• Blogs, Dogs, and Jogs

    Designing this website and making blog posts It has been a fun learning experience, but making routine posts has proved to be more challenging. Blogging is a lot like exercising. Keeping up with both requires discipline. I’ll often find myself “thinking” about the next blog topic or run down the local trail. What is it…

  • Dog Trainer Titles – Pros, Amateurs and Pro/Amateurs

    Amateurs As I walked Angel off lead, in the morning in at a nearby park, I had her sit calmly for senior citizen approaching us. “You must be a professional dog trainer? She sure is a well-trained dog!”, the woman exclaims. She continues, “I’ve watched you train her in the field many times.”

  • Kids Scream & Dogs Beg for Ice Cream

    After a sunny, summer day of boating and playing in the sand dunes at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, our family and dog would stop at a small ice cream shop in Miller Beach. Jack Spratt had the best selection of exotic favors not commonly found elsewhere fifty years ago. Holly our black lab…

  • Hot Under the Collar – Legislative Movement to Criminalize Retriever Training

    Walk into any pet store across in America today, and you will find an abundance of dog collars to choose. Collars remain a popular sales item because they carry the traditional dog tag and make it easier to grab hold of and lead Fido around. In recent years, there has been a significant migration from…

  • Chesapeake Bay Retrievers qualified for the 2017 Master Amateur Invitational

    A dozen Chessies all handled by amateurs have qualified for the inaugural Master Amateur Invitational to be held near Cairo, Georgia. To my knowledge all the dogs have been trained by amateurs.  This is an accomplishment given the complexity of today’s AKC Master Hunt test.  Good luck to all in Georgia!!! Females Owners/Handler RIPPLING WATERS SHORE…

  • New Year’s Resolution of a Dog Trainer

    As the New Year rolls around…… …….millions of Americans participate in the annual of game of drawing a line in the sand and erasing a weeks later.  Some make a commitment to stop eating cookies or a more aggressive plan to start exercising. Meanwhile, others go way overboard by planning to cut back on dog…

  • The Curse of “My Dog Never”

    Gallery talk can be quite entertaining at a retriever field event. Not surprisingly most of the gallery, participants and observers, are fans of pro sport teams too. Presumably,  many are baseball fans. How so you ask? Well, baseball is known for its superstitions. Watch baseball fans turn their hats inside out and backward to “rally”…

  • The Master National or ACC Field Trial Specialty?

    This question was posed on a forum inquiring which event was better to run in the fall of 2016. Here is my edited response to the question: “I assume your question is hypothetical because your dog has not qualified to run the 2016 Master National, MN.  Perhaps you are trying to set a goal of…

  • Bryan-College Station Retriever Club Hunt Test videos

    A big thank you to the Bryan-College Station retriever club members and judges for another great hunt test!  BCS holds some special memories for us: Angel’s first junior pass, her senior title, qualifying for the MN for the 2nd time, and now our first MH pass toward the MARC invitational.  None of those memories would…

  • Rose Country RC – “Back in the Saddle Again”

    Sure felt great to be back running hunt test (HT) again after a six month absence. Rose Country Retriever Club held their Spring 2016 HT on a horse riding ranch near Tyler, Texas. The scenery was beautiful, temperatures mild, and the sky overcast. As usual the club did a great job putting on the HT…