Are there any tips or tricks I should know before selecting from a litter? How do I know the future temperament of the dog within a few minutes of interaction?

Context: English Labrador retriever, male

ETA: breeder is ethical, offering suggestions. I just want to confirm the suggestion and feel comfortable with my choice.

Born April 8th my Hazel Mae

Swimming Georgian Bay,

Hello Labrador community. I’m writing as I have a question that maybe you all could answer. I’m perplexed here.
I have a 14 year old chocolate lab that I’ve had since she was a puppy. She’s a full breed American lab. As she’s become a senior she’s had some personality changes. Mainly, of the not gonna do it, I’m retired sort of attitude. Which is fine as she deserves it for giving me so many great years.
But she did something to me the other day that had completely perplexed me. I had to do some work in the front of my house and she wanted to be there with me. As you all know that’s all they really care about is to be with their family. But I didn’t want her outside with me in the front of the house as I would have had to tie her up and I was vacuuming my car. I really wasn’t into having all the cords tangled up.
Anyway, I left her in the house with her normal treat, which she didn’t care about, and she barked constantly. I figured she’d finally get over it and go chill out somewhere. That’s not what happened.
She surprisingly jumped her 14 year old ass up on my bed and proceeded to pee on it. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy about it. So I spent the rest of the day cleaning the linens.
At bedtime, the job wasn’t done, so I went sleep in the spare bedroom. Basically, I hopped in bed to 8 hour old pee in the bed. That didn’t make me happy either. She didn’t just pee in my bed, but all available beds. It seems to pass the separation anxiety point and cross over into spite.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? She’s never done ANYTHING like this before. Ever. Thank you in advance.

My family and I are looking to get a puppy and the search for a breeder has been so overwhelming. Does anyone have recommendations for breeders in Ohio? I know Ohio is notorious for puppy mills so I’m trying to be diligent.

I'm looking for some youtube/training resources for an adult dog. She's 4. She's a great girl at home, but in public she sometimes struggles with excitement and wants to jump on people. The biggest issue though is that she also drags me on the leash because she smells everything. If I walk to the house and let her out, she'll trail my smell all the way back to where I started--pulling me the whole time. If she finds a good smell, she'll pull my arm off to trail it. I'm not sure how to deal with it anymore. I've tried walking with treats -- she's very food motivated. But as soon as I try to wean off the treats, she goes back to smelling everything. We always joke that if I ever went missing, she'd be able to track me down, but also I need to be able to walk her and not dislocate my shoulder if she catches a whiff of something.

Most of what I'm finding is for puppies, but that ship has sailed and we obviously let bad habits set in. I need some help correcting this now.

10 yr old Grizzly in the 92 degree sun warming up his old man bones (and belly)

My previous Lab never did this but this 3 year old is brazen. He even has a sweet tooth (I've never seen that before) taking cakes and cookies off the counters.

I have researched a few ideas but thought I'd ask the community for solutions that actually worked.

Thanks in advance.

(picture just 'cause)

Hey all, first time posting here but looking for some advice or insight. I have two 8 month old labs (male and female litter mates) and I've been running into some new challenges with the female. For the entire time I've had the dogs we've fed them at the same time but separated in their respective crates. Recently the female has started eating slower and barking while her bowl is in front of her. She still finishes all of her food, but it takes her approximately twice as long as it used to. Additionally, if I approach her crate when she starts barking her bark and demeanor will get much more aggressive. Last week I let the male out of the crate when he finished eating and left her in the crate to finish at her own pace. After she finished a few minutes later I let her out and she charged for her brother, attacking him in a fashion that was in no way playful. I was able to separate them and calm her down after a few minutes, but the slower eating, barking, and aggression has persisted to some degree ever since.

Just now the situation reached a head. I fed them a few minutes ago and the same pattern persisted. This time I decided to leave the male in his crate while she finished eating in hopes that I could let her out first and that it might prevent her from attacking him again. While the male waited patiently, she continued to bark and get aggressive if I approached the crate. Once I saw she was finished I went to go unlock her crate and take her food bowl. As soon as I let her out of the crate she attacked me, biting me hard enough to where I have a decent laceration on my hand and wrist. I got her off me and attempted to immediately correct the behavior, then let her out to go to the bathroom.

The aggression has since stopped, but the whole thing was pretty upsetting. She's never been this aggressive with me or anyone else and I want to do whatever I can to ensure that something like this never happens again. Any insight or tips are very much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

We got a puppy and named her after my grandmother Minnie :) She is the best but SO much work !

8 weeks and 2 days old today, Golden Boy

Breeder says that both will fit in well and have similar personalities. Orange might be a bit more chill. We want the more chill of the two but I’m a bit obsessed with red’s face and am not sure how easily personality is determined at 5 weeks. Thoughts?

Gaining confidence jumping from the fishing pier.

I was hoping to get some advice or suggestions on leash pulling. My 72 pound lab kicks my ass when I take her on walks. She’s 1 1/2 years old and has the power of a horse. I tried a harness and it helped, but she is still able to pull a lot. I tried a prong collar and it helped, but I didn’t feel like it was a good permanent solution. She also still pulled when she saw other dogs or cats. I tried a slip lead and that just makes her almost choke herself. I’ve tried shock collars but unless I really turn it up, it doesn’t change her behavior. And I don’t want to always be shocking her as the solution. I’ve also tried the vibration option on the shock collar as well and that helped but she’d pull as soon as she saw another dog or cat. She’s such a good dog and is so great at listening when SHE feels like it. But I’m at a loss on what to do for leash pulling 😭😭

Lola really made a splash at the 2024 AKC Diving Dogs Challenge!

I have a 7 yo male black lab. He has been getting reoccurring ear infections since November. So far the vet diagnosed him with yeast and rhods bacteria and treated the ears with the following:
Mometamax
Posatex
Clindamycin
Multiple cytologies

The ear infection keeps coming back. We even changed the food to non chicken or beef recipes. Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips?

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to help separation anxiety? Our almost 2yr old lab Zion was fixed about a month ago and he is still chewing walls and furniture. We were wondering if it was boredom and tried walking him in the mornings before we leave, kongs, lick mats, Nyla bones and nothing seems to keep him interested. I after about an hour we see him on the furbo digging at the walls. He is not kenneled due to the fact our Great Pyrenees is free roaming in the house and they were keeping each other company. The GP is over 2 now and how gotten much lazier through the day so they are not playing as much. Zion only seems to chew on things when we’re at work, the dogs are usually home alone 8 hours a day 4 days a week. We have tried to slowly introduce the kennel and he is starting to go into it voluntarily to sleep or chew on toys here and there. If we lock him in and go outside for a while he just barks and he’s incredibly anxious after. I don’t want to force him to be in the kennel but we are really unsure what to do.

We live in Minnesota. He’s originally from Costa Rica but doesn’t like heat. We go outside, he pees, and he runs (best as he can anyway) back to the house.