Me and my partner have recently moved into a place with a small but well fenced in backyard, and feel that we're ready to add a pup to our family.
We've settled on either a Labrador or Golden Retriever, as they're the only breeds that fit all of our wants from a dog: Medium-large size, Yellow/Gold colour, friendly and sociable, low/no prey drive as we have a timid ragdoll cat, easily trainable, 10+ year lives, few genetic health issues, can be off-leash after proper training (no beagles unfortunately), and have medium energy levels (An hour of walking and high-energy play is enough).
I'm stuck on the how though, especially with the covid demand. Most of the puppies we've had before have been from family/friends or gumtree/trading post litters, but it doesn't seem like that's done anymore with the new laws, which is fair enough. We're open to adopting again too and have been looking at the various sites for a while, but only smaller dogs, or larger dogs with high prey drives/energy like greyhounds, staffies and arctic dogs, seem to show up. Breed specific dog rescues have some old dogs that look lovely, except I think we might be too active for a 6+ year old dog, so we're keeping an eye on them as well for younger dogs.
Gumtree has a few Lab puppies for $3500, though for that price I'd want them to come from a good breeder. Goldie puppies go for $6000, so we'd likely go with a yellow lab if we went down the puppy route. Lots of scams recently, so pretty weary.
I don't mind spending good money on a puppy or on a young dog with good socialization, genetics and papers, as I'd end up spending that anyway in vet or trainer bills later in life with more stress. And of course no one can be picky about breed and temperament on a tiny budget, whelping purebred puppies is expensive. Except I can't even find any good breeders with puppies anytime soon who aren't already spoken for, at any price. I know it's me and everyone else, you're not in traffic you are traffic etc, but I'm out of ideas.
Is there anything I haven't thought of yet? Waitlists we can sign up for? Breeder recommendations? Appreciate any advice that can be given
Labs and goldies have their fair share of breed-related issues too, like hip and elbow dysplasia and certain cancers (e.g. osteosarcoma). Also, greyhounds are the opposite of high prey drive/energy. Most of the reputable breeders are backed up from covid, so you'll just have to go on a waitlist.