After living in Ohio from birth through college with my parents Jan and Bob (owners of Royalty Labradors), Kyle and I decided to head South.  We don’t go anywhere without our dogs so they came too.  After traveling 16 hours for Christmas trips, family vacations, and other trips back north, our dogs have endured everything. In fact, our Labaradors have moved from Ohio to Florida and on to Arizona and along each stop and on each car ride they are willing and happy. There is never any anxiousness and they act like 9 hours in the car for 3 days is nothing.

 

Here are some things that make us love our labs!- They will ride in anything, just give them a blanket and they will sleep the whole way!- They love hotels especially king size beds.- They will eat out of anything, even off a hotel towel if you don’t have two travel bowls- If you buy them a dog bed they  will use it more than they use the couch- They love everyone and every other type of dog- Hold on when they see water, they love the beach, fountains, pools, or anything that resembles a puddle of water.- They adjust well to hot and cold climates- Even when loose at parks they won’t take their eyes off of you- Lastly, they love going back home to join the crew at Royalty Labradors.

 

 

Here are some comments from Royalty Labrador puppy owners:

 

Dear Jan,

I think you must have waved a magic wand over Oliver before we took him home! I couldn’t have imagined a better first night. He seemed right at home with the Tibetan Terrier who followed him around like a nanny all night. The beagle is a little indifferent at the moment, and the cats, well, the cats don’t know what to make of him. He ate well. Went outside to pee and poop! Fussed a little in his crate when we went to bed, but fell asleep around 10 and didn’t wake up until 4. He’s really got the hang of what going outside means. Romps a little in the snow and gets down to business right away. In the twenty years my husband and I have been married we’ve welcomed eight dogs into our family. But none went as smoothly as Oliver! He’s a pure delight!  Thank you again for all the hard work and care that brought him to our doorstep. I’m so grateful to you and your husband. More updates to follow!

Take care,

Joell Stebelton

 

Wyatt and Trisha Morton

Not only did he achieve his title but he also placed 2nd in one of the elements he competed in.

It was a freezing day but the rewards and joy of his accomplishments far surpassed dealing with the wind and cold weather.

The blue and white ribbon was for his 2nd Place and Black, Red and Blue was his Ribbon for his NW1 Title.

There is more to come as there are two additional titles to achieve as well as some Specialty classifications as well.

So, let me try to give you as brief (LOL) of an overview of what we’ve been doing for more than a year to get ready for this event.

NoseWork like all learning experiences starts out slow with getting the dog(s) just accustomed to putting their nose in a baited box that holds some kind of treat/food that they find and upon doing that getting rewarded for their ‘find’. As with people, it’s a process for the dogs to go and search and get over any issues they might have adjusting to doing all this. Initially it’s done in a room with just all different kinds of open boxes out in the middle of the floor. It evolves with more challenging placements of the boxes, more boxes, flaps up, boxes partially closed, etc. Other items eventually enter the picture which can add challenges for the dog(s) to adjust to as well. The scent (in this case Birch which is the first scent introduced) gets coupled with the food/treats so the dog(s) get accustomed to that smell until such time that the trainer feels the dog recognizes the scent and the food /treat goes away and then the dog begins to just work the scent. It moves from containers/boxes in a secure inside room to outdoors then the boxes pretty much go away except maybe for a refresher for a first run and you begin to work just the tiny tin/tube that holds Q-tips with the birch scent on it. They can be attached to almost anything anywhere.

In a trial all those ‘hides’ are blind. You have no idea where any of them are. You have to trust your dog to give you an alert that they have found it. Then, you have to call ‘Alert’ and then the judge tells you if you and your dog are correct then they get the reward for the ‘find’. If it’s a false alert, the judge will tell you were the correct place is and you can take your dog to that location and reward them then so it still is a positive experience. We had four elements for the NW1 trial, one blind hide in each location which means I have no clue where it is. The locations were a container search of 18 boxes outside in the shape of a heart, an interior search in a bathroom, an exterior search in a breezeway between two buildings, and finally a vehicle search with three vehicles in a covered rodeo facility. We had three minutes for each search except for the vehicles which we got an additional 30 seconds. Wyatt did the bathroom search in 12 seconds. You have to pass all four element searches within the given time frame to achieve the title. Wyatt correctly completed all four searches for a total of 1 minute and 9 seconds. With all the wind and weather conditions we were exposed to, it added to the intensity for the dogs to really work and find the scent source. It’s an amazing experience to watch your dog work the scent back to source and give you an alert. He just blows me away every time.

