A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO OUR BACKGROUND AND PHILOSOPHY

Life is indeed full of twists and turns, and our involvement and passion with our Labradors began many years ago. Anne was ‘born with animals’ so to speak. Her parents had a very special Welsh/Shetland cross pony waiting for her when she was born. That pony, “Mitzi” probably taught me more about animals than I would have ever imagined. Perhaps was even more important was my father’s approach with all the animals we had …. He was an ‘animal whisperer’ so to speak. He felt very strongly about working ‘with’ a horse, a dog, or even a goat and ‘speak’ their language. For instance, Mitzi grew up to be rather obnoxious in opening all the fence gates. So what did my Dad do … he taught her to flip open the slide on a gate, push it open and return the gate and slide to the original position. Can you imagine a little 8 year old girl on a black and white paint pony in the ‘Trail Horse Class’ doing this without its rider ever moving a hand or body? Many giggles were heard around the ring and “Mitzi” and seldom did Anne not come home with a blue or red ribbon!

That same philosophy and approach is how we work with our horses and our Labs. They always understand that we are ‘leader’ of the pack, but we are positive and praise often. Just as we teach new puppy owners the ‘sit and wait’ signal before eating their meal, walking out a door, stepping into their crate, we do so with our horses. The horses back up three steps, are given a ‘wait’ signal; feed is poured into their bucket and then a happy ‘O.K.’ signal is said. That’s not so bad for a 1,000 lb. horse.

Anne’s varied background working with challenged children, in the field of psychology, working as an Area Manager for the Breeder Enthusiast Group of Nestle Purina and teaching puppy companion and manners classes inspires new puppy owners or others to learn these similar techniques. The most rewarding thing is that Neil and I are always learning ‘tricks of the trade’ if you want to define it as such. Just as our animals do, we are always learning. The joy of new puppy ownership is our being able to share these same approaches in order that one ends up with a confident, obedient, sociable and with an awesome temperament Labrador.