I lost my dag yesterday.  He was a lab/hound mix who would have been 14 on 10/31.  I had him from ten weeks old.  I am heartbroken, as is the rest of the family.  We need a new dag.

I have three small kids, and I want to give them the experience of raising a puppy.  I am looking for a lab, probably either yellow or black.  I could go either way on the sex.  I have been asking around and searching various web sites.  I have identified several breeders near me who have pups available.

How do I know which one to go with?  I want a healthy dog with a good temperament.  I am not interested in breeding, and he/she will be fixed.  I mostly need a good family dog. who will bark at strangers.  It would be great if I could train him/her to be off lead, so I could take him/her with me hunting, but that is a nice to have.  We have a 1/2 acre fenced yard in town, and we have a 13 yo English setter, who is very sociable and submissive to other dags.

What criteria should I use to select a breeder and choose a puppy?

Sorry for the loss of your buddy.
Don't know that to tell you about breeders.
Have you thought of a shelter pup?

I researched thoroughly and visited several different breeders when I got my lab. I'm not much about "energy" and touchy feely things like that but I found out after visiting several breeders that some simply didn't feel right - and my instincts were correct.  I would always ask to walk through the kennel where they keep the sires and dams to see how well they are kept.  If they don't allow this, walk out.  They should be proud to show off their breeding stock and shouldn't be afraid to show you their living conditions.  If the breeder is fat, don't trust them.  There is no way you can get obese raising a kennel full of labs unless you severely neglect them.  They should focus more on showing you their dogs than showing you their field trial trophies and awards - don't let these impress you.  They shouldn't pressure you in any way and should show a genuine concern over how well you are going to care for one of their dogs.  After calling ahead and scheduling a time to visit them, they should give you as much time as you want to hang out with the dogs, within reason.  Pay attention to things they do to help socialize the pups.  My breeder would play loud music, throw pheasant wings in the pen, and do things like this so they had a head start on adapting to the world around them.  They shouldn't allow anyone to take a puppy younger than 7 weeks old and they should offer a hip guarantee good until they're one year old along with a chip.  Make sure you meet the mom and dad and pay attention to their temperament and how well the breeder can handle them on and off leash.  Ask them where they got their dogs from - it is a good sign if they went out of state for a few of them to prevent inbreeding.  Play stupid about inbreeding and ask them how they know they're not doing it - they should be able to speak knowledgeably on the topic.  Plan on spending some time behind the wheel and don't minimize yourself to your local area.  Some of the best breeders are in the middle of nowhere.  Also, budget to spend upwards of $1200 on a good dog, but don't negate a breeder who is selling for $800.  Anything less than $800 and I'd be leery.  

Hope this helps, it's a very exciting time.  Don't let a bad breeder put a damper on any of it.  Bring the kids along when you can.  Check out the book "Game Dog" - the first couple chapters have some great info about picking out a puppy from the litter.

Thanks that is helpful.  I think I have an old copy of "Gun Dog" around the house somewhere, but I went ahead and ordered the new edition of "Game Dog" from Amazon.

I was looking for a Lab pup three years ago.  The breeders on-line wanted crazy prices and wanted ME to fill out an application which they would consider before putting ME on their waiting list.

So, I went where those really in the know about dogs go. E-Bay. Found a local back yard breeder who had one pup left.  At 11:00 o'clock on a Saturday night I made an appointment to see the last available pup the next day. The sellers were a young couple who had the mom and pop dogs on-site. On-site was a clean home in the near-by burbs.

Fast forward today. Ozzie is asleep on the couch next to me. Head on my lap, snoring, dreaming, and pharting. Smartest dog I've ever had. 115 lbs of hunka, hunka,
burning love.

Clearly, my methodology wasn't the best, maybe approaching the worst. But it worked for me.

I just recently went through this and I say find a breeder that not only gets to know his dogs but also you. I bet my visit was a 30 minute interview on me and how I will raise the pup versus here's ten pups pick one... Find out what they will be clear of. The breeder I went with says "These pups will never be affected by EIC, DM, CNM, PRA/PRCD, or RD/OSD. Health and hip guarantee as well as a puppy go home pack! " He's done all the dna testing and can backup his claims.

I found him through our local Missouri militia. I was looking at a GSD from a breeder in the group that imports them. He told me he'd sell me one to train to assist me with overcoming some of my physical disabilities because he had a pup that would make a decent service dog but his friend breeds labs and had one that would be perfect for a service dog. THAT is a breeder truly interested in finding the best match for you not his wallet.

My lab was discounted because it was going to be used as a service animal. This is just a policy he has. Still an $800 dog. I got him from www.sugarcreeklabradors.com if you look them up on Facebook they're in Missouri and you'll see them sharing videos of a guy in a wheelchair training a yellow named Marvin. That's me.

Sorry man.

any breeder that will sell you a pup without checking you out is not a good breeder.

You find a breeder who health tests for things like hip dysplasia, who is willing to disclose any health issues in their lines (and there will always be something, but it should be either way back or not directly in line, maybe a great aunt or distant cousin or something) and is familiar enough with the lines to discuss them and educate you on them. The breeder should interview you and ask you questions. They should want to know what your lifestyle is like, what experience you have, where the dog will be while you are away, how long it will be by itself during the day, etc. They will also expect you to have questions. Questions about how the pups were raised, what training they've had, what health testing the breeder has had done on the parents, any titles they've achieved, even as simple as why this breeding with these particular dogs. And they should have good, solid, ready answers for those questions.

Reach out to Arfcom's 'Dog Rescuer' joker1 and let him know what you are looking for.  I know you said breeder, but I'd give him a chance anyways, probably the BEST way to get what you want/need is to explain it to him and see what he can find.

+1 On point.

My current pup (not a lab) I passed on all breeders within driving distance and had my pup flown in from Ohio for the above stated reasons.