Nevada Focus: English Labrador retrievers live high life in Carson Valley

Thursday, Sept. 24, 1998 | 2:51 a.m.

If you were a dog, you'd want to live there, too.

After 35 years, owner Sally Kelly definitely has dog breeding down to an art as well as a science.

"They have the best facility I've ever seen," said Douglas County Animal Control Supervisor Rhonda Fingar. "Before they even moved here, Sally's husband came out to look at our facility, and much of what we use here - our cleaning and water system - he built into their 'Taj Mahal' of a kennel. It's beautiful and they have some wonderful dogs there."

The Kellys moved Kellygreen Kennels to Carson Valley two years ago, retiring after 25 years in Pennsylvania. Joe, 70, was a marketing vice president for Quaker State Corp. and Sally was raising English Labradors full time.

Bringing the dogs to Nevada from Pennsylvania took two racehorse vans with four drivers, followed by a van with four adults and six puppies, driving 67 hours straight, getting detoured south through Texas by a Colorado storm.

"Moving them was really something," Sally Kelly said. "We wanted to make it as easy on the dogs as possible."

The 2-year-old kennel on Waterloo Lane has more square footage than the average Carson Valley home and cost more, too. Housed separately from the family's three-story residence, the two-story 5,000-square-foot kennel was built for more than $200,000 with 24 runs downstairs, most occupied by at least two dogs.

Kelly, 69, started breeding dogs 35 years ago. Now, after many generations of Kelly English Labs, she is known worldwide as an expert on the breed.

"The No. 1 trait I breed for in the English lab is temperament," she said. "They are absolutely flawless in the temperament - calm, sweet and easygoing."

Kelly's puppies are pre-ordered, even before they are born. Prices start at $600 for black and yellows, $700 for chocolates and $800 for fox reds. These prices are for family dogs. Champion offspring and breeding stock can go up from there.

But all is not fun and profit in the dog breeding business. Kelly buys dog food by the ton. Veterinary bills can easily exceed $1,000 per month.

Coupled with superior dogs, Kelly's ironclad guarantee is one of the reasons her puppies are in such great demand.

"I stand behind my dogs 100 percent," she said. "If someone gets a dog and it doesn't work out, for any reason, I'll take the dog back."

Kelly is just as picky as she can be about where their dogs go, Joe said.

"One time she had a puppy go to the Midwest and it was in a cage with a larger dog and wasn't growing," he said. "We found out that the owner was just feeding both of the dogs one dish of food, so our puppy wasn't getting enough food because the bigger dog was hogging it.

"We found out about it and had the dog shipped back to us," he said. "We spent $3,000 to $4,000 getting that dog back."

Leading this busy life might be burdensome to someone without Kelly's sensibilities, but seems perfect for her.

"I'm not into clothes or jewelry or expensive entertainment," she said. "I do love these dogs."

If Kelly had to pick only one dog to live with, it would be one of her males, she said.

"They are perfect gentlemen with tons of personality," she said. "There's nothing that compares to an English Labrador.

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