We are very proud to place quality Labrador puppies with loving, adoptive families. Below are just a few notes written by our new owners, who have now become our friends.
I couldn’t have been happier with my experience with Bladen Springs Kennels.The owners were there for all of my questions throughout the process of adopting my new best friend and are still there for me with any questions I have today.They love all of their dogs and puppies as their own.I hope to be lucky enough to adopt another puppy in the future … I wouldn’t go anywhere else.
Mandy South Carolina
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Follow-up:
Vickie and David, My baby (Boone) is now a 15 months old.When I wrote my first testimonial about getting Boone it was more about my experience dealing with you guys and how happy I was with your facilities and the love and care you take for all of the dogs that come from Bladen Springs Kennels.You couldn’t have been more honest and easy to deal with.Getting Boone from you guys was a breeze and thankfully you two know so much which helps people like me who know NOTHING about these dogs. I have never had my own dog before.Little did I know what I was REALLY getting. I guess by now after more than a year of pictures and emails to you it is obvious how much I love Boone.I didn’t realize that I never was going to have to say I was lonely again.How could this animal provide me with so much love and attention?The amount of personality he has is amazing.The smiles and laughs he gives me are countless.You truly can’t explain the love until you have it. No one could have prepared me for what a big part of my life this dog has become.I’m sure sometimes you question all of the effort and work it takes for you to provide these dogs for people, but if you could begin to know what a true gift it is for each dog you send home with someone it should make it a lot easier.I never really pictured my nights and afternoons throwing a tennis ball until my arm could fall off but I couldn’t be happier than doing it for Boone. Don’t worry he is spoiled absolutely rotten.Thank you so much for my best friend… Mandy and Boone South Carolina
Can you believe that our baby is 1 year old today. Even though I have told you 100 times how much he means to us...I am now putting it in words. When I talked to you in March 07 I told you I had a lab/retriever that we had put to sleep at the age of 16 in 2004. Joshua was the best dog & I never thought that I could find another lab that could compare...then we got Duney at 2 months. By the time he was 3 1/2 months he could sit,touch,stay, & retrieve the newspapers. The end of our driveway was 85 feet from our front door. He would pick up one newspaper & then work until he could get the other one in his mouth & run back to the door. If he could not get but one in his mouth he would bring it back to the door & then go retrieve the other one. Duney is very smart & so willing to please in every way. He has brought so much joy & laughter into our hearts and home. His coat is black & shiny & when he sits erect he is absolutely beautiful. His nickname is Houduney...like Houdini. As you know we have 2 cairn terriers Raleigh & Spencer. Spencer is 5 yrs & Raleigh is 3 yrs. Duney is 70 lbs & Raleigh is 17 lbs, but they are best buddies & sleep together. Cairn terriers have a unique personality & are fun, but nothing can beat a lab.
Any one who reads this should not hesitate to purchase a lab from Bladen Springs kennel. Vickie & I have developed a friendship over the last year & they really do care about all their puppies & the families that adopt them. In closing I just want to say THANK-YOU for our friendship, but most of all THANKS for our beautiful DUNEY... JANE & Bob Kimery (also:Spencer,Raleigh & Sam)
We just wanted to share with you how much we enjoy having Duke as part of our family. This dog is a true companion, loyal, and everything else you could want your dog to be. Only 10 months old and still lots of growing to do, we already have an amazing bond. This boy is indeed a labrador retriever as the water is his favorite playground...which is not a problem with us considering we love the water too.
He has become without doubt my best friend, he is my shadow as we are always together...Paige thinks I love him more than her, however considering we just got engaged I think she understands she takes precedent.
We both feel extremely lucky that we found Bladen Springs Kennel and that you both were so willing and easy to work with. We have already begun the "talk" of our next little girl....
Tomorrow, our beautiful boy turns one year old, and I thought it fitting to write to you. However, words seem inadequate when I try to find the right ones when trying to describe Jake.
