A Little About Our FamilyThanks for visiting our website! My name is Claudia, I'm a rural IA mixed animal veterinarian, farmer's wife, and mom to Russell. My husband Wes is a 7th generation crop and cattle farmer. Together we enjoy raising quality Labrador Retrievers.
I came upon the opportunity to own my first show-quality Labrador, Flare, about a year after I graduated high school. Throughout our college years, Flare and I did everything together, including obedience, therapy work, and conformation shows. Shortly after graduating college, Wes and I got married and I got accepted into veterinary school at Iowa State. Flare and Bean followed me to vet school and were the best 'practice patients', anatomy models, and study buddies during those years. We also managed to begin our breeding program during that time. Wes and I have grown to love every aspect of puppy-raising, from the countless hours of research that goes into selecting a breeding, to waking up every hour of the night to check on newborn puppies, to cleaning up after them, introducing them to the world, and most of all, seeing the joy they bring to their humans! It is a whole lot of work, but totally a labor of love. Our son Russell has truly been "raised by dogs". The Labs are so good to him; they are playful yet gentle and very patient with his toddler boy shenanigans. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Pam Doubek of Penara Labs for her mentorship. She is a wealth of knowledge in both veterinary medicine and Labrador Retrievers and I am forever grateful that she shared a few of her incredible Labradors with me. I would also like to thank Wes's family for helping us get started in raising Labradors.
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