This was the response I was looking for. I would have written the same thing. Buying a dog from a pet store, a BYB, a van at Walmart is like buying a toaster at a yard sale. If it works and lasts you a long time, you are lucky. If it breaks tomorrow, you shouldn't be surprised.

Breeders whose dogs end up in a pet store don't give a rats ass about the dogs. Put finding the breeder out of your mind. You might as well be looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it ain't gonna happen.

This board and several other pet boards (Just Labradors and Lab-Retrievers.net) will give you alot of support if you are looking to investigate the specific health issues and mitigate any symptoms your dog may have.

That's all you can hope you do. And then just learn a lesson. I have a BYB/puppy mill dog. My smartest ever, and we dealt with elbow dysplasia and surgery. It happens to all of us.