I am looking for choc lab breeders, anywhere in the UK.
I wish to breed from my Choc labrador hip score 11, aged 3 years.
Please contact me at martynfarrell@aol.com or 01249814843 or 07974785393

Hello Guest

I'm rather hoping that we could get a standard reply to this question - it's been posted a few times, and the answer is always the same!!! :-)

Fistly - make sure you know the genuine reason that you want to breed from your bitch.
Secondly - Don't breed purely for colour. There are many other points that need to be taken into account.
Thirdly - Hopefully your girl came from a reputable breeder in the first instance - go back to them for advice.
Fourthly - Do eye and elbow-score as well as hips.
Fifthly - Set aside a budget of £1,000 minimum to cover stud fees , vets fees, and rearing the litter.
Sixthly - Set aside about two months of your time, when you won't do much except look at puppies and interview new owners.

There are some chocolate lab people who read this board - expect they will pick up on this and help.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

I would reiterate the comments, but would say allow more like £1500 to £2000. The costs of the Health Checks alone could take £250. If it is a first time litter a lot of equipment will neeed to be bought. Unless you have a room that leads into a well enclosed part of the garden, you will need to invest in some form of kenneling and/or dog run. Add to this the cost of whelping facilities, heat lamp puppy pens bedding etc.

With a large breed you just cannot adequately contain a litter of pups in even a good sized kitchen/Utility room, they will need access to outdoor facilities from 4 to 5 weeks, which will include shelter, as puppies play and sleep play and sleep and poo and pee in between. They need the space to stretch their limbs, and to learn clean habits, by being able to eliminate well away from their beds. You will also have to constantly worry about the neighbours as a half dozen puppies romping can get quite noisy. They will wake and scream to be let out as soon as it is light, which in Summer may be 4.30 am.

I raise my pups in the house, but they spend a lot of the daytime in a large kennel and large run adjacent to kitchen window, by backdoor once they are 5 weeks, I wouldn't be able to do anything in there otherwise, and without giving it a chance to get cleaned it would be unsanitary. I then spend my time tidying their indoor quarters, making their feeds, transfering them back indoors, so that the outdoor run and kennel can be cleaned, and then back to the first bit. They really are a full time job at this point, and you have to fit in puppy client visits and queries, as well as still try and find time to feed the family and somehow keep the house from smelling like a kennel!! :D

Guess what I can't wait til I do it again, but it is mentally and physically draining, and you spend the next 12 months worrying, and advising the new owners so that the puppies make a success of their new homes. You will still get the odd heart stopping call that says I have to give him or her up! Then the fun of having to assess, rehabilitate, and search for the perfect new home for the erstwhile pup, who is now anything from 6 months to 10 years of age.