Endless Mountain Labradors

(this page was created for those of you out there who tell us you keep in touch and visit our website just about everyday...below are pictures, funny stories, etc, that are happening in "our world!")

The first pictures of some lab pups with Owen Wilson making the movie "Marley and Me":

(cut and paste these into your browser) http://popsugar.com/1113785
http://www.pagesix.com/story/which+one+s+cuter

for John Grogans Play-by-Play on the set of the Movie, and his daily blog, go to:

Another famous Endless Mt. Labrador hits the bookshelf, by New York Times # 1 Bestselling Author, Anna Quindlen!!

...another book by one of my favorite novelists, Anna Quindlen. Anna also writes for the New York Times and many other well known publications. This book is a sort of "Eulogy" for her old black lab, Beau. His sidekick "Bea" is an Endless Mt. Labrador. Cute little book, you can find it in any Waldens or Barnes and Noble, or order from Amazon.com! Look for Anna's other novels, too. Her novels have also been made into movies as well!

Inner Strength
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!

Flint River Ranch

April 4, 2007

Dear Flint River Ranch Distributors,

We appreciate everyone's concern about the current recall and its unsettling recent expansion to include some dry foods beyond the canned formulas initially recalled. I know that you are all recieving inquiries from your customers and have questions of your own.

Flint River Ranch would like to reaffirm that all of our formulas and ingredients are safe. We purchase all of our ingredients from major US suppliers, and our ingredients are subjected to USDA testing. Our lamb is from free-range ranchs located in New Zealand.

Flint River Ranch foods do NOT contain wheat gluten. Wheat is used in some formulas; however, that wheat is acquired from a USDA-certified provider. The wheat used in FRR formulas is safe, does not come from China, and is always tested and certified.

Despite what various reports you read or see on TV may indicate, wheat - and wheat gluten - is truly NOT the source of the problem. The presence of a chemical(s) within a specific batch of wheat gluten from one Chinese company used by the Menu company is the issue. This is not to trivalize the problem, but to clarify the issue and assure you that this recall does not involve Flint River Ranch products or any ingredients.

Some imported wheat gluten from China is being recalled by ChemNutra, Inc. as a result of recent questions and findings surrounding this recall. From what we can find, only a particular lot from one of three Chinese suppliers of wheat gluten to ChemNutra is suspect. Please go to www.fda.gov for more information about the recall of imported wheat gluten from China.

As always, Flint River Ranch follows and exceeds guidelines as set forth by AAFCO - American Association of Feed Control Officials. Flint River Ranch foods are made using our own fixed formulas under our direction in Southern California. We do not "piggy-back" onto lines of mass-produced foods.

Let your customers know that if they are still concerned about wheat in their pet's diet despite this information and would like to feed a wheat-free food, Flint River Ranch offers two excellent formulas that are 100% wheat-free. Lamb Meal, Millet & Rice (code LMR) and "Fish N' Chips" - Trout and Sweet Potato (code FNC) both offer fully balanced nutrition for dogs, and are available in 10 and 20 pound bags. I have fed my dogs our Fish N' Chips formula for many years now and continue to be impressed with their health, energy and appearance.

As I find out more information, I will be sure to pass it on. I know that this is a trying time for us all. but I want you to be assured that Flint River Ranch is properly staged to handle the additional demands on our system with minimal challenges. Our use of company and logistical warehouses enables us to spread the demand when necessary and ship product as needed. We have already increased our production in the plant to reflect this increase in demand and I am hiring even more CSR's to assist in our daily orders. I am not thrilled with the reasoning behind this surge in interest in FRR, but I am very happy to report that many customers are reinvigorated about Flint River Ranch, our formulas and message of all-natural pet foods.

To order , use FRR # MMT4, or call Endless Mt. Labradors for details. 570-549-6800

Sincerely,

Jay P.

Above: a client just sent me this photo...its one of those "feel good" photos, I call it "keeping watch..."

...pictures I snapped on 1/29/07, above, are "Gwen" at 13 mos old, she had an "ice beard" from playing in the snow so much...amazing to think she has 1 more year of growing to do...could she get any more beautiful???

(above, our daughter, Olivia, in our annual Fall photo shoot...the puppy is a Karma/Glenn Plaid female)

Dogs in our Lives
We aren't house proud. If we were, we wouldn't abide the scratches on the door frame, the holes in the screen, the darkened shine of worn spots on the chair. We would wince at the mottled carpet and fret at the hair clinging to our clothes.

We don't. If anything, we lovers of dogs are a tolerant lot, finding greater value in the unabashed affection of our friends than in immaculate sofas. Shoes can be replaced, but heroic retrievers are timeless.

Without dogs, our houses are cold receptacles for things. Dogs make a fire warmer with their curled presence. They wake us, greet us, protect us, and ultimately carve a place in our hearts and our history. On reflection, our lives are often referenced in parts defined by the all-too-short lives of our dogs.

