Our Home Where It All Began…
At Yates Family Labradors, everything starts at home.
Since 2007, our Labradors have been raised as part of the Yates family. We are not a commercial kennel, pet store, or large scale breeding facility. YFL was built around a simple idea: raise great Labradors in the same kind of environment we ultimately want them to live in.
Our adult dogs live as family dogs, and our puppies are born and raised inside our home. They grow up surrounded by people, children, other dogs, household activity and all the everyday experiences that come with being part of a family.
Nearly two decades later, that remains at the heart of YFL.
“Labrador Land”
Our family affectionately calls our home Labrador Land, and the name fits.
It's our home, but it has also been shaped over the years around our Labradors and the puppies we raise.
Outside, more than 8,500 square feet of artificial turf gives our dogs and puppies plenty of clean, safe space to play, explore and experience the outdoors throughout the year.
Inside, puppies are born in dedicated whelping areas within our living space where we can closely monitor mom and her puppies around the clock.
As they grow, their world grows with them.
Around 10 to 14 days, when their eyes and ears begin opening, puppies gradually transition into dedicated nursery spaces and begin experiencing more of the sights, sounds, textures and activity around them.
By eight weeks old, Labrador Land has become their first little world.
The First Eight Weeks Matter
We believe raising a puppy involves much more than keeping them fed, clean and healthy until take home day.
Those first eight weeks are an important period of development, and we try to make every one of them count.
Our puppies are handled daily by adults and children and gradually introduced to age appropriate experiences as they develop.
They experience household sounds and activity, different surfaces and textures, new environments, outdoor exploration, other dogs, handling and plenty of human interaction.
Weather permitting, puppies are also introduced to water and given opportunities to explore outside.
The goal isn't to overwhelm a young puppy with experiences. It's to gradually expand their world and help them develop confidence, curiosity and adaptability before they leave ours.
Whether a puppy eventually becomes a child's best friend, a hunting partner, a service dog, or simply the Labrador sleeping upside down on someone's couch, we want them leaving YFL with the best foundation we can give them.
Our Dogs Live With Us
When we say our Labradors are family dogs, we mean it.
Our adult dogs live inside our home. They spend their days with us and sleep indoors at night. Depending on their age and training, you'll find them sleeping in crates, on dog beds, in our bedrooms and, yes, occasionally taking over a human bed.
Our puppies begin learning about routines before they go home as well.
We introduce age appropriate crate exposure, potty training foundations, regular feeding schedules, handling and other basic routines that help make the transition into their new families a little easier.
We also intentionally maintain a limited number of adult dogs in our home so every dog receives the individual attention and family life they deserve.
Our Guardian Families
As YFL has grown, so has our family.
Some of our breeding dogs live with carefully selected guardian families rather than living permanently in our home.
Our guardian program allows a future YFL mom to grow up as someone's family dog first and foremost while still remaining an important part of our breeding program.
Guardian families are people we know and trust who understand our standards, expectations and commitment to our dogs. These dogs live normal family lives and return to YFL when appropriate for breeding, health testing, training and other parts of our program.
For us, it's another way to grow YFL without becoming something we never wanted to be: a kennel full of dogs receiving less individual attention.
Family Day at Labrador Land
One of our favorite traditions at YFL is Family Day.
At approximately six weeks old, families with confirmed reservations on that litter are invited to Labrador Land to meet us, meet mom and, of course, spend time with the puppies.
No puppies are selected on Family Day.
Instead, we use the day to talk about what life with a Labrador really looks like. We cover the fun parts and the not so fun parts, training, feeding, crates, potty training, exercise, kids and dogs, veterinary care, expectations for the first few weeks and whatever questions our families bring with them.
We don't care whether this is your first dog or you've owned Labradors your entire life. Your YFL puppy might become a family companion, hunting partner, service dog, working dog or your child's first dog.
Our goal is the same: we want you to feel prepared and supported before your puppy comes home.
Families who live out of state or cannot attend aren't left out. YFL dogs now live throughout the United States and beyond, so individual phone calls and remote Family Day conversations have become a normal part of what we do.
Our Home Is Still Our Home
Transparency is extremely important to us, but so is protecting the home where our family, children, adult dogs and young puppies live.
Because YFL operates from our private family home, we do not offer walk in visits, kennel tours or visits from the general public.
Prospective families begin by completing our puppy application and speaking with us directly. Once a family becomes part of a confirmed litter, there are opportunities such as Family Day to visit Labrador Land and experience YFL firsthand.
We're happy to answer questions about how our dogs are raised, our facilities, health testing, breeding practices or what daily life looks like here.
There isn't a "back of the kennel" at YFL.
What you see is our home, because our home is where YFL happens.
More Than a Place We Raise Puppies
Labrador Land has changed quite a bit since YFL began in 2007.
We've added nursery spaces. We've added turf. We've raised generations of Labradors. We've watched puppies take their first steps here and later received pictures of those same dogs growing up with children, retrieving their first bird, earning titles, working as service dogs and eventually growing gray around the muzzle.
But the idea behind this place hasn't changed.
This isn't simply where we breed Labradors.
It's our family home. It's our dogs' home. And for the first eight weeks of their lives, it's every YFL puppy's first home too.
