Interview with Marlene Hepper,
the owner Mardas kennel

I'm very grateful to Nadezhda Timoshenko

Mardas Labrador Retrievers by Marlene & David Hepper

I have been asked to write a piece about our life in dogs for The International Labrador Review. From a small child I have always been involved with some dog or other. I even borrowed neighbors dogs so that I could take a lot of them for a walk--one or two dogs of any description were never enough. I didn't mind whether they were pure bred or a variety of mixed breeding they were the things I loved and the ones I wanted to be with the most. At the age of ten or eleven I went to live in a suburb of Leeds and one day borrowed several neighbors' dogs and set off for a long walk across the fields and golfcourse. I walked too far and it was getting very late in the evening and too far for me to walk all the way home again. So I caught a bus along with all the neighbors dogs. I didn't think anything of it because the dogs always behaved for me and it was normal to have them around. The look on the passengers' and bus conductors' faces must have been a picture. The difficult bit was getting off at the right stop without any of my furry friends falling or jumping off before time. I delivered each dog to its rightful home tired and happy. If any of the dogs came to the play ground at school, I was the one that was asked to take the dog to its rightful home-never the child who actually owned it. I have spent many happy hours in the company of dogs and it was inevitable that I should begin a show and breeding kennel.

In the past, David and I have had Pointers, (English, German and Wirehaired), Cocker, Springer, and Clumber Spaniels, and Border Terriers. At various times we have shown all of them. We eventually had to decide which breed we would concentrate on seriously. We settled on the Labradors, although this, in the first instance, was not through choice. Having decided that we would focus on Labradors we had then to decide on a prefix. Mardas is a mixture of the following "Mar" from Marlene "D" for David (my husband and second son) "A" for Andrew our first born and "S" for Stephen our youngest son. The kennel club asked you to submit several choices and they were the ones who eventually decided which prefix you were to own. Our choices were all made from the same set of letters, including Damas, which we rather liked above all the other choices. This was not to be and we were given Mardas, a disappointment at the time but looking back over the many years, nothing appears to suit the kennel more than the Mardas prefix and I wouldn't want to change it now. It seems as though it has always been part of our family.

I have two sons and neither will take over the Mardas prefix. They simply are not interested in breeding or exhibiting. They own dogs and cats as pets but as youngsters we brought them to all the shows making them sit still and behave. Consequently, we knocked any possibility of them being interested in breeding and showing dogs out of them at a very early stage. We progressed from the small open shows at a distance of about 25 miles, to traveling from one end of the country to the other-sometimes on a daily basis--as our standard of Labradors improved.

We have judged most of the Labrador Clubs or Specialities in most of the World. Over the years we have bred many Junior Warrant winners. (This is an award that had to be won between the age of 6 months and 18 months.) Now the Kennel Club has changed it once again, and it has to be won between 12 and18 months. We then proceeded to a higher standard, which requires the dog to win first, second or third in Limit or Open Championship Shows. This award is called the Stud Book Number, and is a very important part of the history of Labrador breeding if you win it. The winner was considered to be a very good animal, regardless of whether it was made up into a Champion or not.. The Stud Book Number also gives the dog a permanent qualification to Crufts every year. I would think we have won possibly between 20 and 30 Stud Book Numbers over the years. Then we were very fortunate to have bred five English Show Champions, several Challenge Certificate winners, and quite a few Reserve CC winners. I think our most famous Champions have been Sh. Ch. Martin of Mardas, who sired one of the breed record holders for the most C.C..s won under separate judges; Sh. Ch. Mardas Master Mariner, who won 6 C.C.s with Best of Breeds and some Reserve CCs. The yellow Sh. Ch. Mardas Corndilly is our first Show Champion bitch to be made up by this kennel. Time turns everything around, because before Martin died he sired at the time the top winning Labrador and stud dog Ch. Fabracken Comedy Star, and just before Master Mariner died he sired Sh. Ch. Ramsayville Rain Dancer, and now their grandchildren are winning CCs and Reserve CCs. In the mid to late 1970s, Sh. Ch. Martin of Mardas was born and at two years old made up into our first Eng. Sh. Ch. He also won his Junior Warrant points very quickly from the Junior classes at Championship Shows. Martin was withdrawn from the ring to make way for Mardas Seamus who did very well, winning l CC and a Reserve CC. After Seamus came Sh. Ch. Mardas Samurai, a constant winner at Championship Shows very much on the lines of American Ch. Mardas Brandlesholme Sam's Song. Whenever shown at Crufts he won his classes--from the Puppy class on until he won the Limit Classes. He died aged 14 1/2 years. He sired a beautiful liver son called Special Edition of Mardas who won l CC before I put him into a pet home at the age of three years, because at that time very few judges would place the liver color and livers are only in full coat for about 3 months of the year, and you have to struggle against the judges' attitude towards the color. I felt we were wasting our time and Special Edition might as well be retired into a pet home. At the time of writing the old boy is still with the lovely family who have looked after him so lovingly and well.

