Experience of Lab Retriever cross?

[dontlookbackinangerr]

Thinking of getting a lab retriever cross and wondered if anyone has experience of this breed/combo in terms of temperament and behaviour? First time dog owner and looking at puppies currently. Any specific tips welcomed :)

Do you mean a Labrador Retriever crossed with a Golden Retriever? Why would you cross two perfectly acceptable breeds?

As it is, I do know a Lab/Goldie cross. It's a total liability, completely untrained, reactive and aggressive to other dogs and has been since it's first puppy training class.

Others are probably better...but by and large, mongrel breeders don't breed for temperament, or for health, so personality defects, behavioural issues and health issues (of which Labs and Goldies have a lot) aren't unusual. To buy a dog of that mix (not that I would tbh), there's about 8 health tests I'd want before I'd even consider it - and I bet you the breeder hasn't done even half of them - given how prone they can be to serious health issues, some of which are life-limiting.

What do you mean by lab/retriever cross? Labs are retrievers

Same as pp.
Are you buying it because you'd like a dog, or because it's a cute puppy?

I'd get a dog from a rescue centre. The centre will advise you and match you to a suitable dog.

Meet the dogs | Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

Actually get a cat instead.
Meet the cats | Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

I've known a couple of lab crosses.
One with goodness knows what - she was a lovely dog, sensible, trainable and a pleasure to walk.
One x springer - also a lovely dog but bonkers and very full on, needed a job
One x collie, owner seemed very happy with her, she was a nice dog.

I don't know about the collie x, but the first two had long and largely healthy lives.

As regards health tests, I'd want to know what the hips were like, and for at least one of the parent dogs to have been tested for any recessive genetic diseases known to be prevalent in both breeds. You might find if you investigate that there are other issues that need to be checked for too.

I'd also like to meet at least the dam, and have a good idea about the sire if i didn't meet him, so I could check up on temperament.

At least with a cross you don't have to worry about inbreeding, which has caused massive issues in some pedigree dogs.

Sorry for the confusion! Lab Retriever is the breed, meant to take the cross out. But that has been useful insight on a cross.

Added context is this is two adults, no children, lots of space in the house. Work from home most the time..

They seem like hard work as puppies but information online suggests lovely once older??

Still thinking/researching but started to think Lab Retriever could be a good fit as we like long walks and are active

Thank you for the advice too on what to look out for. @EdithStourton you mentioned the hips, is this a physical check on the parents to look for?

Phew! If it’s a lab, then here’s some advice I gave someone yesterday:

I'd want to see evidence of the following health tests for both parents and the below scores:
Elbows (0/0 - absolutely nothing above this)
Hips (Under 7, but I would accept under 10)
BVA/KC/ISDS - Unaffected
CNM tests (on both parents - it tests for possible muscle disorders and you do not want a pup who is affected by this). Should show as clear.
Also relevant eye tests etc.

Basically, I would want both parents fully health tested. Lots of breeders do not test for CNM, PRA or MCD - these are DNA tests which a lot of people are not bothered about. But if your pup is affected with the relevant genes, it can cause enormous difficulty - particularly for active dogs like labs.
Inbreeding coefficient (you can see this on the KC website) below the breed average.

With dogs like labs, there is rarely an excuse to have a IC above the breed average.

I'd want to know why she chose the sire she did, what happens to the bitch when she can't have anymore pups, how many other dogs she has, how many litters she breeds a year, whether she 'matches' a pup to you (or lets you chose), how many litters the bitch will have (personally, I think more than two is far too many) etc. etc.

What I would caution about is moving too quickly. It's great you've found a breeder, but deciding which breed is right for you should take months to decide. I know some Golden breeders that are vets, and I wouldn't buy a puppy from them for all the nukes in North Korea - and being registered means nothing (either KC or Council) because puppy farmers can be registered with both.

I'd also want to be thoroughly vetted by her because I'd want to know that she cared where her puppies were going - and wasn't selling them to the first person who made an offer.

