Hi Mel,
Lots of questions!!! I have only owned Labradors and part Labradors, so am not really qualified to answer whether many breeds are as easily trainable, but do know from owning the dogs I have, that they've all been different characters and have had different levels of training. I suppose because of the job they were bred to do, Labs are more easily trained than something like a sight hound, which has been bred to chase things 8O or some of the terrier types.
Getting a pedigree should mean that the breeder has given thought to temperament, but won't mean that the dog is more easy to train. Quite a few assistance dogs come from rescue now, and are heinz 57 mixes, which just goes to show that a completely random mix can produce something with enough intelligence and drive to do a 'job'.
Labs are known for their temperament, but again, this varies from each dog. Out of the two half sisters I have, one is incredibly outgoing and very, very friendly, and the other is probably what you might equate to being shy in a human, it takes her a while to warm to people, but they are both incredibly soft natured.
Training starts from when you get them home, and the one to focus on is the recall, there are loads of posts about how to go about basic training if you have a look through the puppy section. I took mine to training classes for the socialisation as well, some people do, and some don't. The one thing I've found, is that the more I have learnt, the more I know what a terrible handler I am

:lol: :lol: :lol: With a pup you only need to do short bits of training each day, but in a way, you are constantly training or guiding them to learn how to fit in to the home, so you have to be as consistent as you can so the message gets across clearly to them.
Good luck with your pup, I hope you're going to subscribe and post some pics
