I'm looking for someone with a litter of lab puppies coming available soon, I'd like to get one with a solid hunting pedigree. It will be trained to be a tracking dog. If anyone has any leads please let me know.

Doug Williams has a liter. 3 weeks old now I am getting a male. Puddle Duck Labs on Face Book. Great pedigree , and mom an dad great hunting dogs.

He is in Troy, tell him Hill Walker told about pups

Thanks...I appreciate it. I'm gonna check then out. I've found another litter in Auburn as well. Very sad to report that my lab Shelby got hit by a dump truck a couple weeks ago.

CNC I hate to hear that. If my memory serves me correctly you had just gotten her to where you were really letting her track off lead alone and she was doing good.

Sorry about Shelby CNC. I know you put a lot into her. Best wishes in finding Shelby Lou II.

I appreciate the thoughts....Yep, she was just maturing and slowing down to where she was becoming a great tracking dog. Her Achilles heel was always that she just wanted to find it a little too much and couldn't slow herself down. She had made big strides last season as she started maturing into a grown dog. I'm taking this one pretty hard. She had never tried to get out of our fenced in yard. We were LAX about leaving the garage open because here and Otis just never even attempted to leave without me. Someone threw out a bunch of trash from a fish fry in the road and her nose led her astray. She snuck away while we were working and the next thing I know I hear I dump truck hit his his horn and Bam!....It messed her up so bad you couldn't even tell it was her anymore. I think that part has been messing with me mentally. It just doesn't seem like my brain is processing it normally and allowing me to move past it like normal. I've found a new yellow female that will be ready to come home in 5 weeks. I'm hoping that helps turn the page to a new chapter

Hate to hear that. They can be like family

Here's a couple pics of the new pup. She comes from a good line of dogs. Her daddy came from William Crawford of Silver Banded Labs I believe is the name of his kennel.....We're still deciding on names for her. I sure hope she has Shelby's same spunk but with a touch more patience...I went with a yellow lab this time because the heat really seems to play a factor with the darker coated dogs. She'll be three weeks old this Sunday. She was born on Easter Sunday...the day before Shelby died.

Cnc, sorry to hear of your loss.

I've had a bunch of labs. I'm not sure the darker coats are warmer than the yellow ones cause boy do those yellow ones have an undercoat! Thicker than any chocolate or black.

Good looking pup for sure.

Thanks for the comments...The heat may just be something I always have to work around during the early season no matter the coat color. Otis has the double whammy working for him in that he has a thick undercoat and a black outer coat. We'll see how the new pup does. I'll keep y'all updated and post some new pics when she comes home

I feel like a tiny ember glowing beneath a huge pile of ashes. With each passing day that ember seems to glow a little brighter. I took Otis for a walk around the property earlier and as we were walking and crossing over deer beds….I started feeling excited about getting the new puppy home and beginning her training. Before it seemed overwhelming to suddenly have to start back over from scratch and I didn’t even know if I wanted to….now I’m beginning to look forward to it with anticipation. Maybe she’ll be the best tracking dog I ever own. Maybe it was just all in God’s plan. Shelby was the happiest, most loving dog I’ve ever been around. She woke up every morning exuding nothing but happiness. I’m glad I got to know what that kind of pure joy was like even if it was only for a short while.

I think we've decided on the name "Ruby" for the new puppy. We went to see her yesterday and take her a deer leg. The people we're getting her from are big duck hunters and enjoy working with dogs. They're gonna go ahead and start introducing the deer scent to her over the next few weeks. They had just opened their eyes within the last couple of days and this was her first trip outside.

I personally know William and he has some pretty good dogs. His Tank dog is a deer finding duck fetching machine.

I was actually mistake when I said it was the father that came from his kennel.....it was the mother. Looking at her papers it looks like pretty much 3 generations of her lineage came from his kennel

Ok....so looking at Ruby's papers....Tank would be her great granddaddy.....Ruby's mama came from a breeding of Silver Banded's Mallard Run and Silver Banded's Outlaw Jose Wales....Jose was out of a breeding of Tank and Silver Sky

The first time I ever had any contact with William, I had made a bad shot on a deer on Christmas Eve. I called him and to my surprise he said he was coming through where I was hunting and would come and track the deer. When he let Tank out of the box, I said something to the effect of, you're going to track my deer with a lab. Now mind you this was when tracking dogs were first starting to be used, as far as I know, so I was expecting some type of hound. Well evidently I came across kind of smart. He responded, yeah he was fetching ducks about 4 hours ago, he's about to find your deer, and in a little while he'll be curled up in front of the fire at my house, not many hounds can do all that. Well let me just say, Tank did exactly that. Since then William has trained several dogs for me and I have always been very pleased with the results. William is a good guy and Tank is a very good dog. Congrats on your puppy.

I appreciate the info....I've heard nothing but good things about William and his training. I've got a good feeling about the new pup. I'm looking forward to getting her home as much for Otis as myself. I think its gonna do him a lot of good to train a new puppy as well. I learned a valuable lesson with him and Shelby. You could tell early on that Shelby was gonna be the dominate dog but when we would go tracking and I ran her in behind Otis to train...she didn't have the same confidence as she did here at home....So Otis was still the dominant dog on a track. That changed though over time and Shelby became dominant while tracking as well. I had to just quit running them together completely because it shut Otis down.....kinda like it stung his pride or something. I'm hoping the new puppy reverses that and makes him feel dominant again. I'm gonna let him train the new puppy just the same but when I'm gonna separate her from running behind him a lot sooner. He was actually a great teacher for a lab because he has all the traits that a lab often struggles with. Shelby never once chewed anything up other than her ball. She always stayed close to me in the woods too. She was extremely obedient. I think she picked up a lot of her traits from being around Otis and his laid back demeanor. She still had trouble controlling that excitement on a blood track though.

Sure hate to hear about you losing Shelby. That would hurt my heart real bad. Wish you the best with the new pup. Fine looking little gal.