ABOUT US AND OUR DOGS

We are the Langley's; a family of 10 with kids ages 25 to 8.  Yep, Eight is Enough:)
   

In the spring of 2004 we had our very first litter of Yellow Labrador Retrievers.  We all so enjoyed the whole process of raising and nurturing pups! We thought our first Lab was an extra special dog, but when we began to get great feedback from her pup's owners, we knew we'd breed again.  It's now turned into a most fun hobby for the whole family and mostly myself as it's a wonderful challenge to find and breed only the best, most healthy dogs out there.  In fact, my hope is to have dogs good enough for my kids and their families to breed someday.  Anyway, we dearly love our dogs and offer their pups with hope that you will too.

The pups are whelped (born) right in our Great Room and hand-raised as part of our family.  All of our kids have always schooled at home, so it's not unusual to find them studying with a pup in their lap.  We hope the love, attention and training we give them in the first several weeks of life will get them off to the great start necessary to be a cherished, healthy member of your family for years to come.  In fact, we have started incorporating the new Super Dog Early Neurological Stimulation into our handling of the pups.  Not because we are after dogs with better performance per se, but because it's proven to produce:
1. Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress
5. Greater resistance to disease.
You can read more about it at:  http://www.kitsapcanine.com/articles/SuperDog.pdf

We also patiently and diligently nurture and work with each one as they grow; attempting to keep them from developing bad habits their new family will have to someday undo.  Our litters are trained to eliminate on wood shavings in a large box by 5 weeks; which makes house and crate training so much easier because they have learned from the start that clean bedding is to sleep on, flooring is where we play and there's that other place to eliminate.  We also know many of you have little ones as we do, so we gently discourage them to not bite or gnaw on human hands.  This doesn't hurt real bad when they're little, but it certainly will when they get bigger and stronger.  

Each of our parent dogs have had their hips and elbows x-rayed for dysplasia around their first birthday.  Once they are two years, most become certified through O.F.A.  Each dog we breed has been deemed at least good, but some are excellent!  We recently passed on a gorgeous girl because one of her hips were not as tight as I like to see them in the x-rays.  The vet mentioned that some, maybe most breeders would have bred her anyway since that hip was not bad.  In fact a big breeder of very nice dogs told me recently that she does breed dogs who's hips come back "fair".  She says, "Hey, fair is fair... they're not poor, so I breed."  Needless to say, I no longer use her stud dogs.  I am committed to only breeding the best and that means spaying instead of breeding sometimes.

We find breeding (and now starting/training-- see Started Pups page) great dogs very rewarding and as long as each pup ends up in a good home, we will continue to improve our pedigree with superior stock. We love and are committed to bettering the Labrador Retriever breed. 

GUARDIAN PUPS?  We are hobby breeders of the very best Labs we can find. However, we will never over-breed our girls.  Because we all so enjoy raising Labs, but will not take on more dogs here at our home than we can properly love and train, we place some of our very best female pups with the understanding that should they eventually pass all health screenings and personality tests, they could be brought back here to breed.  We call these Guardian Pups; a great option for those who live with a couple hours of the Modesto area.  The guardian family takes home their pup at about 7 weeks (or leaves her here to be started until around 18 wks); caring for and training her as their very own.  We only hold her breeding rights and we pay for all expenses related to breeding.  Sometime after her first birthday, we have her hips and elbows x-rayed and talk with her family about any personality or health flaws.  If we decide she is worthy of breeding, we find a mate that compliments her strengths and hopefully counters any weaknesses. (Yes, I'm sort of a perfectionist:) She is bred here at our home and then returns to her family for most of her gestation; about 60 days.  Then several days before she's due to deliver, she's brought back here to our "mama dog spa" where we enjoy pampering and reconnecting with her before her pups are born in the very same whelping box she was.  Once her pups are weaned, she returns to her guardian home, is eventually spayed at our expense after having no more than two litters, and belongs to that guardian family the rest of her life.  The purchase price is the same as others pay, but each time she produces a litter, the guardian family is compensated; helping to defray her cost, pay for gas and make their time without her more bearable.  It really seems to be a positive experience for all involved.  In fact, several families have obtained a second dog so they can repeat the process!  Let us know if you'd like to be considered as a Guardian... we are always looking for great homes and it's a great way to get a "first pick" pup even when you are way back in the queue!  And if I decide for whatever reason to not breed her... well, you just got yourself an extra nice dog.  Oh, and one other possible perk: we are happy to care for our guardian girls when you need boarding or go on vacation or should you not want to deal with her heat cycles.  Speaking of "heats"... dogs only come into heat and bleed twice a year and for about 2 weeks each cycle.  It's near the end of that time that she can get pregnant.  It's really not that bad; some dogs keep themselves so clean you can't even tell, but for the others they make a "doggie diaper" which makes things totally doable.  
     
                                                                
                              Guardian Brenda with her dog Allie.                                                                Allie's pup Aubrey, also a guardian pup                                                             and Kimber, her sister.             
                                         Kimber is a Allie/Dew daughter born Dec 18th (my 50th birthday:) She will actually be available at the end of April as a started Guardian Pup to some lucky family.  Let me know if you're interested in meeting her. 
                                                     There will also be Sheba/Spencer and Molly/Dew guardians girl pups available this spring and summer.

                                                              

      It's not unusual to have a dog or two in our pool, but this one day a several summers ago we had seven!  Five of our "guardian girls" came by and joined Ted and Lucy;                              

      the two that lived here, for an impromptu Dog (swim) Party!  Yes, you're right Barbara... it does look like a page out the child's book, Go! Dog, Go!