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24th March, 2012: 19 months old Highhouse Rhun ("Dell") wins both novice and open classes at the Isle of Man Gundog Society Annual Championship, the first time this double has been achieved. Many congratulations to Dell and to Brian Duggan who owns and has trained him. More details to follow... 2011 In May we became heavily involved in the urgent rehoming of another breeder's dogs, and have been on a steep learning curve ever since!... more

Highhouse Rhun with his championship trophies

We are both retired Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dog handlers, and Dom was an instructor and assessor. We breed Kennel Club registered pedigree black, yellow and chocolate labrador retrievers from very carefully selected field trial champion and working lines. Our puppies grow into intelligent, willing and athletic workers and also into loving, sensible family pets. We socialise them with dogs and people from a very early age, and give them problems to solve to maximise their intelligence. Vets, trainers and owners in our local area can tell when a dog is one of ours!

Video of typical first training session: talent spotting for puppies who will keep trying when things get difficult.  Not all patients find easy places for their accidents!!!

We are far more interested in the health and temperament of a dog than its colour. Our search dogs had to work for up to 16 hours day and night with very little rest, looking for lost and injured people in the most extreme weather and over the worst ground. We would be heading into the mountains after nightfall in winter while the met office and emergency services were issuing dire warnings to the public to stay at home. Our dogs are still bred with the potential to do the same.

All of the puppies we breed are for ourselves - or at least that is why they are bred.  Last year was special, in that we did the impossible when we bred to give us a next-generation chocolate bitch.  The resulting litter of just one chocolate bitch meant that we had no new owners, so a very easy time.  We also had a litter of two and a litter of three, so a total of just three new owners to support.  That turned out to be just as well, as the rescued bitches produced 17 puppies with very high support requirement and a considerable expense as a result...

We breed out the labrador genetic diseases from the lines we import, and concentrate on producing adults with exceptionally good hips, elbows and eyes. All of our litters are bred for this purpose. Puppies we do not keep give their owners the best possible starting point for raising a dog with the prospect of a long, healthy, active life.

Our puppies leave us with the experience and understanding to become outstanding workers and family pets, that rare combination of both in the same dog.

We joined the KC Accredited Breeder Scheme in its early days when we found that we far exceed the already high standards required for membership. We give very full support to our pups and their owners, including a health guarantee; lifetime backup and advice on all aspects of care and training by phone and email; home visits in some cases; puppy boarding at very low cost (when available); behavioural retraining for our puppies and their owners if needed; and much, much more.

We are delighted that a majority of owners still want to keep in touch for years after they collect their puppies. We take this as an endorsement of our breeding and our backup, and it has the added benefit of keeping us informed about the longterm health and personalities of the litters.

With the development of new genetic tests and our use of those tests accross the board we now guarantee that all of the puppies we breed are safe for life from the genetic diseases PRA prcd, EIC, CNM (also called HMLR), and narcolepsy. All of these are known to be widespread problems in labradors. What they mean is explained further down the page and in more detail in our advice section.

Health, fitness and personality have always been the passion behind our breeding, and in 2011 we had the confirmation that we are right, as the issue of genetic diseases mushroomed for us in a few seconds of sheer horror. The way it unfolded is the stuff of nightmares, and not only because of the actual problem we imported. The explanation of the situation and what we have done about it is already being played out on one of the internet forums, and we have copied, pasted and edited a shortened but detailed case study version on a page in our advice section (CLICK HERE). Very briefly, when another breeder had to disperse because of a change in personal circumstances we were asked to take in a number of adult labradors including heavily pregnant bitches to ensure their safe future, and to home the puppies on their behalf. We tested them for the whole list above as we always do.  The email came in with the results. Four double clicks later, we suddenly found ourselves in very unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory, with every one of the parents testing as a carrier for EIC. We knew straight away that a statistical 25% of the puppies would be affected, and set about testing them all individually...

All of those puppies have been homed, with each of the owners knowing exactly what the status of their own puppy is and what it means, but a number of hopeful owners had to be declined.  A large proportion of our puppy owners are people who want a dog for work or for companionship in their highly energetic leisure pursuits, and an EIC/EIC puppy would be highly unsuitable for them. We have asked all of the owners of all of the puppies in both litters to take part in a long-term health study to see what we can learn about the degree of disability the dogs may have.  The information from the N/N clears and N/EIC carriers should allow valid comparisons, without the sudden realisation that some feature of the puppies might be nothing to do with EIC. The first questionnaire is about to be sent out to them at the end of March. We have also recruited an honorary veterinary advisor and an honorary training instructor to give extra support.

