Just when you think that things can not become much worse, bang. It was a very bad day yesterday. Our chocolate lab “SUNSET’S OPENING DAY HAWKEN” passed away. “Hawken” was our watchdog, he was very protective of his surroundings, and our property was his domain. For all the people that have come in contact with “Hawken” knew him as a 120 pound power house that looked like a bear. His health had been going down hill for a few months. Yesterday was my worst nightmare, he collapsed in the yard. I was able to move him into the kitchen and he gave me a look as to say “I have had enough”.

 I can still remember the day we picked “Hawken” up from Buffalo NY. It was in January and the temperature was below zero. We ran into snow storms on the way to Buffalo and returning home. On the way home the temperature was so cold that “Hawken’s” tongue actually froze to the inside of the passenger side window. He was not a warm weather dog, but did he ever love the cold and snow.

Over the years he sired many wonderful puppies. One of those puppies is our “Magnum” who has been our all-star as a stud dog. I considered “Hawken” to be the backbone of Sunset Labradors. All though he is no longer with us he will always be in our hearts. His ashes will be in our dinning room along with Amber’s. I will never forget “Hawken”, he was a man’s dog that I took pride when walking him outside. People always took a second look and it was not at me, it was at “Hawken”.     

It has been a very hectic 4 weeks. My partner, best friend and most importantly my wife has been having major problems with her leg. Finally after numerous doctor appointments and all kinds of different medications she seems to be on the mend. I sent her in to stay with my mother for a week and possible longer. My mom, her mother-in-law has always been a care giver and the company will do her good. Arlene’s problem is she is always there to take care of everybody else’s problems and she lets herself go. My mother is 81 and has many health issues herself but this gives her a purpose, she was the one that nursed me through my hip replacement last year.

I can not imagine my life with out my mother and Arlene. I have gotten behind with everything. There have been many emails about our new Labrador retriever training site at http://www.sunsets-labradorretrievertraining.com Hopefully I will be able to work on that site now. Also I have started working more on http://www.labrador-retrievers-world.com I have been able to keep up with Labrador items ordered, however the personalized products will not be ready in time for Christmas. I am very sorry but my priorities were Arlene and my mother. At this time we would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Now it is time to start to catch up around here.     

Our new website is up and running. The site is to help train Labrador retrievers from the puppy stage. We will be using one of our Labrador puppies from our last litter. A yellow male, SUNSETS RIDE EM HIGH CHISUM. The website is designed with the new Labrador retriever puppy owner in mind. The design of the website is in blog format. Please feel free to leave comments and our plan is to do a post at least 3 times a week. I began training “Chisum” at twelve weeks due to familly illness. Usually I like to begin training at 7 weeks, 49 days but “Chisum” is doing good at this time and we are not that far behind. We hope you enjoy our new site http://www.sunsets-labradorretrievertraining.com    

Chisum turned 15 weeks old today, he has settled in with our other labs quite well. He kind of reminds me of a pesky fly. He loves tormenting the other dogs and they swat at him and he just keeps coming back for more.

We had started a new website Labrador-Retrievers-World.com for information on the Labrador Retriever. We are going to continue with that site however there is a problem with the use of graphics. The size of the graphics that can be used is limited and we wanted to use photos in the training section of a Labrador. So we are going to start a totally different website on a new server strictly on the training of a Labrador Retriever, our new website we hope will be started and running within the next couple of weeks.

This new server will be perfect for our use, the problem is that it works differently from all our other web servers that we use and what I am use to. The internet world is constantly changing and you have to stay on top of it and honestly I haven’t. But our site will be up with in a couple of weeks. So stay tuned!!!!

We like to do at least a post once a week but due to an illness to a family member it has been impossible to keep up with our blog. Hopefully we will be able to stay on top of our blog from this point. All of our puppies have gone to their new homes and we have received some pictures that will be posted below. Our litter Magnum X Jammer there was a puppy that was born that Arlene & I never believed would survive a yellow female. Most everyone remember her as “Miracle” you could hold her in your hand at 4 weeks of age. The last picture below is “Miracle” now named “Latte”. What a joy to see how she has grown and developed into a Labrador retriever.