When I brought Jake home a little less than a year ago, I was more than prepared for the puddles, chewed shoes, and high pitched yipping all night (until we finally broke down and brought him to bed, of course!) My husband, on the other hand, never had a chance to experience the "joys" of raising a dog from such an early age. Ryan was never allowed to have pets when he was growing up, so Jake was his Christmas gift from me last year. After the second night, Ryan pronounced Jake his "most annoying Christmas present ever", and remained so for several months!
Ryan, unfortunately, is overseas in Iraq now, but when he was still home up until Oct. of this year, you could hardly tell where the man began and the dog ended! Every day at 7:00 pm, you would find Jake standing at the front door, ball in mouth, waiting for Daddy to come home. He did so up until about 4 weeks after Ryan deployed : ( Sometimes I would join him on the floor, and both of us pretended that Dad would be home any minute. Whenever Ryan gets a chance to call, we let Jake "talk" to his Dad on the phone.....Ryan talks and whistles, and Jake alternately licks the mouthpeice and cocks his head and listens, but is scared to death of the phone when it rings any other time.
When I am feeling down or lonely, Jake is always right there to cuddle, and every night, he gets in bed with me under the covers and lets me "spoon" him with my arm thrown over his chest......I have never had a dog that loves to cuddle so much! Jake can sit, lie down, get in, speak, sing, he "wipes" off his feet before he comes inside, roll over, stand up, sit up, and is currently learning how to "dance". He has the strongest retrieving drive of any dog I have ever known, which makes the command "drop it!" very useful as well! Not only is he the smartest, sweetest dog I have ever seen, but he is the most handsome as well! When he is bad (and though I know I have be singing his praises!) he is soooooo bad, but the one look he has perfected for when he knows he is in trouble is so adorable that he (almost) always gets off Scot free!
I know that I have been rambling on long enough, but it is hard to put into a few select words how Jake has enriched our lives. He is truly as a child to us, he is my heart and my comfort, especially during these hard months while my husband is away. I don't know how I made it through the first deployment without him, or what I would do now without my cuddle-bug!
It is always scary to bring home a new dog...... will he have a good personality?....will he be smart?.......will we mesh well?....will I be a good mom? The answers a year later are yes, yes, yes, yes.....He is the goofiest, smartest,most loving animal I have ever had the privilege to share my life with, and it is impossible not to cherish him as a mother would cherish her child. I want to send you all a heart felt thank you for making it possible to have this sweet boy.......I truly feel that God meant for Ryan and I to have Jake in our lives, and he made it possible through you. It was a pleasure working with you, and the next time we get a pup, (soon, hopefully!) we definitly want another of Maggie's. Happy Holidays to you all.......
Hey Vickie, Hope all of you are doing well. Just wanted to drop you a line or two and let you know that Sky is a mess. She loves to go swimming with the boys in the swimming pool and has learned to go under water. Have you ever—I did not believe it until I saw it myself. If one of the boys goes under the water, she will put her head under to try and find them.
She also has learned how to open the gate on her pen. We tied it with a rope and she will tug on the rope until she gets it loose and slip out. Last Sunday morning when I got up she was playing in the pool and had taken every one of the pool toys out of the box and they were either in the pool or out by the pool. I think we have created a pool monster. Her new name is Sky Diver. She loves the boys as much as they love her. She has been a real joy & MESS. Take care.
I want to thank you so much for our beautiful boy Brady. He has brought us so much joy and laughter! Right now Brady is 6 months old and approx. 60 pounds with a beautiful black shiny coat. Our vet, who owns three Labs, has commented on Brady's health and bone structure as the best she has ever seen. Brady was housetrained within 3 days of bringing him home, has fit in well with our older Retriever and cat and just loves to play. He retrieves a tennis ball or frisbee like a champ and we are looking forward to introducing him to water retrieving soon.
You were great to do business with - answered our questions, gave us advice and made the entire process very easy and enjoyable. And your kennel facility is outstanding! We highly recommend your puppies!!
