I may have found you guys to late?

A very tragic thing happened to us. 2 weeks ago today, my sweet Springer Spaniel of 11 years was dx'd with lymphoma and bone marrow cancer. Long story short, he went fast. We had to put him to sleep the day before Thanksgiving.
We have been bawling our eyes out for almost 14 days! I miss him so much!
This was so unexpected that we didn't have time to prepare. Had I known he was nearing his end, we would've purchased a Labradoodle to ease the pain.

I have spent days and nights researching breeders and talking to them. I had reached a point where my head was in a spin. I NEED to get a dog yesterday. I can't deal with the loneliness in this house without one.

Tomorrow, we're going to look at two pups and possibly will come home with one.
My questions are numerous...........
Is an F1 always going to shed?.........and how much?
Would an F1b be better for allergies?

I tend to want my doodle to look more like a lab.....so will I be in trouble as far as shedding goes with an F1?

The breeder I think I finally selected has had these pups of 9 weeks in her home. She has them crated and lets them out of the crate, so in essence they're crate trained and somewhat started on housebreaking.
They also respond, she says, to "leave it"..........It seems like she takes an interest in her dogs. Plus, she'll board them in her home.....not kennel for $15 a day if we vacation.
One other breeder turned me off since she couldn't really discuss since she had no knowledge of if the lab was an American Kennel or an English. This disturbed me.......plus she went from having them in the house to back in the garage and they were not microchipped
I know these are a lot of questions.............here's the final one........I'll possibly be choosing between one of these two pups....pics below....black & chocolate.........
What kind of coat do they look like they'll have....and how do they look to you??
Thanks in advance for ANY help I can get....Linda