Labrador Breeders in England: Lewtrenchard Labradors

This Labrador Breeder in England is located in Devon. According to their website, they breed yellow, black and chocolate Labradors. All their dogs are AKC Registered, hip, eye, and elbow certified and all the puppy parents are DNA tested to rule out major genetic health issues. They take great pride in their dogs and puppies and work hard to offer the healthiest, happiest pets and companions to families that come to them.

If you are interested in this breeder’s puppies, please visit their website.

Fenway Labradors – another Labrador Breeder in England

This is another Labrador breeder in England, based in Lancashire, England. According to their website, they have been breeding Labradors for over 40 years. They put in great care and effort when it comes to the health and welfare of their dogs, who go thorough screening for hips, elbows, Nuclear Myopathy and other health issues. This breeder has a strong reputation in the UK as well as abroad. Please visit their website if you are interested in their dogs or puppies.

Labrador Breeders in England: Rocheby Labradors

This is another Labrador breeder in England located in Yorkshire. According to their website, their kennels have been founded in 1964 and have produced many Champion Goldens who have been extremely successful in the show ring. With a breeder like that, you can be sure you are getting a puppy with an excellent pedigree, perfect health and temperament. If you are interested in this breeder’s puppies, please visit their website.

Labrador Breeders in England: Ardenbrook Labradors

This is a small kennel whose dogs are first and foremost family pets and companions, although this breeder is also active in showing and competing.  If you are interested in this breeder, please visit their website.

Labrador Breeders in England: LLanstian Labradors

This is another Labrador Breeder in England, located in Haverfordwest. According to their website, this breeder produces chocolate, black and yellow labs with strong health, good looks and loving, affectionate personalities. Please visit this breeder’s website if you are interested in a puppy.

Golden Retriever owner review (Jenny and her Labrador Ivy)

Please keep in mind that my “review” is very subjective and is about my dog, not just any Labrador. And of course, it’s a pretty positive review, just because Ivy is a perfect dog for us and, although there are some difficulties and downsides to owning a Lab, they give so much in return that they are very, very worth it. At least for us.

Of course, if you are just trying to pick a breed, you should read much more than this review. Learn more about many different breeds, talk to the owners. A lab may or may not be the perfect dog for you.

How we got our Labrador Retriever Ivy.

I knew we would have a dog ever since we got our first home. I think it’s just a part of my “nesting” instincts – to have a home, some kids and a dog. A dog has always been a part of my dream life so the moment it became feasible, I started thinking of different breeds and planning. One day, my husband and I were taking a walk outside with our two boys and started talking about how nice it would be to have a dog and that it would be a great thing for our boys too. My husband wanted a husky, but I thought a lab would be better for us, as huskies are known to have more complicated personalities and needs.

After a lot of discussions, we agreed that a Labrador Retriever would be a better choice and that we would definitely adopt one sooner or later.

When we finally found a breeder and saw our puppy for the first time, my first impression was: wow is she ever big! At three months old, Ivy already weighed 26 lbs! And she was one of the smallest in that litter! I was a little intimidated at first. I somehow pictured this stuffed toy that we were going to bring home. Instead, Ivy was nothing like a toy and everything like a large, very active puppy! But, it was too late to change our minds (we wouldn’t do that anyway!) and we took our new puppy home. (She puked all over the car on the way home, but that’s not the point of the story).

Of course, the first few months with Ivy weren’t very easy. She didn’t sleep through the nights, cried and howled at night unless someone was near her crate, and was quite hard to house train. But she wasn’t as crazy as I expected her to be after reading many articles on how difficult labs can be when they are young. She was actually quite docile and phlegmatic.

She was slowly getting used to living with us. At first, we had a lot of issues with chewing. She would always have something in her mouth and we were very worried for her, that she might swallow something. We were also worried about the state of our clothes, shoes, and furniture too of course! But mostly her health and well-being. We spent a lot of our time chasing her around the house trying to pull whatever she grabbed this time out of her mouth. And of course, she thought that it was a very fun game! So you can see how it was a bit tough to actually get her to understand we didn’t want her to chew everything in sight.

Shoes were her favorite to chew, especially leather shoes! We used to hide everything as high as possible and for a while even had to lock all our shoes in the bathroom because she grew tall enough to be able to get them from the upper shelves of the rack.

Sometimes she would understand by the tone of our voice and sometimes we were able to distract her with a treat or a toy. It seemed like it would never end, but eventually, she kind of grew out of chewing everything and now she just chews her toys and bones. But she did teach us to keep the house in good order and hide all the valuables high up from her, which is a great habit that we have up to this day!

Another thing about Ivy is that she turned out to be quite a skilled thief! As soon as she grew tall enough to reach the tabletop, she realized she could always steal something yummy off the table when we weren’t looking. At first, I would leave some frozen meat to thaw on the countertop, or some vegetables, only to find them gone the moment I’d turn away. Thank you Ivy! One time she managed to break a plate by shoving it off the table just because she was trying to lick some food off it.

Of course, now we don’t leave anything on the tables or counters.

Ivy requires a whole lot of walking, just like any other Labrador Retriever.  Because of this, our whole family became more mobile and active. We spend lots more time outside now, in any weather. I myself spend a lot more time outside including hikes in the woods because I am not afraid to be out by myself when I have Ivy with me. I have to say this has positively affected our family’s health, weight and mood!

Unfortunately, when you spend so much time outside with your dog, you have to always think about ticks and fleas and such so we have to be careful with that and take protective measures.

As far as health goes, Ivy is pretty healthy. She is very active so we don’t have an issue with weight gain like a lot of labs do.

One thing we kind of wish we did better is put more effort into training her. She is not very well-behaved. She knows plenty of commands and can learn even more, I am sure of it. But when she gets distracted, like when she sees a cat or something like that, she gets crazy and completely unresponsive to us and our commands. We are currently planning to enroll her in a professional dog training program so that she (and we) can learn to work with these issues in a more constructive way than just constantly trying to distract her with treats.

One other thing that is a bit of an issue with our Ivy is that she doesn’t take car trips very well. By which I mean that she vomits almost every time we have to drive her anywhere which of course is not easy to deal with. So we just try to not take her on many car trips basically, and when we do have to take her, we have to use a lot of rugs and towels.

Other than that, Ivy is a fantastic dog. It really would take too long to describe everything that we love about her and all the million ways she is worth every trouble. She is a wonderful companion. We are never bored anymore. She brings love and happiness into our lives and is so generous with her love. Dogs are really wonderful and labs in particular, because it’s like they were made to be family pets.

 

 

Sources:

Golden Retriever AKC Breed Information

Golden Retriever breed Wikipedia Page