First a little background. Jack was the first dog in our family from this line of Labrador Retrievers and was a wedding gift to my sister-in-law and her husband from his childhood friend Cooke. Jack was a fabulous dog, great hunter and great family dog that lived to the great old age of 15. My husbands parents received Jack's sister Bonnie two years later and Bonnie was also black. Our extended families have since welcomed Winston (third generation), Jada and Boog (4th generation) into the family. Winston is the only yellow for our family but there have been other yellow and chocolates in the litters. They have all been smart, good with the kids and good hunters, easy to train and long lived. Jada and Boog are from the same litter in which Jada was the only female. We had been waiting 5 long years for her and were beyond excited she was finally coming to us, however we didn't intend to breed. Until that is we found out the line would end with her if we didn't.
After much research and discussion we decided to have a litter and made sure we had people interested in the puppies before we went forward. We just could not let this steady, calm and well managed line die out. We spent hours looking for a stud we liked as well as a breeder we trusted to help us. We wanted to maintain the "Field breed" style of labs, not too stocky and not too lean but but with well shaped head and deep chests for good swimming.
It is because of the time and energy we put into maintaining the characteristics and temperament of the line as well AKC requirements that we don't allow breeding. We also don't want to contribute to the shelter over crowding with unwanted or unexpected puppies. Rescues work for many people but some families are looking for the comfort and dependability of a breeder that knows the background and history of the dogs that are going to be part of their families. Hunters are looking for dogs that are not gun shy and have a history of good retrieving in the field. We also have dogs that are being trained as therapy animals and that takes a special temperament to make these dogs shine. We also don't over breed, only having one litter every few years, so we rarely have puppies available.
