a wonderful book, but i cried like a baby : )
a wonderful book, but i cried like a baby : )
The breeder TOLD that couple NOT to take that dog, that he wasn't the right dog for them. Field trial dogs are bred to compete in the hardest work that Labs do - they have incredible intelligence, energy, and drive to DO something. They need steady work and very strict (but fair) discipline, and some experience on the part of the owner. Not a first dog.
I have one Lab that's a half and half conformation/field trial cross. Even she, only a halfbred, was a semi-Marley for the first 2 years of her life. Only when she was 6 years old and I had plenty of experience did I venture to purchase a high-powered Lab like Marley. My new girl (9 months old) still has just a little (around 1/8) conformation just to lessen the excitement slightly -- but she is a buzzsaw on four wheels and into everything. If she didn't get her four miles a day she would be absolutely ungovernable, and she has to have her serious bird work on the weekends.
It makes me cringe to think how much that dog (and the humans) suffered, all unnecessarily, because they wouldn't take the breeder's advice. A field-bred dog is not for everybody, and it certainly wasn't for the Grogans.