Diamond P Labradors

We got our lab in 2004 from Diamond P. He has the softest, shiniest coat, is gorgeous, athletic, smart, funny, and incredibly loyal and loving. He has a big personality. He was entirely healthy upon arrival, potty trained, and learned everything else easily and well thereafter. A great field dog, he also ended up appearing on a dog trainer tv show (local) in SoCal as a co-​trainer as he is calm and could help to manage the on-​tv training of the dog brought on as guest each week (our dog walker was the trainer on the show).
He never has fought with other dogs if it is at all avoidable and has put up with young kids climbing on him and pulling on his ears since puppyhood.
He gets up and opens up the dog door flap so the cat can come in and out of the house multiple times per day without having her whiskers bent in pushing the flap herself. She meows, he gets up and holds the door open for as long as it takes her to say hello and then to deign to come through the door. Or walk away as she has changed her mind. He is very patient.
He does require a high quality (not Safeway dog food) diet. With that, he has no allergies and I can’t recall him ever being sick beyond a couple of times when he’s gotten into something he should not.
We made the mistake of neutering him too young. WAIT to neuter your male dog and you are less likely to have to do ACLs. We ended up with an extremely tall, long limbed, graceful, less buff dog, which is quite likely if you neuter early, and that meant he ended up needing ACLs later in life. My fault, not the breeder’s.
He was crate trained on arrival but voted to be bed-​trained instead. He is very well behaved in the bed. He sits happily in the car waiting for us without eating all the groceries if we leave them with him, does not bark except a brief bark at night if someone is nearby outside where he is not expecting them, and he is enthusiastically happy to meet anyone and everyone of any species at all times, although he does love to dig for prairie dogs and to chase deers, birds and squirrels. He was easily taught to never chase or bark at a steer/​cow or calf without more than one or two commands when he first thought it might be fun to say hello to young playful calves. We’ve seen multiple Labs from other homes near us where the dogs chronically chase the cattle (bad, bad, bad) and our dog has never shown any inclination to follow their lead whatsoever after our giving him a command the one or two times he showed slight inclination to be overly curious. He learns that fast.
He has retrieved dead pets he’s found while out on hikes and gently brought them home to lay them at my feet to ask me to revive them.
He loves to learn tricks and has barely slowed down — can do 10++ mountain hikes per day easily, including lots of roaming around during the hike so his hike is more like 30 miles for our 10.
Throughout his life we always get compliments on his beauty and disposition. I love his athleticism and endurance.
His worst fault is that his ‘wag’ is very long so he has taken out a few Mac Airs by wagging his tail so that a glass of water has gone flying with water landing smack on the keyboard of the Macs :(. He’s looked very glum as we screamed and ran to save the machines and wagged as we tried to fix them to encourage us.
Patti breeds great dogs if our dog is any example.
Patti has called me back promptly whenever I had a question over the years where I was wondering something dog related such as area vets, booster shots, etc.
We don’t know if we’re going to get more Labs since kids are grown, we’re thinking of downsizing, but if we do decide to get more big dogs, we certainly would return to Patti if we were to get a breeder-​bred Lab versus an SPCA-​dog. We went with a breeder-​based dog in 2004 due to having a child who was very ill where we needed a very specific personality to fit our family’s needs.

I put a 50% deposit on a puppy in March 2015 for a puppy that was to be whelped in April. As it turned out there was no litter born due to a false pregnancy. Patti asked if I wanted to rollover my deposit to the next litter, which I said yes. Within two weeks of telling her this my husband and I decided we really wanted a puppy/​dog in June/​July and would seek to adopt somewhere. Keep this in mind, she hasn’t even had the breeding yet nor does she have puppies. When I asked for my deposit back she refused. She stated because I said I would roll over to the next litter that I caused her hardship because she had turned people away that had called and wanted a puppy. She has over five months to sell a puppy from the litter due in July. But the bottom line is Patti failed to honor her contract because she failed to produce a puppy from the April litter. Yes, she was happy to send me a copy of her refund policy, but that would have been valid if she had produced a puppy and I changed my mind or even if the puppies were not horn yet, but she knew how many there were and then I changed my mind. I totally understand that because I would have had a reservation and backed out and she would have turned other potential buyers away. But in my case she did not produce a puppy from the first litter and the next breeding was a month away. There were no guarantees there would be a puppy from that litter. I have purchased four chocolate labs from different breeders and have never experienced anything like this. When I informed Patti that I would take her to small claims court to get my $ 700 deposit back she finally sent me only $ 500 because she said she still has not filled my reservation spot. Please Patti, you had 5 months to fill my reservation spot and I have no doubts you have sold all of the puppies by now. I’m sure Patti will respond to this review in defense of herself, but the bottom line here is she did not fulfill her contract obligations so if you are looking to get a puppy from her just beware. I can’t vouch for the quality of her dogs, just her ethics.