We are very pleased for people who intend to have one of our puppies to visit us a number of times, before or after the pups are whelped (born). This has a number of benefits: we can decide whether we think you should have one, based on suitability both ways; we can help you to prepare; and we can use you to help socialise the puppies.

On the other hand there are risks in letting you visit if we have uninoculated infant pups, and we ask you to cooperate fully to make it safe: we need you to arrive in clean clothes, and not to handle your own or other dogs after changing into them; we take you through a simple disinfection as soon as you arrive; we INSIST that you do not visit us as part of a tour of litters - bringing us infection from another place; and we will not allow your young children to pick the puppies up off the floor, as the injuries can be catastrophic if they drop one (so, clean but perhaps scruffy clothes so that you can all get down on the floor as a family with the puppies...)

We are also happy to talk with you if you are deciding whether or not to have a dog, including how to provide for it in your own circumstances and how to select a breeder and a puppy. We strongly advise you not to take your children "just to look" at any puppies, including ours.  The pressure you will be under to have even a highly unsuitable one will be intense!  Do feel free to use our puppy buying checklist to help you to ask breeders questions about health and socialisation, and don't be fobbed off by "noone tests for that" or similar answers! We have excellent relationships with other reputable breeders, and can point you in their direction if we do not have suitable puppies for you.

Many of "our owners" visit us several times in the weeks/months/years before their puppy is conceived, then continue to call in over the years.  We will show you where the kettle is on your second visit, and train you how to use it on your third. All visits are intended to be informal and relaxed. There may well be other visitors here at the same time, existing owners as well as hopefuls. If you can't get on with them, we probably don't want you to be included in the group! We have a simple understanding: you are welcome, but at times we may not be able to spend time with you.  Occasionally we may have to tell you that you can't stay, so it is worth checking before you travel a distance to get here.  If we are deeply involved with a training session or with the horses, you may have to be satisfied with a distant wave and coffee made by yourselves. We are a good starting point for a walk in the surrounding Lakeland countryside, not on the usual honeypot routes.

We do have some very "high profile" owners, and assure confidentiality and discretion.  However, we do not sell puppies via agents or personal assistants to unknown people, whoever you are.  We are happy to arrange closed, private visits if your circumstances make it desirable.  We are not interested in gaining publicity from being associated with you in this way, though we might ask if we may publicise your dog's actual achievements if we know of them, like anyone else's.  This might well be on the condition that you are not identified in any way.

We are now planning this year's puppies. The links to their webpages will be below.

Almost all of our puppies from previous years seem to have settled in well and without problems, leaving us sighing with relief after the year when one had a poisoning incident, thankfully resolved by a fast trip to the veterinary hospital for a quality control check on the vet's bill insurance we send them all away with - do be careful everyone! Quite rightly the brand new first time owners rang us straight away for advice, which was to put the phone down on us and contact their vet immediately. One of 2008's puppies began to have repeated digestive infections a few months after joining her new family, leading to all sorts of health issues that seem to us to have their roots in nutrition. We advise all of our owners to continue with the top quality food we start them on, but also to be quite insistent with their vets to identify the cause of any problems irrespective of cost, which is another reason for keeping up the insurance after the policy we provide runs out.

We still have contact with almost all of our QC pups: Every year we keep a number of puppies for "Quality Control" purposes, and as prospective permanent members of our pack. These are raised and trained to meet our house-dog standards (no mess, no fuss, no damage...), be successful members of the domestic and the canine pack, and to be ready for formal training. We also monitor their physical development in detail, to check that our programme of breeding for health is definitely benefitting the next generation. Many defects are genetic in origin, and even the most healthy adults may carry recessive genes. Once we are certain that the puppies are of the highest quality, we make a decision about their future in terms of whether they are available for selected homes.