At that time we were one of the very few kennels to have won CCs in all three colors. I then mated Martin to Mardas Moonglow and this litter produced ll blacks --10 black males and l black bitch. From this litter I kept Sh. Ch. Mardas Master Mariner (Buster). He was the very first one to be called Master Mariner and he was the first one to be made up into a Sh. Champion. At one time I believe there were five Master Mariners registered in the breed. Buster was made into a Champion very quickly and won around 6 CCs and some Reserve CCs. Mary Roslyn Williams used Martin and Buster--each of them twice--over the years, which to me was a very great honor. We made up a yellow bitch called Sh. Ch. Mardas Corndilly, who was registered and shown at her first Championship show and won Best Puppy in Show that day under the well-respected judge and Labrador exhibitor Mrs. Gwen Broadley. She won her first CC from her very first Junior Bitch Class at Three Counties Championship Show with BOB. She quickly won her other two CCs and followed this with BOBs and a few more CCs. Corndilly's full brother was sold to New Zealand at about 8 months of age. Pat Woollston of the Southerly kennels had asked me a couple of years before to let her have a yellow male but each time we produced one something went wrong with it and it had to be put into a pet home. Barley was the first one to look promising enough to send to New Zealand. He was made up into a Champion and I believed used when Pat's partner Mike went out shooting. He was sometimes lent to other people when they needed a dog for picking up purposes. Barley was also used by Mike as a model when he gave talks on the conformation and structure of the dog and in particular Labradors. Barley was also used as a pet dog and on the Television so he became something of a general all purpose dog that no one can dispute. Barley died about l8 months ago and Corndilly died at age 10 1/2. She was out swimming a couple of hours before and died in her sleep happy.

Mike Gething is one of the top Veterinarians in New Zealand. Pat and Mike, along with Mrs. Joan Antrobus, bought some bitches from me which are now behind a lot of their top winners in New Zealand, including the top winning Labrador Grand Champion, Southerley Shadow. Over the next few years, we won the odd CC and Reserve CC and had some very consistent winners. But because of unforeseen happenings with our family, at times the dogs had to be put on to the back burner, just ticking over, so to speak, until we could take up the reins once again and concentrate on showing and campaigning our kennel. In recent years we won a CC, BOB and The Gundog Group at Darlington Championship Show with Mardas Move With Style, a black. Mister did a lot of winning as a puppy with Best Puppy in Shows but as he grew older he seemed to lose weight and condition from leaving home to arriving at the shows. So I decided that probably the best thing to do was give him to a pet home, where he is as fat as a pig and in lovely coat and condition nearly all the time. Perhaps this is due to bacon sandwiches and fish and chips, which he always eats alongside his owner. Together they travel the length and breadth of England in a lorry . The owner owns a distribution company and wanted a traveling companion for either his car or occasionally the lorry. This is what Move With Style loves and enjoys daily and will not be left at home.

