Labradors of the Valley

09/05/2026

08/28/2026

How am I supposed to get anything done with this cuteness at my feet?

08/28/2026

I mentioned previously that our daughter was thinking of getting in the show ring with these two gremlins. Both their parents were show dogs before we imported them. However, showing is a huge undertaking and it’s been a very long time for us.

A long time (like decades) breeder who has produced over 100 Ch and Grand Ch plus dozens more gold, silver, bronze, etc. has always offered anyone a free assessment of their pups for show quality. So our daughter decided to send over the requested pictures of each as well as Cane and Canada’s pedigrees to see if puppies had potential.

Their reply:
“Exceptional pedigree. You can imagine the hundreds of 'pet' type pedigrees people send me from puppies they have purchased from backyard breeders. So, it excites me to see and I am very happy that you have the depth of quality, correct-breed type dogs to work with. I see the yellow Lab with better overall balance from tip of muzzle to tip of tail. Reach and arch of neck, topline to croup and tail set seem to be very impressive. I would like to see additional side profiles of the black Lab, When you stand in front of the dog, make sure that the muzzle is level and parallel to the ground and not pointing upwards looking at you. This breaks the arch and rise neck and causes a 'Ewe' neck affect with the withers at the topline. If you want, also send me a video of each dog moving away and coming back to you and also while in the side gait. If both have correct movement, both should be very competitive at AKC conformation events.” We are so thankful to have a trusted person to import our dogs from. Much, much love Medley Labs Svitlana Boltian

Of course, boy yellow is a stud like his daddy. More things to ponder but meanwhile here’s some cuteness for your feed.

08/20/2026

5 weeks old yesterday and 10 pounds each….holy hell these two are bricks. Mama has informed them she is done feeding them and they refuse to comply.

08/12/2026

Canada is working on her second career…dog lingerie model.🤦🏻‍♀️

08/12/2026

It’s hard work learning to be cute…and ferocious.

08/10/2026

Had a beautiful weekend in the valley…the gremlin duo spends 30 minutes supervised twice a day on the puppy yard to continue to build their leg muscles. They seem to enjoy it.

Banks and Ucla contributed to the Home Depot of bird nest materials.

Our granddaughter loved on the puppies, who were thrilled…for the most part.

And our youngest daughter is considering getting back into the dg show ring. 😬

Here’s some highlights…

08/09/2026

When you put a piece of cheese wrapper in box then a bag then the trash…challenge accepted.

08/08/2026

The gremlin duo are too thick for their own good.

08/08/2026

A little update on the gremlin duo…

Usually by this age (close to 4 weeks) our puppies are using the potty area pretty consistently. However, these two just got the bigger pen setup yesterday so they are a little behind the norm for us. We devoted the last 2 weeks to correcting their “swimming” legs which we had never encountered in all our years of breeding. We’ve also never had a litter smaller than 8.

What is puppy swimming legs? This happens when a young puppy can’t get its legs underneath its body to stand or walk. Instead of standing normally, the puppy’s legs spread out to the sides like a frog, and it ends up lying flat on its chest and belly, making paddling motions that look like it’s swimming. It happens most often with hind legs but can also occur with front legs.

This can happen for a myriad of reasons. In this particular case, it is a direct result of their own body size and being a litter of twos . Due to being incredibly hefty they struggled to support their own body weight and not having to wrestle with siblings at the milk bar contributed to faster than normal weight gain. To give perspective, both puppies are just shy of 4 weeks old, and weigh over 7 pounds each already which is a weight they usually hit around 5-6 weeks.

Once we knew for sure they weren’t building their back leg muscles properly , we made some adjustments to their environment and started hobbling them. Neither case was severe though little man needed a bit more support. We added non-slip restaurant mats to their area to give their paws something to grip. We also hobbled both of them. Hobbling is a way of securing the hind legs together so they can’t splay out to the side. It does not hurt them, it just makes them use and build the muscles in their back legs so they can support their body weight. Between the mat additions, hind leg hobbling, and now regulating their milk intake both puppies are doing great now.

Today the puppy whisperer took them and the mamas out to the puppy yard for the first time. Canada wore her weekend best which made little man big mad but his continued shadowing of her is just the exercise his legs need.