Bute has now gone to a working/ family home and has an aga to himself at last. He was the strongest infant puppy of all of our 2008 youngsters, and with his excellent field trialling pedigree had to become a QC puppy. He knows that the house is a place for resting, not romping. He is very similar in appearance to his sire Vadis, but taller. He too is hip and elbow scored. His elbows are 0 as expected. We should be pleased that his hips are scored at an excellent 3/3, but having seen the Xrays we're disappointed with that. We thought they were even better, but we aren't vets! He passed his first BVA eye test with perfect results, and is hereditarily Optigen clear (see below for what this means) and EIC, CNM and narcolepsy clear.

Willow has joined a family in the deep south of England.

One morning Bute found a dead blackbird in the hedge, so we all practiced retrieving with a bird instead of a dummy, including Willow.

Gillean is a dog from the February 2008 litter. By 9 months months old, he became a full junior member of the pack and passed his first BVA test with perfect eyes. He was Xray hip assessed as "very good", but before he was a year old (the earliest this can be done officially). Sadly, this was not good enough for him to stay here to become one of our stud dogs, though it showed that he is set for a long active life without hip problems. Again with super parental health scores, his working / trialling background and an exceptionally patient outlook, he has become an excellent family dog. He has been chosen by a family living near us, enjoying his new life while we continue to monitor his health and character for our quality control purposes. He, like Bute, has the added double bonus of a country home and an aga, numbers 2 and 3 on his wish list. A great outcome! He stays with us regularly during family holidays, as do others of our puppies, especially infants who join their new families before the school summer holidays.

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Genetic Diseases

There is rightly a lot of worry about labradors with hereditary blindness caused by PRA prcd. A genetic test has now become available for this. As you would expect of us, we tested every one of our labradors at New Year 2008, at a cost of almost £1000. (This test is known as the Optigen test, after the original firm to do the analysis). This began our programme of breeding the disease out. We are delighted with the results we have achieved..

we guarantee that none of our puppies born since 2007 will ever suffer from PRA prcd blindness, CNM/HMLR, EIC or narcolepsy in their whole lifetimes.

Breeders: we are happy to advise on testing and to help you to preserve your bloodlines with our clear stud dogs of working and FTCh pedigree. (Strict terms regarding the welfare of the puppies apply).

Our Stud Dogs

Vadis ("Jura") (yellow (BBEE)); hip 3/3; elbow 0; eyes clear, optigen clear of PRA prcd, CNM clear, EIC clear, narcolepsy clear.

Blade ("Bowie") (yellow (bbEE)); hip 1/2; elbow 0; eyes clear, optigen clear of PRA prcd, CNM clear, EIC clear, narcolepsy clear.

Cannon ("Cairn") (chocolate (bbEe)); hip 2/4; elbow 0; eyes clear; optigen clear of PRA prcd, CNM clear, EIC clear, narcolepsy clear.

Rhyd ("Rush") (fox red (BBee)); hip 5/4; elbow 0; eyes clear; optigen clear of PRA prcd, CNM clear, EIC clear, narcolepsy clear.

Gunner ("Riley") (Black (BbEE)); hip 5/3; elbow 0; eyes clear; optigen clear of PRA prcd, CNM clear, EIC carrier, narcolepsy clear.

Nevada ("Bidean") (chocolate (bbEe)); hip 2/2; elbow 0; eyes clear, optigen clear of PRA prcd, CNM clear, EIC carrier, narcolepsy clear.

Bidean has sired a number of puppies tested and clear of EIC as well as the rest of the diseases we can test for.  For a short time more he is available to bitches who are certified clear of EIC. Six of his puppies who have reached maturity have been BVA tested and scored.  All have had clear eyes, and zero elbows.  Their hip scores are 0/0; 0/0; 2/2; 2/2; 2/3 and 5/4.

Treckers Vadis of Juniperscar (Jura)	Tarnedge Nevada at Highhouse (Bidean)	Grangemead Blade at Highhouse (Bowie)

Pedigrees and more photos can also be seen on on www.champdogs.co.uk. Our own champdogs pages are HERE

Technical note to breeders on colour:

Vadis' BB is deduced by his complete lack of chocolate puppies from two BbEe bitches. Statistically 25% of the puppies would have been chocolate if he were BbEE. He has to be EE by virtue of his yellow coat;

Blade is yellow coated on a chocolate dog, so bbEE.

Nevada is chocolate carrying yellow, so bbEe. He has sired yellow puppies, confirming his Ee

Cannon is chocolate and has been DNA tested Ee

Rhyd is fox red, so ee, and we believe that there is no chocolate in his background hence BB.  If we are wrong, he is Bbee.

