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    Our love affair with Labradors began in 1979, when we acquired our first Lab from Carol McMahon of Cedar Hill Retrievers. Coming to know Carol at our introduction to Labs was a stroke of serendipity. She has been both a mentor and great friend and continues to be both. Our first Lab was Cedar Hill's General Sherman, fondly called "Old Sherm", and he was everything we hoped for. Dan showed him briefly, he earned championship points before we knew what points were, and then he was the family dog for 14 wonderful years.

    When we decided to seriously consider breeding, our foundation bitch, Stonelick's Bree of Cedar Hill, came from Carol also, and we couldn't have asked for a better place to start. Since then, Labradors have become an addiction of sorts. Our first litter, whelped in 1993, produced our first champion (CH Idlebrook's Mo Better Blue) who was shown at Westminster, a K-9 drug dog (Idlebrook's Wizard of Oz), and Polly (Idlebrook's Pollywog), who you'll find in many of the pedigrees here.

    Our breedings stress temperament as the foremost requirement, followed by health clearances, appearance, and retrieving ability in equal parts. We strive to produce puppies who can be the ideal family dog, the occasional hunting companion, the potential show prospect, an obedience or agility trainee, or possibly a service dog. The Labrador has enormous potential which is what makes him so popular.

   When we have a litter of puppies, they are born in our kitchen where we can keep a close watch on the delivery. After the puppies have arrived, we can monitor the mother's care of her babies and make sure all of the puppies are doing well. Puppies are handled daily and mom gets lots of attention and house experience. The puppies' eyes and ears open at about 2 weeks of age, and it's then that daily human contact becomes increasingly more important. Since our kitchen is the hub of our household, puppies are exposed to many sights, sounds, smells, and all the comings & goings of our home. When the pups are old enough to get out of their whelping box (we call it "over the wall") they are moved to a room in our basement that's set up to handle two separate litters. Moms are free to come and go, but puppies are confined to their own space. It's here where they are weaned over a period of about 2 weeks, beginning around 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old.

    By the time a puppy is old enough to leave for its new home between 7 & 8 weeks, it has had its dew claws removed (day 2 or 3), has been dewormed 3 times (2, 4 & 6 weeks), has received its first combination booster shot (6 weeks), has been started on heartworm prevention, and has been checked by our vet. After a puppy leaves with its new family, we're here when needed to answer questions, help solve training problems, give advice, etc.  We appreciate it when new families keep in touch with updates and pictures (via email is wonderful!).

  Idlebrook Kennel is located on 10 acres in rural Boone County in the northern tip of Kentucky. Considered part of greater Cincinnati, we're 3 miles from the I-275 ring, 10 miles from the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati Int'l Airport, and 25 minutes from downtown Cincinnati.  We welcome visitors, by appointment, to see our breeding stock, our puppies, or just to visit and learn. Please feel free to contact us by email or by phone (859-586-6071).