A retired Oklahoma firefighter, Randy Anderson has been involved in the competitive pointing dog world for over 25 years. He started his career as a successful amateur bird dog trainer, handler and breeder, and then starting in 1999, Randy became a professional bird dog trainer and handler. He has since won several major circuit All-Age Championships and awards. His awards include the 2003 Quail Championship Invitational, the prestigious Joe Hurdel Award and nine dog of the year awards. Randy has had derbies on the Top 12 derby list the past seven years. He owns and operates Crosscountry Kennels LLC in Vinita, Oklahoma. The Kennel provides all types of sporting dog training and services.

Al started training Retrievers professionally with his father in 1996 and has found a home at Sandhill Kennel, which his father started in 1974. Al has run every national since 2001, and in 2005, he had seven dogs that qualified (the second most qualified in the U.S.). Since he joined Sandhill Kennel, the kennel has produced 16 field champions and 37 dogs on the National Derby List. Another claim to fame? Al and his father are the only father and son team to win opens in the same weekend.

In his early 20s, Weldon began competing as an amateur in field trials. He helped organize the Carroll County Field Trial Club, which is still active. After five years as an amateur, Weldon began his career as a professional handler and trainer. Weldon spends his spring training time in Texas where dogs are exposed to an abundance of wild birds. As hot weather arrives, he travels to his summer camp in South Dakota to train on the prairies for about 60 days each year. Some of the great dogs Weldon has trained are: Tripoli, Forty Grand, Shameless, Rebel Magic, Rebel Jewel and Hawk's Royal Rebel.

Mike Berube, Owner/Operator of Long Pond Kennel & Guide Service, has been training full time professionally since 2001. Prior to 2001, was a full-time guide/trainer at a shooting/hunting preserve. Berube runs a string of 16 dogs with an emphasis on gun dog training and AKC hunt tests. He resides in Northern New England (Cornish, Maine), but also conducts winter training in southern Georgia (January-April).

Berube performs limited breeding of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. His Long Pond dogs have been featured in advertisements for Eukanuba, Bayer Advantix and AKC.

His biggest achievements/accomplishments have been qualifying dogs to run at the Master National every year since 2002. He has entered and qualified dogs at every Master National event entered in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 and achieved MNHOF title on God's Speed Thunder Struck.

On training he believes, "Personally, the best feeling as a trainer comes when I return a dog to a client knowing they have a well-trained dog suitable to hunt in any area of the country."

After trying a number of different major brands, he has fed Eukanuba exclusively since 1995.

Ken Blackman is a native of northwestern Pennsylvania. After a career that took him all over the world, he settled with his wife Sue in rural southwestern Tennessee in the mid '90s. Here, they built kennels to board dogs for a small income. Sue began to work as a volunteer, doing Brittany Rescue. Ken has titled dogs in AKC, UKC and American Field (AFTCA) events and venues mostly in the Central and Southeastern U.S. But one of his most satisfying accomplishments has little to do with the high profile of competitive Field Trialing. As a partner with Sue in the American and National Brittany Rescue Organizations, they've averaged 50 Brittanys each year since 2000, taking purebred Brittanys from shelters, owner abandoned and abused situations and rehomed them with families that are willing to give these unwanted canines a chance and a useful life with an adoptive family.

Ryan Brasseaux is the owner/operator of Native Sun Retrievers, located in Whiteville, Louisiana. A native and resident of southwestern Louisiana, Ryan trains and handles field trial Retrievers. He has approximately 10 years of professional Retriever training experience.

Gary Cook owns Nodaway Valley Retrievers & Game Farm. He has been training Retrievers professionally in the St. Joseph, Missouri/Mound City, Missouri, area for the past four years. Before he started training Retrievers, he trained pointing breeds (Shorthairs, Setters and Pointers) for about 10 years. He has titled several Retrievers in AKC "hunt test at all levels and in HRC hunt test as well. Gary's proud to say that he will be attending his first Master National this year with the first Retriever he trained from puppyhood. He has been involved with and conducted several Retriever training seminars and has plans to do more. They are mentioned on his website, www.nodawayvalleyretrievers.com. Gary has been asked what he feeds his dogs several hundred times and his answer has always has been Eukanuba.

As an amateur field trial trainer, Jimmy has been training dogs for about 10 years in southeast Missouri. His accomplishments include two dogs to FC AFC, one dog to AFC, qualifying for seven National Amateurs with three different dogs and qualifying for one National Open. Plus, he was a National Finalist in 2006 Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Rock River Retrievers was established in June of 2000, by Scott and Tara Dewey. Scott started the kennels training young field trial dogs competing in the minor stakes, including FC/AFC Dewey's Drake of Moon River. Drake went on to win the National Open in 2004. Scott and Rock River Retrievers have won multiple opens, titled many dogs and have qualified some for nationals, and have built their truck of dogs that have become quite competitive in the major stakes today.

