Buying a Labrador? Here's Everything You Need To Know

Researching a Labrador puppy's breeding, pedigree and ancestry - rather than relying on looks or hoping for luck - should help you end up with the shooting dog of your dreams, says Jeremy Hunt.

- Jeremy Hunt

You only have to look at the dogs gathered for a typical shooting day to realise that the Labrador is far from a standard model. But when buying a puppy, how can you make sure you end up with a dog that not only meets your visual criteria for a Labrador but also matches your shooting and lifestyle?

As a breed, the Labrador is split into working dogs and show dogs — each having its own lines of genetics. The Kennel club’s (Kc) blueprint for Labradors — the breed standard — is produced as a template for those breeding for the show bench and is based primarily on physical characteristics. With some exceptions, the majority of Labradors seen in the shooting field do not wholly meet the Kc’s “showbased” blueprint and I would expect most who work theirs would say it matters little.

But rather than debating the pros and cons of what the ideal Labrador should look like, I want to examine ways in which those thinking of buying their first working Labrador can be made more aware of the importance of finding the right dog for their job.

Impulse buy

Buying a puppy may seem like a relatively easy undertaking. There are hundreds of “working” Labradors on the market at most times of the year but all too often a chance purchase from an advert or an impulse buy from a litter listed on the Internet results in a dog that can be a far cry from what the buyer actually wants.