Tarnedge

FTCh Tarnedge Flynn with his awards for 2022

FTCh Tarnedge Flynn with his awards for 2022

Can't we come too?

Can't we come too?

.Skye and me winning our first ever Field Trial.

.Skye and me winning our first ever Field Trial.

Josh having a cuddle...

Josh having a cuddle...

Welcome to Tarnedge Labradors. I have been training, working and breeding Labradors for over 40 years. I have been a Kennel Club Assured Breeder ever since the scheme first began in 2004 and I now have current, UKAS accredited approval.
I run the Thirn Gundog Training Group here on the training ground as well as the evening training sessions for the Three Ridings Labrador Club and I am a KC non-panel Retriever Field Trial Judge.

Here at Tarnedge we focus on breeding healthy, good-natured, athletic dogs which are suitable as working dogs, competition dogs, PAT dogs, or simply well-loved family friends. They do need to go to homes where they will have plenty of exercise, love and time spent on them though. They are not 'couch potatoes'!

I have bred two Working Trials Champions - WTCh Tarnedge Wisp and WTCh Tarnedge Rough Diamond - and one Field Trial Champion - FTCh Tarnedge Flynn - together with a multitude of Field Trial Winners, Working Test Winners, Working Trial Winners, Search and Rescue dogs, PAT dogs and good-natured working dogs and family friends.


All our dogs and bitches are bred from Field Trial Champion and Winning stock and mostly go back to my foundation bitch who was by Field Trial Champion Pocklington Glen out of a bitch by Field Trial Champion Drakeshead Tinker.

We are now testing all our dogs which we plan to breed from for PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy - which causes blindness); CNM (Centronuclear Myopathy - which causes muscle wastage and in the worst case scenario, for the dog to have to be put to sleep); EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse - which causes the dog to collapse after exercise) and SD2 (Skeletal Dysplasia 2 which causes dwarfism - the dog's legs simply stop growing).
We also test for STGD (Stargardt disease which causes severe visual impairment), HNPK (Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis which causes inflammation and irritation of the nose), and MCD (Macular Corneal Dystrophy which casues severe visual impairment).
We have all our dogs X-rayed for Hip and Elbow dysplasia and we have their eyes tested every year. We only breed from dogs with low hip and elbow scores and with clear eye tests.

Although, very sadly, not all the dogs pass every DNA test, at least we know what's what, and we are in a position to plan our future breeding programme with even more genetic information at our disposal. The conditions we are testing for are all caused by recessive genes - which means that for a pup to inherit these condition it must take one mutated gene from each parent.

For those of you who are interested, there are three results you can get from these DNA tests. AFFECTED, i.e. they will probably eventually develop the condition; CARRIER, i.e. they cannot possibly develop the condition but unless bred to a clear dog they may pass it on to their offspring; CLEAR, i.e. they cannot possibly develop the condition and they cannot breed a puppy that will develop it either. If a pup is bred from two parents who are DNA clear of a condition, then that pup is described as being "HEREDITARILY CLEAR". For more information log on to .

With these tests available to us, it's possible to eradicate PRA, CNM, EIC, SD2, HNPK, STGD and MCD from Labradors completely but realistically, of course, it's not going to happen. Sadly, not every breeder is going to be prepared to spend the money and go to the trouble of doing it.
However, puppy buyers can help tremendously by only buying pups from breeders who have had these tests done, or at the very least used a DNA clear stud dog on their bitch.

After all, nobody wants a blind dog; or a dog which collapses during a walk; or a dog with a constantly sore nose: or a Labrador with tiny little legs; or, potentially the worst of all, to have to put their young dog down because its muscles are no longer strong enough to keep it upright, do they?

We have 14 working Labs at present ranging from Skye, who is eleven and retired, down to our youngsters, Tarnedge Run Riot and Tarnedge Fair Isle who will both be two in 2025.

At this point, I'd like to take the opportunity to remind you all about the dangers of flooded or frozen streams and rivers. There are any number of people who will tell you not to go into a flooded river or onto ice to rescue a dog, but the really important thing to remember is PREVENTION. Don't take your dog near rivers in flood or near frozen ponds, canals or rivers. And if you do have to walk them in these dangerous areas, do keep them on a lead.
One of my own dogs - old Kizzie - decided to try to cross a flooded drainage ditch whilst out on a moor a few years back. Not a particularly dangerous thing you would think - no overhanging branches or roots and only six feet wide at the most - but unbeknownst to me, there was a heap of tangled undergrowth beneath the foaming water, and Kizzie got pulled into and under it. Knowing the water could only be four feet deep at the most, I jumped in to pull her out and very nearly got dragged under myself. The power of the water swept my feet out from underneath me and left me floundering with my arms wrapped round a four inch diameter pole that spanned the ditch. Fortunately, I was able to reach down into the water with one hand and haul Kizzy out and then to drag myself along the pole to where I could clamber out afterwards. I was soaked through from head to toe and more than a little shaken though. I'll show these ditches a lot more respect in future.