We have also won Reserve CC and Best in Shows all breeds with our bitches. Many Best Puppy in Shows. In 1997 we won the Bitch CC and BOB winning Best in Show at a Club Championship Show; CC and BOB at Midland Counties Championship Show; CC and BOB Scottish Gundog Association Championship Show-- all within three weeks. Then we won the Bitch CC at Ladies Kennel Association, the last Championship Show of 1997, all with Sh. Ch. Mardas Mona Liza--quite an achievement in itself, given the number of extremely good Labradors shown at any one time, particularly in the bitches. In 1998 we won the Bitch CC at Bath Championship Show with Mardas Side Saddle. Mardas Berberis has won 3 Reserve CCs and the Dog CC at The Welsh Kennel Club Championship Show. It is now coming into late August. I shall still show my dogs, but since moving here some five years ago, I have had the opportunity to take the Labradors beating and we have such an enjoyable, long, tiring day, I find that I am putting a day out with the shooting men/women before a day out at a show. I have always tried to breed a Labrador for working. Although our kennel has many times been described as a SHOW KENNEL this is not true, for as long as the kennel has been around I have sold Labradors to people both at home and abroad for working and I am pleased to say that all our dogs have fulfilled any promise asked of them. I have also sold for tracking and obedience competitions and one bitch in Finland has done extremely well winning a tracking championship. So I feel that I can safely assume that we are producing a Labrador capable of doing whatever should be asked of it. Our kennel has never been looked upon as a kennel for studs but in recent months Mardas Played Truant has produced some lovely winning daughters. Two yellow sisters have won Best Puppy in Show and Best bitch puppy in show respectively at two Labrador Club Championship Shows. Other offspring have won or been placed well at the shows. So not being at public stud I am well pleased with the selected few bitches who were or are being bred to the Mardas Kennel males.

My life with Labradors is so entwined that I will always, whatever happens, have a Labrador or two by my side as at this moment I have two black bitches sleeping peacefully alongside me here while I am trying to do this article. Apart from the ones made up into Show Champions, we have also had multiple Challenge Certificate winners which, for one reason or another, weren't made up into Show Champions. To be a full Champion in Gundogs the Challenge Certificate winner can compete in the field to gain places in the line-up of winners. This will give it the opportunity to qualify to be called a Champion, thus doing away with Show in front of the dog's name. I work some of my dogs when I am fit enough I go picking up on a shoot near to my home. I also have sold many of my puppies to become house pets and the average shooting man's companion. Abroad we have sold at least two who have gained high awards in the Tracking Field. Many that we have sold have also qualified in the shooting field for their owners. In some countries this is a must before they can be called Champion. We have sold quite a few Labradors abroad who have won the equivalent to the Challenge Certificate and some have even been made up into Champions for their respective owners.

At the time of closing this article we have once again in our kennel 2 yellows, 4 livers, and the rest are black. We are also losing the dominant black line which came from Martin. We have had our lows as well as highs, but through it all we have met some very nice people and have some very good faithful friends. Look around you and I am sure that you also can say honestly that your Labradors have given you many things high or low but throughout it all you also have amongst you some very sincere and true friends who, without your Labradors, you may never have known or met.

Through my own involvement with Labradors I have been to many parts of the world judging and I am sure that had I not been asked to visit these friendly Labrador people, I wouldn't have left England's shores. At the moment I have some very nice youngsters so I am looking forward to the future, taking them to shows and meeting friends from both home and abroad. May I wish you and your dogs a bright and happy future.

1. Could you tell us about your breeding kennel? How did you choose your first dog, did you associate you life with cynology right from the start, or since your first brood, when you experienced the miracle of whelping, and having traced the blind whining puppies growing into good natured dogs? How did you come up with breeding dogs professionally? How did this decision affect your life and life of your dogs?

