Specializing in Labradors with proper conformation, sound temperament, & a passion for retrieving.
(254) 444-7640
A LOOK INSIDE CACTUS ROSE LABRADORS
OUR FAMILY
The faces behind the scenes
Welcome to Cactus Rose Labradors! We’re Olivia and Kaden Laxson, the proud owners behind Cactus Rose Labradors. We’ve been together since high school, and over the years, we’ve built a life we love. We are now in Ratliff City, Oklahoma, and our new home sits on over 65 acres, including a stunning 10-acre lake, and is equipped with a dedicated space for our momma dogs and puppies.
Our family is a big part of what makes our lives so special—our four-year-old daughter, Laynee, three-year-old son, Rylan, and two-year-old son, Bowen, make sure our days are always filled with joy and excitement. We’re eagerly welcomed our newest arrival, Weston Kade, in May 2024. Yes, you read that right—we currently have four little ones, all under the age of four!
As a family, we cherish spending time outdoors, whether it's playing with our dogs, maintaining our property, or enjoying the beauty of our land. We’re often seen in Crocs, covered in dog hair, and soaking up precious moments together. Our days start early and end late, but we wouldn’t change a thing. This is our dream life—spending quality time with our dogs, raising our children, and working hard to create a self-sufficient family homestead. Every day is an opportunity to improve and make life even better.
I (Olivia) also assist Kaden with another family business, but raising and caring for our dogs and puppies is my full-time passion. This is not a side hobby; this is my dedication and focus. While many breeders balance a full-time job outside the home, I’m able to devote my time entirely to the dogs. This means I can give each puppy the individual attention and care they deserve, from the moment they are born until they head to their new homes. The first eight weeks of a puppy’s life are critical, and I ensure that each one gets hands-on care, not just left in a kennel until they’re old enough to leave.
Because raising puppies isn’t our primary source of income, we’re able to keep our prices lower than many other breeders, without sacrificing the quality and attention each puppy receives. We truly believe in providing you with more than just a puppy—we give you a well-socialized, well-cared-for companion that’s been loved and nurtured from day one.
Thank you for considering Cactus Rose Labradors—we are truly blessed and excited to share our life and our puppies with you!
OUR PROGRAM
What we value most
At Cactus Rose Labradors, we are very dedicated to bettering the Labrador Retriever breed. We strive to produce the best puppies possible, and in order to do so, you need strict breeding ethics and quality dogs from quality lineage. Below are some of our main focuses as breeders.
HEALTH
The health of the puppies we produce is our top priority. We are strong believers in preforming health testing on our breeding dogs, because we believe in order to produce healthier puppies, you must first start off with healthy parents. We carefully select our dogs from lineage that has generations of health testing results, which gives our puppies the best chance possible at a healthy life. We are proud to do above and beyond the testing that most other Labrador breeders do, and as new testing is made available, we are always eager to jump at the opportunity. It is very important to us that our puppies live long, healthy lives with their forever families!
TEMPERAMENT
The hallmark of the Labrador breed is their temperament. Whenever someone thinks of a Labrador, they think of a happy, friendly, devoted companion. Labs are loving and outgoing, and often know no stranger. There is a reason they were the number one breed for going on 30 consecutive years! As breeders, it is our duty to preserve the classic Labrador temperament and make sure the puppies we produce exhibit the proper personality traits that are true to the breed. By carefully selecting the parent dogs in our breeding program and following our tried and true puppy raising protocols, we are consistently producing well rounded, lovable, even tempered puppies.
CONFORMATION
Every breed has a written breed standard of what a true example of that breed possess, and we are dedicated to producing dogs that are conformationally correct. While not every puppy from a litter will be a show prospect, by breeding to the standard, we are consistently producing puppies that are conformationally correct. Even if you aren't looking for a show puppy, conformation is VERY important! Making sure a puppy is balanced and structurally sound is vital for the longevity and quality of a puppy's life. Puppies that are structurally sound grow up to be dogs with many benefits including healthier joints, increased athletic performance, and overall better lives. No good breeder disregards conformation when breeding, and we are dedicated to producing puppies that are sound not only mentally, but physically as well.
DRIVE
The Labrador is a sporting breed, therefore, a big staple of the breed is the desire to RETRIEVE! While the Labrador is not meant to be a fire-breathing dragon of a retriever, they are still expected to possess the ability and desire to retrieve game efficiently. That being said, we will NEVER keep a dog in our program that does not possess the drive to retrieve! We believe that a Labrador Retriever is not a true representation of their breed unless they do so. However, a good off switch in the house is something we believe is very important for a Labrador to possess, and we avidly breed for this quality in our program as well. We purposely select only dogs that show both drive in the field and a calm temperament in the house for our program, and this proves itself in the puppies we produce. You can expect a Cactus Rose puppy to have a blast in the field, and then cuddle up with you on the couch after the work is done.
VERSATILITY
The Labrador is the most popular dog breed for many reasons, but the main one is the versatility of the breed! Labs are known to have the ability to excel in many different venues, including (but not limited to), service work, therapy work, bomb/cadaver detection, police work, both upland and waterfowl hunting, shed hunting, dock diving, agility, etc...the list goes on!
OUR STORY
Becoming who we are today
Cactus Rose Labradors was first started in 2019, soon after my husband and I got married. We had previously been breeding the year before, but had decided to make some big changes to our program. Cactus Rose was our fresh start at this!
In our year breeding prior to becoming Cactus Rose, we learned many things. We saw first hand the issues that dilute (silver, charcoal, and champagne) Labrador Retrievers have and decided we did not want to be apart of producing dogs with these issues. We also learned first hand the importance of health testing our breeding dogs, and learned about issues such as dysplasia that are running rampant in some of the lines in this breed. With our new knowledge, we decided it was our goal to become responsible, ethical breeders.
When we started out, we did not have responsible mentors that were educating us and helping us along the way. It is because of this that we will always go out of our way to help new breeders learn more about how to breed the right way. We now feel a great responsibility to do our part at bettering the breed we all know and love, one litter at a time.