A Little Bit About Us
My name is Heather Harris and I am an Ohio native with a passion for all animals. I have had animals of all kinds from the time I was little. We currently have Labrador Retrievers, 4 females in our breeding program (Bayleigh, Bella, Dixie, and Bang), several upcoming girls (Bonnie, Laila, Karma, Pepper, & a Bella granddaughter who is due 4/6), and 3 males (Ash, Boone(neutered), & Bo). I am currently a full time graduate student at Marshall University studying to get my PharmD and become a practicing pharmacist and hopefully specializing in veterinary medicine.
We are a very small family oriented breeder located in a small town in Southern Ohio named Lucasville. We are dedicated to responsibly preserving and improving the health of purebred Labrador Retrievers. Our dogs are OFA/CERF at normal or above as well as genetic disease tested with non-affected carrier or clear results before we even consider breeding. We as breeders strive to go above and beyond with health testing. As a part of that all of the dogs in our breeding program have or are working on getting 8 OFA clearances and are tested for 15 genetic diseases and the dilute gene. Most of all, our dogs are members of our family and loved like our own children.
The 8 OFAs that all of our dogs are working towards are: Hips, Elbows, Eyes, Heart, Patella, Thyroid, Shoulder, and Full Dentition. By checking these on all of the dogs we breed we are trying to minimize the chance of our puppies having issues with these down the road. Eyes and heart are checked annually by a board certified OFA veterinarian. Bayleigh, Bella, Dixie, & Bang had their 2020 annual exam and passed with flying colors. Hip, elbow, thyroid, patella, and shoulder checks are done once and check for the potential for dysplasia in those 4 areas. Dentition is checked once and it checks to ensure the dogs have a full set of teeth and that everything looks good.
The genetic traits we test for are: Centronuclear Myopathy (CNM), degenerative myelopathy (DM), Exercise-Induced Collapse (EIC), Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis (HNPK), Progressive Retinal Atrophy/Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration (PRA/PRCD), Retinal Dysplasia/Oculoskeletal Dysplasia 1 (RD/OSD-1), Skeletal Dysplasia 2(SD2), Cystinuria, Elliptocytosis, Hyperuricosuria (HUU), Myotubular Myopathy 1 (MTM-1), Narcolepsy, Progressive Retinal Atrophy/Cone-Rod Dystrophy 4 (PRA/PRCD-4), Progressive Retinal Atrophy/Golden Retriever 2 (PRA/PRCD-2), Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD), and dilute (D locus).
With genetic disease testing there are 3 possible results: clear, non-affected carrier, and affected. All dogs get 2 copies of their genes, 1 copy from their dam (mom) and 1 copy from their sire (dad). If they get 2 clear copies from their parents for a gene then they are clear. This can happen by breeding clear to clear or clear to non-affected carrier. If 1 parent carries a copy or is affected by a genetic disease their offspring can get the mutated copy. When they get 1 mutated copy and 1 clear copy they are a non-affected carrier for that genetic disease. Non-affected carriers of a disease do not have the disease and are not affected by the disease, but like the parents they have the possibility of passing it on to their puppies if bred later. When you look at genetic diseases no 2 carriers for the same disease should be bred to each other because that is one way to have a puppy affected by a genetic disease. When you breed 2 non-affected carriers, a non-affected carrier to an affected, or 2 affected parents with the same genetic disease that is when you have a puppy that can be affected by the disease.
All of our puppies are raised in our home with our daughter and are socialized at an early age and started with early neurological stimulation (ENS). Early neurological stimulation is started on or close to day 3. Noted benefits include: Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate), Stronger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, More tolerance to stress, and Greater resistance to disease. We also raise our puppies with puppy culture to ensure the best, well rounded puppy that we can.
Along with socialization and ENS all puppies have: 2 vet visits, a clear fecal exam before leaving, started on potty and crate training, introduced to water and wings if the weather permits, 1st vaccination, and de-wormed at 2,4,6, & 8 weeks of age.