Dogs have been a passion since I was a very young child. In fact I was so keen to have my own dog that I saved up my pocket money without touching it for four years, so at the age of eleven my parents agreed to let me get my own pup (who I named River). He was a great learning curve and taught me a lot about training, so when my second pup, Bracken, arrived three years later, I was much better equipped to start the process off and had a lot of fun competing with her in multiple difference dog sports. Bracken fuelled my interest and joy in training – she was just the absolute best working partner and LOVED to learn which made her a delight to train!
I have invested countless thousands of hours into researching bloodlines, health, training resources, diet, history of the breed; pretty much anything and everything I can get hold of to invest as much as I can into my dogs who are my absolute passion and joy. After breeding for a few years, I trained to be a vet nurse to increase my knowledge; I’ve been on the committee for the South Island Labrador Retriever Club for many years and have held most positions within the club; I have previously competed in both obedience and agility as well as still currently competing in conformation showing with my dogs, I’ve attended a working trials camp (tracking/obedience) and enjoy helping out with field trial (gundog) events. One day I hope to be able to train a pup in field trials when time permits as it’s a fantastic sport that the dogs naturally love.
I searched for a very long time before finding a breeder who consistently bred dogs with the qualities I was looking for in my foundation bitch before I bred my first litter. My first 2 labradors were fantastic dogs to learn more about the breed from and why it is so important to have a dog not only with a good sound health background but also sound conformation of their own. It wasn’t until I discovered and approached Pam Gregg (Catraz Labradors) in Australia that I finally got a pup of good enough quality for me to found my own kennel from. I am indebted to Pam for the mentorship and friendship she has given me over many years and feel so blessed to have imported two dogs from her as well as being able to use another two of her boys in my breeding programme. I generally only breed when I want to keep a puppy, so litters are not frequent. When I do breed, I invest heavily into making sure they have the best possible start I can give them to set both the pup and their owners up for as smooth a life as I can help with.
As all good breeders do, I provide lifetime support for all of my babies (for anything and everything, from little questions to life changing circumstances that may need help working through) and love to get updates and photos of them over the years. My dogs are rigorously health tested and come from many generations of dogs with very low hips and great elbow scores, as well as annual eye certificates and DNA clearances. The Labrador Clubs of NZ have worked together to pass regulations within the Dogs NZ registry so that all litters must meet minimum health requirements before being able to be registered for pedigree papers. This is a huge step forward for the breed in NZ and one I am proud to be part of.