Our first labrador choose us we rescued him from a pound. We feel in love with him and I wanted something with papers to show because people who saw this first male a yellow said he was lovely and said we should show him. But we could nt register him with the KC which would have allowed him to be shown. I had by then fallen in love with the labrador. so bought two yellows a male and female from the Longley kennel in tending to show them. The male was afraid of his own shadow so I placed him in a pet home. The bitch was lovely but had a bad bite so I could not show her either. I then bought a male called Keithray Venturesome who won well at Championship shows and Open shows. I also bought a bitch called Keithray Anthea also black, In time I mated her to a Ballyduff male and this produced Bridget of Rosevilla (we had nt thought of applying for the prefix of Mardas then from the KC) in time we mated Bridget to Venturesome and this produced a winning black bitch called Mardas Vivette She then was mated to Ch Ballyduff Marketeer a male owned in the 1970s by the Late Mrs Bridget Docking and from this litter I choose Sh Ch Martin of Mardas. Bridget became a good friend and adviser leaning me about the labrador. I do not breed professionally. Labrador breeding and showing is to me a hobby and I would nt want it any other way. Labradors have ruled my life and family for over 45 years I would nt have had it any different but my family might think differently to me.

2. You have been successful with this beautiful breed for many years. How does modern Labrador of your breeding kennel differ from Labrador 30-40 years ago? What features of THAT Labrador did you keep and WHAT did you eliminate with no regret (if anything)?

The main difference in the Labradors of 30-40 years ago I would say is that the judges then all worked they dogs and they required first and foremost that the dog had excellent confirmation and had type. The head was not as pronounced in the stop as it is now. Nowadays many people think that the broader the head and the deeper the stop is correct this is not the case we do not want Labradors to have heads similar to the Rottweiller. Many Labradors today are too short on leg length. The Labrador should had balance throughout its body.

I wanted and still do want my puppies to have excellent front angulations which means correct shoulder length and placement. A correct forearm. short loin. strong quarters good bone and excellent movement which is so important. If the dog is made right then it will move right. I also like them to have tight round feet (as in the cat) long open toes are wrong and should not be allowed they are a fault. The head has to be acceptable and typical of the Labrador but the other considerations must come first. I find in my own lines that the head and expression will come later at about 2 years old. I m trying to eliminate the plain head and expression which sometimes comes along even after all these years. You do not breed out any thing over the years. It will still be there waiting to come out again and again if you are not consistent in your choice of breeding.

3. What kinds of dogs do you prefer? Any color preferences? How do you form your breeding activities, just involve your own dogs or engage the ones from other breeding kennels and lines? What are the principles of breeding style? Do you often leave your dogs litters in your breeding kennel? What is the breeding time schedule of yours, or you just avoid planning ahead?

I look for dogs that have a quality about them I hate rough ugly bodies and very untypical heads and expressions and I put my final decision on movement when I judge. If it cannot move right then it can not work properly. I have no colour preferences I ve had the pleasure of being one of the few kennels who have won Challenge Certificate in all three colours. In my kennel I mainly have blacks or chocolates because as yet I have nt produced a yellow I consider worthy of showing and hopefully win Challenge Certificates. we had a yellow called Sh Ch Mardas Corndilly She was a lovely bitch and if I cannot breed something similar then I will not keep a yellow that does nt come up to her standard.

I occasionally use an outside male to mate to my bitches. I look for a kennel that has similar looking labradors to my own and they must have a quality about them. I only use an outside male when its necessary. I prefer to use my own stud dogs because I know they pedigrees well and know roughly what I will produce in my puppies. I do not have puppies born in my kennels. My puppies are always born and reared in my home. I want them to have the sounds of family noises. smell s of cooking etc around them as they open their eyes and grow. They stay up at the house until they are around 6 months and have been to their first show. Then they will go into the kennels to live with an older bitch for company. I do not plan litters ahead. I only breed a litter when I need something for myself in the ring. I do not breed commercially and do not have a list of prospective owners. Most of my puppies are sold on reccomendation threw people I know.

