The pick!

The time has come and we got the call saying that our number had come and we were able to come out to pick out our young lady.  My wife and I coordinated our schedules to pick out our pup on the way to Pittsburgh, where we're visiting family for the holidays.

I'm so happy that we took our time in choosing a breeder and a litter before we had to pick out our pup because it was very difficult.  While talking to the breeder helped to identify some personal characteristics at this age its just so hard to know.  Yes, there are differences in physical traits, but a lot of the pups just fall into that middle range.  I'm really hoping that it's the litter more than the puppy picking that will help us to have the best dog possible (besides the obvious required time and training).

There were a couple pups that stood out.  The green collar was the smallest and the feistiest (I think it should be named nibbler.  The plum collar was the largest female.  The purple female was already picked by the family with the first black female pick, but I have to admit she was quite the cutie and very friendly.  It was difficult to choose and we compared the lavender, fuchsia, plum, and the light blue collared pups.

One of the harder parts about choosing is that in the first 5 minutes you're there and assessing them is you want to form an opinion about the personalities of the puppies.  So I'm thinking well the purple and light blue are playful, while the plum is playful, but more cautious and the breeder says the lavender likes to be held.  But then you're there for 10 more minutes and the plum and the lavender are the most playful and the purple and light blue are taking it easy.

By assessing them two by two and essentially considering their physical characteristics more so than trying to assess their personalities we did make a decision.  The Plum collared puppy.  My wife wanted a larger pup (and potentially dog) and the Plum is the largest female and 3rd largest pup in the litter.  I included a few pictures and some videos as well (courtesy of my early Christmas present - A FlipHD).

D-day is 1/1/11 in the early afternoon.  Definitely excited, definitely nervous.  Pretty sure I'm going to something wrong, but hopefully we'll figure it out.

Birthday

The puppies were born on 11/13/10 through the course of the day.  9 total with the largest portion being black females.  We chose the color black primarily and were fine with either sex, and because of us being a mid pick we will have a black female.  There was also 1 black male and 2 yellow males with 0 yellow females.  Everything is going well and the next post will be our puppy pick.

Our pup's parents

After deciding on a breeder I spoke with the breeder, Karen Shoemaker, and made the decision to put a deposit on a pup from a litter due in mid November.  Shortly after I was able to drive out to her home and ask some more questions and get a chance to meet the parents of our soon to exist pup, which you can see below. 

The sire is a dog named Ruger, a large headed black male who I was told is quite the hunter, and often accompanies the breeder's son into the field.  His lineage shows significant titling, and while he is not hunt or field trial certified, many of his offspring have received hunt and field trial certification.  I absolutely loved his personality and build and frankly he is the dog I'm looking to have, a great friend and a companion for waterfowl and upland hunting. Ruger's Info

The dam is a black lab named Sky, a super friendly female.  The pictures of her build look great, but honestly at the time that I met her it was difficulty to completely tell due to her being pregnant.  Sky's and the litter's info

Together they will have a black and yellow mixed litter and the history of the pups they have produced, I'm very excited to have a dog come from this litter.

The first two photos are of Ruger and the second two of Sky.

The plan of this project

I'm beginning this blog as my wife and I begin our life with a new member of the family.  Our young black lab.  After a lot of thought and consideration we've decided that the time is right for a dog.

We were recently married in May and I've had several dogs in the past, but this will be the first pet of any kind for my wife.  I've wanted a dog for some time, but with the costs and the time I was spending with school it just wasn't possible.

Even now it won't be easy as both of our jobs are demanding in terms of the times we work and the hours we're working, but we're going to do our best and provide the care and time our young pup will need.

I knew I wanted a dog for the field and after consideration of the English Springer Spaniel and a German Shorthair (which I had in the past) and with the input from my wife we decided on a Lab.  I'm doing more waterfowl hunting and the versatility and demeanor of the lab and the ability of the dog to be a running partner for my wife were a combination that couldn't be beat.

The process of looking for the right dog and looking for the right time to get a dog started almost 1 1/2 years ago, long enough that I decided on a training program before a dog, which will be the FowlDawgs training series.

After that decision was made I looked into the idea of a started lab (and even started pointing lab) due to the fact that I've never trained a lab and my wife's never had a dog.  However, the thought and challenge of successfully raising and training a lab from 8 weeks on is something we're prepared to tackle.

In looking for the right breeder price was obviously a factor, but more specifically the parents, their abilities, and what they are able to do were our main considerations.  I was happy to find Lamborn's Labradors (http://www.lambornslabradors.webs.com/), which was somewhat close to us in southern NJ and provided us with a match for a litter with (hopefully) the characteristics we are looking for.

The puppies were born 11/13/10 to Ruger and Sky (who I'll include pictures of on my next post).

We chose to get a black puppy out of this black/yellow mix litter and have 2nd choice for a female.  We weren't set on a specific sex, rather the color black ,which my wife insisted on.

I'll be shooting some pictures and video of the puppies and will be able to include those in the next few days as well.

Here's to hoping this experience goes well.  I'm 100% sure it'll be a lot of work, but I'm also 100% sure its going to be worth all the effort.

-JJD