On another death wish a few of years ago, I was faced with watching somebody else's dog drown whilst trapped in a frozen river. The dog had been off the lead and had attempted to run across the ice to the other side. Unfortunately there are often patches of thinner ice in the centre of a river where the current is strongest, and this weaker ice cracked beneath the dog's weight leaving it trapped in the freezing water right in the middle of the river. The poor animal managed to break a path through some of this thinner ice but was unable to clamber onto the thicker, harder ice that stretched from the bank outwards for some ten to fifteen feet. As exhaustion and cold got the better of it, the dog stopped even trying to climb out, and just paddled pathetically backwards and forwards down its little channel of broken ice. Fortunately, my daughter, Abigail and I had all our dogs on leads and we were able to use the half a dozen or so leads, looped together, to make a long rope so that I could crawl out across the ice with the rope attached to me and haul the dog out.

Don't try this at home!

The moral to both these tales is keep your dog on a lead wherever there is danger! Dogs have no concept of this type of danger and rely on us to think for them.

Fortunately, we haven't had a huge amount of snow recently, but in previous years, we have struggled through snowdrifts on the moors in temperatures of minus fifteen! It's incredible just how honest and dependable my dogs always are for me; fighting their way through snow-covered woodland and pulling injured birds out of fast-flowing rivers.
It all looks very beautiful of course; a real "winter wonderland", but spending all day in and out of bitterly cold water and wading through snowdrifts on the moor edges eventually gets beyond a joke. And the trouble with Labradors is they're so loyal they would work until they drop, so it's important to know when to call it a day and to get them back to the pick-up for high-energy snacks and a warm blanket.

Before too long however, we will be looking forward to the grouse season and the long, hot days on the moor and I would like to take this opportunity to remind dog owners not just about the dangers of leaving dogs in hot cars, but also about the importance of not walking dogs on scalding hot pavements and roads - try it yourself in bare feet - and that over-heated dogs need more than just a drink - they need to be able to immerse themselves in water. When we are working on the moors in August, the weather can be really hot so we make a point of knowing where there are dubs of water - often the remains of old bell-pits from the mining days - and of getting the dogs into that water at very regular intervals. Failing that, we use wet towels to help bring their temperature down.

Anyway, enough of all that, for those of you who haven't been to the kennels to meet them, a little about the dogs.

Tarnedge Labradors are genuine working dogs. Up until fairly recently, I have had no spare time for competing myself, but I have always used dogs with a good record in field trials for stud work.
We live in a very beautiful part of the Yorkshire dales and have 17 acres of grassland of our own for the dogs to run free in. The dogs work three or four days a week all through the season, from August up on the grouse moors to February down in the woods on local estates. They are in great demand from the local gamekeepers because of their wonderful attitude and ability. They are honest and reliable and have excellent temperaments. We expect them to work like troopers one day and then curl up with the grandchildren for a cuddle the next! They not only make good working retrievers, but also excellent companions, but they do need plenty of exercise and stimulation. Some of our puppies have gone on to do very well in obedience competitions, field trials, working trials and working tests. Some have simply become well-loved members of the family. If you click on "dogs" you can read about and see photos and pedigrees of some of our dogs.

We are very proud of our dogs and we only sell puppies to homes where we feel they will be happy. They need a garden to play in and somebody with the time and commitment to bring them up as confident, well-balanced and well-behaved dogs whether they are workers or companions.
We do like to talk through all the pros and cons of dog ownership with any prospective new owners, to ensure that the pups do go to suitable homes. We then give a full back up, advising and helping in any way we can through the following weeks to make sure that the pups settle in well and that all goes smoothly. Obviously, all puppies take full written instructions on their feeding and general care when they leave us.

Although all our dogs are good with children, we do not recommend mixing small children with small puppies. Puppies bite and scratch and small children drop puppies on their heads. Better to wait until the children are a little older!!


Mrs Eden Parish
Nr Ripon
North Yorkshire
England

Breeder of:

  • Labrador Retriever

Our Dogs

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