One of my friends has a small kennel for sale in Wisconsin near the Twin cities..email me I will get you the info..
I would buy this place in a heartbeat, but it is a bit far from my family..

Try this: http://www.findyourspot.com/ You answer a few questions and it gives you a list of places that would be great for you.

I live in Ripon, Wisconsin, a college town of about 8000 people surrounded by farmland. I have a hobby kennel license and about 20 acres of land. I pay about $35 a year to register my kneel and all my dogs. Ripon is only 30 minuts from the Fox Valley area with a population of several hundred thousand and less that 90 minutes from Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Madison. I commute less than 10 minutes to work and can walk to the downtown area from my office. I never lock my car in Ripon or my house unless I'm going away overnight. Kids can safely go around town on their own. I have no fleas and very few ticks, probably due to the climate and the heavy clay soil, land to train on, and friends with ponds specifically designed for dog training. I travel up to three hours to attend dog shows and have many opportunities to show my dogs and there are at least 10 hunt tests within a three hour drive. Yes, the winters are cold and long, but there also are no termites. The school system in Ripon is influenced by the presence of the college and is very good. The local culture is very family oriented. Town-gown relationships have been recognized as one of the best situations in the nation. I would look for a small town with a college near a bigger city. There are quite a few of them in the midwest. Granville, Ohio, Mt. Vernon or Grinnell, Iowa come to mind.

One downside- there are not many customers for show Labs locally. Midwestern rural people are not into conspicuous consumption and are not likely to pay top dollar for a pet if they can buy cheaper elsewhere- and the Lab is the unofficial state dog of Wisconsin, which has a large population of hunters. Deer season is one of the most important times of teh year. The men- and quite a few women- get together to hunt, and the women that don't hunt get together and go shopping. I do field work with my dogs, but even so, I sell many to people from outside Wisconsin. If you are someone who doesn't like to ship puppies and breeds show dogs, you may have a hard time here. Also, land is no longer cheap here, but it certainly is not as expensive as it is on either coast.

You might find this surprising but in your situation, I would consider the far northern or western suburbs of Detroit. For a home buyer coming into the area there are GREAT housing bargins to be had.

Northern and western Oakland County, southern Lapeer counties around Metamora and some parts of Northern Macomb county offer a rural experiance near enough to cultural events and colleges that are within commuting distance. The majority of suburban school districts are pretty darn good. We have great medical facilities, including the U of M medical school.

I live in a Township on the far northern boarder of Oakland County. Zoning restrictions require at least 2 acres for a house to be built to limit population density. The western suburbs have a lot of rural undeveloped areas as well.

There's a strong lab community, lots of shows and field events close enough to day trip and the Huron River Lab Club. There's a great professional field trainer at one of the Gun clubs in Metamora and plenty of areas to train.

We're in a bad downward spiral. Of course, the entertainment value of watching Kwame dig himself deeper every day is worth it though. LOL

I have a home and kennel on fenced acreage available in Arizona if you are interested. A great price, all ready to move your dogs in and with a kennel permit there are no restrictions on how many dogs you can have. Email me if you want more info.

Too bad you're insistent on the midwest -- other than that, my little county in Virginia has it all:

Near D.C. & Fredericksburg
Lots of Large Acre houses (10 to 20 acres)
No limit on dogs (have to buy a county license for each 10 dogs at $35 per group)
Great School System
2 hour drive to Potomac
Could be a member of the LRCP
Awesome 4H Dog Club (I teach Rally)!
Great Vet - Berner Breeder
2 hour drive to Repro Specialists (Dr. Escobar one direction, Dr. Dove the other)
2 Hours to Ortho (Dr. Bradley)
20 minute drive to the nearest beach! :-)

Now I'm laughing!! Michigan and especially the area in which you are speaking of is NOT a doggy friendly area for people like us breeders. Many of the HRLRC members live in/around that area and believe me we are all complaining about the varying issues about zoning etc. Good luck trying to convince a township to give you a hobby license with anything less than 20acres of land. BTW, property of 20ac with a NICE house is virtually impossible unless you want to fight the traffic, drive 1+ hour to work, or can afford a $400K home. FORGET MICHIGAN.

Sign me up Shar! Just find a job for Steve and someone to buy my house

an agricultural community.
People are not so uptight.

Ohio is not going to be great in the next few years. They have been trying to pass restrictive breeding legislation and have state wide BSL. Missouri has a very strong Lobby for the commercial pet industry and is still a good place to breed.

I am welcoming more ideas.
Thank you to all who have replied. It is a daunting task, trying to figure out where to live and raise our family. We will be taking a vacation in the next few weeks looking at places. I knew I could ask the Lab community where is a good place to live and you all would come through!
Thank you and I am looking for more ideas....

