Chay

We went through this exact scenario last year. We lost our old and sweet yellow lab Toby and wanted a pup. Getting a shelter or rescue dog is wonderful, but we are in our 60s and knew this would probably be our last dog. My husband wanted an 8 week old that we could train from the start. It was a long process. Yellow labs are really popular. We live in the Northwest. I started online trying to find a breeder through state Labrador Retriever groups. There was nothing here in Montana so I started looking in a larger area and ended up using a Nortwest Retriever group that listed breeders in the Seattle and greater Washington area. I did a lot of research on each potential breeder because I was terrified of getting involved with a puppy mill. To make a long story short it took over a year for us to find a breeder that we liked who was breeding a litter at the time we could take a dog (my husband was still teaching then and we wanted a dog in the late spring or summer so that he could work with her during summer break). We wanted a pup that was raised in a home and was well socialized. The breeder we worked with sent us pictures every week after the litter was born; she was great. We went to get our pup Scout when she was 9 weeks old. She's just over a year now and is a joy. It had been 12 years since we had a puppy and this time we were smart: did crate training, took her to puppy classes and manners classes. Shortly after we got Scout we got a Corgi puppy - but that's a whole other story. Good luck with your search!