Hi! I am new here. I have the option of getting a 5mos old English Lab or 8 week old Lab. I realize there are pluses and minuses for each ages. It is a breeder her in MA. I have had goldens before so am familiar with sporting breeds. I am home all day. The 5mos old has never been on a leash, has not had any sort of training. I have seen him several times. I realize I am starting at the beginning with a 8 week so molding the behavior and at 5 mos of age molding and extinguishing some possibly bad behavior. I am 55 yrs old. Which would you get????
Hi Laura - welcome! What a tricky choice for you! This article might give you some ideas to help you choose between the pups. https://www.thelabradorsite.com/choosing-the-right-dog/ I'd be interested to know if both pups are with the same breeder, and what reason the breeder has given for the 5 month old being available? That would affect my choice, I think!
Well, she says that he and his brother are left over from another litter and people tend to gravitate more towards the younger pups. I have seen him and he is sweet, as all labs are…lol…. Tell me if this is red flag though…she says to give it a week and if it does not work out she will take it back. She is well known here in MA. Has a website and everything. Any advice appreciated…thank you for the article support…
Hi Laura, Any talk of multiple litters being born near each other is a possible red flag. If she's just happened to choose to breed a 2 litters this year, and misjudged the demand for pups, that's probably not a worry. But if she's breeding multiple litters in rapid succession, that's a red flag. There's some more info here: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-spot-a-bad-labrador-breeder/ A website isn't really any help in your decision. Some excellent high quality breeders have websites.... so do some puppy farms. The fact that she's offered a one week trial is reassuring. But I'd be most interested to know, where does the puppy live, how have they socialised him, does he have all the relevant health checks etc. There's some helpful ideas here for questions to ask the breeder: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-retriever-breeders/ - hopefully the answers will reassure you . If you're happy with the breeder, and that the pup is extensively socialised, has been living indoors with the family, and hasn't picked up bad habits that are hard to break, like chasing wildlife, then depending on your circumstances 5 months old might well be a better option for you than an 8 week old puppy. It really comes down to personal preference at that point
