Don`t know whether this is the done thing or not however......... Murphy was born in West Sussex on the 28th Sept 2013 out of Rizzaro Breeze of Marhystin & Lady of Island Dreams. There were 6 other siblings I think, 3 bitches and 3 dogs. I would be interested in tracing his siblings and hearing how they are getting on, are they worked or just pets, traits and personalities, training etc For his part Murphy is from a working line and is worked (as well as being a pet) and has just completed his first season beating and picking up. I have found training to be rewarding, challenging and frustrating in equal parts!! As my first "proper" gundog I`ve been using positive reinforcement (not always correctly but that`s another discussion) and clicker training to achieve where we are now, it`s not perfect and there`s still a long way to go but I`m pleased with progress so far. We have friends with labs and I couldn`t believe the difference between "working" & "show" strains in terms of temperament, energy levels and overall traits!? Overall I wouldn`t be without him and he really is my constant companion So, if you purchased a Labrador Retriever puppy around Nov the 21st/22nd in 2013 from a breeder in West Sussex I would love to hear from you and see how you`re getting on
Hi Steve , no harm at all in asking if you can trace any siblings , quite a few of us on here discovered the same lineage in our dogs , its interesting . Also interesting how much variant their is in the same breed , my last Lab was a show bred girl, never showed any interested in retrieving whilst my almost five year old Sam is passionate about it
Have you thought of contacting your breeder and asking if he could forward your contact details to other owners from your boys litter. You probably have more chance of success than through the forum. I have a so called "nutty, untrainable" chocolate so I'm interested to hear what you think the differences are between "working" or "show" bred as I find it quite unhelpful in general to categorise dogs in this way. My girl has field champions and show champions throughout her pedigree so what should her temperament, energy levels and overall traits be taking her chocolate reputation into consideration?
I certainly don't think that chocs are nutty and untrainable, in fact Sams best friend and all time hero is a chocolate called Yorkie , the most steady Lab I have ever met
Rosemary, thanks for your reply, have I touched a nerve re "types" . The breeder unfortunately has moved and I`ve lost the contact details! With regard to differences I`m merely comparing my dog to labs my friends have, both "types" if you like As I have little experience what I have noticed is Murphy is much more "driven, excitable, hyper" call it what you like. He likes to be active, mentally and physically and comes alive at training/working scenarios, whereas some other labs I `ve had contact with seem more relaxed, laid back and not all are interested in retrieving. I wasn`t questioning any particular colour or lineage merely stating what I`ve observed. If I offended then sorry
Might be worth having a look at your dogs pedigree, and see if you have any relatives...a couple of threads here are quite fun! http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/working-line-are-our-dogs-related.10303/ and this thread looks more at our show bench cousins.... http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/are-our-dogs-related.10268/
@SteveF No you haven't touched a nerve I just believe it is wrong to categorise dogs as "types" or whatever because of a line of breeding, not forgetting that most Labs are related to each other due to common founding stock in the late 19th early 20th century. Juno is a laid back, calm relaxed girl who loves retrieving, training and being active but without the "hyper, driven or excitable" temperament you are categorising the working dogs with having. Juno's father has won events in field competitions and also performed very well in the show ring
Hi Steve My Molly came from Camberly. She was born on 20th September 2013 so is the older by just 8 days. She is also a field Labrador, having several FTC in her ancestry. She is muscular, athletic and very high energy, quite the opposite of what I was expecting from a Labrador. Molly is very excitable and hyper. I think it is just how she is. We are a pensioner household so quite calm and quiet. If she had been a Chocolate, people would now be pointing at her and saying she was a nutty Chocolate. Just shows how easy it is to generalise I have compared both our dogs pedigrees and can find few, if any points of similarity.
@Mollly Molly is looking lovely - we don't see enough photos of her (hint, hint ). We seem to spend our lives pointing out to people the inaccuracy of that statement. Earlier today we had a local plumber round to discuss some jobs - he actually lives just down the road- and he mentioned that his children had wanted a chocolate lab but he had been told that they were totally bonkers, at which point we said, "yep, certainly looks that way" as Juno was stretched out in her bed, totally relaxed, had greeted him very nicely and just gone back to her bed afterwards.
How interesting! Good luck with your search, I hope you find some brothers and sisters. I so know what you mean. I find so many working line Labradors just seem really quite lazy and low energy compared to my show line boy. Not all, of course, some are fine.
