I have been competing with Labradors since the late 80's starting with my first dogs Bucc (Seif's Louisiana Buccaneer CDX SH) and Striker (HR Seif's Strike the Main CD MH QAA).  After I married my husband Joseph in 1993 we came up with our kennel name, Rhumbline Retrievers.   Rhumbline is a nautical navigational term for a straight line between two points, so we thought it was fitting for what's expected from field trial dogs, which was our traininig focus at that time.  The name also tied in with the fact that we both worked at sea on Merchant Ships and Joe continues to do so.

Rhumbline’s first litter was born in 1996 to our Izzy (Ziparoo x Lottie) and we have not looked back.  All of our dogs either go back to Izzy or our first dogs Bucc and Striker.  We do not breed often; most years only one litter and some years not at all.  We have been extremely fortunate to place our puppies into amazing working homes where they are given every opportunity to excel at whatever sport their new family competes in.  We are honored to have had bred many dogs who have competed at the national level in agility, obedience, hunt tests, even one dog that competed in the NAFC (going 9 series), Heart the 4 times Westminster Obedience Winner and NOC (National Obedience Champion) Zeal.

Whether competing in field trials, obedience, agility, hunt tests, nose work, dock diving or non-competitive areas such as hunting, service work, therapy work, law enforcement, print advertisement, commercials, movies, and most recently a music video, our dogs are first and foremost the best family pets anyone could ask for.  Our breeding decisions are made primarily for health and temperament while also focusing on working ability.  What is paramount for us is to breed a well-rounded working dog that is a loyal, loving companion that wants nothing more than to love and be loved.  At the same time, we also are always trying to maintain and/or improve our bloodlines.  We take responsibility for the dogs we've bred from birth until they cross the bridge.

Our puppies are raised in our home underfoot.  We believe very much in ENS as well as exposing our litters to as many new and different things as possible for the 7 to 8 weeks they are with us.  We encourage puppy buyers to come visit, play and interact with our litters as often as they are able.  The pups have a large outdoor play area (weather permitting) that is full of toys, tunnels and things to climb in, over, through and in.  When not outside playing the puppies are in our kitchen or living room exposed to home life and all it's sounds.

Joe’s and my personal dogs have mostly competed in hunt tests during the past few years mainly due to lack of time, but we've also competed in field trials, obedience, and even the breed ring and agility many years ago.  We currently have 13 dogs, from 7 months to 15 years in age.  It is important to us that every day our dogs get a nice long walk, rain or shine, where they can run free and just be dogs.  They hunt every season and once they retire from competition they continue to hunt as long as they're able.   All of our dogs are family pets first and we are blessed that our puppies’ owners feel the same way.

Thank you for taking the time to visit our website.
 

Sue & Joe Carpenter