Three Labrador Retriever puppies

Hi, it’s Kelly again.

You probably just read about how I started to become a responsible dog owner before I even had my dog.

Once we had decided that the Labrador Retriever was the right breed for my family, finding a Labrador Retriever puppy should be quick, I thought.

I was just about to learn the second lesson of being a responsible dog owner:

Visit as many breeders as possible of the dogs of your breed, and get your dog from a responsible breeder.

A responsible breeder carefully selects the parents of each litter of puppies to try to ensure each puppy is a good example of its breed. When it is grown, the dog should look and act like the AKC describes the breed on its website.

There are so many ads for breeders who sell Labs in so many different places. It’s hard to know where to start. We started at the www.akc.org, the place that could put us in touch with the best breeders near us. We got the names of three different breeders and arranged to visit them.

We were most impressed with the second breeder we visited.

We looked around the kennels where the breeder kept his dogs. The crates were clean, and all the pups and adult dogs looked well-groomed, well-fed, lively, and friendly. We made sure we didn’t see any dogs with sores, fleas or runny noses.

	It’s important to choose a breed of dog that fits in well with your family’s lifestyle.

On the Saturday we visited, we saw a litter of five 6-week-old Labrador Retriever puppies. Two were chocolate and three were black. They had shiny coats and round bellies. When they wagged their tails, their whole bodies shook like Jell-O. They wrestled, climbed on top of each other and fell off each other, then did it all again. I thought they were the cutest puppies I had ever seen.

We got to meet the puppies and dam (mother). They were beautiful, friendly, happy dogs. The dam was a black Lab, and my parents paid the breeder a deposit for one of the puppies.

When the puppies turned 8-weeks-old and were ready to leave their mother, we picked up “Midnight.” A cuddly, soft bundle of joy.

Midnight is now 3-years-old. True to a Labrador’s breeding, she loves to swim and she loves to play fetch. One of her favorite things is running after a Frisbee and bringing it back to me. Sometimes I throw it to her until my arm gets so tired I have to stop!

At times it seemed like it would take me forever to get a dog. But Midnight was worth the wait. She’s my best friend!