Originally Posted by
chenkev
Hi Tanya, thanks for your reply! And sorry I left out some important details regarding my interactions with the Lab breeder.
He did contact me after seeing my video with Vontae, but he'd already known of me through a mutual acquaintance, and he did not offer his dog to me without meeting me. Rather, initially he was actually contacting me to enlist my help in placing one of his 5-year-old female Lab champions (champion in conformation) to a forever retirement/pet home, since I'm very active in the "dog circle" in Taiwan and so he figured I was a good person to ask (and see if I was interested myself - which I would be, except as I stated it's not the right time for my family).
When I helped him find an acquaintance who was interested in adopting this retiring dog, Vontae and I went to his kennel to visit him, along with the acquaintance who wanted to adopt the retiring dog, so we spent an entire afternoon visiting his kennel and discussing dogs - and my acquaintance did end up adopting the retiring dog, who is clearly wonderful. It was after all these interactions that he made me the offer - he just feels like any dog who can be one of only two pets in a loving, active household will live a more enjoyable life than any dog in a breeder's home, which I tend to agree with. His dogs are all health-tested, and most are imported from reputable kennels in the US and Australia. They actually have a somewhat decent English-language website:
Essentially, we're considering several options:
1). I can adopt another retiring show dog, whenever I'm ready to, for free.
2). I can adopt a current show/breeding dog, under co-ownership/foster home arrangement.
3). I can adopt a puppy who's a prospective show/breeding dog, under co-ownership/foster home arrangement.
In #1, it would be the same as my acquaintance's case - I would simply adopt the dog, spay her and she's mine completely.
In #2 and #3, the dog would go back to the breeder to be bred when she's in heat, for an agreed upon number of times of breeding (2 or 3 is the likely number; all his breeding dogs are bred 1-3 times before they're done for life), and she would go back to the breeder when she's ready to deliver, for something like 8 weeks after she delivers. The breeder would take care of all whelping-related expenses and raise all the puppies; I would get third choice in each puppy litter if I want one (first two choices go to the breeder). After she breeds 2-3 times, full ownership would transfer to me (without any fee) and she would stay with me 100% of the time. For #3 (adopt a puppy who's a prospective breeding/show dog), if the dog turns out to be not suitable for breeding, I would pay a small fee (US$ 400) and the dog will be mine 100%, without ever showing or breeding.
Thanks again for all the insights about Labs! We do have a large field where a Lab would be able to run freely off-leash and swim, every day, for at least one hour - which is what Vontae and I already do now, and often longer when I have time (I work from home, which makes things much easier and which means Vontae is almost ever home alone).
So if a Lab is going to be incredibly rambunctious until about two, maybe a good option is to actually adopt a young show/breeding dog rather than a puppy - say, a dog who's currently 2, and will be bred only one more time before retiring? This way, I can even visit her with Vontae several times before she comes home with us, to make sure that the two of them would get along?
Thanks again!
Kevin