Welcome to Mountain Star Kennels, the home for over thirty years of Labradors. Labs are a breed of dogs that fit well in a family and want to do whatever their family wants. They make an excellent hunting companion, a working dog for someone with a handicap, or to be just the friend of everyone in the family.
Like most, we started with black Labs, as they were the most common, but our current breeding dogs are yellow. Our most important goal over the years is to raise healthy Labs free of the inherited defects that can affect their lives. We believe that Labs should be able to do it all.
Our first, Stormy (Mt. Hood Stormy), was a beautiful black. As a young dog, she was anxious to please and spent eight years working as a hunter and a 4-H obedience dog. In every contest she was entered, she walked away with either Champion or Reserve Champion titles. This is especially important, because when she was bred for the first time, she was hit in her own yard by a drunk driver and spent the pregnancy trying to heal her injured leg and raise a fine litter of puppies. The summer following the accident, she went to the Hood River County Fair where she won the obedience championship and was the reserve Show Champion— not bad for a dog that could not gait. After the fair, she went to a specialist in Beaverton who put her chances at less than five percent that she would get use of the leg again, so we had it amputated. Following that, she went to county fairs and the Oregon State Fair every year and never scored less than Reserve Champion. We kept two pups from her first litter (one yellow and one black), and they too spent our son's entire middle and high school career competing at the county and state fair.
Star and Rex spent many years doing 4-H and AKC shows. Star earned our first AKC title when she went to three shows and received her AKC obedience title, which is the minimum number of shows needed to qualify.
At the present time, we have one black (a male) and four yellows (two male and two females). Our black male, Daun (Sir Daunte Starless Knight), is the son of Star, and grandson of Stormy. Daun was our first conformation champion and won his AKC obedience title as well. Gwyn is the grandma of the kennel. She had the litter that our current Stormy is from in 2002. Gwyn also has a conformation title.
In the year of 2005, Mountain Star Kennels welcomed a new breed— the Irish Red and White Setter. We choose this breed because their size and temperament are very similar to our beloved Labs.
The Irish Red and White Setter is able to get along with other dogs and fits well into the family setting. While taller and longer than the Lab, they weigh in at about 50-60 pounds, and their desire to please is similar to the Lab. They are also equal in trainability. As a hunter, the Irish Red and White Setter is willing to spend the day with you, pointing out all of the birds and loves to be rewarded by you shooting the bird, which they will retrieve without hesitation.
The Irish Red and White Setter is an old breed of Ireland, which almost went extinct until the Rossmore Kennels of Ireland rescued it in the 1920's. Today, Irish Red and White Setters are making their way around the world with about 500 in the United States.
-Barbara & Harvey Hazen