We wanted to send a quick update on our little Halley. She's quite a handful, but still cute as a button. She's been to the vet twice - once for her 7 day checkup after we picked her up from Bladen Springs (just as you told us to), and then yesterday for a series of shots. She's very smart - already learned to sit, and has fewer and fewer accidents in the house every day. She's even sleeping through the night now in her crate - thank goodness!
Sometimes, she's too smart for her own good. My husband built her a nice pen in our garage for when we had to be away from the house for several hours and can't crate her. It's even got turf grass so she can potty. She's proven too smart for it, however. We call her our little Halley Houdini because she manages to find a new way to escape every day. She's gone through it, squeezed under it...and now over it! We couldn't believe it, so we set up a video camera. We thought you'd enjoy a look.
We'll keep you posted on her progress. Thanks again for everything. You were a joy to work with.
Glenn and I enjoyed our visit to your kennel today. The puppies were so cute. All your animals looked healthy and well taken care of and the facility looked clean and well taken care of. The best part was getting to hold the puppies and we look forward to the day when we can come and get ours. Thank you for a great visit , noticed the changes on the web site and your new sign out front looks great.
Ashley, is such a wonderful addition to our family. She is such a sweet, calm, smart puppy. We have had her for approximately 2 months now and she already knows how to sit, shake with both paws, give high five, and sit up. Our other dog loves her, and she has quickly taken her place in our hearts. She can't quite make it through the night yet, but always wakes me to go outside.
She has such a wonderful temperament that we hope to get her certified to be a therapy dog next year. We will keep you posted on her progress. P.S. Her brother is doing great as well. I will send some pics of him later.
Hey!! This is Johnny Thompson. I bought a Silver Lab from you in Janurary. I have been so busy with my new house that i completely forgot about sending photos of Bella to you. It was hard getting use to two dogs in 1 new home, but after a month it got alot better. Neither me or my girlfriend nor my other lab Brody would EVER trade Bella for anything. She is very smart, beautiful and calm. Brody and her get along GREAT! She LOVES to chew on things, so we make sure we keep lots of nice chew toys and small puppy raw hides for her at all times.
She has a VERY SPECIFIC schedule which includes her going to bed EVERY night by 10, and getting up EVERY morning at 6. We have just bought a new fence for the dogs which they abesoutly LOVE. Ever since we got the fence it is VERY hard to get them to come inside. They want to be outside all day everyday. She abesoutly loves the water. We have taken her and Brody to the lake about half a dozen times since its gotten warm. She is so brave because she likes to swim to the VERY MIDDLE of the lake to try and get the ducks, but she always returns on command. I get NUMEROUS comments all the time on how beautiful she is. She has definetly become a irreplaceabe part of the family.
We want to thank you very much for this wonderful dog and hope that everyone else that buys dogs from you get as lucky as we have. We hope you enjoy the photos!
I bet you thought you'd never hear from us again, well no such luck!! Just kidding!! I just wanted to say hey & let you know how much we have been enjoying Chloe! She is sooo full of herself! She jumps all over the place & her latest thing is that she LOVES to play basketball! Chad gets out there & dribbles the ball & she will chase him all over the driveway then when he shoots a basket, she will watch it go up & chase it when it comes down, she really thinks she is playing & has so much fun w/ it.
She & my Doberman are best friends & she has Chad completely wrapped around her little paw! She bats those droopy eyes at him & he melts! She loves going out on the boat & her retrieving is getting so good, Chad is anxious to get her out there hunting w/ him. She has been everything we could have ever hoped for & then some!! Everyone that meets just falls in love w/ her! she weighs about 42lbs. & just keeps growing, when we took her to the vet the last time, the doctor commented on what a good looking lab she was & how we must have really done our research when we found her so I wanted to let you know what a great job you guys are doing!
