All good advice and I fully understand the need for breeders to make sure their dogs are going to good, caring, responsible homes.
I haven't shown dogs before, when I was younger and living on the family farm we did show cattle, sheep and goats. The dogs I had then were Border Collies, some working some pets.
I am now semi-retired in the south of Spain in a lovely white Andalusian village, 5km from the beach and the Sierras at my back door. Wonderful walking country which will be so much fun for the dogs.
I don't expect to win shows or qualify for Crufts but I am looking for a good quality pup typical of the English Show style as I favour the heavier set (and black) Labradors. I want to enjoy my dogs and having fun days at shows will be part of the experience.
I am not setting up a kennel and have no intention of becoming professional but I love working with, and training young dogs so an occasional litter would be great fun (and hard work )
The value of buying from accredited breeders is in the quality of the dog through care, health screening and experience. When the time came for a litter from my own dog I would certainly intend to become accredited myself.
Is it possible then to have a UK Kennel Club registered dog in Spain without doing an export? could I also register a litter born in Spain with the UK Kennel Club? What about shows, would the dog need to be registered in Spain to enter?
I have lots to learn so any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
I really only know about France but here's my experience for what's it worth..(apologies for the long and rambling nature but it may prove useful for someone and it's therapeutic for me!!!)
You will probably find the Spanish breeders probably have as stringent if not more stringent regulations when it comes to breeding. As I said before my dogs that would easily pass muster in the UK could never be used to breed in France! In fact I even got the UK KC to agree to refund the cost of an export pedigree for that reason!! In France breeding dogs are also rated by health screening, wins at shows (conformation), wins at trials, and also the heath screening and wins of their progeny! So in many ways it's far more transparent.
You would need to re-register to breed but not if you only wanted to show.
You could not register a litter born in Spain with the UK Kennel club.
Please DO go to a show and get to know local breeders. I met a fair few Spanish breeders in my tour of shows as I am based in southern France
Shows would be under FCI rules and they are certainly not what I'd consider to be "Fun" shows. The exhibitors take it very seriously and it's not something hobbyists do unlike in the UK where there are companion shows and open shows. They are either likely to be CACS (national) shows or CACIB (international shows). The rules are as strict as hell - be there by a certain time and not allowed to leave until a certain time regardless of what time your class is. If you break the rules you run the risk of being banned!
Unlike the UK you can only generally enter ONE class with each dog not multiple entries in different classes.
Shows are few and far between - I should imagine it'd be the same in Spain as it is in France, possibly worse in Andalucia!!
The cost of entering is not cheap (€35 per dog) and on top of that is the expensive of petrol/tolls and quite probably an overnight hotel stay.
Think nothing of driving 3 hours each way to get to a show - arrive by 8.00am and not allowed to leave before 5.00pm and it makes it a hell of a slog! This is why those that do show are the ones that are professionals. The shows are their window to the market.
The classes are generally in the morning and then the public stay and look around for the afternoon. Your dog usually has to stay benched or caged throughout that time. It can get very boring!!
Because the shows are really a marketplace it's taken seriously. The first few shows I went to NO-ONE spoke to me! They looked at the catalogue, saw the breeding of my dog and I was the "enemy", competition to them. In fact the breeder of my first show dog told me this would be likely to happen but I thought she was joking!! When they all discovered about the missing premolars they all suddenly became my best friend as we were no longer perceived as competition. I have however met some very nice people though, with FABULOUS Labradors!
One of the best things I ever did was to make friends with a lovely French lady I knew from my agility classes. At the time she had a Bassett hound, an Aussie shepherd, a European Landseer and a Chinese Crested. We all used to go along together with the dogs us and her kids all piled in the one car and trailer and had a fab day out and shared the cost of travel It was more the company and the dogs that made it fun not the showing per se. She now specializes in one breed, the Chinese Crested, and goes to the shows solely to promote her kennel name and to win!! More wins = more demand for her stud dogs and her puppies.
If you decide to go ahead do it because you love your dog and love the breed then if things don't go to plan you will never be disappointed. You'll always know you've got the best dog and the best breed at home! .
Wow, thanks for such a great reply and for all your suggestions.
I can see you had a difficult time at the beginning so its credit to you that you stuck with it, as you say, the joy of it all is in the relationship with your dog.
Its only us humans that worry and fret about these things, it all gets forgotten though with a wag of the tail and the unconditional love of a dog, thats what makes it worthwhile and thats why I can't wait to get a pup and start that journey.
Hello, great to hear you are looking for a black lab pup, good decision.
My Toby cost me £650 a year ago and comes from show lines, his dad is Suttonpark Manifesto, best of breed at Crufts 2006.
I don't show Toby, i just show him off to anyone and everyone, I am very proud to have him and have promised him the most perfect life i can give him.
It sounds like your pup will have a really perfect life too, It sounds wonderful where you live and you do really need that Labrador by your side, living in such a nice place.
Good luck in finding your pup, Labradors are the best, you won't regret getting 1.
Take Care.
Gary and Toby.
It sounds like you live in a great place for any dog. As regards registration of bitch and litter, I can tell you I live in Jersey, bought a UK registered bitch and used a UK based stud dog BUT was not allowed to register my litter in UK as they were born in Jersey, I had to treat the bitch as an import and register her locally and then register her litter locally. Seems daft to me as she has 2 sets of reg details but thats the way it is. I presume it would be the same for you.
Good luck.
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From Christine, Millie, Cassie and Lexi.
Never forgetting Carly and Abbie
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I have however met some very nice people though, with FABULOUS Labradors!
