I told him I wanted a lab for upland hunting and he said he was doing a repeat breeding of his female to another co-workers male. I talked to a few of the owners from the first litter and they talked very highly of their dog's hunting abilties. So I decided to purchase a pup from the upcoming litter. I was a little worried because the dam wasn't a hunter, but because of the positive feeback from other owners, the fact that the sire is a Senior Hunter, and yes the price I went ahead with the purchase.
3.5 years later I am confident I did not make a mistake. I've been told by other hunters in the field she has a great run and stamina. I've even had one hunter this season ask if I breed her because he was interested in breeding his male yellow lab. Now I'm not saying he would have asked to breed his male with my lab, but the fact that he inquired about it was flattering.
This morning I found out that the owner of my lab's sire is in my office. I brought up the fact that I have one of his dog's offspring and asked about his dogs pedigree. See, when I purchased my lab I wasn't interested much in pedigrees or bloodlines so I registered her with AKC but never bothered getting a pedigree. Because of her that's changed. I found out that my lab's grand sire is FC AFC River Oaks Way-Da-Go Rocky.
I knew the sire, Radar, was a SH, but had no idea how good of a bloodline he has. We talked for a while and he will bring in his dog's pedigree for me to look at. I told him I figured there had to be some good dogs in her background because she is a good hunter.
Now I'll probably go to the AKC website and at least get an online pedigree for her. Almost makes me regret getting her spayed.