About Us

For over thirty years we have shared our home and our hearts with Labradors. Our first Lab, Nero came into our lives in 1972. In spite of all the mistakes we made in training Nero, we learned together and shared a tremendous love with him. Nero lived to be 15 years old and was a devoted family member and our three children grew up with Nero as their playmate and nanny. He got us hooked on a life that will always include Labradors. After several years we decided to become more involved with dogs and our first show dog was an English Setter. We soon learned however that raising three children and teaching full time did not leave us the time for the commitment involved with showing dogs.

We happily continued to add more Labradors to our household and although the Setter was wonderful we most admired the classic Labrador temperament. Our Labs were simply pets at that time (which always comes first!) yet we became dog show "groupies"; traveling to watch and admire the beautiful show dogs and meeting wonderful people along the way.

It wasn't until 1995 that we returned to the show circuit with dogs of our own. Our human kids were old enough and we were able to be more flexible with our time. Since then we have shown in conformation and obedience. In 2002 we moved from Long Island, NY to beautiful New Hampshire so we could have the space and "set up" for a more idyllic life with our beloved dogs.

We have a small family of Labs as all our dogs are house pets as well as "show dogs". Our children have now left home so the dogs have taken over their rooms although they are always happy to share a bed when the kids return home!

We are committed to raising healthy Labs with the loving classic temperament that makes this breed such wonderful companions. Health and temperament are our top priorities. Our goal has always been that our puppies leave us to become beloved family members that will also excel in conformation, obedience, and in the field. Our pups are raised in our home with a lot of love, care, and socialization. All of our breeding dogs are OFA and CERF certified.

Our name Jayhawk derives its meaning to us from the "J" in our children's names (Jessica, Jason, and Jared) and the "hawk" from our last name (Hawkins). We thank our good friend, Eric Wieber, of N.Y. for coming up with our kennel name!

We are members of the Labrador Retriever Club of Greater Boston and the Merrimack Valley Kennel Club.