Frequently asked questions
American or English Labs - what is the difference?
The English Labrador and the American Labrador are the two types of Labrador Retrievers. Both types can have the various coat colors - black, yellow, chocolate, or rarer gray, silver, or red. English labs are blockier, thicker, and heavier. They have shorter legs and bodies, and shorter and wider muzzles. American labs are slimmer, taller and leaner dogs. Their build is more athletic and well-suited for active lifestyles. American labs were bred for working and field trials, and are considered a “field dog” rather than the English “show dog.” A major benefit of field dogs is higher trainability. All of our labs are purebred American Labradors. While anything outdoors is beloved, ours especially love hunting, swimming, and running!
How big will they get?
American labs are taller and leaner dogs than their English counterparts. Expect a full-sized pet reaching around 21.5-24.5 inches tall. Males average 65-80 lbs, while females tend towards 55-70 lbs. While there are some indicators at the puppy stage of adult size, like paw size and ear size, it’s really difficult to reliably estimate the adult size that a specific puppy will reach!
What are dew claws? Why remove them?
Dew claws are located above the paw on the inside of your dog’s leg. Due to their location, dew claws can pose a tear hazard for active breeds. As we know that many of our dogs will lead very active outdoor lives, we have the dew claws removed from each pup when they are just a few days old. In our experience, the tear risk outweighs the traction benefit.
Do you ship animals, or meet part way?
As a small family farm we do not have any infrastructure in place to ship animals. We’ll work with you to find a day and time to come out to our farm to pick up your dog after they reach 7-8 weeks of age and they have received all of their required vaccinations. If you are local, you’re more than welcome to come visit and pick out your puppy ahead of this date! We’ll take great care of him/her and send you pictures and updates until they are ready to come home.
We aren’t able to deliver dogs to you or drive out to meet you part way. We understand how this could be so helpful, but we have young kids and aren’t able to accommodate this.
Speaking of required vaccinations…
Prior to pick up, each puppy is vaccinated against:
Canine Distemper
Adenovirus Type 2
Coronavirus
Parainfluenza
Parvovirus
Leptospira Canicola
Grippotyphosa
Icterohaemorrhagiae
Pomona
We also administer de-wormer at 3, 5, and 7 weeks of age to protect against tapeworm, hookworm, roundworm, and whipworm.
In your pick-up packet, we will provide documentation for vaccination records with the vaccine type (including manufacturer and lot number) and administration date. Please identify a local veterinarian and schedule an initial appointment within the first week after picking up your new puppy to establish care. Your vet will advise when/if there are any additional vaccinations they would recommend, provide their recommendation for continuing a de-worming regimen, and guide you on when it is safe for your puppy to socialize with other dogs.
Even if requested, we will not forego vaccinating a pup.
Do you complete genetic testing on your breeding dogs?
Yes! We are members of EmBark Vet For Breeders, and complete DNA testing on our breeding dogs before they enter into our breeding program.
EmBark DNA screens for 250+ genetic health risks, delineated by breed specific risks, and tests for genetic diversity to screen for inbreeding. Noting, all of our dogs are very responsibly vetted from breeders in different geographical areas, and lineages are confirmed through AKC before our dogs are purchased. Still, this genetic profile provides us with a Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI) that confirms a LOW coefficient for each breeding pair - no inbreeding, plenty of genetic diversity.
The eCOI (Expected Litter Coefficient of Inbreeding) for our current pairing, Moses and Meadow, is 10%, while the average breed COI is 16% (the lower the better)
Our dogs also are screened for 250+ genetic health risks, including the breed-specific health risks that are of greatest concern (likelihood). All of our dogs are CLEAR of any of these breed-specific health risks before entering our breeding program - they are not at increased risk of having these conditions themselves, and are not carriers of the genes that they could pass along to their puppies. Out of the 262 conditions we screen for, I’ll focus here on those for Labrador Retrievers. This includes 21 Breed-Relevant conditions:
Alexander Disease
Canine Elliptocytosis
Centronuclear Myopathy, CNM
Congenial Myasthenic Syndrome, CMS
Day Blindness
Degenerative Myelopathy, DM
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)
Exercise-Induced Collapse, EIC
Golden Retriever Progressive Retinal Atrophy 2, GR-PRA2
Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis, HNPK
Macular Corneal Dystrophy, MCD
Myotonia Congenita
Narcolepsy
Progressive Retinal Atrophy, crd4/cord1
Progressive Retinal Atrophy, prcd
Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency
Skeletal Dysplasia 2, SD2
Stargardt Disease*
Ullrich-like Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
Urate Kidney & Bladder Stones
X-Linked Myotubular Myopathy
*Meadow: one of two alleles is a carrier for Stargardt disease. This means that 50% of their puppies may also be carriers for the condition. Breeding a CLEAR dog (Moses) to a carrier (Meadow) is a way to prevent puppies from inheriting the required TWO copies of this variant that would consider them at increased risk for developing the condition. If you are planning on incorporating one of our puppies into your breeding program, please considering having your breeder dogs screened as well to ensure they are not also a carrier for Stargardt disease.
Keep in mind, breeding only clear dogs could reduce the genetic diversity of the breed. There is no increased risk of Stargardt disease in our Moses/Meadow puppies, as they will not inherit two variants.