Partner Breeders!
Our Anti-Kennel Design
For over twenty years, Marble Mountain Kennels has been raising and training AKC-registered Labrador retrievers, but we are introducing a new and innovative approach to dog breeding via our breeding partnership program.
“We’ve been adopting out female Labs to local families for over fifteen years,” says Pete Morrill, owner of Marble Mountain Kennels, “but our new business model allows us to share this opportunity with a greater number of people in Northern California and Southern Oregon. We adopt breeding female puppies or older dogs to families as our partners and those partners bring their mama dogs to us for breeding. Once a dog is pregnant, our breeding partners can choose to either have pups born in their homes or in our state-of-the-art birthing kennel. We love this new model, which means more of our mama dogs live in homes with local families and fewer or our dogs live in kennels on our property. This means we can focus more quality attention on the dogs that live with us.”
“Our family has owned two female chocolate Labs from Marble Mountain Kennels,” comments Corrie Johnson, owner of “Diamond,” who lives in Etna, California. “Our first family dog was an amazing upland game and waterfowl hunter. We loved breeding her through the MMK co-breeder program and enjoyed the times we got to care for puppies. We now own her granddaughter, who is a joyful, loyal family dog. We have just finished a great experience with her first litter of MMK puppies and were blessed with a fun and easy way to make money. Pete and Julie have made the process smooth and easy for us.”
“Partnering with MMK has exceeded all of our expectations,” says Shawna Barr, owner of “Indy,” who lives in Mt. Shasta, California. “Not only has it meant that our family has enjoyed the companionship of an amazing dog, the experience for my teens has been so rich. Pete has patiently taught them so much about training, breeding and fertility, health and puppy care, and even the aspects of running an ethical breeding business. My kids are so vested in seeing our dog raise healthy puppies, while also enjoying a beautiful, normal life as an active family dog.”
“Every year, we adopt out bundles of pups to lovestruck families,” says Morrill, “and we enjoy sharing the fun, fascination and profit of dog breeding with our fellow dog-lovers. Our partners get a great canine companion and our dogs get to live more fulfilled lives with families. Happy dogs, healthy puppies, adoring homes. What could be better than that?”
Features and benefits of our partner breeding program include:
- Our Labs get to live in loving homes, rather than in a kennel.
- Partners and co-owners can own a high-quality, AKC-registered Labrador retriever.
- Partners and co-owners can benefit financially, sharing in the proceeds from litters, while we professionally handle all the breeding, puppy care, marketing and coaching.
- Fewer dogs living on one property means our facility is more environmentally friendly, clean and quiet.
- Fewer dogs on our property also gives us more time, space and resources to continue improving our state-of-the-art birthing facility.
- Puppies get more devoted socialization, playtime and training from caring families and staff.
- We establish long-term friendships with our co-owners, partners and adopting families.
- Partners, co-owners and adopting clients have the benefit of our knowledge and expertise in caring for and raising their dogs and pups.
- People love our dog-friendly breeding approach that uniquely debunks the profit-first puppy mill mentality.
We have been breeding Labrador retrievers for over twenty years, focusing on six specific desirable traits in their dogs: superior intelligence, outstanding hunting desire, superb looks, terrific personalities, natural pointing instinct, and proven pedigrees. With this new non-kennel approach, the Morrills are revolutionizing dog breeding in a very positive way.
Marble Mountain Kennels is very client-friendly, posting weekly videos of litters and pups-in-training on their YouTube channel, promptly answering phones and emails, and advising on various dog care issues. And their Northern California clients needn’t fear their move to Oregon, because Pete and other staff will continue making trips down to the Sacramento area at least once a month to pick up and drop off mama dogs in heat, reconnect with our California-based partner breeders, and transport pups and trained dogs to clients. The Morrills also welcome guests to their property to meet older dogs and play with puppies. For more information on our lovable Labs and our partnership breeding programs, please click HERE.
Our Labs as Companions & Hunting Dogs
We want our dogs to be equally welcome in your home as companions, in your duck blind as retrievers, in the field as a hunting partners, or in hunt tests and field trials as competitors. We are also making an effort, with most breedings, to produce natural-born pointing Retrievers.
We hunt over our dogs, and choose to use our Labs in both upland and waterfowling situations. We are looking for true versatility in the best gun dog breed developed–the pointing Labrador Retriever.
We also believe that you hunt with a dog 30-40 days a year (if you are really lucky), but you live with him 365 days a year. So a gentle disposition and good socialization are extremely important to our breeding program.
Our dogs are certainly beautiful, but we are not show dog breeders, so looks are not our primary concern. Other hunting dog breeders choose breeding lines without much regard for temperament. Although our dogs possess strong champion hunting pedigrees, we also pride ourselves on breeding for companionship in addition to the hunt drive, point, and intelligence. We prefer dogs that aren’t bouncing off the walls and we know you do too. We find that, because our dogs are both even-tempered and intelligent, they are easier to train and enjoyable as pets. Pete calls this high power vs. low key dichotomy an “on-off” switch. We hope you’ll come to the same conclusion when you look over our dogs’ pedigrees and personality descriptions and make your decision regarding adopting a dog or puppy from us.