There Is More to the Belle Shain Story

The Belle Shain Journal, No. 1 · Thursday, October 15, 2026

Letter from Fish River. Our first issue begins with a letter from Frank about the kennel, the land, and the family that gave Belle Shain its name.

For more than sixty years, people have known Belle Shain for the dogs we train. My father, Rob Leatherbury, started the kennel in 1958 on the family farm on Fish River, with Labs first and Chesapeakes and Goldens alongside them. I was three when I began following him through the fields with his dogs, and the lessons I learned there have held ever since.

Most of you know that part of the story: the retrievers, the hunt tests and field trials, and today, training for dogs of every breed, from the duck blind to the living room. But there is more to Belle Shain than the training field.

There is the land itself, the old Grand Hotel Fish Camp property my grandfather bought in 1939, where my father grew up among Chesapeakes and black Labs. There is my mother, Mary Shain, who kept Westies of her own and baked treats in her kitchen for the picky eaters in the kennel. And there are the families and dogs who have come through our gate over the years, each with a story worth telling.

That is what this Journal is for. Each Thursday we will send you something from Fish River: a dog we are proud of, a lesson from the training field, a photograph from the family albums, news from the kennels, and now and then something from the Canine Kitchen. We hope you will read it with your dog close by.

Frank L. Leatherbury II

“It’s about the journey for you, your family, and your dog.”
Frank L. Leatherbury II

From the Belle Shain Archives: How Belle Shain Got Its Name

Mary Shain and Rob Leatherbury at Fish River, May 1959.

In 1959, Rob Leatherbury married Mary Shain. She was named for her father, Shain Howell, and Shain was what most people called her. The name joined the two: Belle, French for beautiful, and Shain, for her. The kennel has carried her name ever since.

Closing from Fish River

This first issue was meant to reach you a week earlier, but the storm had other plans. We lost trees, and the boathouse took a few knocks, but the dogs were well and the cleanup got underway. Thank you for reading. If there is a story you would like us to tell, from the training field, the kennels, or the family albums, let us know.

From Fish River, Frank and everyone at Belle Shain