Our love affair with fox red Labradors started when our Dexter was born. He was the only yellow in a litter of all blacks and when he was newborn and still wet, he looked like a dark cinnamon color. We were astounded and up to that point we had only ever owned light yellow Labradors. Dexter is a lovely shade of dark yellow, but not a true fox red... but he is responsible for sparking our interest in creating the perfect fox red Labrador. We were lucky enough to find our "Teal" (Kelleygreen's Cinnamon Teal) from Sally Kelley's kennel in Nevada. I visited Sally for a few days and was lucky enough to see Balrion Red Alert in person (the foundation to most if not all fox red Labradors in the US). She bred many beautiful fox reds I was able to meet.

We suspected our favorite boy Dexter carried fox red and when Teal was two years old we bred her to Dexter, which produced Spice. The next sire for Teal was a lovely deep red dog owned by Gregg and Deb Tonkin in Alabama. "Willie" (Little River Red Headed Stranger) was the sire to our Apple Butter. Willie has been used multiple times in our breeding program. We have found that Willie's genetics combine especially well with the daughters and granddaughters of Dexter.

Over the generations, we try to fix the conformation faults that we see in most line bred fox red Labradors. Fox reds tend to have weedy rears with short femurs and long tibia/fibula, giving a weak appearance. They also tend to have a slight curve to their tails and consistently have a tail that sets too low off the back. We breed out for a generation, then come back to the color. We have even had luck breeding out 2 generations and still having the fox red coloration. Ginger is a gorgeous fox red girl with only 1/4 of her pedigree being fox red. Over generations fox reds have been inbred over and over to maintain the color. Always look closely at the pedigree of a puppy if you are considering a fox red to determine the amount of inbreeding. We are trying to improve the conformation and temperament of the fox reds while maintaining the color in our pedigrees. Many of our nicest Labradors are from outcross breedings. We then take those dogs and breed back to a fox red. The available gene pool is so small for fox red labradors that they are becoming more and more inbred and the quality is declining

Fox reds are difficult to show as many all breed dog show judges don't recognize the color for what it is. The original shade of yellow Labrador was a shade of fox red. You can read an excellent history of fox reds here: History of Fox Red Labradors. Our ultimate goal for our red Labradors is to have an excellent calm disposition (which we have achieved) and to have conformation as close to the breed standard as possible. When this happens (and believe me, we are close) we will spend much more time showing and promoting fox reds to help educate dog show judges and anyone else who will listen and understand the implications of not giving credit to the darkest shade of yellow Labrador. It is like forgetting a bit of the breed's history.

We have spent hours thinking and planning our future breedings. Each breeding we do is to improve something specific in our breeding program. With just a few exceptions, we do not place fox red puppies in show homes with other breeders or to be used for breeding and/or showing. We are conserving our lines until we get everything exactly right. Families looking for a fox red Labrador for a companion are welcome to call or email with questions. We keep a puppy from most breedings and place the rest of the puppies in pet homes on limited registration. The pet puppies being placed are excellent in quality, health and temperament.

Home

Contact Us