After a nearly 25 years and now 6 labs later we have/​had the most awesome dogs ever, thank you Patti. Love, Randy, Gail, and dogs Molly, Jasper, Butte and Casey… and still with us our wonderful black labs Jack and Hope Wilson. Patti and her dogs have made our life complete

Great breeder and great dog! A friend of mine recommended diamond p labs when I was looking for a lab, and I couldn’t have made a better choice! The crate training was well worth it, our pup (Denver) is more than happy when bedtime comes and most night sleeps right through! He has the best disposition I could ever want in a pup, and is a very fast learner. It is very obvious that Patti gave this dog a very good foundation and I will definitely recommend them to my fellow duck hunters. Thanks again Patti for fulfilling my friends recommendation to its fullest. To those considering other breeders or buying from a random litter, don’t waste your time or money. Diamond P Labs is a professional outstanding breeder and we couldn’t be happier, thanks again!

I am writing this review on the day that I lost my Chocolate Labrador, Cody — he was a Diamond P. Knowing that no puppy could ever replace our Cody I wanted to make sure that Patti was still in the breeding business and was shocked to see the negative reviews about this Breeder! When we went to pick our new baby up from Patti, My hands and feet (shoes) were disinfected so as not to bring in outside viruses. Patti did not just had over my puppy and send me on my way! I was in Patti’s office for well over an hour! Because of Patti’s detailed instructions on feeding, potty training, kenneling and pet insurance I felt I was much more equipped to care for my little pup. Because Cody had an extra week of Kennel training our little guy slept through the night and had almost not accidents in his kennel or in our home. Yes, there were many kennels on the property and in the house, but I never heard any crying and there were many kennel hands taking dogs in and out for exercise as well as training, again this is a breeder and a very good one at that. I was able to go outside and see Cody’s mom and dad as well as his remaining siblings, and the yard was as clean as the house. I remember seeing a picture of Patti with President Ford and his Yellow Diamond P. on the office wall.
I can not imagine replacing Cody, but when our family is ready to bring a new pup into our family it will defiantly be a Chocolate Diamond P!

PUPPY MILL!!!
I was going to get a puppy from this place until I checked it out! They have about 20 of the dams on the premises, not sure on the sires, maybe 8? They are kept in kennels most of the day, let out a few at a time for a few hours of exercise… hmmmm, sounds just like PRISON. Obviously you can’t have that many dogs running around at a time, so maybe have a lot less dogs? That seems like the more compassionate humane alternative to money grubbing and puppy milling. No respect for these people or their business. No wonder people are getting sick puppies; they have no heart for these animals. I suspect all they see when they look at them are DOLLAR SIGNS. Either get real jobs or do this on a much smaller scale so the dogs have a decent existence and aren’t being used at their expense to pay for you mortgage. ! Patti seemed a little irritated at all my questions about the living conditions of the parents. She was way more interested in getting down to business as talking puppy sales. I feel it is extremely important to see and consider the conditions the parents live in. It is a window into the caring and responsibility of the breeder. After seeing the negative reviews of the people who did buy puppies from them, I am thankful I went with a rescue group instead. Think twice or three times before helping them continue their milling.