This is Matt Williams. My family and I came down at the beginning of the summer to capture the last of Drake and Sugar's litter. His name is now Boone, and there aren't words to describe him as I'm sure you might understand... :). We love him so much, and he has been the best thing to happen to us in a long time. I just wanted to thank you guys by sending a little update.
As you might remember, he wasn't the only black lab in the house when we got home, we already had Sadie who is almost 5. But from day one they have grown to love each other. They play, fight, sleep, eat together every day. Its been great for Boone, as he gets through his puppy stage, and Sadie hardly ever sleeps anymore. I can't blame her when you have Boone sneaking up from behind and nipping at your ears all the time. We go to the lake on a regular basis, and he is becoming a good swimmer. He knows how to sit, shake, stay, and come (sometimes... i think he feels the last one is optional). He eats like it is going out of style, and best of all he knows to go to the door when he needs to go to the bathroom. They are a real joy. We had forgotten how much fun a puppy can be, and we were reminded of how much work they require, haha. But its alright! We have been truly blessed.
Just wanted to send you an update on our new puppy Grady that we got from you guys last week. He is doing great and we are really enjoying having him. He had his first trip to the beach and his vet check up today. He got a good bill of health from the vet and had a fun time at the beach :) I attached a picture for you. Thanks again for everything. We are so pleased and have been recommending you guys to others! We'll send more updates soon.
We wanted to send you an update on Brutus. We have really enjoyed having him. He is so much fun and very mischievious. He loves to steal things he is not suppose to have. He then runs to his crate after showing you what he took. His favorite things to steal are Nathan's socks which he sometimes takes right off his feet!!! It didn't take him long to become a very important part of our family. He loves the boys and is very protective of them. We have attached a few pictures of him. He celebrated his first Christmas in style and is very proud of his new bone. He also enjoyed the recent rain and his favorite past time - digging in the mud. We hope you had a good holiday and have a Happy New Year.
The Antol's-Kevin, Teresa, Zach, Nathan and Brutus
Here’s a picture of Sam (short for Samantha) on her first day at work (last Friday). She’s getting a long fine with Foster (her big brother), eating well, and playing hard.
Just wanted to let you know how Koda (aka Fabio) is doing...Koda is now 6 months and is doing fabulous....He is such an incredible good dog...If you think of the perfect dog as far as temperament, chewing, playfulness, happiness, its Koda..You guys have a really good thing going at your kennel :)
I love how he follows me room to room just to be near me..In fact, one of his traits is, he has to be touching you so I have a dog stuck on my leg or foot most the day, haha..
We took him and our other dog Bailey (which by the way they are best buds ever) swimming last night. I thought it was a fluke the first few times he did this but he loves dunking his dead under water as if trying to swim completely underwater..Its pretty funny to see. He did that as a puppy too...
Hes in great health..We had to switch him to the expensive stuff with no wheat because he had chronic ear infections..As soon as we switched, he never got another one..We switched our other dog to it too and her smelly coat went away..I felt bad thinking all these years she was probably allergic to the wheat in the food?
Anyway just wanted to let you know Koda is doing great and is a very well behaved dog. He's still a puppy and acts like he's been through 2 obedient schools..Its amazing how well he's doing and how obedient he is with no training to date..
Hey there! I thought that I would pass on some pictures of our new pup, Simon. He's a complete handful, but he is a ton of fun. He spends most of his days making the cat crazy or riding around with Tom. He is in to everything---just broke the stereo about 5 minutes ago, then took off with my cell phone and then my computer cord. But, hey, who couldn't love that face?
We went to the beach this past weekend, and he loved it (good thing since he was named after it :) Stealing the football from Tom and William definitely wore him out! He slept the entire 5 hour ride home--so did William---not sure who wore who out more, but they definitely love each other.
Hope that all is well with everyone. Have a great rest of the week and stay warm!
Sarah & Tom Georgia
Simon loves his owners and the beach!
Bladen Springs Kennel produces top quality Chocolate, Yellow & Black Labradors!