HOME
CONTACT US
CODE OF ETHICS
JUDGING
WE REMEMBER

Shenandoah.SERVICE.DOGS

Rescue and Re-Home

YNDA...akc..REGISTERED

Ridgebacks of YNDA
YNDA Labradors

Stud DOGS
Old-Dogs , the Veterans
Awards & Honors

Dogs By Name:

Hawkeye
Hoss
Ian
St. John
Martin
Nigel
Ella
Imp
June
Morella

LANDFALL.SIBERIANS

thanks to the breeders who brought such lovely girls to our st john
BEST IN SPECIALTY SHOW
Grand Show Champion      Reserve Best In Show
Ynda-N-Colton's Patron-Saint      "St. John"
Register Of Merit Excellent X  = offspring with 21 ukc titles
#5 Top Ten Labrador for 2004 (UKC)
 #10 Top Ten Labrador for 2007 (UKC)
AM CH Colton's Calvin Black  X Ynda's Midsumr-Knights-Dream, ROM          2002 - 2010

         

          Judge Joyce Lea-Hanson from England comments:
 " THIS is what a labrador is supposed to be. What marvelous, harsh coat, what a tail, what correct breed type"

John retrieved to hand with such enthusiasm that we called him our  "Rocket Man".
  
John was poised to be our Lab Specialty Veterans Dog.  Sadly, not meant to be.
Our beloved St John left us way too soon; we lost him to lymphoma before he was 8.

John's Specialty Wins:

Best in Specialty Show -- U.L.R.A. 4/07 -- judge Joe Camp

 12-18 class at midjersey -- judge  Winnie Limbourne
   12 - 15 months -- sweeps judge Jackie Mischou
 12 - 18 months class at  raleigh-durham -- judge Sally Bell
6-8 months class pioneer valley -- sweeps judge Traci Stintzcum

John Stories:  It has taken us a long time to post our St John stories.  His death was so painful to us that we just needed some time to distance ourselves before we could refocus on all the many joys of John.

On a mission: When June was pregnant with John and Imp, it was a very interesting experience.  She came into season and we had to do the transcervical insemination on .... 4th of July !  So off we went to Va Tech to meet Dr Pursewell.  Several of the students came in off their holiday to watch and learn, and we were allowed to be there, too.  June stood on that table and just wagged and wagged her tail -- she loved the attention and did not mind the cameras or other internal equipment.  We were able to see the semen and the extender fly by on the screen as they went down the tubing/pippette into Miss June.  We should have known from that experience what to expect .... all during the pregnancy, there was 1 puppy who could NOT stay still.  Move, squirm, active, roll over .... well that puppy turned out to be our St John. But I get ahead of myself ... The delivery date turned out to be ... Labor Day and it was HomeComing at Va Tech.  BUT we knew we needed to be there in case Miss June needed a C section since there were only 2 pups.  Have you ever tried to get into Tech when there is a home game????? We had to go in thru the main campus because the traffic lanes were 'reversed' to let the traffic out after the game.  The game was in full swing.  We waited for hours IN THE VAN AFTER june's temp had dropped, but no labor.  So .... Sure enough, Dr Pursewell had to be called/paged to come from the stadium to the hospital, which is about 100 yards from the stadium.  June did have her C section, and from birth the male puppy could not stay still ... crawling around the box, up and down his mother's side, from one nipple to the next ... always moving and going somewhere.  When Mary Ellen of Colton got to see the pups, they were 7 weeks old, we took them to the MidJersey and had an indoor exercise pen set up for them.  The very first thing she said was ' he is really on a mission, isn't he?'  And that was our St John ...always knew who he was, what he wanted, where he was going, and how to get there!

