Q - Which kennels most attracted your attention when you decided to start out? Why?

A - Sandylands and Kimvalley.
Eng American Ch Sandylands Midas lived in our area. He was the most impressive dog I had seen in my early years of Labradors. Midas was a litter brother of Ch Sandylands Mark.


Q - Have you asked for someone's advice when you started your kennel? Who was your mentor?

A - I learned a lot from many people when starting out. We would go to shows and stay all day watching other breeds, talking to other exhibitors and handlers.
Ken Golden was a famous handler who among others handled Eng AM Ch Sandylands Midas and Ch Sam of Blaircourt. He was always very eager to answer any questions and share his vast knowledge of dogs.
Nancy Martin was very kind to me when I began showing. I was lucky enough to travel to the UK with her when she wrote her book Legends in Labradors>. It was really interesting to be there as she interviewed the long time breeders.
Several trips to the UK to visit shows and breeders were invaluable experiences.
As a mentor I will have to say many people and experiences helped to shape my vision of Labradors as will many people and experiences in the future.


Q - What is your opinion about to show under all rounder judges in all breed shows?

A - Some judges are more knowledgeable that others. If you know they do a good job it is worth a try.
Showing at Specialties under breeder judges you admire makes the win more meaningful.


Q - How old or what time you make your decisions in choosing your puppies? There are some reasons in terms of structure for choosing this moment for making your evaluation?

A - At 8 weeks I make the first cut based on angles and overall balance. I usually look again at 12 weeks. I feel they change a lot between 8 and 12 weeks


Q - Do you have a special preference in placing your puppies, Show or Pet? Why?

A - If you have one puppy good enough to show in a litter you are lucky. I usually keep what I want and sell the rest to pet homes.
When you sell to show homes if they aren’t an instant winner the owners are unhappy and quite often get rid of the dog before they have a chance to reach their potential.
When sold to pet homes they usually have a good place in the family and sleep on the sofa until old age.
Our first responsibility as breeders is the welfare of the dogs we produce.


Q - What are the most difficult aspects to forecast when you are selecting a puppy? Which are the points that you can be sure that they will come how you foresee?

A - I think Labs change radically as they grow so nothing is for sure.


Q - You are knowing as a outcross breeder, looking your website it is possible to see that most of your new dogs are linebred on Arnold. Tell something about this?

A - In a perfect world I would outcross all of the time. It has gotten hard to find a dog of similar type, structure and temperament to breed to. Most dogs I would like to use go back to Arnold. I have ended up linebreeding even though it wouldn’t be my preference. I am constantly looking for an outcross that really appeals to me to breed to.


Q - Talk something about - linebreeding, inbreeding, outcrossing?

A - When you are breeding I feel you should look at the dogs not the pedigree. Many breed on pedigree to double up on a famous dog that they have never seen or hardly know anything about other than “someone said” it was a good one. If you are doubling up on a dog you should know him well and have seen him in person.
The more dogs you have seen in person in your pedigree the less surprises you will have.
There are thousands of dogs with basically the same pedigree and more than likely only a handful of really great dogs from a pedigree. Be sure you are breeding to a really good individual and not just a good pedigree.


Q - When do you consider a male or a female a true Producer?

A - When they produce something very special from every litter.


Q - About the structure quality, which aspects do you consider to be more difficult to improve and to get fixed in a kennel?

A - One of the worst problems in Labradors today is poor front end assembly, especially straight upper arms. It is hard to find a good front so it is very hard to improve on.


Q - Could you mention some countries, besides USA and UK that you consider are making a good job in the breed?

A - Brazil.

Q - What's the most important changes you can see on the breed in the past years?

A - In the early years you would go to a specialty and see typey dogs and very generic dogs. I think depth of breed type has improved. You rarely see a generic dog at a specialty now.


Q - What's your opinion about missing teeth and how important is this aspect in your judgment?

A - Not important at all.


Q - Considering that you have been showing and judging in others countries, could you mention the positive and the negative aspects comparing with the USA?

A - It seems as if Europe has gone very moderate in type. As we went there in the past for very typey dogs, it seems as if they are going the other direction and the typey dogs are in the US.


Q - What's your routine kennel mating process, natural or artificial?

A - AI always. There is too much risk of spreading infection with natural breeding.


Q - How many dogs in average do you have in your kennel?

A - About 20.


Q - When planning a breeding, which one of this aspects do you admit to forgive some fails: type, soundness, pedigree, progeny? Which one do you give more emphasis?

A - When planning a breeding the main things I look for are type, structure, overall balance and good temperament. You need good type, but it must be supported on proper frame.
You should look at the “Big Picture” as all dogs have failings.


Q - Do you planning some breeding looking for specifically better males or females considering the parents?

A – It is hard to predict what you will get in a litter so you breed to get good puppies. If bitches or dogs are better in the litter you keep what is best.


Q - When planning a breeding do you give a particular emphasis on the sire 's or on the dam's pedigree line? Why

A - It always take two to have a successful litter, both should have nice pedigrees.


Q - Considering the structure, which aspects would prevent you from using either a male or female, no matter how good they were?

A - Good angles front and rear are very important to me.


Q - You have seen the breed growing for long time in USA, what do you think that was improved and what wasn’t?

A - General breed type has improved. At the moment we have seemed to have lost leg to body balance, many seem to be short legged. Poor fronts have always been bad and don’t seem to improve.


Q - There is anything you would like to add that you consider important to the breeders know or think about?

A - You never stop learning. Talk to as many “dog people” as you can. See as many dogs and kennels as you can.
It is impossible to generalize about anything concerning dogs and breeding. Every litter and combination can be very different with varying results, failures and successes. Don’t look for simple answers as breeding is very complex.
This is a wonderful hobby and it gives you the opportunity to meet and make friends with people from all over the world with a common interest. Meeting other Labrador enthusiasts is like seeing an old friend even though you have never met before.
The love of our dogs does so much for us, always remember there welfare should be on the top of our list.