About Moonlight Labs

**Moonlight Labs has suspended breeding with the retiring of our females November 2024.  Stud service inquiries are welcome**

Welcome to Moonlight Labs.  Jim and Sue Fruth have always had a love for the Labrador Retriever.   Our labs are excellent loving members of the family and hard workers in the field.  These dogs live in our home, and often occupy space on our couches or sneak their way onto a king size bed.   We have been married since 1995 and our home has always included a lab.  Since moving to the country, we found we have the space to raise, house and hunt with our faithful companions.  Dexter and Daisy live on the farm with Jim & Sue.  Mabel is being raised by our daughter in Manhattan, KS and spends a lot of her time visiting the farm.    Over the years our labs have been therapy companions, helpers in public school and hospital settings, waterfowl retrievers, upland partners and shed hunters.  They were our kids' best friends, most faithful hunting companions, and part of every season of our lives.  

Our Labradors have full AKC registration and OFA certifications.   Ours are dogs "for the family and the field".   Our sire and dams are lovingly cared for as members of our family.  The puppies will also be part of our family, raised in our home, until they become your family.  While with us the puppies will work on social skills, exposure to retrieving, and age appropriate potty and obedience training.  

Information About Early Neurological Stimulation

ENS is done for 2 consecutive weeks starting 3 days after the puppies are born. The process consists of 5 simple and harmless exercises, which are: tactile stimulation, lying in the supine position, held with head held up, tilted upside down, and thermal stimulation. Each exercise is done for 3-5 seconds the entire process takes about 30 seconds. 

Tactile stimulation is done by gently tickling or touching in between each of the pup’s toes with a Q-tip. The supine position is achieved by holding the pup in both hands belly up (some pups squirm in this position so a solid but gentle two handed hold is necessary). To hold the pup with head up we simply hold the pup in both hands so that the tail is pointed to the ground and the head is above the tail towards the ceiling. From the Head held up position we tilt the pup over and hold so the head is towards the ground and the tail is towards the ceiling. We use a damp cool towel for the thermal stimulation. We lay the pup right side up with its belly on the damp cool towel.

These 5 painless and simple exercises are done to prepare our pups for their life’s journey. Only 30 seconds a day for 2 weeks produces great improvement in their immune systems and stress tolerances.