When I moved to New York, I sought out social events where I could be with people who held the same interest in dogs as I do. I joined a local canine club, where I met and became good friends with a woman and her son. Gwen and Dale were very active in the sport of competition dog obedience. I was amazed at what their Australian Shepherd could do. At the time, I had a mixed breed dog, "Yoda," and I began to work with her and we competed in mixed breed competitions.

Another member of the club had a Border Collie I liked, so I got a Border Collie, "Kady," and proceeded to train and compete with her. Many shows and many disappointments later, I realized that the Border Collie was not the breed for me. They are high energy dogs and need to be doing something all the time, and I lead a pretty sedentary life. Still, I wanted to compete because it had become my passion, but Yoda was getting too old for it. Then one day at a show, I became very impressed while watching one of the top competitors with her Labrador Retriever, an obedience trial champion, and decided that was the breed for me. In hindsight, I should have known this, because Yoda, a dog that will live forever in my heart, had been part German Shepard and part Lab!

CYNDEE'S SIERRA MOEKA MIST, CGC, a chocolate Labrador, is the first purebred Labrador to become a member of my family. She was a thrill to train and work with, but the obedience competitions were not her cup of tea. She got bored with it and needed something more thrilling, like agility, but that wasn't my cup of tea. I would not have been able to keep up with her. She is a sweet dog and she is happy being the clown. She likes doing tricks, like ringing the bell, and she loves to swim. She is definitely true to the breed, in that she loves to retrieve.

CYNDEE'S EBONIE RAVEN QUEEN, CDX, RE, CGC, TDIAOV came into my life a year later. She is a black Labrador Retriever, and is the best thing that has ever come into my life. From the beginning, even as a young pup, she was stuck to me like super glue. She is very smart and learned very quickly. So fast that at the tender age of 13 months I competed with her for the first time and she walked away with her CD (Companion Dog) title after her first three shows. In between our training and shows, she became a therapy dog, which is really her most enjoyable activity. She loves the obedience, but would rather be visiting people. I knew she would be good for this because, even as a pup, people were more rewarding to her than any tennis ball (though she loves those too!). She went on to earn a CDX (Companion Dog Excellent) title, and we tried our hand at Rally obedience, where she earned her RE (Rally Excellent) title as well. She continues to be an amazing dog, and our bond is an extremely close one. We are currently training for the next level, UD (Utility Dog) but therapy work is still her passion.

I had my chocolate and my black lab. Now I wanted a yellow one. CYNDEE'S SUNDANCE CISCO KID came into our family. He is my first male dog, and no matter what anyone else says, I say the males are harder to train. He has a very good and gentle disposition, and he seems to like the obedience work, but he is not as ambitious to please me as Raven has always been. I hope to make him a therapy dog because, like Raven, he is a "people dog".

My canine family was complete. I was happy and hopefully so were they. Then, just before the Christmas of 2005, a friend from another dog club where I am a member, e-mailed the group with news that her boss was looking for a home for his 6-month-old, male, chocolate Labrador. I looked at the e-mail and said to myself, "Cindy, no, you don't need another dog", but the other half of me didn't want to listen. So, TOBY WAN KENOBI came to join our family. He is much more active than the others ever were and he gets into a lot of trouble. I have to watch him like a hawk because he loves to have any and everything in his mouth. This is typical for a Labrador, but he does it much more than the others ever did. However, I have high hopes that he will excel in obedience, because he has the drive for it and seems to enjoy it so far.