–Paul Fersen

People often ask me..."will the pup be alright on the long car ride home???" Well, the above pictures shows HOW well they do, the Bird family picked up these two cuties on 7/22/06 and sent me this picture to show me how well the car ride home went!!! Precious!!! (below is a recent letter from the above "couple"):

Hi Donna! I wanted to send you an update on our two puppies, Peaches (Millie/Grant) and Grady (Blanche/Doc). Our “little” Peach will be 9 months on the 6^th. She weighed 61 pounds at the vet today and is what I consider to be the perfect-sized dog. She is as sharp as a tack! Her understanding of words is already impressive…she knows sit, stay, come, easy, walk, cross (the street), and of course treat (and no), just to name a few. And although I am convinced that I am the one training her, she has actually done a great job of training us. She is quick to let us know when meal time is and follows me around at the same time everyday until I walk her. Her body is like a little clock! She is a super sweet dog and very eager to make us happy, yet independent at times too. She is everybody’s friend.Grady, our gentle giant, will be 10 months old on the 10^th. He weighed in today at a whopping 79 pounds already! We are eager to see just how big he will get. He, however, seems to think he is a 5-pound lap dog. I swear he thinks he is one of the children. He looks at us with his big wrinkled forehead and his deep, meaningful brown eyes and takes his big ‘ol heavy paw and ever-so-gently paws at us to get more attention. He could charm the socks off of anyone! He is a big teddy bear and loves to be close to us. His favorite thing to do is ride in the car and play with kids or other dogs. He, too, is everyone’s friend, and everyone loves him. He is very easy-going and a protector too.Our pups have a good life. They have 3 dog friends that we have scheduled play dates with at least twice a week, two yellow labs and one golden retriever (all under 2 years). They are a great group of dogs and have a ton of fun running full force around the field playing fetch, keep-away, or take-away (as Peaches likes to do). When they aren’t at a play date, they are going on daily 3-4 mile walks with me. With two puppies, my philosophy has been, “the best dog is a tired dog”…just like when my kids were little, my goal everyday is to just tire them out! Hopefully, their little schedule will have me in great shape! They are great dogs, very sweet and loving, and are just beautiful. This morning the vet’s assistant told me she thought they were the most beautiful labs she had ever seen. And I agree! We love them dearly, and they give us a lot of joy and MANY laughs! We will keep in touch so you can continue to see how these little pups are growing!Hope you are doing well!

...as you can see...not much has changed!!!!

Donna and Jonathan - I continue to write you about Zoe (Frosty/Griz ) litter because she continues to amaze us. I was walking her and we approached a crosswalk. The cars stopped on both sides. As a stepped off the curb Zoe jumped into me knocking me off my feet but not before I saw the car. A car had swung around the stopped vehicles and Zoe saw it and reacted immediately. If she did not react so quickly I believe we would have been hit. In the commotion I lost my grip on her leash but she sat quietly beside me until I was able to get up. WHAT A SMART DOG. Good news - nobody was hurt. One of the best days was when you introduced her into our lives. She will always be our HERO. On a different note I saw mention of Endless Mountain in a book I was reading, Marly and me. You were mentioned as one of the breeders. Now all of our dogs are famous. Hope all is well.

Sincerely, Shari and Mark Sajer.03/26/06

ps...I know you have had this question asked. "I have a cat , do you think that getting a labrador will cause a problem? . Will they get along? " Show them this picture . As they say ...a picture is worth a 1000 words. (a picture from a fellow breeder above...classic!)

You will laugh, you will cry...if you have ever owned a dog, you HAVE to read this book!!! (click below to order )

(its not being made into a major motion picture, starring Jennifer Aniston, and Clive Owen!!) Click below to order.

Above: National Bestselling author, John Grogan, has released this delightful, hilarious, national best-selling book...Endless Mt. Labradors is featured and quoted in this book, but NOT because this gentleman got Marley from us....but because he found out TOO LATE that he should not have gotten a lab without much more research on English vs. Field (American) labs...as you can gather from the title up top, he did NOT get an English lab from Endless Mt. Labradors...but you will thoroughly enjoy this tale if you are a labrador lover...John has a great sense of humor, and knows how to tell a story...you will find yourself repeatedly laughing right out loud! Visit the site below to order your copy today!!! This book has been on the NY Times bestseller list for over 2 years now!!!

"He's sturdy enough to challenge the iciest water and heaviest cover to bring in fallen game. He's brave enough to serve as the invaluable ally of British police officers. He's reliable enough to be the eyes of sightless persons around the world, putting meaning and self-respect back into their lives. He's handsome enough to be the cynosure of countless admirers wherever fine dogs are shown and he's wise enough to be the gentle playmate of the smallest child while providing pleasure and companionship to the entire family. This wonderful combination of qualities is why the Labrador Retriever is one of the outstanding favorites among all breeds today."
-- Helen Warwick

STONE HARBOR, N.J. -- Kevin Mitchell believes he owes his life to his dog Tucker.

Hero Dog
Dog Is Being Called A Hero
FeedRoom

Mitchell was asleep inside his home in Stone Harbor when the halls started filling smoke Thursday morning.

That's when Mitchell said Tucker, his 1-year-old chocolate Lab, jumped into action.

"My dog started barking, woke me up and I saw smoke in the house and he basically jumped on me and was pulling me out of the bed. I opened the door up and there was just smoke everywhere and I grabbed him and high-tailed it out of there," Mitchell said.

Mitchell's home was badly damaged in the fire but thanks to Tucker, Mitchell got out of the home without a scratch.

Investigators are trying to figure out what started the fire.

"Dogs teach us about faith, trust and devotion. They teach us how to devotedly serve a higher master, how to attend and wait and how to let go of a grudge. But most of all, they teach us about the meaning and experience of unconditional love."
Lama Surya Das, Dog is My Co-Pilot