About Birdie Dog Kennels

The Why

A genuine interest in the things we spend our days doing is like fuel to the soul.

Yes, Birdie Dog Kennels is about the chocolate labs (and you will hear all about them), but first we hope to explain, not only the strong desire of our dogs to do the things they were bred to do, but the desire and drive of Birdie Dog’s owners to do the things they were born to do — raise pups and hunt dogs.

To offer a more concrete example of the drive inside these guys, you might consider an actual drive that involved two trucks, a road, intersections and passengers — four men and three dogs. One man, Mark Hatfield, made the trip three weeks after his honeymoon, while another, Scott Vance, left town just weeks after Jesse, his English pointer passed away. Though the hunting team was one gal short, the caravan pushed ahead. The route covered 1,400-plus miles from South Carolina to Nebraska.

Four jars of chili, an untold number of spent shells and a dozen gas station stops later, the guys had taken 120 ducks and the labs had picked up every one. Boo, a female chocolate lab, and her counterpart, Hydro, a male chocolate lab, worked the water while Rebel, a German shorthair pointer, worked pheasants on Nebraska’s flatland. Along the way, there were paws to be mended, blessings offered for neoprene doggie vests and the uncomfortable sensation of frozen whiskers and numb trigger fingers.

The What

Birdie Dog's labrador retriever puppies are raised in Johnston, South Carolina on a working peach farm. Surrounding orchards as well as a farm pond give the dogs ample room to test their legs and release abundant puppy energy.

Please note that all Birdie Dog pups are high-energy, a byproduct of their desire to retrieve and stay active. Birdie Dog emphasizes socialization as it applies to a variety of people, other dogs and different places. Before placing a lab puppy in a new home, we spend time getting to know the owner and his or her ambitions for the new puppy. If a new owner finds that a puppy requires more time and attention than initially expected, we are happy to take the puppy back and find a home that works best for the owner and the pup.