I'm most likely retiring to TN. Really want to be in the mountains again and on a lake. Looking at Lake Norris area. It is simply breathtaking. Not sure it would be the place to raise kids as I don't know anything about the schools there.

Good luck on your search. I send countless hours online looking at real estate :)

Where in AZ?

I'm also looking into moving, more land is fine although on 2.5 acres presently. 5 is enough for me, 10 at the most.

Your county sounds very nice in many ways Shar. The 2 hour rides to vet specialists wouldn't float my boat. Other then that, you sound like you have a nice set up in your county.

Anyone can *apply* to be a member of the LRCP right? As far as I know some members are from out of the States as far north as Canada, others are as far south as Florida.

The close beach access, acreage and school system sounds great. Good school systems are important even if you don't have children in the system. It helps with re-sale later on making it attractive now as well.

How are your taxes and what size homes go on those size properties if someone were to build or totally renovate a home? I would guess the average home is close to 5,000 square feet some much larger? That is something I want, lots of house with a fall away lot with a walk out basement. The walk out basements are great for the dogs in the home and adds another level of living that isn't beneath the ground.

It sounds like good advice to LT Breeder with a young family.

Taxes are low here. Houses can be any size you want. We have custom built homes and old farm houses for renovation.

Not all is perfect mind you . . . you have to drive to get anywhere. Nearest Walmart - 30 minutes away (without traffic, but then again, we usually don't have traffic).

Its a 20 minute drive to the high school and middle school for me. They bus transportation system is really good though.

Drawback - if you have a teenager looking for a job, not alot of places to work.

Where are the lowest #'s for majors? Which Division?

move to New Hampshire
sure we need a lot of dogs for a major
but most of this state is pretty rural, and government isn't up your butt all day


Live Free or Die, that's our motto and we mean it. I called town hall (and our town clerk was helen hunt, so if you needed paper work you had to go to Helen hunt for it) (that has since changed)... i said, what is the maximum numbers of dogs i can have, they said, i don't know. well, when do i need a kennel license, they said, we don't have these, try not to have so many dogs that people call us, ok?

we do have leash laws, the dog must be on leash or under verbal control or being trained.... ok....

he don't have much else, property does cost a bit around here, but no sales tax, no income tax... and only 22 miles of beautiful coastline..

I love NH

barb

TIBET

Agree with Sharlene!

Arizona?, can you imagine a Labrador in Arizona on summer?, it's ok if you want to cook him.

COLORADO

There are so many lovely places to live.

I'd also be considering whether a lot of other people are moving to the same area. If a lot of people are
also moving to the area, you will probably see more
laws against dog breeding and dogs generally. At least
that is what happened in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary area of NC. Although many people are still
trying to move to this area, we had to move away from
it after living in it for nearly 40 years. Kate

I agree:

COLORADO

We're not midwest for sure, but how about Alabama! The Auburn/Opelika area is growing quickly, but you can buy outside the city limits or one of the smaller surrounding towns comparitively inexpensively. Auburn has a 3 dog limit, but it's the only place that does.

When we first considered Alabama, I had the typical "down south" image, but Auurn is a university town, and thus we have people from all over the country and the world, for that matter. The area was named one of the top places in the US to start a new business by Money Magazine. Auburn University boasts the Vet school, and my repro vet is there and is awesome. I'm an hour and a half from the Atlanta airport and the Greater Atlanta LRC is a great club. And hey, the National is here this year!! Potomac is about a 12 hour drive, and if you are willing to drive about 6 hours or less, you can find a show darn near every weekend of the year.

If you'd like more information, contact me privately and I'll be happy to answer your questions!

An earlier poster mentioned that NW Ohio is really good...for now. There's a REALLY ACTIVE HSUS individual who is running for county commissioner in my county. She is currently working with the local animal shelter and is on good terms with the local radio stations. Heaven forbid she gets elected and is able to begin pushing her agenda through. If you're looking at this area, watch out for Lucas (they have a dog warden who is a true "nut-case")and Henry counties...they may seem dog-friendly now, but who knows for how long!

New Hampshire is wonderful! I live in northern NH which is a bit much for most folks but just an hour south and they get very limited snow, four beautiful seasons, an hour to two major airports and dog shows all the time. i just spent the weekend in the Hollis area and there were fields, stone walls, lakes, lovely homes, ponds, a short drive to the beach, Boston, and a number of colleges and universities. AND it has once again been voted "the most livable state!"
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=6ee9819b-0c3c-4b59-abf9-073811ea4f59

But to answer your original question, if I could live anywhere I would move to Martha's Vineyard and not just vacation there.