I have read The Happy Puppy & The Labrador Handbook, and have read and posted about hip / elbow scores. Just when I thought I had identified 2 good breeders , I started to look at their CO1 and EVB scores, and now my stomach feels sick with worry. It seems that when all the genetic tests are good, it comes with the cost of a higher inbreeding number (9.5, 12.5). Also, I wonder am I limiting my search too small (40 miles) , Wouldn't it be cruel to take a crying vomiting puppy on too long a car journey? I'm not able to weigh-up the risks, having no dog expereince. Any advice appreciated.
We drove 11 hours with our puppy, from the UK to Germany, with no problems. I wouldn't necessarily do it again (and anyway the rules have changed so it is no longer legal at 8 weeks), but I wouldn't hesitate to drive more than 40 miles to pick up a puppy. In fact, I would think it would severely limit your choice.
I brought my first 8-week old puppy four hours home in the car. There was no crying, no vomiting, no pooing or peeing. She slept most of the way. More recently, I picked up my new puppy at 8 weeks from Scotland and brought her down to Surrey, a six hour drive (although it took longer than that because of stops). Again, no crying or vomiting. She alternated between sleeping and cuddling the passenger. We stopped a couple of times to let her toilet, which she did - eventually! There was absolutely no distress on either occasion, so certainly don't hesitate to look farther afield.
I would travel for the right pup. Harley was about an hour away, but would go much further if needed.
Both mine were half an hour away and both healthy dogs, so I think they can be found close to home. Mine were from gundog breeders and I could see all the relatives way back on the bitches' side.
Good luck with your puppy search. My advice would be to take your time and go with your gut feeling, eventually the right litter that ticks all your boxes will come along. I was searching within a 50mile radius for 5 months before the right litter came along for me, there were a few I umm'd and ahh'd about but something held me back from committing. I'm picking up my new pup on the 9th from a litter I've had no doubts about at all right from the start. Widening the search area gives you much more choice, but after having an horrendous 6hr journey home (should only have been 3 but loads of holdups and accidents) with a previous puppy, who continually howled, whined, wouldn't sleep, was sick, peed and pooed all over me and the car we decided on an hours journey at the most this time.
We traveled about 40 mins with our first pup, no problem at all, and then about 6 hours for our second pup, there were some lovely ones closer but I was looking for a very specific dog. In-between we have had fosters who have traveled upwards of 24 hours Although Co1 is valuable, it doesn't mean that scores of just outside the recommended range are anything to worry about, nice to have for sure, however, how the pups are being raised combined with meeting the dam and sire, checking health status of parents plus medical history and health reports. Bensons Co1 was 9.5, but with very good and comprehensive health tests. He was already crate trained, well socialized in a home environment with children and other dogs. He has perfect hips too, the only trips to the vet have been purely self inflicted! Saying that I wouldn't consider a pup with a high Co1, as I would worry about hidden recessive genes for diseases plus robustness of immune system..this though is purely my personal opinion.
The first lab we bought we had to drive for three hours, the second one we drove to Belgium, a 4 hours drive. Next lab was only half an hour drive. And was there a difference? No! When you go to meet the pup you can make an outing of it....When you are going to collect the pup you have to make stops and let the pup do its 'business '. Just as told in the stories written above.
Definitely wait / travel for the right pup. We ended up going to Berkshire for Pongo (ended up being a 3 hour trip) - and he didn't have a good journey, sick and pooing and weeing, bless him - but he was absolutely fine as soon as he got home and no apparent memory of bad experience in car. I wonder if there may be some advantage in waiting til he is just a little bit older, 9 weeks rather than the normal 8, if you are worried about him coping in car? (Although Pongo was 9 and a half weeks when we picked him up, so obviously not a guarantee!) Also.... I'm not sure about this, maybe others know better? But I think that the most important thing would be the genetic tests (hips, elbows, eyes etc); the COI is an important factor but less critical that the actual tests on dam and sire?
I think it's an important part of the picture - in that, (and I realise this is extreme!) you could have two dogs that had brilliant health scores but were actually brother and sister... The COI is a risk score, that's all. A high COI doesn't guarantee problems and a low COI doesn't guarantee you won't have them. The only thing it does is say that, the higher the COI, the higher the chance of more homozygous alleles (gene pairs). What this means, is more chance that recessive traits will be apparent in the puppy. It also doesn't say whether these recessive traits are good or bad. Here's a really good, easy to read, guide to COI: http://www.dogbreedhealth.com/a-beginners-guide-to-coi/
