Penny Lane Labradors Adoption Process 🐾
Welcome to Penny Lane Labradors! We are so glad you’re here and considering opening your heart and home to one of our puppies. Choosing a Labrador is not just about finding a beautiful dog, it’s about welcoming a true family member who will share in your everyday joys, bring comfort in difficult times, and grow alongside you through life’s chapters.
At Penny Lane, we don’t view what we do as “just breeding.” To us, it’s about preserving and honoring a breed we deeply love. We pour our hearts, knowledge, and decades of experience into every litter. Our mission is simple but powerful: to raise happy, healthy, confident Labradors who embody the breed’s timeless structure, sound temperament, and loyal spirit, dogs who will thrive as beloved family companions, service dogs, and therapy partners.
✨ A Promise We Can Truly Make
No breeder can promise that a puppy will live its entire life completely free of health concerns. (If someone does, that’s a red flag, because no living being can come with such a guarantee.) What we can promise you is this: we have taken every possible step to minimize risks, strengthen our lines, and raise each puppy with intention, care, and love. From health testing and diet to enrichment and socialization, every decision we make is focused on giving your puppy the best start possible. We also believe dogs thrive living life organically and encourage and support our families in titer testing, natural supplements, and raw feeding. We believe a lot of conditions seen in today’s dogs are caused by unethical breeding practices, the junk in most foods, and over vaccinating.
Understanding Labradors 🐕
Before we go any further, it’s important to share this: Labradors are high-energy dogs. They are playful, intelligent, and brimming with enthusiasm. While many mellow with age, they require time, training, exercise, and patience in their younger years. A bored or under-exercised Labrador will find their own “fun” often by chewing, digging, or testing boundaries.
This is why welcoming a Labrador is not a short-term decision. It is a lifelong commitment. Most Labradors live 11–14 years, and for every one of those years, they will need you. Your time, your consistency, your love, and your leadership. When you give them that, what they give back is immeasurable: unwavering loyalty, laughter, and a companionship unlike any other.
Bench-Bred / “English” Labradors 🏆
We also want to clarify something important. There is only one recognized Labrador Retriever breed, but within the breed, there are different styles of breeding which really boil down to Labradors bred to standard and labradors who are not.
Here at Penny Lane, we raise what many people call bench-bred or “English” Labradors. These dogs are bred with the classic blocky heads, sturdy builds, and calmer, steadier temperaments that make them such excellent family companions and therapy/service prospects.
Our focus is on upholding the integrity of the Labrador standard. That means we breed with intention, aiming for structure, health, and temperament that honor the timeless Labrador Retriever. We don’t chase trends or exaggerations, we stay true to what makes this breed so special.
Life Inside Our Home 🏡
Step inside our house on any given day, and you’ll find a busy, joyful, sometimes-chaotic mix of wagging tails, children’s laughter, and Maine Coon cats lounging on the back of the couch.
From day one, our puppies are raised right in the heart of our home, not in kennels. They grow up surrounded by the rhythms of family life: the sounds of kids running, doors opening and closing, a vacuum whirring, pots clattering in the kitchen, music playing, and Labradors thumping their tails against the floor.
These exposures matter. Puppies raised this way develop confidence, adaptability, and resilience. They don’t just “meet children”—they learn to live with them. They don’t just “hear noises”—they learn not to fear them. They don’t just “see other animals”—they learn to respect and coexist with them. Because of this, our puppies transition into their forever families more smoothly. They’ve already been exposed to a wide variety of sounds, smells, textures, and experiences, which means they’re far less likely to be startled or fearful in new environments. Instead, they meet the world with curiosity and resilience. Things we add to our puppy routimne to help with this:
Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) to build confidence and resilience from the very beginning
Tactile enrichment with varied textures and surfaces to encourage curiosity and adaptability
Sound conditioning with vacuums, doorbells, fireworks, thunderstorms, and other everyday noises, which we safely introduce by playing them over Bluetooth in our home so the puppies learn early that these sounds are nothing to fear
Daily handling and exposure to both children and adults, building trust and social comfort
Health Testing & Early Development 🩺
Every Penny Lane Labrador comes from carefully selected lines, most with a good amount of championships in their lines. We don’t just look for beauty in our breeding dogs, we look for health, temperament, structure, and genetic soundness. Each of our adult dogs undergoes extensive health evaluations, including:
- Full genetic panels for hereditary conditions (testing for over 200 different genetic conditions)
- OFA hips & elbows certification
- OFA cardiac (heart) evaluation
- OFA eyes (CERF) (We’re working on getting every dog here at Penny Lane certified in eyes
- OFA patellas (knees)
We are transparent about these results because they matter. Health testing isn’t about chasing titles it’s about giving each puppy the strongest possible foundation for a long, happy life.