Puppy Alcatraz:  Those of you who have had the joy of puppies from frozen semen will understand this story.  It is not easy and not cheap to use frozen semen successfully and have a litter of pups.  We did it the 'long shot' method of transcervical insemination, and so only had 2 pups, a boy and a girl.  We both adored Calvin and had tried unsuccessfully 3 times to mate Jasmine to Calvin.  So these 2 Calvin and June puppies were extra-special-precious to us.  When they were weaned, we left them in the 'puppy kennel' where they had been with their mother, June.  I was so PARANOID about their safety, that I made Andy put up fencing on top of the kennel to prevent any birds of prey from coming down thru the pine trees to snatch my puppies.  And then when June left them for weaning, I was even more paranoid since I had seen a weasel next door some weeks before -- no predator was going to sneak thru the space between the gate and the fence for my puppies.  We had a series of fence panels we clipped to the gate and fence so as to prevent anything from getting into the pups.... Then, until they had their first and second shots, I insisted that we put up xpens around the sides of the pen that could be reached by people.  Only then were my 'beloved frozen pup-sicles' safe enough for me to relax.  Andy used to call this 'puppy alcatraz'.  But it worked.  Both pups thrived !

Let me out, let me out!  One of my favorite stories to tell St John and Imp was about how they came from frozen semen, that they had been in the 'deep freeze' for years and years, tapping on the glass and saying 'let me out, let me out' ... and now they were 'out' and with us and 'living large.'  I swear they understood this story and always smiled when I would say 'let me out, let me out ..'

The name:  Many times we name our dogs to indicate their heritage or ties to one or both parents.  For that reason we named Imp a Dream name for her mother, MidSummerKnightsDream.  Imp is Impossible Dream.  But John, well John was such a magnificent puppy, such a stunning puppy that we wanted him to have his own name, independent of both parents June and Calvin.... so we thought and thought ... and John was such a fine labrador that we joked he could be the Patron-Saint-of-Labradors.  Well we figured out there is no real patron saint for Labrador Retrievers, but surely, thought ought to be one, right?  Well, who would it be ??? It came to us !  Eurkea!  Labradors originated in Newfoundland.  The capitol of Newfoundland is St Johns.  Who better than Saint John to be the Patron Saint of Labradors?  So ... he became Patron-Saint.  And we called him St John.  MaryEllen of Colton graciously agreed to co-own him with us, and so our gorgeous puppy was named: Ynda-n-Colton's Patron-Saint.

The FlatCoats are in that ring over there:  As a young puppy, John's most predominant feature was his C O A T ... and he had a lot of coat.  Barely 6 months old, we took him to the Shenandoah Kennel Club AKC show.  John was entered in Puppy Class and Martin was entered in Bred By.  I walked with John into the show and up to the ring to get our armbands.  The 'idiotic' steward took one look at my very-well-coated puppy and said 'the flatcoats are in that ring over there' as she pointed to another ring !  I said, "it's a pity this club is so hard-up that they have stewards who don't know their akc breeds one from another" and collected my armbands.  When John won his puppy class I made sure that she acknowledged his win.

Girls Girls Girls: How He Loved The Girls ! John grew quickly and was his full adult height by the time he was 10 months old.  He was such a Happy Boy!  and always wanting to say 'I love you, I love you' .. and give kisses and wags and he wiggled all over with his body.  About the time he got his full height, John discovered the 'smell of girls.'  And wow !  he was so thrilled by that smell that he just wiggled himself inside out, and followed that smell, trying to find its owner and tell HER how MUCH he loved her smell!!! 

John's Song: John had such joi de vivre, such absolute joy in being with his people, walking with them, playing with them, seeing them come to him, he turned himself inside out when we picked up a leash ... in short, he needed NO encouragement or cheering up with a personal song.  BUT he loved to be sung to.  So his song became that old 'The Name Game' tune.  He was a million variations of "John John Bo Bawn, Banana Fanna Fawn, Fee Fi Mo Mawn, John".  and in typical 'John fashion' he adored it!!!

All of our photos are copyrighted.  Please do NOT download our photos.  Please do NOT copy our content. 
Shenandoah Labrador Retrievers Logo copyright 1969, Doreen Anderson and amended 1998. No reproduction authorized.
You must obtain written permission to use any content in these web pages.