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Labs
are recognized as the number one family dog.
Why?
1.
They are specifically bred to have an even
temperament.
2. They are bred to have a high pain tolerance.
3. Their desire to retrieve and drive to please
makes them easy to train for so many useful
things.
4. Though they are classified as hunting dogs -
they are not hunters, but rather retrievers.
Dogs
that are specifically bred to hunt are much more
likely to bite children and become aggressive.
Labs are specifically bred to have their laid
back temperament. They are eager to
please. They are highly tolerant, which
means that when the young child is pulling on
the dogs ears, it is much less likely to snap.
They make excellent family guard type dogs as
their size alone is often enough to make
strangers wary. Yet the likely hood of
them attacking unprovoked is slim to none,
though many do show fierce loyalty when members
of their own family are threatened.
What
does all this mean? It means that the Lab
is as close as possible to being the ideal dog.
What this means is that Labs are worth a lot.
And so begins the problem. In recent years
the price of a good Lab has risen along with
everything else, But what opportunists see as
"a quick way to make a buck" is
spoiling the breed.
When
you start looking for a Lab to purchase you will
quickly see that the price from a reputable
breeder is between $750 - $1500 for a puppy.
What you will also see if you look in your local
paper is a lot of ads advertising "purebred
labs" for less than half of what the
reputable breeder charges. What is
happening with the breed is that indiscriminant
people are buying two dogs that are sold as
purebreds - the parents may or may not be
papered. Then they are breeding these two
dogs for the sole purpose of making money with
them and selling them as purebred Labs. (Which
is actually illegal, as the law declares that
any dog sold as a purebred must be sold with
registration papers to verify that fact.)
Because their ultimate goal is to make money
they are taking shortcuts to cut costs.
The first place the consumer sees this is
in registration. The pups are
offered for a cheaper price because they are
unregistered.
The
second place this shows up visibly to the
purchaser is identification. Pups can be
offered at a cheaper price because they are not
tattooed or microchipped.
The
third place this shows up, and the most
heartbreaking is in physical defects.
Because Labs are large breed dogs, they have a
tendency toward hip displaysia. Hip
Displaysia is a conformational defect in any
large breed dog. It comes mainly from
breeding dogs that are not conformationally
sound - though there can be other contributing
factors. To do their best to avoid
this, a reputable breeder will have the breeding
pair X-rayed at 2 years of age or older and will
only breed those with a good or excellent hip
rating. This is an expensive one time
procedure which obviously must be reflected in
the price of the pups. The more
non-x-rayed dogs that are getting bred, the more
likely that this problem will turn up in that
cheap puppy you are thinking of buying.
This
is just one health problem that shows up, the
heartbreaking thing is that it usually only
shows up when the dog is about 2. At which
time the dog will often become so debilitated
that it must be put down. Anybody who has
trained a Lab Puppy through it's first two years
(which are lots of fun but can be VERY trying)
and is then expecting to have an excellent
companion and family pet for the next 10-12
years but then has to go through the heartbreak
of putting their puppy down, realizes that the
extra money they would have spent for a quality
pup would have been well worth the investment.
Usually
at this point, the person who sold them the pup
is long out of the Lab business so they have no
recourse but are rather just out the price of
the pup - and the time and energy spent on the
pup leaving them with a bitter taste for Labs
when in actual fact it is the breeder who is at
fault.
So
if you are seriously considering buying a Lab
Puppy, first realize that they do take a lot of
time and effort the first two years.
Second only buy from someone who is going to
guarantee the pup.
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Registration may not be important to you in that
you have no intention of doing anything with the
dog other than having it as a companion, but
registration papers are part of your ticket to
seeing that the dog you purchase is a true Lab,
and they are an indication that the breeder is
responsible.
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Tattooing may not be important to you - but Labs
are the #1 stolen breed also. Due to their
eager, friendly nature they are easy to entice
into vehicles by strangers. Your tattoo/microchip
on your pup is your proof of ownership as well
as a way to find your dog if it is ever lost.
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You may be willing to take the chance on buying
a cheap dog that it might not have health
problems, but if you've had a Lab pup before,
you know how much goes into it's training.
Also, the more disreputable breeders there are -
the higher the odds that you are buying a
ticking health bomb. Just check your paper
and see how many non-registered pups there are
for sale.
Whether you choose to buy a Waskadas pup or from
some one else, I urge you to look at more than
just the dollar figure when you choose.
WHAT
YOU GET WHEN YOU PURCHASE
A WASKADAS TAMARLEIGH LAB PUPPY
AVAILABLE
PUPPIES
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