Ultimately, picking a breeder and a puppy is about critical thinking and using your gut - don't take things at face value and assume because someone has X background, they're a good breeder 😊

They're lovely, OP, but they eat everything, especially the puppies.

Hips can be an issue, especially if the dog is overweight.

Never had any but exSIL had some and they were cute dustbins who would trash the house if left alone.

So its a Lab?
Nice dogs but can be quite physical and a bit thuggish as puppies, generally very greedy and will eat anything, never grow out of puppyhood properly.
As with all breeds there is a spectrum of behaviour and you need to make sure there is good consistent training from day one and forever.
Also, check the health of the parents as suggested above.

We had a lab. Absolutely fabulous dog. Pretty hard work as a puppy and very full on until around 2. Lots of energy, he walked miles until the end. Absolutely obsessed with food, which made him easy to train. Shed constantly so no use if your very house proud. Agree with a pp who mentioned all the health checks on parents, especially hip scores.

Labradors can be lovely but they can also be bouncy thugs. They need plenty of good quality exercise and you need to watch their diets as they’re prone to overeating.

They’re generally biddable and easy to train but they go through a phase where they’re big bouncy teenagers in an adult size body - so you need to make sure they’re not tearing about and jumping up at people. Sometimes other dogs can find their play a bit much as well which is another thing to watch out for.

Saying all that, I’ve never met a lab with a bad temperament and as long as you give them what they need mentally and physically, they tend to make lovely family pets.

This is advice is so so useful and @LandSharksAnonymous this insight on health checks and what to look out for is invaluable. I'm very conscious of bad breeders / breeding and want to do the right thing. You've probably saved me hours of research!

I am trying to check the breed would fit and also prepare for the realities.. I know it is hard work and probably going to be a shock.

So getting a view of the bad side or the watch outs is really important.

This might sound stupid but I assume the colour doesn't make a difference? Seen some darker red ones for example

Bouncy thugs got it

Are you looking for a show or working lab? That will have more of an impact on their temperament than colour.

I find girls tend to be smaller and slighter and that makes them so much easier IMO. Males can get very big and muscley and be very strong. They're oblivious to their size though and knock anything and everything over. They need very good lead training or they're just basically dragging you around where ever they want to go.

Some are food obsessed (there's a gene for it apparently). They will counter sweep and be in the bin given half a chance. Everything you own will be covered in hair IME black labs don't seem so bad but maybe just less noticeable. They will bring a ton of mud back to your house after a walk and some have quite a smell to them especially when they're wet. As they get older they're generally happy to be left for a while and are generally quite chilled.

No, the dog is sedated and x-rayed and the x-rays are then assessed for the degree of dysplasia (the socket not being deep enough for the head of the femur). My bitch's score was something like 5/8 (5 for one hip, 8 for the other, total 13) which was one reason I didn't breed her as it was above her breed's average.

That being said, she's 8 and the only lameness she's ever had was due to a soft tissue injury in a shoulder...

Hip scoring costs money, so a lot of people don't bother. TBH is a dog is 10 and still in regular work his hips are probably excellent - but that doesn't tell you anything about the bitch, who will be younger.

Agreed.
Pet/show line labs can be slow, steady sweet-natured plodders - SIL's was. Working line labs are leaner, keener, cleverer (IMHO), busier, more driven...

I know what I'd prefer, but then I have a breed notorious for its drive and general mania.

Colour may well make a difference.
But not because of the colour iyswim. Chocolate was extremely popular a while back and now Red (which is simply a dark variant of Yellow), if the breeder is (attempting) breeding simply for colour and not temperament/health to ensure a premium price, then yes, there may be issues. However, that would be a bad breeder and if you follow LandSharksAnonymous’ advice, you’ll hopefully be avoiding a bad breeder.

Hips (Under 7, but I would accept under 10)

To add to that, I'd want to see an even-ish score, i.e. I'd probably prefer 5,5 over 9,0 even though the latter is technically a lower score.

My Mum is very small and petite and got one as her first dog. She's openly admit he was 18 months old before she was convinced they'd keep him!!! He was nuts and very quickly big enough to knock her over and lots of tears were cried over him.

