Fairhope, Alabama · Since 1939
Our story begins on the river.
Belle Shain Canine Kitchen comes from three generations of our family living and working with dogs on the same land. The treats are new. The way we care for dogs is not. It is an old habit, finally shared.
The land · 1939
The old fish camp.
In 1939, Frank Lewis Leatherbury, known as “Red,” bought the old Grand Hotel Fish Camp on Fish River, just outside Fairhope, Alabama.
His son, Edward Roberts Leatherbury, known as Rob, grew up on that land. His childhood was spent outdoors among Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and black Labradors, learning to read dogs the way some children learn to read books.
That early education shaped everything that followed.
The kennels and the name · 1958–1959
Belle, French for beautiful. Shain, for her.
In 1958, Rob founded Belle Shain Kennels on the family land. He built it on what he had learned growing up: dogs do their best work when they are well trained, well fed, and well loved.
The kennels began with retrievers, Labs primarily, but also Chesapeakes and Goldens, and became known for a straightforward way of doing things. We train with patience, care for dogs as family, and never cut corners.
The next year, Rob married Mary Shain, and the kennels took her name. She was named for her father, Shain Howell, and Shain was what most people called her.
More than sixty years later, the name still carries both of them.
Mary Shain’s kitchen
It started in her kitchen.
Life at Belle Shain was full of dogs, and Mary Shain made sure they were looked after in every way. Somewhere along the way, she began making treats for them in her own kitchen: simple ingredients, made by hand, for animals she knew by name.
Those treats are the true beginning of Canine Kitchen. The treats have changed over the years, but the intention behind them has stayed the same.
There were always plenty to feed. My mother decided the usual dog food was not enough, especially for some of the picky eaters, so add-on foods and treats soon became part of the menu. Nothing but the best would do. They were just as much her babies as we children were.
— Frank Leatherbury
Her standard, today: Peanut Butter & Blueberry · Sweet Potato & Honey
Frank
Three years old, and already in the field.
Frank Lewis Leatherbury II started following his father, Rob, through the fields as a boy. He has been working with dogs ever since.
Over four decades, Frank has trained retrievers, hunting dogs and family companions, and as an AKC Master Judge he has evaluated many more. Few people have spent as much time looking closely at dogs: how they move, how they learn, and what keeps them healthy and sharp.
That experience shapes every treat we choose.
Over the years, I’ve learned that dogs don’t care about clever marketing or fancy packaging. They care about trust. They know when they are truly cared for, and they deserve our very best.
— Frank Leatherbury
Through the years
Since then.
1970s–2000s
Rob competes across the country in field trials and hunt tests.
2003
Jamie joins Frank in the field.
2010
Frank begins judging AKC hunt tests.
2012
The Master National comes to Alabama, on grounds Rob helped secure for the sport. Belle Shain’s Come Back Shain earns his sixth Master National pass.
Today
Belle Shain Canine Kitchen.
The Belle Shain Standard
One question has guided us for three generations.
“Would I give this to the dogs in my own care?”
— Frank Leatherbury
This question shaped how Rob ran the kennels, how Mary Shain cooked for the dogs, and how Frank trains today. It now decides what we put our name on. If the answer is no, we don’t sell it.
Today
Every treat carries the same standard.
Today, Frank and his wife, Jamie, look after Belle Shain the way the family always has: hands-on, close to the land, and with dogs at the heart of daily life. Jamie has been beside Frank since 2003, through his years of competing and judging. Together they’ve opened Belle Shain to dogs of every kind: field dogs and family dogs, with training, boarding, and events. Frank brings a lifetime with dogs. Jamie brings the Canine Kitchen: the treats, the families who order them, and what comes next.
Our First Release is small on purpose. We would rather offer a few treats we’re sure of than many that don’t meet our mark.