I was interested in a Lab puppy with good hunting bloodlines who would also be a good personal companion with a loud woof! I was single and living alone in the big city at the time!I was very interested in finding a “responsible” breeder. Although I know a lot more about what that truly means now after years of knowing and working with Sandy, at the time, that meant that I wanted a breeder who had a few good quality litters per year and one who did genetic testing to screen for problems common to the breed. Knowing Sandy for these past many years has been a huge education in the many, many ways a breeder is a good steward of the breed and the individual animals in their care. I got very lucky to have stumbled upon her and she is the yard stick by which I measure all other dog breeders. It doesn’t necessarily matter that they all fall short, because I can’t imagine buying a dog from anyone else.I chose RBRandL because Sandy was a thoughtful communicator from the very beginning, and we had meaningful conversations about her dogs, my background and experience, and our mutual expectations. I could tell she genuinely cared for her dogs as family members, and I felt I would receive a lot of ongoing support once I purchased one of her dogs.We have now purchased TWO Labradors from Sandy, so that may pretty much say it all. Our experiences have been universally positive. If we could have eight of her dogs, we probably would!I could write a novel about our dogs. They’re gorgeous, well-tempered, superb hunters, cherished family companions, and a million other things. I can’t say enough about them.I have enough respect for Sandy and her dogs that I actually do NOT recommend her to every random person who asks me about a Lab puppy. Sandy’s dogs deserve extremely committed families who will be responsible in every way (and Sandy would accept nothing less). Unfortunately, that doesn’t describe just any owner. For the people that keep their dogs inside, treat them as part of the family, hunt, or otherwise meaningfully engage with their dogs, absolutely I recommend Sandy exclusively.I would just like to thank Sandy (and Chris, and the whole RBR&L “team”) for the role they’ve played in our lives in making it possible for us to live with these absolutely cherished family members. We can’t imagine our lives without our wonderful dogs, and it is a privilege to be their caretakers, even though sometimes it truly is the dogs who are taking care of us. We’ll be loyal and lifelong customers. More than that, over the years, Sandy has been an amazing resource and a wonderful friend to us. We are extremely grateful for everything.