The trials are very sparse in the Southeast. I tried to get into one in Clemmons, NC last November. We made it to the waitlist line and never moved from there. Evidently there were over 100 applicants for each level and they only select 40 through a random raffle. People from the Atlanta have been traveling all over the place(NJ, MO, Chicago, VA, TX, PA, MD, etc.) just to compete. We still have two more elements to compete and train for – Anise and Clove – and of course, the competition gets more challenging and they’ve now expanded the competition to include Specialty Element Searches. So, we’re going to be busy for a long time. LOL, I’m only the chauffeur and also attached to the end of the leash and where I’m praying I’m reading him right. Wyatt is having the time of his life getting rewarded for using his nose for fun.

 

​

GUS​

Hi Janet! I really enjoyed our chat the other day. I’ve been wanting to call for quite a while.  We REALLY love our Gus. He is so smart, loving, and a lot of fun!  He has quite a personality. Everyone who meets him feels it too. He puts a smile on our faces just thinking about him…..what better companion can you ask for?

​

I didn’t think it was going to turn out so well at first. He was quite an handful, starting with eating a new book about raising labs that was given to us when he came home!!!  He watched me read it and I put it down to answer the phone….when I went back he had torn it to shreds!!

Guess he didn’t like that version.  I thought I had the seed of satan…(that was his nickname.)  Now you couldn’t ask for a better dog!!!!  Thank you again for letting Gus come home with us. I know we all made an excellent choice!!

​

I am sending some photo of our boy for you to see. Hope you like them. I looked at your fantastic website.  Very very nice.  I saw Gus’s litter there.

-Cathy

 

 

TOBY

​

Here’s Toby and I. He loves to go for walks and swim.  We’ve taken him to Hocking Hills many times and last year he went with us to North Carolina to hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains. If you could, keep us in mind for future litters and hopefully Toby can get

a brother or sister. I attached a picture of me and Toby from our trip to Hocking Hills in April 2012.

–Melanie Davidson

 

 

 

SOPHIE

Hello Janet!

We are so glad Sophie has come to live with us.  She is almost seven months old and has grown like a bad weed (emphasis on bad).  How can she be right in front of you one minute and have half a roll of toilet paper the next?  She has completed Obedience 1 classes and is going on to Obedience 2.  She loves being out in the snow and I see heading into our pond in the near future.  If there are any tricks to taking pictures of an all brown dog, I need some help.  She blends into everything.  I hope to see her added to your photos so if this doesn’t work, let me know.  We love her! -Cheri and Ed

 

 

Friend of a Lab owner

Hello,

I would like to compliment you first on Adam Crabtree. Out of all the labs I have met…he has impressed me beyond measure. I should probably explain. I live in San Jose and visit parktown on a regular basis to visit a friend who works with Jill. I am always impressed by Adam and finally asked Jill for the breeders information. My husband and I have been talking about a family dog for so long now and my desire for one is growing as our family grows.Thank you for your time and thank you for breeding dogs like Adam…he is so much fun and brightens my day whenever I see him. Thank you again and have a wonderful day!

Natasha

 

 Maddie & Dillon

Madison (aka Maddie) is an exuberant young lab who will be turning 4 nextMarch 2009. She looks and acts like she’s still a young pup. She just completed and passed the Canine Good Citizens  test and is currently having fun in a tricks/agility ongoing program. She loves to talk; we only wish we could interpret what she has to say because it would be volumes. She’s often found shopping the family laundry where she will make a fair trade of one of her toys for an article of clothing which is usually a sock or two which she’ll carry around in her mouth as long as she can get away with it. She’s never far from our other lab, Dillon who is now 6 ½ and an offspring of Maverick. They are definitely partners in crime. We are truly blessed to have both of them in our lives.

​

 

ZED

Dear Jan -Just wanted to drop another line to let you know that Zed (formerly known as Stitch) is doing great. Chris and I are really so glad to have him as a part of our family. He is just such a great dog – so sweet and so smart! He doesn’t chew anything around the house but his toys – of which he has endless supply (such a contrast to other labs that our friends own…) Basically everywhere we take him he gets compliments.  There continues to be no evidence that he’s different than any other dog, or that he ever required hernia surgery when he was a pup.  We take him down to our cabin on the lake (down by Wooster) every weekend and he tirelessly romps around … He can’t get enough of the water!!!

 

RILEY

Being married in August, Royalty Labradors has given my wife and me our first “child”.  She truly is a part of every aspect of our lives.  Ever since we picked her up when she was just eight weeks old – seems like forever and fifty pounds ago – we have been extremely happy with her.  Riley is the most gentle, playful and loving dog I have ever owned.  As great as she is in our home, she is equally as qualified in the field hunting pheasant or whatever bird is out there.  In fact, on my first pheasant hunting trip I was a little unsure as to how she would perform since she was new to hunting as well.  After the puppy energy burned off she was well on her way.  At the end of the day we walked out of the field happy and with a bit of experience under both of our belts.  She forced up a couple birds, that I missed… but not too worry because she batted one out of the air to claim as her own catch.  Overall, our expectations have been passed in every aspect of Riley.  The best compliment  we can give is to say we love having her as part of our family.

