We are a small family, hobby kennel
situated on nine acres of beautiful rural homestead in SW Minnesota.
We warmly refer to it as the "Hayshaker Ponderosa".
We raise AKC & UKC registered English/Bench style Labrador
Retrievers. Our Labs are, first and foremost, members of our family,
and they live and sleep in our home (many nights we have anywhere
from 1-5 dogs in bed with us)- although, weather permitting, they
do enjoy an occasional "sleep-out" evening filled with
the smells and sounds of nature at its best from the safety of
their kennel runs. We farm 950 acres of corn and soybeans so our
fur kids have plenty of space to stretch their legs and stir up
a pheasant or two.
Click
here to see the Ponderosa!
We regularly show our puppies
and dogs in AKC & UKC sanctioned conformation matches and
shows, working toward their Championships. We proudly boast our
first AKC Champion "CH Hayshaker Cole in Yer Stockin CGC",
obtaining her AKC Championship at 18 months of age. We feel strongly
about balancing our girls with titles and certifications on both
ends, so we are working our labs in obedience/rally as well as
obtaining CGC and TDI certificates on them. We want them to, not
only be beautiful conformation wise, but to have good manners
and be well socialized as well. Helping in the community with
their Therapy Dog International qualifications brings much joy
to them, along with the folks they visit. Thelma currently works
with our 11 year old niece in the Lyon County 4-H Dog Project,
competing in Obedience, Showmanship and Agility.
We breed to improve our personal
program and reserve the right to keep the puppy or puppies we
so choose. Therefore, our major focus when breeding a litter is
to enhance and improve on the traits our girls already exhibit.
We strive to produce healthy Labradors that are physically sound,
correct in temperament, conformation, working abilities and breed
type as defined in the Labrador Retriever Standard. As a result,
we are extremely careful and meticulous when researching the stud
dogs our girls are bred to. We encourage responsible breeding,
and, therefore, we OFA certify our dogs’ hips and elbows,
along with annual eye certifications with an ACVO. We also genetically
test our girls to be sure they are free of PRA/prcd and RD/OSD
through Optigen. The sires of our litters have all of these certifications
as well.
As much as we would love to keep
all the pups we raise, it is impossible. So, we select special
families to be keepers of our Hayshaker babies on AKC Limited
Registrations. We place our puppies according to their personalities
and your family lifestyle; matching you up with the best puppy
we feel fits. Our puppies are whelped and raised indoors with
our family, so they become accustomed to the hustle and bustle
of every day life as a loved and cherished family member. Our
puppies are litter box trained, started on house training, exposed
to crate training and started on simple commands. Puppies are
8 weeks old or older before they go to their new families. Our
dogs and puppies are subject to our other furkids we refer to
as Labracats…or is that Catadors???? The Labrador temperament
is one loving quality that makes them so remarkable and trustworthy.
Our dogs and puppies are constantly handled as we have 8 Grandchildren
and several nieces and nephews. If you are interested in adopting
a Hayshaker Puppy, please fill out an application found here.
