[magnolia]

One other thing to remember: if you look into a "guaranteed" lab, this is not a puppy you will get when he/she is 12 weeks old - you won't get him/her until they are more like 9 months old or so, so be prepared for that - unless you purchase one at 12 weeks of age then find someone else to train - then you're looking at sending your lab to "live" somewhere else for at least 3 months of training. Could you bear to part with him/her for that long, if not longer, after having him/her in your home for a couple months?

Oh, and I called hubby - MD was a year old when we sent him off - way too late for training but we learned and know what to do when we look for our next lab baby - we are getting one guaranteed instead of 10-12 weeks old then sending off to train - life happens and we may "miss" the time frame to send him/her off for training.