while golden and brown labs are a bad, silver labs are a abomination and should be eradicated at all cost. i could go on about the wiemer dilute that is going on with that but i wont.
you can get a good dog out of just about anything. even a mutt sometimes can be a great dog.
you can limit the risk with a started dog but nothing is certain.
good resource is the started Labrador group on fb. if you can travel to get a great dog you can save a pile
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akc papers are not very important but knowing the dog comes from clean lines with no genetic faults does matter a lot. Garage breeding can lead to EIC and other bad things. Getting the see the parents can't tell you if you two dogs have recessive faults.
even buying from great lines can result in a wash out. My fem Tia who i got at 11weeks is worthless as a hunting dog. her pedigree was spotless and top of the line from a hard core trials guy in Nebraska. she is a great pet but just cant get it done.
my recent dogs
winda- backyard breeding with genetic flaws, great dog but required a great vet to fix her and she ran out of gas at 9 years old even with regular fitness
Tia - Trials breeder in Temecula, epic dog with no faults and amazing talent. ( once in a lifetime dog)
nina 5yo - trails breeder- special needs dog
chip 5yo - trials dog trained by paul gum in SD to 18 months. Epic dog again with no faults. yes i am open to breeding him. He prob should have stayed with paul and done trials. he has crazy talent.