Marty Roberts got his first Retriever in 1980 when he was 16. He began working and training with retrievers a year later. The bond he formed with the four-legged animals was instantaneous and it was then that a dream was instilled within the young man that would become a reality with Sporting Life Kennels.
Roberts opened Sporting Life Kennels in 2008 after spending 20 years in the home-building industry. But his love for dogs and training them never faded. He always had at least four or five dogs around that he worked with.
“But in 2007 when the market went crazy and started shifting around,” Roberts said. “I was at a crossroads in my life. It was then that my wife and I decided, after much prayer, that we were going to make some changes in our lives. We didn’t exactly know what those changes would be then, but we felt like it was time.”
Roberts said after much soul-searching he sensed what he was being led to do and that was to start Sporting Life Kennels.
“It’s really a funny story,” he said. “Lee Payne, who is a veterinarian here in town, used to live here on this 42-acre farm. We lived in The Highlands; I was building houses and condos then. But, I was talking to Lee one day about the fact that I was looking for some land to buy to build a house on and start the kennels. He and I talked a lot during that time, going over different ideas, and one day I said to him, ‘If I could find something like your property to buy, it would be ideal.’ He looked at me then and returned with, ‘You know, my wife loves your house.’ I said, ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’”
What happened next seemed destined for both men. Payne bought Roberts’ house in The Highlands and Roberts bought the farm from Payne. Roberts and his family live on the 42-acre farm-turned-kennels. They have three training ponds and two 10 to 15-acre fields the dogs are trained in.
“Sporting Life Kennels is a full-service training facility,” Roberts said. “We specialize in British Labrador Retrievers. What I want to produce with our dogs is puppies and trained dogs from the right genetic lines that make really great family dogs and tremendous hunters. We want those two characteristics from our dogs. I could get some great hunters from other lines, but maybe they don’t have an off-switch; they’re just amped up all the time. So, we want a combination of both.”
Roberts said that he won’t sell to anyone who isn’t willing to let the dog be an indoor/outdoor pet.
“We want them to be a part of the family type dog,” he said. “We sell starter dogs, which are basic-trained dogs around a year-old and we sell puppies to people all over the U.S. and Canada. We have customers from as far away as Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan in Canada; customers all along the East Coast, West Coast, the Mid-West and in the South.”
Locally, in Mississippi and around Memphis, Roberts said they also have people who bring them dogs to train.
“Right now, we probably have about 20 here that people have brought us to train for them that aren’t from our kennels,” he said. “The rest we’re training are from Sporting Life.”
The dogs that Roberts’ trains that aren’t from his own kennels are usually instructed in hunting, but he also does obedience training for medium to large dogs that are any breed.
“Mostly we train dogs that are suitable for hunting, and that’s all breeds,” he said. “But we also offer obedience training for different breeds as well. In obedience training now, we have some German Shorthaired Pointers, Boykin Spaniels and on the larger breed of dog, we have an English Mastiff that’s a year-old and weighs 150 lbs. So, we train all breeds in the medium to large range.”
Roberts said as to his training methods his mantra is: happiness for his dogs comes first.
“I want happy dogs,” he said. “We give them time outside in the airing yard. They’re not kept in kennels all day when we’re training. Most spend three to six hours per day in the airing yards with each other, just relaxing. Right now there are a lot of dogs in this building, but they’re quiet because they spent all morning outside. So it’s their rest time now. We let them out in the mornings. They hang out with each other. We go and get them as we train and then they go down for a nap at lunch. Then we let them back out at about 2:00 p.m. It’s a balanced life for them while they’re here.”
For obedience training, Roberts said it takes about six weeks and basic retriever training is around four months, but can vary depending on the individual dog.
“Training is not one size fits all,” Roberts said. “Every dog has its own personality and we respect that here at Sporting Life. Just like human beings, dogs are individualistic and have different mindsets. We want them happy and well-balanced during training, so we always allow them to set their own time frame when it comes to that, but around four months is usually the norm. If it takes less or more time, then we defer to that.”
Roberts said the final goal for him and his staff at Sporting Life is to have a “Finished Retriever.”
“Of course, the ultimate goal is what is called a ‘Finished Retriever.’ And in my opinion, that’s a dog that is at least 3-years-old and has mastered most of what is called handling techniques and has been through at least two duck seasons,” Roberts said. “From 3 years to probably 8 years they are in their prime and if kept in practice with exercises called drills, they continue to get better and better. And when you have that, plus a go anywhere do anything with companion (attitude), well…it just doesn’t get any better.”
For more information on Sporting Life Kennels, go to their website.
Angela Rogalski is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at angela.rogalski@hottytoddy.com.
