To breed or not?

[Labmom]

We have the most gorgeous black lab.... she's 2 years old and can't decide whether to breed from her or not.
She is pedigree and we have her pedigree history.
She is the most wonderful family dog, obedient, friendly, doesn't bark, great with kids and other animals.
Can you tell me the benefits? Disadvantages? Amount of work and costs involved.
We know we need to get her hip scored etc so aware of those costs.
Thanks

All of the above, some very good advice.
I was raised in a dog breeding/ showing family & bred & showed my own for over forty years, only these last few years not keeping any new puppies as thought it would be quite nice to have a holiday now & again, never having had one.
It is very very, hard work even when everything goes well. You need to be breeding in the aim to improve the breed & keep it going. So you really need to know what all those impressive names on your pedigree mean exactly, what traits they carry in the line, are they compatible with your bitch. Just “ Champion” isn’t really enough.As stated before me all health tests need doing, even DNA in my breed.
I had, still have two breeds one of which is very much on the endangered British Native Breeds list, Skye Terriers. There were many times when the one litter I had that year was the only litter registered that year. You need money, time, patience, no need for sleep, a willingness to say no when you just know that someone wanting to buy is not where you think one of your precious puppies will thrive. My litters were half a dozen or less, I believe labs can have a dozen!
All my girls whelped through the night. I’ve had litters that I’ve had to hand rear, bottle feeds every two hours day & night. Personally I always kept a puppy from each litter to show,I didn’t breed constantly.The main reason I bred, I was proud of my line & hated to think this beautiful rare native breed could become extinct in this country to make way for the so called designer, fashionable breeds.

frostedviolets I think you just made my point that people who know nothing about a breed should not breed.

Do you have a couple of thousand pounds spare in case your dog needs a C Section
Daytime cost for a C Section can be around £1400 at night in an emergency around 2k

Can you afford to take up to a month or so off work if you have to bottle feed a litter of puppy’s every 2 hrs or so. ( I’ve done this and a dead body looked better than me when this happened ) 😂

Are you prepared to possibly lose your bitch if a puppy gets stuck and you don’t realise and your bitch dies along with the litter

I say this as an owner of a black lab. They are beautiful nature gorgeous animals - but really - do you think the world needs more pups?