close by to you, look through the breeders section and single out those whose dogs you like, who are doing the health tests, and if you like what you're seeing about them and their dogs, and their breeding plans, then contact them explaining who you are, why you're looking to add a puppy, what you like about their dogs etc.  Another way to look for a potential litter is to look through the stud dog section, again, look at their dogs, what you like about them, have they got all the health tests and good results, and contact them asking if they have had any visiting bitches, and would they mind putting you in touch. 

Good luck with your search.

Thank you for the advice, very detailed and useful stuff.

I would absolutely rule out any breeder that doesn't have, at a minimum, available hip, elbow and eye scores and acceptable DNA test results for at least one parent. We knew none of this with our previous dog back in 2008 and paid dearly for it, so I'm absolutely dead set on making sure I do as much research as possible. I want to make an informed decision.

I think widening my search is probably a good step to take. I think my concern was more that breeders may not be happy with a pup being collected from a long distance? For example, I looked at a breeder in Wales which was about 4 hours drive from my home. Would that be an acceptable car journey for a puppy?

The car journey wouldn't bother me, it's the potential owners.  It's a 5 hour drive for a couple of my puppy owners, they just planned accordingly, so no, it shouldn't matter.  It is more your lifestyle, what you can offer a pup as part of their home, and any good breeder will want to stay in touch, and may even have something like an FB group set up for everyone to keep in touch.

3 of the dogs I've had came from breeders in different parts of the country and over 3 goes away .
The breeders were not concerned at all but asked loads of other questions before allowing me to have one of their pups.

I agree, don't worry about the distance, it's the right home that matters to good breeders. I'm in Kent and one of my pups is in Glasgow. Search far and wide.

Goes should have read hours .doh !

I think most breeders at the moment are a bit tired of receiving 55000 phone calls and emails a day about puppies during coronavirus. I'd give them some time to recover before getting in touch, especially if you don't want to be seen as just-another-corona-puppy-purchaser (even if you're not).

Give them time and they will respond, it's very busy for breeders at the moment with new puppy owners wanting to go on lists etc.

I know one friend who now has 60! People on a list and they are still flooding through her email box

60 people on a list?  Chuff, that's a lot of pups waiting to be born.