By 2005, we had adopted / rescued two black Labs in need of re-homing who personified the opposite ends of where the Breed had been taken since my parents had retired their breeding program. Our Murphy was the size of a Shetland Pony but long bodied and thin legged; loved retrieving and water.  The other boy was short, heavy and obsessed with retrieving but would tire quickly; he could live without ever setting a toe in water. Adopted at 2 and 3 respectively, we adored both these lads but neither of them resembled the Labs I had grown up with.  I began to talk to Breeders about working with them to establish our own breeding program. Finally finding one willing to grant us full registration, in the spring of 2006, we brought home our Callie, the daughter of an International Champion. Raising her for the purpose of breeding her, I quickly realized that she had no water drive and very little retrieve drive either. A wonderful and gorgeous companion, she too was not the Labrador I had known in my childhood.  I began to research just what had been going on in the breeding world; here is what I learned...Although there is only ONE standard of the breed for Labradors, over the years, years of breeding with a goal of producing Labs that fit both the working traits and conformation requirements needed for the potential of becoming a Dual Champion, had morphed into two types of Breeders - typically known as American (Field) or English (Show). Field bred Labs are bred with the working traits in mind to be competitive in field-trial events; when I was a child, my parents referred to these as “American Labs” with a lighter bone structure, longer legs, a thinner or single layer coat, a longer muzzle and heads not as broad (our Murphy was a Field bred Labrador). Breeders looked for dogs that exhibited these working traits very strongly; the "look" was not as important as those traits. Show (or sometimes "Bench") bred Labs are bred with a “look” in mind; a look that would satisfy the Conformation Judging. Subjective judging had led to the more moderate looking Labrador that I knew as a child gradually being replaced with a stockier dog, heavier bone structure and shorter legs, with a coat so much more dense that it adds an appearance of an even heavier dog, and the "block head” I knew as a child becoming more square and the muzzle shorter. Concerned primarily with winning in a show ring, breeders cared less about the working traits of their dogs.  Although there are those who say that the two "types" of Labradors differ in energy levels, in my experience, that difference is not in one being "hyper" and the other "laid back". It is the body type affecting the length of time energy is sustained. But more concerning to me was the appearance of a loss of drive for retrieving and water play in the Show lines as well as the fact that both Indie and Callie were fearful; neither ever became comfortable leaving our home despite consistent socializing. We made the decision not to breed Callie. Six years after deciding that we would not breed our Callie, we began to look for Breeders who shared our vision to produce traditional Labrador Retrievers that embodied all the physical and working traits of the dogs who were the companions of my childhood - in other words, more moderate in stature and retaining all the working traits and the fearless nature of the traditional Labrador.  On June 20th 2013 we brought home Angus Demetrius planning on his being the foundation of our program. Unfortunately, despite the Excellent and Normal ratings of both his Sire and Dam; Angus was diagnosed with mild to moderate Hip Dysplasia at the age of 10 months and the decision was made to neuter him.  With heavy hearts, we moved forward raising Kona and Dreama with the goal of slow growth and a controlled environment. In 2016/17, both were certified with Excellent hips and Normal elbows and our breeding journey began.    Finally, a Dream more than 30 years in the making came true.