We bought our yellow lab from Patti 3 years ago. After visiting several other breeders in the Bay Area (including Modesto and Sebastopol) we decided on Diamond P for a variety of reasons.
We visited Diamond P at least 7 times from Nov 2009 to May 2010. Thank god that car ferry is free! :)
Patti was very flexible to work with our request — we wanted a male yellow puppy. First litter — no male yellow puppies! Second little — no male yellow puppies! Finally, the next litter had 3 male yellow puppies. (Dad is Turbo — if you ever saw him in the outside kennels, he’s the one with the nylabone always in his mouth. Very friendly and goofy, just like the dog we have now.)
We visited the litter at 3 weeks and 4 weeks (just to see the litter) then finally again at 6 weeks to pick out our puppy. Patti brought out the playpen and we sat down and just let puppies run amuck. Finally decided on «Rainbow» (the one wearing a rainbow collar). We asked Patti to crate train Rainbow, and we would pick him up when he was 9 weeks.
May 27, 2010 — We picked up Rainbow! Patti was very instructive and helpful, and when we put Rainbow in his crate at home, he settled in and was happy and comfy. (Lots of trials and tribulations that go with a puppy, but none of it had to do with Patti, just Rainbow.) No health issues, although when Rainbow was older, we took him to the local dog park, and eventually wound up with giardia.
We would highly recommend Patti and Diamond P Labs to anyone interested in labs. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

My husband & I bought our black Labrador from Diamond P & had the BEST experience, would give them 10 STARS if possible!!!
We did our research (for months) before putting down a deposit. We waited for the litter to be born which was tough! When Angie (our pups mom) gave birth to the puppies we visited Patti, Betty & the Diamond P facility.
We toured the grounds & met the parents of our pup! Angie was the sweetest, most calm dog we’ve ever met. Turbo (dad) was sweet & always needed a ball in his mouth :) We felt comfortable & excited to move forward. When the pups were around 7 weeks old, we visited again & were able to play with all of them. Each one as sweet as the next. We decided then to have Patti crate train our pup so we picked her up at 9 weeks old. That one week of training really helped us & our pup & was one of the best decisions we made. Patti crate trains the pups with their litter mates so they aren’t scared, each day taking a litter mate away.
Picking her up was one of our most memorable moments. That was 3 years ago & Bagheera is still the sweetest, most loving, calm (calmer as each year passes), gentle dog. My husband & I grew up with dogs, labs in particular, so we both have a lot of experience. We still get stopped on the street because of her demeanor and shiny coat. Bagheera is an impressive swimmer & is our baby. We are expecting a (human :) baby this October & cant wait to see how Bagheera will interact with the little babe. We know she’ll be the perfect family dog.
Our relationship didn’t end with the pick up at 9 weeks. We keep in touch to this day, Christmas cards, emails, photos & we thank them for giving us a huge part of our family. When we’re ready for our 2^nd dog, we are definitely going to Diamond P!
We highly recommend Diamond P Labs. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

We’ve purchased 2 yellow labradors from Diamond P Labs in the last 15 years. Both dogs have been the joy of our family. Patti was conscientious in helping us from picking out the right puppy for our family, to teaching us proper care and training for our dogs. Patti made sure our boys knew how to treat the puppy. She clearly acts in the best of her dogs as well as the individuals buying them. The first puppy we crate trained ourselves with Patti’s guidance and the second Patti trained for us. Both were positive experiences. Patti is always very willing to help any training or questions we’ve had from puppy to old age.
We were able to visit each puppy several times before finally bringing them home and every time we visited Diamond P Labs we were impressed by the thoroughness of Patti and her helpers.
With our second Diamond P Lab, the experience has exceeded our expectations. She’s a beautiful, healthy, easily trainable dog. Everyone remarks at how cute, quick, smart, and well-​behaved our dog is. Our dog 1 ½ years old and nothing but fun!
We drive 90 minutes to bring our dog to Patti for boarding. We are confident it is the best place for our dog when we are away. Our dog is properly fed, exercised, played with, and cared for in our absence. It is reassuring to know your dog is in good hands while you are gone.

I can’t account for the bad experiences others have had with Diamond P. But our 2+ yo lab is a beautiful, smart, and healthy dog. We had no problems interacting with Patti Jo, and no surprises from our puppy. The one thing I would stress is that city dwellers avoid labs from field lines, they tend to be more active than other strains.