I would say I fell in love with Labradors when I was 6ish years old and the family down the street had a litter of Labrador puppies. I got my first Labrador when I was 9 and haven’t looked back since. She was a 12 week old yellow female from a BYB pedigree, who we saw in an ad on the local Walmart bulletin board. Fast forward through high school, where learned how to train in my local 4H club, and I bred 3 mediocre litters (sire was a JH or SH from a reasonably nice pedigree, did some health clearances, etc), and put a JH and CD title on one dog (Villa’s Without Compromise JH CD CGC, aka “Boaz”, who I later sold to Margaret of Sundog Labrador Retrievers in Pennsylvania and she renamed “Mac.”)
I took a number of years off from dogs during college, until jumping back into obedience and rally in 2010 with an Australian Shepherd (Kisawa All In A Day’s Work UDX OM1 GO VER RE OA OAJ etc), but missed the Labradors. I bought a yellow female in 2011 from a hunt test pedigree who has sort of become my foundation bitch by default. She became Top Guns Heart of a Lady UD GO VER JH.
I really wanted to own a field trial dog, and at the time in my naivety I thought it was as simple as breeding to a field champion (I picked FC AFC Fen Wizzard, because he’d thrown multiple FC AFCs, and was known to throw excellent marking dogs), and putting the dog with a good field trial pro (I picked Mark Henry, because he was local when I lived in Idaho, and had an excellent track record of producing derby and QAA dogs), and throwing enough money at the dog. It turns out it is not anywhere near that simple, lol.
My 2015 Top Guns Heart of a Lady UD GO VER JH x FC AFC Fen Wizzard puppy became That’s Gonna Take A Tarabyte UD GO VER RAE SH MX MXJ etc. I got married and moved to SE Wyoming at the end of 2017, where I’ve lived ever since. I bred Tara to FC Road Warriors Dieter Brock in 2018 (got several nice SH/MH dogs out of that), GCH CH Seawind Fergmar Bells and Whistles UDX OM1 MH in 2019 (several nice HRCH SH/MH and obed/agility performance dogs out of that), and HRCH CH Klassic’s High Voltage F-18 MH in 2020 (nice dogs, but in the thick of COVID I had a harder time placing them in performance homes).
I also bought a young adult female in 2018 from a really nice field trial pedigree, got her clearances done, did some competition, and she became Duck Busters Hotshot Holly CD SH NAP NJP CGC. I bred her to OTCH MACH2 PACH3 Lakebound’s Water Dance UDX OGM MH etc, because my Novice A dog was a half sibling to him and there was sentimentality involved. I kept a puppy, Delta, who became HR Kolfyre Once Upon a Dream MH RA NA NAJ. I would say that is my second “line”, because it didn’t seem prudent to only run one pedigree in case health issues were to pop up in the future.
I did another show x field trial breeding in 2020 between an FC AFC Contempt of Court daughter, and CH Van Dalen’s IBIM Northern Fling, but ended up not keeping any of the pups from that. I will likely circle back in the next couple years to do another show x field trial breeding and have a third and unrelated bitch line to work with.
There’s been several other litters in there by field trial dogs (NFC FC Truline’s Just Floyd in 2020) and working show dogs (High Voltage Rough Rider MH in 2019, GCH CH Everso’s Mutiny SH in 2021, Intl CH Windycanyon’s Son to Sea Arlo MH in 2021, 2022, and 2023, also GCH Cardhu MH in 2024, GCH Romeo SH in 2025), and my own male (HRCH Kolfyre That Adrenaline Rush UD GO VER RA MH OA OAJ in 2021 and 2022). I’ve also had dogs with several different hunt test and field trial pros, spent absurd amounts of money, and learned a lot about dogs and trainers.
I was offered a show bred yellow female in 2021 on co-own, who had 5 CH points. I put a couple intro titles on her and 2 points in 2021, and then she finished her CH in style with 2 BOB wins in 2022. She became CH Skyfire Montview Legally Blonde CD RN CGC. Per the name, I co-owned her with Julie of Montview Labradors. She had one singleton puppy (CH Montview’s Dyn-n-Dash) and then a pyometra. We never managed to get her pregnant again. In 2024 we spayed and placed her.
At the moment I have Poppy and Rush (1/2 show 1/2 field trial), Scout (3/4 show 1/4 field trial), Proof (7/8 show 1/8 field trial), and Halo (show).
I talk a lot about breeding, but I really enjoy competition in performance events more. I have had 11 CD titled dogs, 4 of which went on to get their UDs, 2 MHs, 3 SH titled dogs, several dogs running upper level agility, and my dogs have run some derbies and quals with JAMs and RJs. I compete about once a month in something.
I’ve had Labradors off and on for about 25 years, competed in AKC events since 2003 (finished a JH and CD on my Novice A dog in 2005), and have been breeding with a goal since 2015. I have several litters a year, because I took it to heart when I was told you can’t get very far with your program if you only have 1 litter every couple years. I keep a pup almost every year. (I didn’t keep one in 2022, because I had a human puppy instead, but I kept one in 2024 the week after my 2nd human puppy was born.) I dabble occasionally in straight field trial litters, and occasionally in straight show litters, but for the most part I’ve been working towards dual purpose dogs that can go in the show ring and compete in upper level hunt tests. I don’t own a CH MH yet, but am optimistic I will within the next couple years. Long term, I want dogs that can run field trials as well as enter the show ring.
Dream big, right?
Claire Klatt
Kolfyre Labradors
8/19/2025