At Shadowbrook Labradors, we believe your new companion should be an integral part of your family. As such, we strongly believe in the 80/20 rule! This means your new puppy should spend no less than 80% of its time in the house with you and no more than 20% of its time outside alone. This mix proves to be optimal for the developmental process of your puppy as well as the devoted relationship that you should seek as he or she becomes an adult.

At Shadowbrook Labradors, we highly recommend you attend puppy socialization and then obedience classes as your puppy develops. This training can begin when your puppy is 12 to 18 weeks old. After completion of puppy socialization you must follow through and keep up the momentum by attending obedience classes offered by your local dog-training club.

At Shadowbrook Labradors, we strongly recommend crate training in the beginning stages of potty training. Crate training is a safe and proven method which ensures success through a process that can be very frustrating. If done correctly and consistently your new puppy should pretty much be house trained in less than one month from arriving at his or her new home. Once house training is complete, you will find that your puppy will find his or her crate a safe haven to relax in all the way through adulthood. You can see our recommendation on crate sizes on our Shadowbrook's Puppy Preparation List page.

At Shadowbrook Labradors, we breed approximately 3 - 4 litters per year. Our goal with each litter is to improve upon our breed by matching the best qualities that enhance both the sire and the dam. To accomplish this goal, we thoroughly research the stud dog prior to choosing a compatible sire for our upcoming litter. We always take into consideration the health clearances, the pedigree, and the temperament of each breeding pair. In addition, we breed on the premise of keeping puppies to carry on our lineage while at the same time producing quality companions for our new puppy families.






At Shadowbrook Labradors, we believe that you should have the ability to choose your new puppy. Your decision will bring a new family member into your lives that will bring joy and happiness for many years. We believe that you should have this responsibility so that you feel comfortable with your choice.

At Shadowbrook Labradors, families choose their new pups on a first-come, first-serve basis. Meaning you choose your puppy based on when we receive your wait-list deposit. Over the last 30 years, we have found that this method is the fairest for our new families.

Here is how it works ... We accept a refundable wait-list deposit to place your name on our current puppy list to hold a spot for you in a particular litter. These wait-list deposits are held and are refundable up until the day the puppies are born. Once the litter has been whelped, the wait-list deposit is no longer refundable. Your wait-list deposit is applied to the full purchase price of your new puppy with the balance due 49 to 56 days from the birth of the litter when your new bundle of joy goes home. Unfortunately, Mother Nature cannot guarantee that a specific sex and color is born in each litter. Therefore, if we do not have a puppy for you in a specified litter, we will either return your deposit, if you would like, or place you as priority at the top of the list on our next litter.

At Shadowbrook Labradors, we give you the option of visiting either before or after placing a deposit on one of our litters. If when you visit, our farm, you find we are not the hobby kennel you want a puppy from we will gladly return your deposit as long as the litter you are waiting for is not born. As such, we also reserve the right to return your deposit if we feel you do not meet the profile we seek to provide a loving home for one of our new puppies. This allows each of us to ask pertinent questions to determine if we have a concrete match.

Once you have completed your optional visit and we all agree we have a match, we all get to wait very patiently for our new arrivals. We realize this is an exciting time for all and, therefore, we are more than happy to answer any additional questions you may have or update you on how mom is doing!

After the puppies are born, we give you a call approximately 3 to 5 days from the date of delivery to let you know if we have a puppy for you. If we determine we have a puppy for you we provide a date the puppies will be ready to go home. Typically, all of our puppies go home on the first Saturday between 49 and 56 days from birth date. We schedule your puppy pick-up for one hour and begin the process of sending your new little one home yielding to our first-come, first-serve method as determined by the date we receive your wait-list deposit. It is not uncommon for us to give you a call one to two days after you pick up your new puppy to see how things are going and how much sleep, or lack there of, you have gotten!