Just love my dogs!

Oh no! I hope someone finds her really soon!

This is correct. I think you will find that males can be used from 9 months and bitches from 12 months - HOWEVER - as Labradors have to be hip and elbow scored prior to mating, this is not done until 12 months of age and even then I wouldnt breed a bitch that young anyway. Ok. Thank you I wasn't sure if you should wait 2 years or not My boy is now 14 months old so it sounds like he's old enough to have his hips and elbows x-rayed and his eyes tested.

I'm sure she is. I would really like to meet her!

Hi All I'm hoping someone can answer this question: How old should a male labrador be before he starts breeding? Thanks

Lol! Thanks for all these great suggestions. Now it's time to try them out!

It sounds like a good idea to have small and large dog areas. I would be happy with that

Ahh know that feeling!!! Honey is much the same, life is just so wonderful to her! She is my first goldie and I am finding that its a slow conditioning process. Anecdotally, they seem to be eager to please but a bit slower on the uptake than say labs. I am seeing signs of improvement but I expect it to be a looooong time before I am completely happy with her reliability. Til then I am going to safe walking areas, practising eternal vigilance and putting her onlead at the first indication of her drive kicking in (her ears are VERY obvious !). For Holly. Her dead give-a-way is her bum. She wags her tail and her bum when she's up to no good!

Thanks Deelee. I'm reading it now. Holly has no fear. She'll run away from us and not even turn around to see where we are My husband ends up chasing after her!

Can you describe how you tried to use treats? When she runs off, I call her name and pull out a treat (making a rustling noise) but she just keeps on running. She's not food orientated (my Lab is!), which is unusual for Goldens

Does she look at you if you clap, whistle or call her name?? If she does as soon as she looks at you, wave your arms like crazy and call her name while spinning around and running away from her - worked like a charm for some of the people at our club who had trouble with recalls. Lol! I'll give it a go!

Yes I do actually! Mine included.

Hi All I have a 16 month old Golden Retriever who is hopeless as coming back to us. We have tried using treats but (can you believe it) she doesn't respond to treats! She hasn't had much off lead experience because she won't return to us and if there are other dogs or small children around, she'll just go running up to them because she's so excited! Has anyone got any ideas? Thanks

I think it's fair to say that there are other large breed dogs (not just labs) out there that can be overly excited and boisterous, especially if they are pups.

:laugh: the OP's dog is a rude dog and I can't fathom why they think it it ok to behave this way I don't think that's fair to say

Well I PROMISE that I'll never let my large dogs do that.

I may have to ask to have a thread I started closed. It's disappointing, exciting, yet somehow quite strangely flattering !!! As I said, I really really appreciate and take on board all the good and wise advice here. I have learnt alot in a very short space of time and some new behaviours of my own, as I continue to improve Archie's. I hereby would like to exercise my option as the OP and exorcise any human growling that may have found its way into the thread. So I appeal to you DOLers one and all - this is a genuine request to, as someone posted earlier, live and let live. Of course we have different opinions to each other, of course some of us are more experienced dog owners/trainers etc than others. Either way, may I suggest those who disagree with each other, whether 'right' or 'wrong' maybe take it off line or PM to thrash it out ? Or just relax and have a nice evening ! It really does end up becoming a bit of a tit for tat with no-one feeling very good or satisfied in the end. Altogether now Well said. I'm not going to offer any more of my opinions. I respect that people disagree with my opinions and that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

0.03% is a very low number. Since labradors are one of the most popular breeds, there are many more of them out there. This to me says, overall, they aren't an aggressive breed.

labsrule - the recent posts were responding to a poster (a lab owner) saying that ALL labs were friendly and NONE were EVER aggressive. People were pointing out that this wasn't true and SOME labs are aggressive - like SOME dogs are in all breeds. When I saw a lab owner had posted I thought "hoorah, a lab owner is going to set this person straight and say that they have to socialise their lab etc, just like you need to do with every other dog". Petty it wasn't so. Why is pointing out the obvious seen as lab bashing???????? I don't remember saying ALL labs were friendly and I certainly never said NONE were EVER aggressive. I said who ever heard of an aggreesive lab?

Lots of people I know own cross breed dogs and prefer them. Not everyone wants to have a pure bred dog.

I voted 'no' because I show my entire male lab but I have no intention of becoming a breeder. I would not be happy if I was forced to desex my dog.

You're not serious? There is a very HA and DA lab down the street from me - people cross the street when they see it approaching (on leash). Most labs also play very physically. They can easily hurt a small dog even if they didn't mean it. I'm deadly serious! Who could be scared of a labrador?! ;) They're known as the world's friendliest and most family orientated dog! I would never cross the street if I see a labrador on a leash. If I see a little yappy thing, then I cross the street!

Warning: A Rant There have been so many posts on annoying out of control yappy aggressive little dogs. I thought I'd offer "The little dog POV ..." Playful bouncy young labs are among the most dangerous dogs for my old chi cross. He has luxating patellas and a bad back. One playful knock would mean not only pain but quite likely the need for surgery. Even when I keep him on lead and tell the owners of these dogs that he does not like labs or that he may get hurt, they insist their dogs are friendly. When I pick him up to keep him out of their way, they lecture me on how bad it is to pick up small dogs--it makes them aggressive, etc, etc. However, when my dog is in obedience classes with well trained labs in a controlled situation he shows no aggression at all towards them. He'll sit next to a lab in long stays. He'll act as 'a post' and allow the labs to weave around him. We rarely go to off lead areas but even owners with onlead dogs want to force my dog to socialise with their dogs or want to "cure" my dog of his discomfort with bouncy young dogs by forcing him to interact. It drives me nuts. Di I think by naming labs as a "dangerous" dog for your old boy is being a bit unfair, ALL of the large breed dogs would be a danger for him then such as ridgebacks, great danes, boxers, they are all large and high energy. The only reason that labs get picked on is that there are so many of them around. Personally if i had an old dog I would never take them to an off lead park because accidents do happen , a dog could be running for his own ball and step on your oldie by mistake. ;) Ha ha ha Who ever heard of an aggressive or dangerous labrador!?!?!?

;) Typical Labs! Mine would fail too. He just wants to lick everyone to death! They are GRs!! Oooops!