Labrador Breeders in California reviewed

Labrador Breeders in California: Summerland Labradors

This Labrador breeder in California is located in Phelan, San Bernardino County. According to their website, they take pride in their selective and well-planned breeding program which allows them to offer the highest quality Lab puppies that make for wonderful family pets. All of their breeding dogs come from excellent lines with many Champion titles.  Apart from breeding, this breeder is also active in AKC Obedience, Conformation and other activities. Their puppies are lovingly taken care of in a home environment and well-socialized by the time they go to their new homes.

Please visit their website if you are interested in this breeder’s puppies.

Labrador Breeders in California: Kentfield Kennels

This is another Labrador breeder in California, based out of Sebastopol, CA (an hour away from San Fransisco). They focus on breeding English Style labs with good bone structure, proper size, good musculature and a kind expression. This breeder is an AKC Breeder of Merit and a member of the “BRED WITH HEART” program. Please visit their website, if you are interested in this breeder’s dogs and puppies.

Labrador owner review (Tanya and her Labrador Timmy)

We’ve had our Labrador Retriever for over a year now, and I would like to share some of the nuances of this breed that is considered a very “easy” breed. Not always so!

Timmy is our pureblood black Lab. He has an excellent pedigree and champion parents, which really wasn’t the main reason we chose him but the breeder seemed very respectable and we thought we’d get a healthy dog with her. Which we did! Other than that, I really don’t care that much about pedigrees and such. We were even really planning to adopt a pup or an older dog from a shelter but then decided on a Lab because we have a small child in the house and wanted to be as safe as possible. Not that an adopted dog would necessarily be not safe, but that was just our decision. When you get a dog with a Pedigree and good parents, there’s just a bit more confidence that the dog’s temperament will be more stable and predictable. As well as the health of the dog, of course.

We took Timmy home when he was 3 months old, as is the standard as far as we know. He was growing very quickly, gaining about 5 lbs a month if not more. You aren’t supposed to overfeed them, because the breed is already predisposed to being overweight. But, at the same time, it’s healthy for puppies to gain weight quickly.

Because puppies grow so rapidly, it’s important to give them plenty of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins. We started feeding a good holistic brand right away but also gave him some vitamins and minerals as per the advice of our breeder. This is necessary for the puppies’ bones and joints to be healthy as many other of their systems.

Labradors are considered to be a breed predisposed to allergies. I guess we are lucky with Timmy because he doesn’t have any. We are pretty happy with the brand we feed him and he has never reacted to any treats or any food he occasionally steals off of our table.

When it comes to grooming we don’t have too many issues. His eyes and ears are generally clean, his nails keep short because we walk a whole lot and we don’t really even have to trim them. He doesn’t have any doggy smell (that we can feel anyway), there is no dandruff or dirt etc.

Of course, we do have to deal with a whole lot of dog hair. Doesn’t matter how much we brush him or wash him etc. Dog hair is everywhere.

Labs are very intelligent and are easy to train. They have an innate desire to please and would do anything for a treat or even just a pet from their owner. Timmy learned all the major commands when he was still very young (the main one of which was “NO!”). I found that the most important thing when it comes to training is for the owner to be involved and to try and have real fun with it. The dog always knows when you are fully invested with them and it makes it more fun for the both of you.

As I already mentioned the most important command we have learned was “NO!” because we had to use it so much with Timmy, especially in the early days.

Speaking of Labrador Retriever temperament, they are very active. They are always moving. Of course, once the dog gets older, that improves a little, but at 1 year of age, they are still very active! So don’t think that your pup will just lie on the floor as you can see in TV ads  – that hardly ever really happens! In reality, they get absolutely everywhere, have to participate in absolutely everything you do and always need to be watched, especially during the first few months.

When it comes to friendliness and love, yes, Labradors are very friendly. But personally, in our case, Timmy seems to be very loving only towards me, whereas he is just friends with my husband and our son. Granted, our son is still pretty young, so Timmy has to tolerate a lot of undesirable behavior from him, such as tail pulling etc. Maybe it’s because Timmy is a boy, perhaps girls are more loving and affectionate.

Timmy loves water! Lie a true labrador, he will get into any water he can find, be it a lake, ocean, river, or a puddle.

They say that Labs are not good guard dogs. To be honest, I don’t know much about other breeds, but Timmy is quite cautious around strangers and would never let a stranger come too close to me. He also barks quite a lot when he hears any noise outside close to our house. However, when it comes to other dogs, he is a bit of a scaredy-cat. A few times we met a somewhat aggressive dog, Timmy would hide behind me!

Overall, Timmy is a great dog and we are very happy to have him. He is not an ideal dog but then we are also not ideal people so we take him the way he is and love him to bits.