Labradors

I have a 16 wk old lab and I'm in love with the breed.  I have found him to be very smart, a hella retriever, loving with children, and not too hyper.

ORIGINAL: houndlove

Another thing about poorly-bred labs...good god can they be stupid. There was a chocolate lab that lived next door to us when we lived in Maryland who was one of those gigantic (120 lbs. easily) crappily-bred assembly line labs who I actually had to rescue out of the river once for fear that he'd drown. He was in there chasing a soccer ball that was too big for his mouth to get around so ever time he'd grab at it, it would go further out and he'd swim after it. Given the dog's size and general poor health, I realized after watching him for a while that I was going to have to get in my kayak and go out there and take his ball away from him or he was going to swim so far out that he'd drown from exhaustion. No one was home at his house--he was an outside dog that was often given free-roam with no supervision. Seriously, this dog was freakishly stupid.

One thing that makes me not such a fan of labs is their intense handler-focus, which can often translate into extreme neediness. It's also what makes them very easy to train, though, so it goes both ways.

 
Something a self-preserving hound would NEVER do, thank you very much. []

Yeah, I think it's just what you want in a dog.  After working with Sally the Spacequeen it's actually nice to have a dog that has a bit of focus.....

Something a self-preserving hound would NEVER do, thank you very much.

 
Word to your mutha!
 
This dog was pretty much universally hated. For about 2 years we didn't even know it's name as he had no tags on his collar whatsoever, but he was always on our property so we had to call him something. Every now and then we'd hear the neighbors calling for him but it just sounded like "AAAAAHEEEEEEEE!!!!". Turns out the dog's name was Harley. We just called him "Dog" though. As in, "Oh no, Dog's on his way over! Quick, get inside!" He wasn't unfriendly, quite to the contrary. He was very friendly but also extremely smelly and always accompanied by a chorus of horseflies. If you got too close, all his flies would jump off him and on to you. Good thing you could hear him coming before you saw him because this dog literally never. stopped. panting. Ever. Not in January, not while resting, not while swimming. Never.
 
One time we came home to find him attached to our tie-out. Someone had found him roaming around and went looking for where he lived, so our house with a tie-out and assumed that's where he belonged. Uh, no. Thanks but no thanks. We don't really need any mutant overgrown stinky, fly-infested, stupid chocolate labs.

I don't know about other parts of the country, but labs are extremely popular down here. This, of course, means that nearly half of what we have in shelters here are labs or lab mixes (the rest are pits, usually....not much variety).  I disagree with spartanpele's statement about only getting a dog that you can find a record of their health and genetic history. That would pretty much eliminate most dogs living at the shelters around the country. Just because they aren't from a professional breeder doesn't mean they're necessarily infererior pets in any way. Dogs, especially labs, are adaptive and can be trained at any age, though it may take a little longer for older dogs who are set in their ways. As for poorly-bred labs, as houndlove mentioned, I've never met a stupid dog--only stupid owners who don't know how to properly care for or train an animal.
 
We grew up with my grandparents' labs; my boyfriend & I also have had a lab for a little over a year now. They really are great dogs. Like everyone else has said, lots of energy & fun. My grandparents' labs put up with a yard full of rowdy little kids climbing all over them & honestly seemed to enjoy the company. Though they can be hard-headed, you can teach them to do just about anything.  I can still remember my grandfather (who was a weathered old farmer) sitting out in the field alone crying when one of his labs died. He always swore that the dog could talk to him.
 
I'm definately a fan!  []

Hope no one is sick of me saying this on these boards:
 
We adopted an 8 year old lab mix about 2 months ago.  He is the sweetest dog, doesn't bark(OK, we've heard 3 woofs), isn't afraid of kids, dogs or adults.  Don't know about cats, it is a non-issue in our house.  He loves to play fetch with a tennis ball, loves to go for walks, loves the dog park.  He come to us from a humane society, and was housetrained, and knew a some good basic obedience. He doesn't chew anything, except  his toys. 
 
(We are having a little problem with him escaping into the family room during the day, which we think a nice soft doggy bed will help.)  That is the only problem we've had.
 
Our labby plays hard, then sleeps hard (heh - he is middle-aged after all).
 
We love this guy, and our very fortunate he picked us. 
 
I would never, ever get a puppy after this experience.  I love having an older dog.

ORIGINAL: jondextan

would it be advisable to get a 1yr old black lab? i'm afraid it would be too old at 1 yr old and tough to re-train and re-familiarize with it's new place and environment. or am i wrong? [8|]

No dog is too old to train.  The only caveat is that you can expect a one year old dog to have some habits that might not please you.  The dog is an adolescent and they can be obnoxious.  But, if he has a generally sound temperament, and you have the capability to take him to classes (www.clickertraining.com and www.apdt.com both have trainer searches if you are in the US or Canada), then I think there's no reason not to.  If you have reservations, call a trainer and pay a few bucks to have that person evaluate the dog for you.

I didn't read all of the posts, but i'm sure someone mentioned poorly bred labs. Where i live, i'd say 50 % of dog owners have a lab. A well bred lab is a wonderful dog. One that's not well bred can be very hyper, and even aggressive. One of my best friends had half of her face ripped off by a lab. Just do your research and find a good breeder, and you can have an outstanding pet!