Pat & Kathy

 

First, happy holidays! I hope that you and your family are doing well. The attached photo was used as our Christmas card, and I thought you would like it. Second, my wife and I are going to be adding to our family this year with another dog. I was hoping that our next “child” could also be from Royalty. We were looking at possibly a yellow male. So I guess I was seeing if you were going to be expecting another litter this upcoming year. Let me know whenever you get a chance. Thanks

​

ADAM CRABTREE

The pictures I sent last spring were taken at his first trip to the beach when he was about 14 weeks old. We don’t live very close to the ocean so we don’t go often. On Christmas day both of our adult daughters were out of town so we decided to take Adam for his second trip to the ocean. He has been in lakes around San Jose a lot but the ocean is different, of course. The day we were there the surf was high-notice the waves towering over his head. At first he was shocked to see water acting this way (note the picture with his hackles up staring at the waves). But after a five minute adjustment period he made friends with the Pacific and was joyfully plunging into the waves. I have had three dogs from his father’s line and I still have his fourteen and a half year old great uncle, Dax. I have always believed that Dax was the dog of a lifetime and that I would never again find a dog that I would be as close to. So Adam has had big shoes (paws?) to fill. However Adam has turned out to be the most endearing dog I have ever owned. He loves everyone he meets and draws people to him like a magnet. He is very easy to live with-even as a puppy he never jumped on people and didn’t (usually) destroy anything but dog toys. He has turned out to be a beautiful dog-he’s big- 93 pounds of muscle and radiographs show his hips to be good. He goes to work with me every day and will proudly carry my purse inside the vet clinic. However I don’t have him do that if there are other people in the parking lot because he will excitedly go over and offer my purse to them as a greeting.

 

BENTLEY

Hi Janet, I wanted to share some pictures of Bentley with you.  We love him SO much!!  He has been such an amazing dog.  We get wonderful comments on him all the time because he is beautiful and also so well behaved.  He has the most amazing mellow behavior (and that’s saying a lot for an 8 month old puppy! :)) Bentley had a very fun summer at the beach in Grand Haven and at Jesse’s parents cottage on the lake.  He loved riding on the boat and swimming in the lake.  It was so fun! We are so thankful for you!  Bentley is such a wonderful dog.  We couldn’t have asked for anything better!  We ask him all the time how he got so handsome  I hope you are having a great fall, Julie

​

TORI

​

Here are two other pictures of Tori…some of these are of her when she was around 12 weeks old…and some are of her at Christmas time.  She is doing wonderful…she is absolutely loving the 10 inches of snow on the ground right now!!! She still chases all of the cats, and has just recently mastered jumping over the baby gate in the upstairs part of the house.  She glides over this gate without touching any part of it…quite a little athlete.

​

PICKLES & STELLA

​

 

BOGEY

He now loves to ride in the car, he loves to go for walks,  he loves our new grandson, but he doesn’t quite know how to be gentle with him yet, therefore we don’t trust him around the baby.  He has really grown.  I took him to weigh him to get his heart worm medicine and he was a whopping 89 pounds!!!  We’ve cut down on his food a little bit and he seems to have thinned down some.  We’ve never given him table food, nor do we give him lots of treats, plus we walk him, so we were a little surprised.

​

REMINGTON

Remington went for his first swim in Leesville Lake on sunday. He seemed to like it. He is starting to get to heavy to pick up now. He was doing great with potty training, but had some accidents this week. I know it takes time, he will figure it out soon. He sleeps all through the night now, and he loves his kennel.

​

COOPER

I feel so fortunate to be his mommy-the unconditional love I get from him daily is so rewarding. He sure is beautiful isn’t he? Rees and I always say that Janet breeds the best labradors!

 

JESSE

We love our puppy.  I can’t believe she is a year old.  She has been a wonderful addition to our family. Ted and I just wanted to say “Hello” and thought we would send you a picture of Jesse Marcum.  She is doing great.  She is very smart and very active. I checked you website recently and noticed you had another litter of puppies.  That is great!  I am sure whoever gets a puppy from you will be very happy. I know that we are. Marylou and Ted

 

​

LUCAS

Just wanted to send you a few pictures of lucas on his first “real” hunt in cedarville, michigan. he’s really turning into such a pretty boy – filling in and getting big. he’s still a puppy in that big body though!!!