Looking for a pup

MT_Chad · Dec 19, 2018

Hey all, after losing our lab a year ago and our girls getting a little older to deal with a puppy, we have started our search for a new lab. I have talked with a few kennels within a couple hours of helena but haven't been able to get a hold of anyone here in town or anyone with the retriever club here. Any help with dogs in the area or contacts around helena of people in the know would be greatly appreciated.
We are looking for a yellow lab as we built our house rmto color coordinate with yellow hair. I would prefer a Male, not sure why, I have always preferred males. I know we shouldn't have a price point, but my wife has put the limit at about 1100, preferably less but for the right dog...
We like the more English build of shorter nose and blocky head as well as the quieter and calmer tempermant of english labs. Most of the folks I have talked with breed for temperament and train ability along with hunting. Any recommendations on breeders would be appreciated. Also, any feedback good or bad on the following kennels that I have talked with would be great, pm's may be best for this.
Diamond R in Belgrade under new owners.
Diamond D in Great Falls.
Dustin Retrievers in Twin Bridges.

Thanks everyone.

Hunting Wife · Dec 19, 2018

If you like the English style, I’ve seen some really nice looking dogs with great temperaments out of Sleeping Giant there in Helena. A lot of the English style labs are too Rottweiler-headed for my taste, but the Sleeping Giant ones I’ve seen still look like labs. Not sure of prices. Good luck on the search!

Frenchy · Dec 19, 2018

I would also recommend broadening your search area a bit. And looking out of state potentially. Its not too difficult to ship puppies via commercial air lines. It does add a couple hundred bucks to the price though. We had our golden shipped from Oregon without any troubles. Years ago I shipped a yellow lab from Fairbanks, AK to my brother in Billings.

But at least that way you have more options for getting the "right" pup for you.

406LIFE · Dec 19, 2018

I have been actively looking for an English yellow female for some time now. I would look out of state as well. I went theough 8 litters before I got my choclate male. Its worth it for the right dog.

Labman · Dec 19, 2018

I paid $200 extra to pick mine up at the airport in Bozeman from Kansas City. Call Lance Flowers 316-259-5444. His dog Jake is producing unbelievable puppies, Jake is the full brother to Ammo. See links below.
Jake: https://m.facebook.com/BeaverCreekRetrievers/
Ammo: http://www.americanpointinglab.com/page-1528860/3045697?tpg=3

MT_Chad · Dec 19, 2018

I should clarify, I have been starting close to home but I'm willing to travel within about 7 hours of helena. I would prefer to be closer so I can visit the kennel, meet the dogs and owners, etc. This obviously gets much harder the further from helena we get. Thanks for the help so far guys.

phutch30 · Dec 20, 2018

I just went through this last yr. I wouldn't limit your search to MT your making your box very small. Almost every breeder will ship nowadays and it only runs $150-250 for shipping. My last lab came from Blind Faith Retrievers in IL and my current dog came from Chickasaw run retrivers in OK.

great places to start looking.

https://huntinglabpedigree.com/HuntingDogPuppyfinder.asp

https://www.retrievertraining.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?31-Classifieds-Lab-Puppies

One other tip/ request please don't buy a pup from a litter that doesn't have COMPLETE health clearances on both the sire and dam its not good for the breed. Also, I personally wouldn't buy a pup unless both parents were EIC clear no matter the breeding or temperament of the parents.

Frenchy · Dec 20, 2018

I can certainly understand wanting to see the Kennel first hand and meet the dogs, but what are you really expecting to learn on a face to face visit that couldn't be achieved by talking to the breeder over the phone. Or through a few videos of the sire/dam. You might be able to find what you want "locally" but I wouldn't limit myself to only those options.

Just a thought. Good luck on your search.

Labman · Dec 20, 2018

X2 on what phutch30 said about EIC. I had a dog a while back from what was a reputable breeder in MN, amazing dog, hunted hard, loved his humans when at home, just phenomenal all around. When he was 2 he had his first seizure, I thought he was caught in a snare but couldn’t find the wire. He snapped out of it after 30 seconds or so and kept on hunting. He would have an episode nearly every time in the field, but at home on a normal day never had an issue. When he was 10 he had a seizure in the water, but I was close enough to jump in and save him. He and I both knew from that point on he was done around water. He went totally blind at 13 but was an absolute trooper and had a good life. He made it to 14 and that is when he turned really old really fast. That is when we had to let him go. Toughest part about owning a dog for sure. Bottom line is they can live with EIC and get to be old, but it is no joke. A reputable breeder won’t have an EIC carrier in their mix, you should demand the same.

kansasdad · Dec 20, 2018

Thanks for taking me to school, I had no idea what EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse) was, and how it affected Labrador Retrievers. Don't want that in the gene pool at all!

MT_Chad · Dec 20, 2018

phutch30 said:
I just went through this last yr. I wouldn't limit your search to MT your making your box very small. Almost every breeder will ship nowadays and it only runs $150-250 for shipping. My last lab came from Blind Faith Retrievers in IL and my current dog came from Chickasaw run retrivers in OK.

great places to start looking.

https://huntinglabpedigree.com/HuntingDogPuppyfinder.asp

https://www.retrievertraining.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?31-Classifieds-Lab-Puppies

One other tip/ request please don't buy a pup from a litter that doesn't have COMPLETE health clearances on both the sire and dam its not good for the breed. Also, I personally wouldn't buy a pup unless both parents were EIC clear no matter the breeding or temperament of the parents.

