On November 30, 2021, we said goodbye to Koda. His time with us was much too short.

As I have written before, Koda was our third Labrador rescue and our second that had cancer. Hank had other health issues that shortened his life, and as we look back we wonder whether he had cancer also.

Deeply believing in the idea of rescuing dogs, having put three dogs down in nine years, we made the decision once Koda was gone, we would work with a reputable breeder, and start fresh with a new puppy.

When I called Sarah of Bear Creek Labradors, I immediately connected with her. We are in the American Labrador camp, and after our initial greetings, Sarah said, “I have to warn you these are American Labs, if you are looking for an English, we can’t help you.” I replied, “Great! Just what I’m looking for.”

One thing I found in searching for a breeder, very few state on their websites whether they raised Americans or English.  In the world of Labradors, this is huge, you are either in one camp or the other and the two camps don’t like one another. Usually, with pictures you can tell the difference, but not always.

In December, I sent off my required deposit and we began our wait for a black male. Luckily there wasn’t one available until a liter was born in March. Taking a puppy out at two in the morning when it was two degrees wasn’t very appealing.

We picked Gus up on Saturday, May 14th, and today is his first day as the new office manager. Being my first eight-week-old Lab puppy, Hank was seven months when I adopted him, I wasn’t sure what he was going to do while I had my head down working.

He’s been an absolute dream, going from toy to toy, nap to nap, and when he’s got to “go” there is just a little whimper. He’s responding to his name, and the word “No” like a champ.

I’m happy we decided to work with a breeder this time around and will continue to support rescue agencies in other ways.