Harbor

Harbor is ten, grey in the muzzle and still the first one down the dock. She is the granddaughter of Glass, our first Labrador, the mother of Tide and Cotton, and the grandmother or great-aunt of nearly every puppy born here in the last five years. She had four litters and retired at seven. What she gave her puppies is what we most want to keep in the line: soundness, a quiet mind and a real love of the water. She has the bed by the porch door and the last word with the younger dogs. When a litter is old enough to go outside she lies in the grass and lets them climb on her, and we are fairly sure she enjoys it.