Thanks again phutch, those are good sites. Complete health records are on the list of requirements. Thanks for mentioning EIC, I had forgot about that one, been a while since I looked for a dog.

MT_Chad · Dec 20, 2018

Frenchy said:
I can certainly understand wanting to see the Kennel first hand and meet the dogs, but what are you really expecting to learn on a face to face visit that couldn't be achieved by talking to the breeder over the phone. Or through a few videos of the sire/dam. You might be able to find what you want "locally" but I wouldn't limit myself to only those options.

Just a thought. Good luck on your search.

Frankly, the biggest reason I would prefer to visit the kennel in person is I want to see how the dogs live and how they are treated on a daily basis. I have seen several borderline abusive trainers and kennels that, in my opinion, see dollar signs and not dogs. I don''t want to give my money, a lot of money, to somebody with a borderline puppy mill. I also want to interact with the dogs and see what their personality is like, those things are hard to determine in a video in my opinion. If all i cared about was a hunting dog, a video and pedigree would probably be alright. In reality this dog will be 80% family dog, 20% hunting dog, so personality means a lot to me since it will grow up with my 2 and 6 year old daughters. I know a lot of that can be trained, but our last Lab had his dam's personality, it definitely wasn't all my training.
I'm not ruling out shipping a dog all together, but I would rather not. We'll see, I'm going to go through the links that phutch mentioned above tonight. Thanks guys.

phutch30 · Dec 20, 2018

No problem...for what you pay for a quality pup no reason not to be picky...same price for a clean pup as a pup with potential issues. I had a lab about 20 yrs ago that was one of the first labs diagnosed with EIC...in fact they didn't even have a name for it then. Great dog and unless I pushed him hard you wouldn't know he had it, push him and his rear end went limp. He always came out of it until he didn't. He had an episode at 8 and never came out of it and I had to put him down. Also personally I wouldn't go for the litters that have one parent a carrier and one clear. Low chance of your dog having it but why risk it. IMO there's no dog out there worth breeding that is an EIC carrier. You have so many choices of fantastic breedings out there theres no reason for it

Idaho typically has a couple of good breedings through out the yr

onpoint · Dec 20, 2018

fowl punishment said:
Frankly, the biggest reason I would prefer to visit the kennel in person is I want to see how the dogs live and how they are treated on a daily basis. I have seen several borderline abusive trainers and kennels that, in my opinion, see dollar signs and not dogs. I don''t want to give my money, a lot of money, to somebody with a borderline puppy mill. I also want to interact with the dogs and see what their personality is like, those things are hard to determine in a video in my opinion. If all i cared about was a hunting dog, a video and pedigree would probably be alright. In reality this dog will be 80% family dog, 20% hunting dog, so personality means a lot to me since it will grow up with my 2 and 6 year old daughters. I know a lot of that can be trained, but our last Lab had his dam's personality, it definitely wasn't all my training.
I'm not ruling out shipping a dog all together, but I would rather not. We'll see, I'm going to go through the links that phutch mentioned above tonight. Thanks guys.

Lotta' respect here for your reasoning and methodology. My dogs are my family first and my hunting partners second. My younger girl I received from a guy in Laurel who literally slept in his basement next to the pup's whelping box for almost six weeks. He and his wife were gracious and down to earth friendly hosts when my wife and I visited the pups and their mom to see "who" our new bud was going to be.
Conversely, before getting lucky with these folks and their pup, I dealt via email and phone with a complete ass in Idaho. He came highly recommended by another German Wire Hair
owner/friend of mine. Gladly the dog deal with him fell through and I got what I got now. She's a professional hunter, absolute sweetheart, and class clown. Top rate breeder.....
Fully agree with visiting and seeing the breeder first hand.
Good luck, hope you get a good Yellow Dog.

The Hedgehog · Dec 20, 2018

My better half is on the list for a chocolate male from Diamond R in Belgrade (recently moved to Ennis I think). She's been out numerous times to see the dogs and pups, and has great things to say about the new owners. I'd think it would certainly be worth the drive to check it out.

IdahoPotato · Dec 20, 2018

Would you be willing to share the rude breeders name here or in PM? I'm in Idaho looking for a Griffon or GWP. Would prefer a Griffon but have not decided who to visit yet.

onpoint · Dec 20, 2018

IdahoPotato said:
Would you be willing to share the rude breeders name here or in PM? I'm in Idaho looking for a Griffon or GWP. Would prefer a Griffon but have not decided who to visit yet.

If this was a thread about breeders in general or GWP's, I'd be more than happy to go public with this guy.
However, it's about FowlPunishment's happy search for a yellow dog.
I won't downer on it by expounding on an experience with a breeder who made that process less than a happy search.
PMing your way........

BrentD · Dec 20, 2018

IdahoPotato said:
Would you be willing to share the rude breeders name here or in PM? I'm in Idaho looking for a Griffon or GWP. Would prefer a Griffon but have not decided who to visit yet.

A friend of mine has a very good Griffon from somewhere in Idaho. I can't tell you where, but can there be that many?

IdahoPotato · Dec 20, 2018

BrentD said:
A friend of mine has a very good Griffon from somewhere in Idaho. I can't tell you where, but can there be that many?

The treasure valley seems to be a hot bed of griffon breeders. Idaho Wells, Herrenhausen, Snake River, Idaho Outback, Hun Hill, Double R, High Desert, Broken Bow, Glendale....

The Hedgehog · Dec 21, 2018

Looking for a pup

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