He was much calmer by 2/3 and at 5 is a lovely dog. Big long walk with lots of tennis ball in the morning, play in the garden in the afternoon, sits with my Mum in their home office in between, chills with the family in the evening.

Great advice on here. I think @ZookeeperSE comment with respect to colour is very sensible.

Another, more frivolous issue is that colour of coat will often affect shedding quantity and the ability of shed hair to get in your tea.

I have had 2 labs, both black. It was not too hard to keep on top of the shedding, their hair did not stick to my clothes etc.

My friend has two blondish yellow labs. One touch and it’s clouds of hair everywhere. Dark clothing covered, floaters in your tea.

So if you are at all house proud, check out the coats of the mum dog and if possible the stud, as that will give you a clue .

@dontlookbackinangerr If you found my advice helpful, I'm really glad! What I would say is, as others have said, lots of breeders don't health check properly - so you do need to be prepared to wait, possibly a year+ for a really healthy, happy puppy. You might strike lucky and find a breeder with pups before that - sometimes sales fall through or the breeder has more pups than they were expecting (because breeders will often have waitlists for up to 8/9 pups and obviously when the bitch does get pregnant, there are often more or less pups) - but it's worth reaching out to breeders now and seeing when they might have a litter etc.

The wait is 100% worth it though, not just because you know your dog has had the best possible start to life, but also because of the mental burden it takes off you not having to worry about future health issues.

I also agree with others who said the main difference is show/working - as a first time owner, I would avoid working for two reasons: (1) working lines do tend to be a bit more bonkers, more driven and need an outlet. Although they can make fantastic family pets, it's not their first purpose. It's far more like having a border collie than it is a 'typical' family pet IYSWIM and (2) show lines can still be very energetic and trained to a high level - and some still have drive - but they are better 'family pets' with an off-switch that's easier to train into them IME. If you want a good family pet, that can go for long walks, and can be well trained then a show line is a far better choice!

Also don't be deceived by the short coat - labradors do still shed. Although admittedly you won't have tumble-furs like you might get with a Golden...

My red lab is my first dog and she is a dream. We did a lot of research into her pedigree and have long records on both sides - but we paid a lot of money for her, as we expected. She is now 20 months and she is the calmest, most biddable dog. We had no real adolescence phase, she just suddenly seemed to mature over a few weeks. We have cats and from day one she has been gentle around them, and the dc. I have never once seen her bare a tooth or growl. Genuinely a lovely lovely dog.

The "cons"-
the hair. You've never seen hair like it,
The mud, paws everywhere..
The digging- there's two places in our lawn that we think there must be bones buried underneath, she will relentlessly dig there.
The eating- everything. As a puppy she could not be left unattended. She's a bit more discerning now. She's never 'chewed' but she will eat absolutely anything.
She will counter surf if we don't guard the kitchen- our fault entirely
She's great off lead if she's 1-1 with me but if a spaniel or goldie (or any retriever) who is a bit more lively comes up in the park, she's always game for a few laps.
She'd probably like a companion as she gets older. She has a play date once a week with a German short haired pointer and they get on so well, but I think when she gets older we would look for a nice rescue for her as a companion. I'd never have another puppy again.

We had a golden retriever/Labrador cross living with us for a year (trainee guide dog puppy). He was the most wonderful, loving, affectionate boy - but very large, very bouncy, exceptionally hairy and extremely energetic.

We have our own elderly Labrador girl, who is the most affectionate darling, but she was completely nuts until about 4 years old. She’s now bomb proof aged 9, but was a total nitwit for the first few years. We also have a withdrawn guide dog Labrador who is 18 months old and currently a complete liability, much as we love her! 😄

I have two black labs - one female, almost 15 years old retired gundog, one male, almost two year old hooligan! He is greedy, bouncy and clumsy, has reduced me to tears several times and sheds hair everywhere! On the other hand, he is great with the grandchildren, loves other dogs and is very cuddly. He loves to run - my son has started taking him running and he is in his element. I would always have a lab - but he is my last puppy!