Amanda and I took some quills out of one of her co-worker's mother's dogs.  One was a yellow lab.  He had an interesting past.

"We wanted a yellow lab, and didn't want to pay one thousand dollars for it.  So we found this litter up to South Paris for a lot less.  We told my husband we were headed to TJ Max and went to just look at the puppies."

Well the lab was in front of us, so I knew the next turn of the story and was thinking about the third when the woman saw something on my face and asked:

"You know what's next, don't you?  Well, after ten months, he started having horrible trouble in his hips, so we found the best veterinary orthopedic surgeon in Maine and spent eighteen hundred to repair one hip.  It seems to have worked.  I don't think we'll have to do the other."

The odds of not having to repair the other are very slim.

If she'd gone to a breeder who had PennHIP evaluations, and paid a little more for her dog, it would have cost a lot less in the long run.  There's a little gamble in every pup, but you can really stack the odds in your favor looking for a breeder who is doing a good job.