4. Do you encounter disappointment, failures sometimes? What is the scale of successes and disappointments in dogs breeding like, i.e. what do you distinguish as your success, failure or disappointment?

Everyone if they are honest and truthfull will tell you that if you stay in a breed long enough you have more failures than successes Unusually the disappointments are greater than the successes. My successes have been making into Champions Sh Ch Martin of Mardas. Sh Ch Mardas Master Mariner. Sh Ch Mardas Samoori, Sh Ch Mardas Side Saddle. Ch Mardas Mona Liza. and Sh Ch Mardas Corndilly. Surprisingly all were black with the exception of Sh Ch Mardas Corndilly who I have already stated was yellow. I have many other Champions around the World which is very satisfying to know that your dogs can win in the ownership of other people. I ve won Challenge certificates with several of my other labradors. Many many Junior Warrants and stud book numbers over the years.

5. Are you able to part with your best breeder? Do you prefer buying or renting a male?

I do not sell my older labradors I only have one or two litters from a bitch so if I dont intend to show her and she s had all the puppies I want from her then she is placed into a friends home or stays here in the house for the rest of her life. I do not rent males or females. I have only ever bought one male in to mate to my bitches. That male is Aris at Mardas I bought him from a Greek kennel because his dam is Int.Champion Mardas Opera Babe his sire Ch Mallorns Famous Grouse. I felt that he would produce me healthy show quality puppies when mated to myVinnie daughters. I hope I m right and his stud work is a success for his breeder and myself. I hope in the future that I am able to use semen from Mardas Divinsky (Declan) on some of my bitches.

6. Who has a prior right to choose the first puppy, as a rule? Are you ready to grant the privilege of prior choice to Russian customer? How does this right influence the price? Does a potential owner have any preferences? What’s your personal attitude to “the prior choice”? At what age do you make your final choice?

I choose the puppies especially for a show home. I send many pictures of the puppy as it is growing to the prospective owners. If they like what they see then they can buy the puppy if the puppy is nt what they want then they can say no I dont want it. If does offend me I know how my puppies will grow So I m happy to keep that puppy for my self. I would never sell a puppy to anyone if I did nt think it was good enough for me to win classes here in England at our Championship shows. The price of my puppies are all the same. The potential owner can tell me what they would prefer in the puppy that there are wanting to buy and I will if possible send them a puppy as near to their requirements as possible .If they want a strong head in a puppy then I ll try and send then a show puppy with a strong head.etc. I usually can see from birth . a puppy sort of catches your eye. Everytime you look at the litter that puppy will draw your eye to it. As soon as they can stand properly then you can assess it and see all the things you require in a show puppy. Has I ve said before I am prepared to wait for the head and expression to come late. But some people want it on a puppy at a very early age. In many instances this head that is so called ready now. Will probably go coarse as the dog grows into adult hood. For myself the choice is made very early on after the puppy is born and I dont usually change my mind.

7. Do you refuse to mate your male dogs with bitches which do not fit? What are your recommendations if any on copulations in refusal cases? How often do you mate your male? Do you prefer to mate your male with some distinguished bitch of another owner or with your own one, which is less notable? What are you criteria for selecting the couple? Pedigree? And how specifically? Or phenotype?

Yes I have refused to mate bitches to my stud dogs. If I know from past experience that something does nt work or some problem comes from certain lines being mated together then I will not mate them. I always want the bitches to have current Health certificates ie. eye certificates ,hip scored certificates etc. If they have nt got these then I do not let them use my stud dogs. I go to the expense of having all my labradors put thru the Health schemes to make sure that they are healthy specimens and I expect others to do the same. I think pedigree is very important. If you can `READ` a pedigree and know what faults and virtues that pedigree has produced over the years then you have a good idea what to expect from the mating. But do not be deceaved good things and bad things can lay dormant in a pedigree for over 20 years and still come out in a present day mating So you have to learn and remember what you see and hear around you at this time and then use this knowledge in the future to assess a good or bad pedigree. My males are not used at public stud I occasionally do let other people use my males. But my males are in my kennels for the mating of my own bitches first and foremost.

