We have a separate heated barn to raise the puppies in a safe, sanitary, home like environment. Puppies are given stimulation exercises the first 7 days of their lives. Each test lasts 5 seconds. Here are a list of the tests: 1. tickle between the toes 2. hold puppy with head pointed down 3. hold puppy with head held erect 4. hold puppy on its back in my hand 5. lay puppy on cold concrete. We start feeding our puppies at 3 weeks old while they are still in with their mother.  At 4 weeks old we take them out of the whelping box and put them in a large pen with shavings that are cleaned twice daily. We then start weaning the puppies from their mother. This takes many weeks to stop milk production and the mother missing their puppies. We have 3 large puppy yards, that weather permitting, the puppies spend their days playing in. We never leave the puppies out at night, they are always brought in. We live in a near wilderness location and there are bears, wolves, and other predators in the area. Below are some pictures of our puppy yards and the puppy barn.

I purchased my first lab in the late 1970"s from Mary Howley (Candlewood kennels). I hoped to train her to run field trials, but fate and my son, Brad, changed the plan. Satin ended up being his best friend, little sister & constant companion. I then purchased my second lab and continued with our training. I currently co-own a M.H. and a J.H.  I had lived on a farm my whole life and had seen many kinds of animals born; but my son had not. we then decided to breed Satin in 1981, after she got her clearances, so my son could experience the fun and the responsibility of raising a litter of puppies. This was the start of Hillview Kennels. Hillview is a family kennel with myself, my husband, & my grown son; also many other family members listed below that help play with and socialize the puppies.

We now live on a 30 acre farm with 4 acres of woods & 2 ponds, a dog and a dog lovers paradise. We have all gravel runs that are very large in size, so we can put several dogs in a kennel, thus they have a friend and playmate. Each dog has it's own doghouse within each kennel. We have two fenced in yards, one is 5 acres and the other is 1½ acres. Dogs are exercised in these runs daily. We provide many toys and bones for the dogs in their kennels. Adult dogs are vaccinated yearly and given heart worm preventative monthly. Females are bred their 1st. time at 1 1/2 years old or older. We retire our females around 7 years old. They are then spayed and placed in loving family homes.

Below are some pictures of my setup.  Scroll down to see our puppy barn and puppy yards.

Cleaning pen

Big Barn

The Hillview Team

                         Full Time Help                                                                        

ABOUT US