Our Puppies and Philosophy
(515) 473-2986 (Text or call) Dr. Pam & Rod Doubek
No puppies available at this time.
Welcome to Penara Labrador Retrievers, the online home of hobby breeders of English type labradors. We pride ourselves in producing quality puppies, not quantity. We have 2 to 3 litters of puppies each year, they are raised with our family and given much time and socialization. We carefully plan each litter of puppies taking into consideration temperament, health and genetic clearances of the parents as well as conformation true to breed type. Prospective puppy buyers are screened carefully before being approved for a puppy. What does this mean to you?? Expect lots of questions and sometimes a waiting list. If this is the type and quality of labrador you want in your home, we feel our puppies are simply worth the wait. You will find similar circumstances with any truly reputable hobby breeder.
We spend a lot of time before, during and after a puppy purchase with the owners-to-be. We take the time needed because our goal for each puppy is a "forever" home. We do place most of our puppies on limited AKC registration. We will unconditionally take back any puppy we've bred for any or no reason at any age. It is our duty to be responsible for our little ones and we are seeking equally responsible homes for each of our puppies.
We place our puppies in order of deposit by gender of the puppy alone. We take deposits because we are counting on you to provide a forever home to one of our puppies. It is your promise and your commitment to wait for that puppy. Because of this our deposits are non-refundable, but in certain circumstances can be transferred to a different litter. If you change your mind and want your deposit back or transferred when the litter is over 5 weeks old, then your deposit will be forfeited, not transferred. It simply doesn't give us adequate time to find and approve another home before the puppy is released at 8 weeks old. Please keep in mind we are a small breeder and we have no control over factors affected by mother nature. We can't promise how "dark" a puppy will be and we do not chose the puppies on color alone. Producing the darkest fox red possible is not one of our main goals. We feel health, temperament and conformation are extremely important.
When the puppies are 7 weeks old we begin assigning each puppy to it's best match owner. Puppies are not chosen by your children via a photograph, they are not chosen based on which one is darkest. Our puppies are chosen for you by us as we are the ones who have spent countless hours getting to know each puppy as well as the time it takes to get to know our puppy buyers' needs. This is the way that we can assure your puppy will be a good match for your lifestyle. Ultimately this is the most important factor for your new pet over something cosmetic. Our litters tend to be very consistent so without collars, many times a visitor cannot tell one puppy from the next.
Buyer beware of breeders promising a very dark puppy or producing only litters of fully dark red puppies. In order to accomplish this, one must usually inbreed. Most fox red labradors in our country go back to one or two imported dogs. Inbreeding affects many things in the puppies. They are typically smaller with each generation, they have increased incidence of genetic disorders that can be quite debilitating, some render a dog blind at a young age or with severe allergies, auto-immune disorders and joint problems. We try at all costs to avoid inbreeding and tight line-breeding of our dogs. That is why you will see a visible difference in the quality of our fox reds and yellows versus other breeders of fox reds. It is also why we cannot promise how dark any particular litter of yellows and reds will be. Things to be sure to ask for from any breeder if you are interested in a fox red are as follows: EIC genetic test, PRA genetic test, Current CERF or ACVO eye exam, OFA hip and elbow clearances. The links previous are clickable so you can learn about the diseases. The CERF exam is of utmost importance to be done once every 12 calendar months. It detects juvenile cataracts, retinal folds and other debilitating and hereditary eye diseases that can come about at an older age. Also be sure to request a 5 generation pedigree of the parents so you can compare how many times any individual dog appears in the pedigree.
If you took the time to read all of our information I would like to personally thank you for taking the first step in being an informed puppy buyer. Kudos to you and we hope to receive an inquiry for a puppy sometime in the future! We love our labradors and breed for our own enjoyment and the betterment of the breed. We have many wonderful family friends that have started out as puppy buyers!
We spend a lot of time before, during and after a puppy purchase with the owners-to-be. We take the time needed because our goal for each puppy is a "forever" home. We do place most of our puppies on limited AKC registration. We will unconditionally take back any puppy we've bred for any or no reason at any age. It is our duty to be responsible for our little ones and we are seeking equally responsible homes for each of our puppies.
We place our puppies in order of deposit by gender of the puppy alone. We take deposits because we are counting on you to provide a forever home to one of our puppies. It is your promise and your commitment to wait for that puppy. Because of this our deposits are non-refundable, but in certain circumstances can be transferred to a different litter. If you change your mind and want your deposit back or transferred when the litter is over 5 weeks old, then your deposit will be forfeited, not transferred. It simply doesn't give us adequate time to find and approve another home before the puppy is released at 8 weeks old. Please keep in mind we are a small breeder and we have no control over factors affected by mother nature. We can't promise how "dark" a puppy will be and we do not chose the puppies on color alone. Producing the darkest fox red possible is not one of our main goals. We feel health, temperament and conformation are extremely important.
When the puppies are 7 weeks old we begin assigning each puppy to it's best match owner. Puppies are not chosen by your children via a photograph, they are not chosen based on which one is darkest. Our puppies are chosen for you by us as we are the ones who have spent countless hours getting to know each puppy as well as the time it takes to get to know our puppy buyers' needs. This is the way that we can assure your puppy will be a good match for your lifestyle. Ultimately this is the most important factor for your new pet over something cosmetic. Our litters tend to be very consistent so without collars, many times a visitor cannot tell one puppy from the next.
Buyer beware of breeders promising a very dark puppy or producing only litters of fully dark red puppies. In order to accomplish this, one must usually inbreed. Most fox red labradors in our country go back to one or two imported dogs. Inbreeding affects many things in the puppies. They are typically smaller with each generation, they have increased incidence of genetic disorders that can be quite debilitating, some render a dog blind at a young age or with severe allergies, auto-immune disorders and joint problems. We try at all costs to avoid inbreeding and tight line-breeding of our dogs. That is why you will see a visible difference in the quality of our fox reds and yellows versus other breeders of fox reds. It is also why we cannot promise how dark any particular litter of yellows and reds will be. Things to be sure to ask for from any breeder if you are interested in a fox red are as follows: EIC genetic test, PRA genetic test, Current CERF or ACVO eye exam, OFA hip and elbow clearances. The links previous are clickable so you can learn about the diseases. The CERF exam is of utmost importance to be done once every 12 calendar months. It detects juvenile cataracts, retinal folds and other debilitating and hereditary eye diseases that can come about at an older age. Also be sure to request a 5 generation pedigree of the parents so you can compare how many times any individual dog appears in the pedigree.
If you took the time to read all of our information I would like to personally thank you for taking the first step in being an informed puppy buyer. Kudos to you and we hope to receive an inquiry for a puppy sometime in the future! We love our labradors and breed for our own enjoyment and the betterment of the breed. We have many wonderful family friends that have started out as puppy buyers!