After much research, I’ve begun my search for my new hunting partner/family companion.
My Wife, son (4), daughter (5), and I have decided that a well bred english Labrador is the right fit.
We lost our two dogs a few years ago within 2 weeks of each other at the ages of 11 and 13.
We are now ready to make another long commitment of bringing another dog into our family.
We are looking for a yellow female.
The dog would live inside our home. We have a relatively large fenced corner lot backyard, to train and play in. We also have two ponds with room to run in walking distance of the house.
After researching breeders online and talking to them on the phone, I’m having hard time narrowing it down, so I asking for any recommendations you may have.

I intend to have the dog professionally obedience and basic gun dog trained. I am active in dove and deer hunting, and salt and fresh water fishing.

I’ve done the research on trainers and there seem to be several reputable people in southeast Texas, so I’m interested to hear who you’d recommend.

Thanks for your time.

location?

I’m in Houston area. I’d drive to dfw or central Texas.

I wasn't familiar with the difference between English and American Labradors, so I looked it up and found this.

"Labradors bred for show and conformation have become commonly known as English type Labradors as they’re way more common in the UK.

Labradors bred for field trials and hunting have become commonly known as American type Labradors as they’re way more common in the USA."

I have two Akita's that we show and I'm very familiar with the Show World and believe strongly in Conformation in the breed. When we went out looking for a new puppy we started out with the Akita Groups on Facebook. Have you joined any of them for English Labrador's? We also went to quite a few AKC Shows and met the top people in our area based on who was winning Best of Breed for our breed. Since we where not finding what we where looking for locally, we started researching who the very best dogs where in the country, and also who created them. The amount of money that goes into creating top quality show dog is crazy, but the results are obvious.

It's taken us years to get to know those people and even longer to be accepted by them as a place that they would allow their puppies to live. Something that I wasn't aware of when we first got into showing dogs was how careful and cautious the top people are in who they sell their puppies to. We where inspected, researched and had to fill out multiple page questionnaires. A breeder that put in the time, money and effort to breed the best quality, best genetics and temperament will not just sell a puppy to anybody. There is usually a waiting list, and multiple people wanting that puppy to chose from.

Since you didn't mention showing the dog, but that you wanted a well bred English Labrador, some of what I said might not apply to you. In every litter, there will be the pick of the litter, which is what I'm after when buying a puppy, and then it goes down to show quality and pet quality. Prices vary drastically depending on quality and lineage. But the process should still apply.

https://www.akc.org/ will have a list of shows that you can look up and go to. These will be for Confirmation and have a hundred or more breeds there. Labradors will always be very common at every dog show. There is also something called a Specialty Show that will focus on a specific breed put on by a local club for that breed. English Labrador Specialty Shows will have the top Labs in the country. In September we are having the Top 20 Akita Show in Denver. The very best Akita's from all over the country will be there along with quite a few from Europe. A male that we plan to breed to next year is coming from England and we will be getting a couple of straws from him once he's in the country. I have two of the top 20 Akita's in the country, so it's now become easy to find puppies and people wanting to breed with us. I'm sure that English Labrador's have something similar, I just haven't looked into it.

https://caninechronicleshowcalendar...eed=118&opt=BRD&seq=def_breed_pr Canine Chornicles puts out the standings every month for every breed. The link is for the top 40 Labradors currently in the country. This is the list that I would start with when looking for a puppy. They names of the owners is listed under the dogs name and who you should start researching. I don't know any of them, or anything about that breed, but the process is the same for any breed if you want quality.

Good luck!!!

After writing all that, I saw a dog show friend post on Facebook about going to Houston this weekend. Looks like it's going to be a big show!!!

https://houstondogshows.com/

PM sent.

You should probably post this in the Gun Dogs section.

PM sent

Pm’s Returned.
Thanks for the in depth response/advice EddieWalker.
Choctaw you’re right. Just posted here because the gundog section doesn’t seem to get much traffic...

I love my Brit, and the only reason is not for conformance. They are generally regarded as better family dogs and have an actual off switch before they reach 6-8 years old. Sent you a PM and would love to talk to you about them.

Pm returned

A British lab isn't an English lab.

A British lab is a field bred lab similar to an American lab - but a little smaller with finer features. British labs will have a temperament similar to an English lab but with the body characteristics more similar to an American lab.

An English lab is a confirmation bred dog with the big blocky head, short stout legs, heavier coat, shorter snout, shorter tail. I think it confuses a lot of people English/British when they're not actually the same. British refers to UK styled field dogs from England. English refers to a US based confirmation bred dog. Be a whole lot more simple if it was just referred to a field bred vs conformation bred.

This is always a fun topic. I'll take the middle ground here and say I don't disagree with you, but I also can't agree with you on British vs English. English labs were bred for certain characteristics, and somewhere in there came "British" labs. I refer to mine as a British lab because that is the accepted term typically for a working dog of his breeding history/lineage. At the end of the day, a labrador retriever is a labrador retriever in AKC eyes for the most part although we obviously have identified different characteristics (mentally and physically) that they posses.

Based on the above, I obviously agree that it would be easier to distinguish a different way....although, you can't win a show in England as an English Lab without having won in the field as well. Something to noodle on