Riley is black carrying chocolate.  He has sired no yellow puppies even from yellow bitches, hence EE.

We have published a guide to labrador colour genetics, and a table of puppy colours from bitches of different colour genetic makeup with our dogs: CLICK HERE. We can also quickly give an individual bitch's litter colours by email or phone: Contact Us

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Our 2012 litters:

Every year, some people have first choice from our litters having booked in advance. If you wish us to contact you with litter information when we have made our plans, please email us with the sex and colour you are interested in, and any other information you would like us to have.

We will put details here when we know we are expecting a litter, including pedigrees, parental photos and full health background information, in the same format as in previous years.

Follow the links to the litter pages for pedigrees, details and photos as we get them.

Phone or email us for full information, including details of their upbringing and the backup we give you once they leave us.

Litter 22/3/10, black and yellow, Vadis / Lavandula. A repeat mating. 1 yellow dog; 3 black dogs; 1 black bitch. All a good 400grams at birth. Several have been back for their holidays.

 We have a number of bookings for 2012, 2013 and 2014 puppies, so we advise you to contact us pretty soon if you would like a pup from us in the future!.

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Our puppies:

In 2008 we went skiing, leaving full instructions behind for our dog sitter. When we got home, he announced that Jura "must have" got in with the three bitches in season. "They were whining" when he came up to the netting of the secure area we had set up... Three litters born in a week is the stuff of nightmares!!! 

In the wild, bitches cooperate by nursing each others' puppies. This increases the chance of some pups surviving even if a bitch dies. We suspect that this is also why some domesticated bitches have "hysterical" (false) pregnancies: a junior wild bitch who may not be allowed to breed with the dominant bitch's mate would appear pregnant and would produce milk that the actual puppies could suckle on. Domestic bitches will also nurse each other's if they live in a pack and whelp at approximately the same time. Tress is a compulsive puppy nurse, and can't help jumping into the puppy garden when she is supposed to have lost all interest ages ago!  Maths time: if a bitch has 10 teats and no more milk and there are 27 puppies, how many can she feed? how many will she try to feed?

We have kept photos and videos from previous years on the Picture and Video Gallery ...

We give you as much support as you need, including rehoming help in exceptional cases, as well as the guarantee. In the last five years we have had two rehoming distress calls, one resulting in our urgent, active intervention: because of sudden family health problems, one of our 2006 puppies immediately needed a very carefully selected new home. We gave him a temporary home with our pack, and asked our many site-watchers: "If you can offer him a suitable home, please contact us immediately." We also emailed our entire owners list.

Yellow dog; 15 months old; neutered; healthy; very well socialised; reliably house trained; loves children; friendly; obedient; much loved; family extremely upset to have to lose him; litter brother of the two trainee guide dogs; Vadis/Rhapsody 2006. We had had a steady stream of proud emails since he left us in June 2006.

Three weeks later, we had a happy ending. He now has a really good new home with a family who have one of his older half-brothers. Again, many thanks to all who contacted us with offers or suggestions of a new home following our email alert or having seen him on our webpage. You made his last owners feel much better in their unhappy time - and we still feel pretty good about your response, too.

It is extremely unusual for us to take a dog back (indeed for anyone to have to part with one!). In the rare cases where it goes wrong, we give as much help and advice as you need, bearing in mind that the welfare of your dog is your enduring responsibility. We do not just offer an easy way out for those who change their minds or lifestyle, and are careful in our choice of owners: when we meet you we will decide whether we trust you to have one of our puppies.

Why do we have two kennel club names? When we first applied we couldn't have Highhouse, and the crags (cliffs) behind the house are called Juniper Scar so we registered that. Later, we became allowed to use Highhouse, but we're very fond of our first name. Some of our dogs are registered as Highhouse, others as Juniperscar. Traditions matter, like loyalty.

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Contacting Us

Seren Arabians , High House Labradors , Juniperscar Labradors

Dom and Jan Atkinson,

Upper High House, Over Staveley, Kendal, Cumbria. LA8 9QX, U.K.

Telephone (U.K.) 01 539 821 019

(International) +44 1 539 821 019

email: mail@arabianhorse.co.uk

www.arabianhorse.co.uk

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