"About Us"

Gary and I both grew up with dogs in our households, his family owned purebreds and my family mostly mixed breeds. I also grew up helping my grandmother on her small farm which consisted of chickens, ducks, horses, and ponies. I attended horse shows with her and participated in western style riding competition with her ponies.. In the early 70's my husband's family purchased their first purebred Labrador, a black male named "Tar". Tar became a unique loved family member , a loved neighborhood pet and to this day is still spoken of highly.  With the purchase of our first house in the early 90's, my husband insisted on owning this breed for their trainability, intelligence, and most of all their temperament with children.   Our first Labrador was "Max", a black male and a year later we added a yellow girl named Chelsea purchase from Diane Philbin lines. We both enjoyed the time spent with our dogs so decided to research AKC activities, since I had the riding show experience, we looked into Show Conformation.

Dixie became our first potential show puppy purchased in 98 from Lisa Keplar at Sunspot's Labradors in NC. Dixie's dad was the #2 Labrador in the country at the time, out of CH. Dickendall Arnold and CH. Guidelines Mastercard both great producing males in the breed. With Lisa's constant support we began showing Dixie, she had many impressive specialty placements, but most of all her trainability, intelligence, and desire to please made the introduction to the show ring extremely easy for us.  She also earned her CGC at the age of four continuing too show her desire to please. Sadly, Lisa Keplar lost her battle with cancer a few years ago, she was a very good friend that is greatly missed..

While showing Dixie at one of the first Labrador specialties we attended, we were introduced to a women who at the end of her lead held the prettiest black labrador I had ever seen. At that moment, I knew this was the "type" I wanted in my breeding program. Her name was Annie Cogo and the girl was the beautiful CH. Windfalls Black Piper, WC.  Over the years, I have found the type I love along with strong retrieving ability, easy trainability, intelligence, loyalty, and most important correct temperament, hence forth her lines are found through out our kennel..  To Annie's credit, she has produced well over 3 generations of top producing, top specialty winning dogs, an accomplishment that MRW herself considers "A Top Breeder". Annie's bitch lines can be traced back through CH Windfalls Win Storm, JH,WC,WCX (Top Producing Dam), CH Tabatha's Windfalls Abbey, JH,WC,WCX (Top Speciality Winner), a  CH Valleywood's Kannonball Kate granddaughter and a CH. Ballyduff Lark great granddaughter, who was one of the most influential bitches imported into this country and has made many of great kennels still seen today.

"Our Breeding Policies"

We are heavily involved in Show Conformation and believe the only reason to produce a litter is to improve the breed.  Our goal is to produce a dog that has the typical Labrador temperament, free of genetic problems while maintaining the look of the breed according to AKC standards. We follow and promote the following practices.

         

1. No breeding is ever planned without the thought of keeping something ourselves, hence one or two litters a year.

2. Use only healthy parents with typical Labrador temperament and no major faults according to AKC or English standards for the Labrador Retrievers.  Our breeding stock have their hips and elbows x-rayed at 12 months of age and again at 2 years old, both are submitted to OFA for grading. Sire and Dam must hold an OFA number to be used in our breeding program which is obtained at 2 years of age.  Eyes are also checked yearly by a certified Ophthalmologist and now the new genetic test for prcd form of  PRA, performed by "Optigen". We have good knowledge of our pedigree's and gain knowledge of the lineage of the stud dog to help avoid problems such as epilepsy and OCD.

3. We bred only mature girls and girls are kept in our house until puppies are placed in homes.

4. We will not breed to an outside female that does not hold the above clearances, lacks good type, and lacks correct temperament.

5. All puppies are born in our living room, they are monitored for health problems, differences in personalities, and socialized by our family.

6. We keep accurate records according to AKC regulations on litters, matings, and pedigree's.

7. We do not sell to pet shops or any commercial dealers for resale.

8. We do not sell 2 puppies at the same time to the same person.

9. We sell quality pets on a limited registration and all puppy buyers must agree to spay/neuter their pet at 6 months of age.

10. Puppies must be 8 weeks old to leave here and all have been stool checked 4 times and treated accordingly, first shots are given along with a good health certificate from my vet and a health record.

11. All buyers are screened to assure the puppy has a safe loving home. We do not sell "outside" dogs, and all homes must have a fenced in yard.

12. We reserve the right to determine a proper home, once determined a non-refundable deposit of 100.00 is required in which a receipt is given.

13. We encourage all new owners to become active in AKC activities such as hunt test, obedience, and agility. We are also here to help and assist you.

14. We provide a packet to each new owner which includes, picture of sire and dam, a complete pedigree of the puppy, copies of both sire and dam clearances, 15 page tips on raising, training and typical stages of growth.

15.  We also give a 14 day return of puppy for a full refund, no questions asked.

16. We require an agreement that the dog be returned to us for proper placement at any age if the new owner can no longer provide a home. We don't want any of our dogs lacking a loving home.

17. We encourage all new owners to call with any questions, we are always available to help. # 1-603-579-0785, or email Drgussy@aol.com.