What is your breeding philosophy?

We strive to breed for a dog that is healthy, no doubling up in the gene pool, highly trainable, has a good temperament, strong desire to retrieve, strong stamina, great cooperation, is well behaved, has courage, is intelligent, has good marking, good nose in the field, and a natural tendency to point in the field. We strive to adhere to the AKC standard for Labrador Retrievers.

See Breeding for the point in a Labrador Retriever controversy.

What do you look for in your dogs to make a superior breeding program?

The first thing we look for, before any dog is bred, is basic compatibility. Are these dogs such nice dogs, that it would be a pleasure to be around a litter of their puppies? You'd think that would be a given, but I know that I have spayed one bitch, because she was so obnoxious, I didn't want to even consider a litter of pups from her.

Next we look at the dog's health, their conformance to the AKC standard, and the dogs pedigree. Both dogs have to have a current Hip Certification of good or excellent. The next thing we look at is the pedigree of both prospective parents. We make sure there is no duplicates, no doubling up of any particular dogs genes. You can think of this as the taboo of cousins marrying cousins. We then look at what the combination of the two dogs can bring together to help improve the breed as a whole.

Why breed these two particular dogs.

Read how it was that we came to breed these two particlar dogs.

Do you guarantee your dogs to point?

This is one of the most asked questions. Anytime genetics are involved, there are no guarantees. Both Captain and Sally Anne point. Sally Anne points more often then Captain, but Captains point is tighter and more upright when he does point. Will a litter of their puppies point? The answer to that is offspring tend to take on their parents characteristics, but there is no guarantee.

What guarantees do you offer?

We guarantee our dogs to be free of hip and eye defects at 2 years of age.

Do you hunt your dogs?

No. We hunt with a camera, and I encourage the two dogs naturally tendencies while out walking in rugged BLM land. They follow my field directions, come when called, and have a grand time chasing up rabbits - which is the most likely creature to be found on our desert land. From observation of Sally Anne and Captain - Sally Anne is the more likely of the 2 to scare up game, while Captain is more likely of the two to track that game with his nose, once Sally Anne has lost sight of the rabbit.

Do you have any special programs that you put the puppies through?

We believe that puppies should be puppies for the short time that we have them. We make sure they are well fed and well cared for. They are handled and socialized every day. When they are old enough they are taken to a large fenced in area where they are allowed to explore the outside world. We try to give the new owner a puppy that has not been exposed to any negative environment such as loud noises or unwanted stress. The puppy's dewclaws are removed between the 3rd and 5th day of the puppy's life. They are de wormed, perodically. The puppies are Mico-Chipped. At 6 weeks of age, the puppies are given their first series of shots. In addition to the shots, all the puppies are micro chipped before they leave the kennel.

I randomly teach the puppies "Relax" (get a puppy massage) and "Get Back" (from that cliff edge) and "This way" (it's the dogs responsibility to keep up with you). The puppies are raised with a radio for early socialization.

If a pup is still with us at 8 weeks of age, we may begin training "wait" at the food dish. The way we do this is to give the command "wait", and then set that puppies food down for them. If they break their "wait" and rush the food dish, we quickly grab up the food dish, and the puppie gets no food on that try. The puppy gets as many tries as there is kibble. We work to get a 5 second "wait", then a 10 secound "wait" - we are striving for a 20 second "wait". We are training duration of "wait" at the food dish, no distractions, no distance. We are training a beginning for what will become future training.

Do you ship puppies?

No. Shipping dogs, without an accompaning human has special rules. We are located west of Denver, in the mountain foothills - Evergreen, Colorado. Perhaps you could fly to Denver, and return flight with your puppy? Inquire with your airline.