10 years ago, this July we drove from the bay area to Auburn to pick up our new lab puppy from Lori (I think). As we parked in the driveway, she had a cute little fatty in a towel and advised us that she was giving the pups a bath. She said, "this is the moose of the litter".

She then brought out the rest of the litter and gave us our opportunity to choose our new family member. They were all adorable, but the little fatty we were introduced to first never left us, bumbling back and forth between the four of us.

Clearly, he chose us and we unanimously wanted him. As we drove home we discussed names. Suddenly all the names we had discussed ahead of time, didn't fit as we all just saw him as "Moose" and thus he had his name.

Now, as he approaches his 10th birthday (5/20/09), I am reminded of how lucky we were to find Sugarpine Labs and our sweet Moose, a product of Jeb and Opie. He is very tall and thick (95+ lbs), but not fat. It will not surprise you to know that he is the love of our home, our extended family and friends. He really has been the perfect dog. He never dug holes, jumped fences, chewed up things that weren't his and he loves every living creature, except squirrels and not so sure what he would do to a cat if he ever caught one.

He has had excellent health and we have done everything we could to keep it that way. I hope we have many more years with Moose, but he is slowing down and I am mindful every day to enjoy him because none of us live forever.

I write to you today because I did a google search to see if you were still breeding labs and was happy to see that you are. When our sweet boy leaves us, we will be in touch.

For now, we want to thank you for the thoughtful, caring way that you responsibly create such great dogs. The last 10 years wouldn't have been the same for our family without him. I had a nightmare dog owner experience over 25 years ago and it took me 15 years to dare get another dog. To have been blessed with our Moose has been such a joy and allows me to appreciate the value that your breeding protocols provide in terms of temperament and health. A few years ago, my vet told me, "You are so lucky. Your dog is what everybody thinks they are going to get when they get a Lab, but trust me they usually aren't like this." She told me that his confirmation, health and temperament was in the top 5% of all the labs shes sees. And she is a lifelong owner of labs herself.

So thank you for what you do and the way you do it.

Best Regards,

Kevin Koenig

April 2019