8. Is breed in general affected by explicit and inexplicit division of dogs into show and working dogs, or these are just different kinds?

Yes the labrador breed is becoming seperated into `Show` and `Field` labradors. In the past the people breeding the labrador wanted it to be a working dog first and a show dog second. They looked for a well balanced dogs with a good thick undercoat. A good length of legs and importantly the otter tail. The head was much plainer than it is now.

9. What is your attitude to the trend of having different breeds? What would you assess first? What defects in dogs can you accept as a breeder and as a judge? When you are a member of board, do you regard a dog as a breeder or just a beautiful animal?

I dont like the big heavy ugly labradors I try to keep in my mind that my dogs have to work. I sell to people abroad labradors that need to work in the field as well as win in the show ring in order to become Champions. I can accept a weaker head rather than the rottweiller type of head both in my kennel and in the ring. I consider my labradors as beautiful animals to be loved and cherrished and not animals for making money out of.

10. There is always a way to perfection? Is there any to your mind, or could the perfection be achieved in dog breeding? What kinds of dogs are the nearest to perfection?

No dog is perfect and no one will ever breed a perfect animal. You just have to look at the animal see all its good faults and list them in your mind or even write them down if you cannot remember. Then list the faults. If the dogs has many good things then you keep it if its better than the last dog you bred. If it has more faults then you place this one into a pet home to be loved and cherrished until it dies.

11. Have not you ever had an inspiration to mate a bitch with the male dog, which was neither exhibited, nor did it have any distinctive features? Do you follow your intuition? What was the result? Will you rely on your feelings in future?

I have mated labradors together that have not been exhibited. There are many reasons why a good labrador does get into the show ring. If it looks right and it has a pedigree that you can use then mate them together. Champions in the ring dont always produce the best puppies.Infact one of my own bitches had a super confirmation and movement but her head was plain and small but mated to the right males she produced me Sh Ch Mardas Master Mariner and Sh Ch Mardas Samoori> Yes I follow my intuition and the result has been most good. Yes I would nt change my feeling or my actions for breeding and choosing a puppy.

12. England is known to be a pioneer in Labrador breeding and exports. How do you fetch your new dogs? Do you import them? Where from? Is there a possibility you will be interested in dogs from Russia? Is to your mind there a trend to a steadfast increase in quality of dogs in Russia?

I have never seen any labradors in Russia so I cannot answer that question. I have only bought in one male labrador from Greece and no bitches from abroad.

13. How many dogs should be in breeding kennel for its steady development? What do you do with dogs you don’t use for breeding anymore? How do you treat different approaches towards exhibitions (ring system) with different international cynological organizations? Do you think the ring division the Labradors of different colors is justified? Is it important for you what international organization will your puppy be registered in?

There is no set number of dogs required to breed good labradors. A kennel can have a very large number of labradors and still not produce top quality puppies. A good breeder with the right eye and experience can produce Champion after Champion with only a handful of dogs. Because they know how to use the knowledge they have gained. When judging abroad you have to follow that Countries requirements when judging. I do not like the decision to have classes for the seperate colours. If the dog is good enough whatever the colour it should win its classes. Obviously to be able to show a puppy or an adult labrador It must be registered in the Country of the exhibition.

14. What is your attitude to edentates? If you use edentates for breeding, what is the maximum number of lacking teeth of a dog you used at least once?

