All our labradors are bred for health, temperament, type and ability. I believe that my labs should be able to go to work (whether beating or picking up) on a shoot one day and go to a show the next - so not only are looks very important but also temperament and intelligence; I want sensible, keen to please dogs, not giddy or hyperactive ones - the key word is 'biddable'. For me they should be keen but not too strong-willed, happy but not manic; well mannered and even tempered - they have to be able to be chucked in the back of a landrover/dog trailer with strange dogs without ever grumbling about it! Most of our puppies go as pets and all this is equally important within a family home.
All puppies bred here are from health-tested parents; hip and elbow scored, BVA eye tested, DNA tested for prcd-PRA, Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC), Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis (HNPK), Centronuclear Myopathy (CNM), Skeletal Dysplasia (SD2), Macular Corneal Dystrophy (MCD) and Stargardt Disease (STGD).
All puppies leave here Kennel Club registered with an 'R' endorsement (their offspring cannot be registered unless the relevant health tests have been carried out first, just the same as I did for their parents) and an 'X' endorsement (they can't be exported for show or breeding without agreement). I NEVER charge to remove breeding endorsements once health testing has been done. All puppies are insured for 4 weeks, microchipped, and come with a supply of the food they have been eating.
Our puppies are well socialised; used to chidren, chickens, cats and other dogs.
All puppies bred here are from health-tested parents; hip and elbow scored, BVA eye tested, DNA tested for prcd-PRA, Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC), Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis (HNPK), Centronuclear Myopathy (CNM), Skeletal Dysplasia (SD2), Macular Corneal Dystrophy (MCD) and Stargardt Disease (STGD).
All puppies leave here Kennel Club registered with an 'R' endorsement (their offspring cannot be registered unless the relevant health tests have been carried out first, just the same as I did for their parents) and an 'X' endorsement (they can't be exported for show or breeding without agreement). I NEVER charge to remove breeding endorsements once health testing has been done. All puppies are insured for 4 weeks, microchipped, and come with a supply of the food they have been eating.
Our puppies are well socialised; used to chidren, chickens, cats and other dogs.
Our puppies are usually chocolate (also known as liver) or black. We very rarely have yellows but if a yellow is your preferred colour then please still ask as often I can point you in the right direction.
'Silver' labradors, as well as charcoal and 'champagne' (which is really just still yellow as it's impossible to dilute yellow in the same way as black or chocolate) are neither correct colours for the breed nor are they naturally occurring colours. The gene causing these colours has never naturally occurred in the UK, where the labrador originates from, in nearly 150 years of labradors being bred. All dilute coloured labradors originate in the USA, from one kennel (Kellogg) which kept both labradors and weimaraners and which started off breeding those two breeds together to create 'pointing' labradors in the mid 20th Century. So all dilute labradors bred in the UK originate from dogs imported from the USA and they ALL go back to just two dogs in that one kennel. In decades of breeding chocolates, neither myself nor anyone else in the UK has had silvers 'just' appear - the chances of that genetic mutation happening are about the same as the chances of me winning the lottery (and I never buy lottery tickets!). Weimeraners have very different temperaments to labradors and so many dilute labradors often have a temperament much harder and sharper than a labrador should.
Equally, merle is a colour not found in any gundog breed so merle cockers and merle labradors are not purebred. The likely 'alien' breeds used there are herding breeds or dachshunds where the colour is found. These breeds have totally different temperaments and inherent traits to cockers and labradors and so are entirely unwanted with the gene pools.
For more information on the 'rogue' genes involved please don't hesitate to ask!
'Silver' labradors, as well as charcoal and 'champagne' (which is really just still yellow as it's impossible to dilute yellow in the same way as black or chocolate) are neither correct colours for the breed nor are they naturally occurring colours. The gene causing these colours has never naturally occurred in the UK, where the labrador originates from, in nearly 150 years of labradors being bred. All dilute coloured labradors originate in the USA, from one kennel (Kellogg) which kept both labradors and weimaraners and which started off breeding those two breeds together to create 'pointing' labradors in the mid 20th Century. So all dilute labradors bred in the UK originate from dogs imported from the USA and they ALL go back to just two dogs in that one kennel. In decades of breeding chocolates, neither myself nor anyone else in the UK has had silvers 'just' appear - the chances of that genetic mutation happening are about the same as the chances of me winning the lottery (and I never buy lottery tickets!). Weimeraners have very different temperaments to labradors and so many dilute labradors often have a temperament much harder and sharper than a labrador should.
Equally, merle is a colour not found in any gundog breed so merle cockers and merle labradors are not purebred. The likely 'alien' breeds used there are herding breeds or dachshunds where the colour is found. These breeds have totally different temperaments and inherent traits to cockers and labradors and so are entirely unwanted with the gene pools.
For more information on the 'rogue' genes involved please don't hesitate to ask!