We have been blessed with owning two of the nicest chocolates anyone could have ever imagined having the privilege of sharing a home with.
The first one (Boomer) was our kid for just a little over eleven years. Boom had better manners than 95 % of the kids I see out in public on a daily basis. He was smart as a whip and spent his life trying to please us.
I can only think of a couple of times when Boomer caused us any problems. When he was 8 months old we had him neutered and the tech at the vet’s office happened to have a beard . From that day on Boomer hated anyone fitting the description. Under the circumstances I totally forgave him and just maintained a close watchful eye anytime someone with a beard, and especially a beard and carrying a knife, showed up at the door 
. Unfortunately my brother always wore a beard and spent many hours at deer camp with Boomer and I. Yep, he left the knife in his back pack and always had trepidation with late night visits to the outhouse 
.
We have invisible fence due to the busy road we live on and also have it in the upstairs of our split level. We have it indoors for the times when guests don’t like dogs with tennis balls, and also for meal time, when I don’t like begging dogs with tennis balls.
Boomers health started to deteriorate just shortly after his tenth birthday. We decided that Boomer was such a fantastic dog that we added Willy to the house hold in hopes that Boomer would be able to teach some of what he knew to the new kid. It worked like a charm. Boomer taught Willy all about the fence and chasing balls and even how to catch the Frisbee. Most of Willy’s manners are a direct reflection of his early mentor. Like Boomer, Willy aims to please and feels awful when he comes up short.
One of the worst days of our lives came when we had to put Boomer down. It would have been twice as bad if Willy wasn’t there to help absorb the loss.
Willy is now nine and every bit the buddy Boomer was. Both dogs were excellent retrievers and obviously love the water. Unfortunately I never hunted either one. I have no doubt with the breeding that they would have been outstanding but birds were never my thing.
We went through 1.5 years of dog training with each dog. Puppy class first and then two extra steps. This gave us a chance to bond with the dog and also allowed them to, suck up like a sponge, everything we threw at them the first year.
I truly believe 90% of the dog is what you make of them. It is very important to physically see both the mom and dad when looking for a pup. I got to see Boomers mom but supposedly his dad was pheasant hunting in South Dakota and wasn’t available. I always felt a few of Boomers quirks could have been spotted if we would have seen his dad. On the other hand we spent some time with the Willys folks before we ever looked at the pups. Picking him was easy, he came running to us.
The only other thought with labs is they will take any and all the affection you can give them and when you think you are done, they want more. You could beat them with a club if you keep your voice cheerful and they will love it. Talk harsh and you can break their hearts in a second.
In my opinion the greatest dog there is! Good luck and enjoy the ride!
WS
Sounds like my wife is beginning to like the idea of another pooch and told them to start looking around 
There is no doubt that I want another female lab, no question about it. As far as hunting, I’m looking for a dog that will get off the couch to bump into some grouse once in awhile, that’s about the extent of my bird hunting. I really think I would be doing a top breed hunting dog with papers a mile long a disservice, because a great family dog is number one. So, if anybody has a line on some labs in the future, let me know please.