I do not count the side teeth as long as the bite of the front teeth is correct then I will accept that. Of course you dont mate animals with bad mouths that would be a stupid thing to do. It will come back into your litters time and time again over the coming years. Its a fault and will always be there I ve used animals with three side teeth missing because in England we do not ask that the labrador has its side teeth just that the bite is correct.

15. Do you use to substitute puppy sold for breeding, if it appears to be different after growing? How breeders proceed in such cases?

Well everyone can sell what they consider a show puppy and it will be but alot depends on how the new owners rear that puppy you can make ot break a puppy by giving it the wrong food or rearing it wrong. You cannot blame the breeder for the new owners mistakes. But I would nt want to sell a puppy to a person who I knew was buying and selling puppies just because they have gone wrong. Those people should try and buy an adult dog then they cannot make many mistakes when showing it. Mainly I would say No like all the other breeders in England you pay the price and that finishes it But sometimes I do try and help people. I have to get the first puppy back first though so that I can see just what is wrong with it. Has I have already said I do not sell a puppy for showing unless I truely believe that I could keep that puppy myself and win with it. Also by the time I sell the puppy its over three months and most of the rearing has been done by myself and I expect the person buying it to do exactly as I say with regard to feeding it walking it etc.

16. How do you treat the point of view regarding existence of inter-breed Labrador types? Which types would you mark out personally? Do you consider the geography based isolation of types (as British, Scandinavian, American, etc.) as justified? If to your mind the inter-breed types can be marked out, name their main distinguishing features if you please.

If you want to use a animal from another Country and it suits your breeding then do so. I think that Scandinavia has always kept a lovely type of labrador. They try very hard to keep their standards high.

17. That do you think about Bolo pads? Is it deffect or not? There is nothing mentioned about Bolo pads in Standart... So, will you mate dogs with these pads or you will mate with one without them...

Bolo pads were part of a Great Champion labrador shown from the past called Bolo (at nearly the start of the very first breeding from the labradors that these people decided what a labrador should look like and they then tried to keep these dog pure and not breed with any other type of dog to the labrador bitches they had at that time. The Bolo or white patches at the back of the wrist is acceptable to most judges. Here in England a lot of us believe that if our dogs go back to these lines and all my labradors do then we are proud of this fact. because it tells people who are interested that we have an unbroken link to these past labradors. Also in my own kennel I have these patches. I know I have a good type of labrador and I have made many of them up into Champions. Other kennels have also made up Champions with the Bolo marks. Sometimes they appear on one wrist or sometimes two I have and have had many with the patches on both wrists. All these labradors in my kennel have done very well in the show ring. I also suspect that some yellows have these white patches but because the yellow is made up of so many shades of yellow .cream and in some cases white too people dont see or look for the white on the wrist of their labradors I think they just think that this patch of white is normal and forget about it. The Bolo patches are part of the Breed History and should be something to be proud of and not considered a Fault. Considering it a fault is very wrong.

Famous Dogs of Mardas kennel

Greenworth Vincent O'Brien at Mardas

Int. Ch. Mardas Opera Babe

Lindall Double Honour for Mardas

Mardas Berberris

Mardas Brun Berrie

Mardas Burnt Sugar

Mardas Mark-a-Way

Mardas Mermaids Style

Mardas Move with Style

Mardas Morag

Mardas Sahara Silk

Mardas Styled with Class

Mardas Styled to Please JW

Mardas Styled in Black JW

Mardas Vanity Fair

Mardas Venetian Fanfare

Mardas Vigoro

Mardas Olivia

Mardas Master Mariner and Sh. Ch. Mardas Master Mariner at 5 years

Mardas Seamus

Mardas Samoori

Sh. Ch. Martin of Mardas

New Zeland Ch. Mardas Corn Barley

Sh. Ch. Mardas Mona Liza

Sh. Ch. Mardas Corndilly

Sh. Ch. Mardas Side Saddle

Sh. Ch. Mardas Side Saddle

E-MAIL: labradorlumens@mail.ru
Moscow, Russia.

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