Welcome to Ganderwood!

We are a family which shows and raises selectively bred English Labrador retrievers. We breed for the lovely English conformation and that hallmark of the breed : the faboulous English temperament: calm, adaptable, and highly trainable. In addition we are careful about health clearances, we assure both parents are cleared with OFA for hips and elbows and CERF and PRA for eyes as well as at least one parent cleared for EIC and heart.

We only breed a few times a year.  Each breeding is carefully planned as we usually keep a pup or two for ourselves. Our pups are carefully socialized by adults and children. Socializing puppies is a family endevour.  We are commited to holding and interacting with each pup daily. This gives a wonderful people oriented temperment and stimulates intellectual and social growth.  Pups are born in our home and live there for the first formative weeks.  In the home they are exposed to household sounds such as a vacuum, kitchen noises, trumpet practice, piano, conversation.  Before going home they also spend time outside and are exposed to many sounds such as geese honking overhead, children playing, gun target practice, etc.  They are also exposed to various surfaces.  All this produces a pup that is trainable and adaptable for a lifetime.

Our dogs are also treasured and treated as one of the family. There is always a Labrador friend in the house with us. We participate in AKC conformation, obedience, rally obedience and hunt tests.  Our dogs also enjoy their involvement with us in 4-H.  They have large exercise pastures where they play together daily in the middle of the 15 acres which we are blessed with.  Our motto is taken from the Bible : A righteous man/woman regards the life of his/her beast. 

We are selective about which homes are best for our puppies, hence we do not sell pups via the internet.   Pups have a 26 month hip and eye guarantee.  All our pups are sold with AKC limited (non breeding) registration and a spay/neuter agreement to prevent careless breeding.                                 

Our puppies go to their permanent homes with a full pedigree of both parents, copies of parents' hip/elbow/and eye health clearances, also additional clearance copies when parents have been tested for EIC, heart, and PRA. A receipt is sent with pup as is a copy of our guarantee. Puppy packet also incudes: pups shot records and health certifcate, feeding recommendations, a piece of litter box blankie to help with first night home, sample of food and helpful hints.  We are available to answer questions for the lifetime of the pup.  Any puppy bred by us is welcome back at Ganderwood for any reason.

We are members of the Grand Rapids Area Canines, show breed and performance in AKC, and are a 4-H leader/family.  From these experiences, we have seen a variety of dogs, training and related issues and are there for our pups to address questions.