But health is only part of the equation. From the moment our puppies are born, we carefully support their early development with:
What’s Included With Your Puppy 🎁
Each Penny Lane puppy goes home with a thoughtfully curated Puppy Go Bag to ease their transition:
- AKC registration paperwork
- Microchip (implanted; registration transferred to you)
- Florida health certificate & full vet exam
- First set of age-appropriate vaccines
- Strict deworming schedule completed
- Spay/neuter contract (unless full registration is approved)
Take-Home Package Includes:
- Blanket & toys scented with mom and littermates
- Collar & leash
- Starter bag of puppy food
- Samples of NuVet vitamins
- Bag of wood chips to aid potty training
- The Penny Lane Puppy Book—a detailed guide we’ve written covering training, health, and care
Every family also receives a contract, bill of sale, and health agreement for full transparency.
Visits & Staying Connected 📱
We welcome families to meet their puppies, but safety is our top priority for both our family and the pups. This being the case, visits are reserved for families who have placed a holding fee or deposit, and only after the puppies are 7 weeks of age and selections have been made. This way puppies are older and not so fragile, and also at your visit you can spend time bonding with the puppy we already know is yours. If travel isn’t possible, don’t worry, we offer FaceTime calls, photos, and video updates so you can bond with your puppy before take-home day.
Our Selection Process 🐾
Selecting the right puppy is about so much more than looks—it’s about finding the perfect lifelong match. At Penny Lane Labradors, we take a thoughtful, collaborative approach because we want the puppy you bring home to be the right fit for your family, just as much as we want your family to be the right fit for that puppy.
We’ve seen two common methods of puppy selection: either families choose strictly based on the order of deposits, which often focuses only on appearance, or the breeder makes the choice entirely, leaving families out of the process. Neither felt right to us. Bringing a puppy home is a huge decision, and we believe families should be involved every step of the way.
Here’s how our process works:
- Selection begins at 7 weeks, when personalities really start to shine. Families can interact through video or FaceTime calls leading up to this point.
- Families choose their top three favorites so we know who has caught your eye and why.
- We discuss your lifestyle and goals, along with each puppy’s personality, to understand what you’re looking for in a companion.
- Final placement is made with your input and our hands-on knowledge of each puppy. I spend all my time with them, observing their personalities as they develop, and we also complete temperament testing to guide placements.
I always want families to feel involved and have a voice in the process. However, whether you are first on the list or tenth, the final decision rests with me, the breeder who knows each puppy best. This careful matchmaking ensures every puppy is placed in a home where they will thrive. A lot of our pups go on to become service and therapy dogs, while others join young families as lifelong companions. Because of this, it’s very important that each pup’s personality matches the lifestyle of their future family. Our goal is to give both families and puppies the best chance at lifelong happiness together.
After selections are made, you are always welcome to come visit your puppy in person, meet them, and experience that special first connection.
Pricing 💰
- Pet Price (Limited AKC Registration): $3,000
- Breeding Rights (Full AKC Registration): $4,500
Deposits:
- $500 waitlist fee (before birth)
- $1,000 deposit (for available puppies)
Deposits & Visiting Policy
Deposits are non-refundable but transferable to another litter. This helps ensure that families are intentional and prepared for the lifelong commitment of owning a Labrador. Because we only accept a set number of deposits per litter, this also allows me to know exactly how many spots remain available. Please remember, I cannot hold a puppy for you until a deposit has been received.
When it comes time to visit, we want the experience to be special for you while also keeping our puppies safe and healthy. All visits take place in our front yard puppy play area. To protect the puppies from illnesses such as parvo, we ask that you:
- Wear clean clothes and sanitize your hands and shoes before arriving.
- Park by the road, where I will meet you at the gate with shoe covers to slide over your shoes.
- I will then walk you into the play area where you can love on your puppy and hold them. If you need to set them down, please place them back inside the designated puppy pen only.
We kindly ask that you make any bathroom stops before arriving, as no one is allowed past the visiting area. These precautions are in place for the health and safety of all our puppies, and we truly appreciate your understanding.
Thank You 🌿
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for considering Penny Lane Labradors. We know you have many choices, and it means so much that you’ve taken the time to learn about us.
Our Labradors aren’t just dogs, they’re part of our family’s story. They’ve grown up with our children, comforted us through hard seasons, and brought immeasurable joy into our lives. Our hope and prayer for every puppy is that they go into a home where they change lives and bring joy, laughter, and an abundance of love for you like they have for us.
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