price of a black lab

[SnowDog]

One more thing to consider before you get a field trial bred lab is how much "energy" you can deal with in a dog. Many of the performance bred dogs are a real handfull if you do not have time for training and excersize each and every day. I read a recent post on one of the other gun dog forums about a guy that purchased a pup from super strong field trial lines and after over $3K in vet bills, he had to give the dog back to the breeder, because he did not have to time to keep the dog physically and mentally excercised. The dog got bored and ate rocks that led to many costly surgeries and was not much fun as a pet for his family.

Back to the topic, I agree that $500 - $700 is the right price range for a good quality lab pup. Do your homework and visit a few breeders before you make a decision.

Cheers!
SD

[Happy Gilmore]

matter of factly, every dog training chat room I frequent REQUIRES people posting litters in the classifieds have proof of their OFA(hips) Cerf(eyes), EIC and DM if it applies. It is important. I have a 4 year old Chesapeake, she is from good bloodlines, she "should" have good hips, eyes and elbows because her parents were good BUT, it doesn't guarantee the pups will. I haven't done them yet so, I haven't bred her yet. Having both parents checked should be required especially, if you're charging money for pups.

I'm sure folks have great dogs who don't have any health clearances but, for a pet who I'm going to keep for 10-15 years I'm going to try and make sure those years are healthy years and I don't have a prematurely sick dog.

It just isn't responsible to breed dogs without having done your homework first. Doing homework on breeding includes making sure you've taken responsibility to breed properly and have all the health checks done on the dog FIRST.

[Happy Gilmore]

I know of about 4 litters coming up varying from show dogs to upper level hunt test/hunting dog breedings.

I think all 4 will be on the ground in the next two-three weeks.

[Malardman]

My Cooke Canyon Labs have been great and I think I paid 650.00 for My last one.Well worth it.

Alice and Doug are great with their Dogs, and he is a great trainer, I have not seen them in a couple years now though, man I should give'em a ring!!

[mjbskwim]

I'll tell you what,some purists think you have to spend HUGE money on dogs to get a great hunting dog.
Buy a certain breed for one type of hunting and another for the other type of hunting.....
"I have a blah blah blah Field champ stud from who's what Kennels in nevermore,best kennels in the world,American English with German ancestry!"

And if you are entering AKC or other sanctioned meets and trial comps,maybe this is necessary.

My hunting dog,that I use for all my bird hunting,is a Rotty/Lab? mix,with some type of wired hair in there for good measure.

She retrieves all birds and rabbits too (well she eats the small rabbits) $50

My "hunting breed" is a GSP/lab and is by far as good and hard of hunting dog as I have ever seen.But she was gun shy before I adopted her and I stopped hunting for a couple years,so I never worked with the gun shyness.
Pound puppy So $125

The former wood shop teacher from Clover Park HS used to hunt pheasant with a blind poodle and his friend used a Jack Russel.

In other words,if you want your boy to enter competitions and all,maybe you want an AKC dog,from an AKC breeder,if you have the money

But for just shear fun and enjoyment,you can find a hunting breed and it will probably hunt perfectly fine.
Heck a guy I worked with took his Springer pup out for his first hunt and it retrieve a bird WITHOUT ANY TRAINING,what so ever.
And it will cost a lot less

As far as health concerns,there is a Golden breeder in Tacoma that produced 2 dogs from a litter that didn't develop hips.So you really need to look over the paper work form both parents.

Most hunting breed dogs will hunt just fine.And you can spend big money on a dog that may not.You don't need to spent huge money to find fullfilment with a dog for your son.

Side note.
I don't really like the way some breeders can destroy less than perfect puppies.
Flame all you want on that,it's a fact that most do.
Just sayin'


Good luck