About Us
It all started in 1996 when we lived in Auburn Alabama when Patch, a Dalmatian and Lab mix, came into our lives. He was all black with the exception of a black dot in a patch of white on his foot and a black dot in the middle of his white patch on his chest. From then on the Converse family was hooked on Labs. We have had Labs throughout the years with having two sets of puppies through our White Lab Izzy with our Black Lab Remington. Both of these dogs are AKC pedigree but the paperwork was never applied for.
That brings us to the Summer of 2016! Gina and Bryan were not ready to be “empty nesters” in regard to dogs after the passing of our spaniel, Lady, of 12 years in August 2016. With our Labs Remington and his son, Rugar, were living with our son, Jamey, in Auburn, Alabama, and our Lab Izzy, living with our daughter, Jodi and son-in-law Connor in Clarksville, Ohio. At first, we were going to get a single Lab, so in August 2016 Dixie became a part of our family. On our way home from getting Dixie from a farm in Adams County, Ohio the decision was made to get another puppy and Converse Premium Labs was born. We decided to get another female to breed both girls with our son Josh’s AKC registered Chocolate Lab, Hank.
The first weekend of September 2016 our second black, female, from the Indianapolis, IN area Darla became a Converse. The Summer of 2018 we traveled to Shelbyville, KY and Ginger became a Converse and this beautiful "Yellow" was welcomed into our crew. In April of 2020 CPL took a huge step forward as we moved from our home of 15+ years in Maineville, Ohio when we purchased a small 10+ acre farm 5 miles South of Wilmington, Ohio. In July of 2020 CPL expanded with two new males Boomer from Bardstown, KY and utch who is from the Fort Wayne, IN area and Josie came into the CPL family from the Northern Atlanta, Georgia area were added. With Dixie being "retired" the Summer of 2020 we decide to keep a black pup from Ginger's and Hank's Spring 2021 litter and Shelby became a Converse. August 2022 we welcomed the newest addition to the Converse Premium Lab family with the addition of Yuki! Yuki is a "snow white" female, from the Blacksburg, VA and she will bring an incredible dimension to our puppy options. With the passing of our 14 year old Remington during the Spring of 2022 a tremendous hole was left in all of our hearts but especially his owner, our son Jamey. With our December litters from Darla and Ginger Jamey decided it was time and our newest CPL family member, Sig, a yellow male from Ginger became a Converse! Sig now resides in Auburn, Alabama with Jamey and Remington's son Ruger. Which brings us to the Summer of 2023! With the retirement of Darla and Butch and the need to re-home Shay this began a new chapter for our family breeding service. As a result of this change CPL brought Yazzy (chocolate female) and Tobi (black male) into the crew. These two pure bread English labs will bring yet another unique opportunity for our CPL families to bring exceptional dogs into their families.
With the opportunity for the expansion of the CPL business we built the "Dog Room" where there are the sleeping kennels for the CPL family of dogs that is housed inside our detached garage/barn. The Summer of 2021 CPL began the project of converting our barn into the Red Barn Kennels boarding facility with the completion of Phase 1 at the end of July. August 1, 2021 Red Barn Kennel opened for business. Phase 2 of the RBK was completed in May of 2022 with a reception area, a training area, additional boarding kennels and an office for CPL and RBK. RBK can now adequately provide safe, loving and quality care for 15 dogs at a time. Please click HERE for additional information regarding CPL's Red Barn Kennel.
In preparation for our expectant 4 litters (Fall 2022 and Winter 2023) the "Whelping Room" was added adjacent to the "Dog Room". This climate controlled room is a welcomed addition for our mothers and their puppies as a transitioning as well as a birth area for our puppies.
At CPL we have created our breeding service with the "normal" person/family in mind who wants a great family dog to love with all the characteristics and benefits of dogs that are a said to be a “cut above.” CPL has been blessed to provide people with all types of dogs per our client's interest. We have had clients who have gotten dogs from us that were to be used for therapy dogs of all types...diabetic sensing, PTSD, Autistic "friend" dogs, gun dogs...just to name a few.
There are many people who critical of professional breeders and opt for dogs obtained by other sources in an effort to "save" or "rescue" them. Although these are worthwhile intentions and thoughts but often people don't understand the risks as well as work that goes into obtaining dogs from these situations. Although CPL can not provide a "perfect" dog with no issues or negatives, we can assure our CPL families that we go to great lengths to check all of our dogs DNA for risk factors, we will continue to have our applicable dogs OFA checked and certified, continue to feed them quality dog food, provide them with routine as well as extra medical screenings to ensure our CPL Families the very best and most healthy puppies possible with no historical baggage to endure. CPL will never do anything to discredit the Labrador breed, yet also realize that most people want a life-long companion that will not take a lifetime to pay off. You will find that our puppies go to their new families with all the benefits any "professional" breeder but with less stress, in both experience and expense. This philosophy makes our dogs affordable and available to most who desire to have a quality breed dog.
We have been blessed to share the love and passion of the Labrador Retriever breed through Converse Premium Labs with families from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and Nevada!
Yuki at 10 weeks old and Yuki now!
Jamey with Remington