Jim's dog interest is focused on AKC Retriever field trials where he has qualified 12 dogs for the National Amateur Retriever Championship and been a finalist with three of them. He has won a Double Header and owned five titled dogs (AFC/FC). He has judged the National Amateur plus about 90 other field trials. Last year, Jim competed in the Canadian National. He is very active in Retriever field trials and well-known across North America.

Since 1979, Pete Fischer has been raising and training Retrievers for the field. His business, Fischer's Kennels & Hunt Club Inc. near Albany, Minnesota, has established a reputation as one of the Midwest's premier gun dog training kennels. Pete and his dogs have been featured on TV programs that have aired on numerous outdoor shows in the Midwest. His current demonstration dog is Rex, a male black Labrador. Rex attained his AKC Master Hunter title at just 25 months of age and was one of the youngest dogs qualified for the 2001 Master National.

Mark Fulmer of Sarahsetter Kennels offers training for the discriminating sportsman or dog owner. For 16 years, Sarahsetter has consistently provided high-quality gentle training for pointing dogs, upland Retrievers and flushing dogs. Mark specializes in the early development of the Setters that he sells as puppies.

Visit Sarahsetter Kennels.

Scott Greer lives in West Tennessee where he operates North Fork Retrievers Kennel. Greer has been training Retrievers for 11 years. He has qualified five different dogs for the SRS Crown Championship since 2002 and is one of the few handlers to have won three SRS qualifiers. Scott is also a proven hunt test pro with numerous Hunting Retriever Champions, Master Hunters and Grand Hunting Retriever Champions.

Dan Heard began training Retrievers in South Louisiana. over 20 years ago as an amateur, titling multiple dogs in AKC hunt tests and HRC hunt tests. He qualified both of his dogs for four Master Nationals, competing and passing in two nationals for their National Master Hunter Titles. He then moved on to field trials where he began to train for Derbies and Qualifying stakes. Two years later he was the proud co-owner, trainer and handler of the 2004 National Derby Champion now known as FC AFC Taylorlab Downtown Dusty Brown, and a 2008 National Amateur Finalist. Dan currently resides in Raytown, Missouri where he and his wife now train dogs professionally.

Chris and his wife Natalie, along with their two sons Cayden and Cooper, own and operate Flatlander Kennels in Western, Nebraska. They are a full-time Retriever training facility that specializes in training Retrievers for hunt tests and the SRS. They run numerous HRC and AKC hunt tests along with the Super Retriever Series. Chris' training career started in 1990. His first love was field-bred Springer Spaniels, which he trained to master hunters and did some field trialing. He still owns a Springer to this day. In 2000, he turned pro and opened Flatlander Kennels in the heart of waterfowl country. Since then Flatlander Kennels has trained numerous GRHRCHs and MHs, along with being very competitive in the SRS. The accomplishment Chris and Natalie are most proud of is Flatlander Kennels' hunt test pass rate. Passing over 90% of the hunt tests that they enter!

At an early age Tera was exposed to the outdoors and many hunting adventures. Growing up in the marshes of Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron in Michigan, Tera grew fond of duck and goose hunting. Always having a love for dogs, Tera began working and guiding pheasant hunts at a local preserve after high school graduation. This experience and passion for working over good hunting dogs developed into a journey of knowledge, seeking out other trainers, reading material and attending seminars to better learn the trade of training dogs. Tera quickly learned that her true calling was developing and enhancing the natural abilities of young Retrievers.

Currently, Tera is the owner/trainer of Bay Blue Kennels , wintering in Giddings, Texas, and summering in AuGres, Michigan. Bay Blue Kennels is a Retriever kennel focused on developing young competitive Retrievers for hunt tests, field trials and working gun dogs. "Our motive at Bay Blue is to train, train, train!!! Bay Blue Kennels trains only 12 dogs between the ages of 6 and 18 months, with one puppy in our early start program. We concentrate on providing your Retriever with the tools and knowledge to be a big dog."

To this day, Tera continues to educate herself in order to stay abreast of the constant changes in our Retriever sport. This enables Tera to evolve with the increased difficulty of the tests the dogs are put up against and to stay competitive in all venues. Bay Blue Kennels invites you to explore our various training programs to see which best suits your next Retriever puppy.

Visit Bay Blue Kennels at: http://www.baybluekennels.com.

At 16, R.J. became a professional bird dog trainer, and by 18, he had earned his first field championship. At 19, he became the youngest person ever to win the National Canadian Chukkar Championship. Nearly 20 years later, R.J. is still training and field trailing pointing dogs at his Quicksilver Kennels in Moses Lake, Washington. R.J. has won more than 60 AKC, CKC and AF Championships. One of his most amazing feats is R.J.'s record of winning with eight different breeds of pointing dogs – Gordon Setters, English Setters, Irish Setters, English Pointers, German Wirehaired Pointers, German Shorthaired Pointers, Vizsla and Brittanys. He received the English Setter of the Year title for three straight years.

Dale is the owner and operator of Red Label Kennels. Dale has been training dogs for 19 years. He started out by training pointing breeds and then later switched to Labrador Retrievers. Red Label Kennels was started in 2001 and by 2005 Dale turned pro. He and his wife Becky have two daughters; Ashley is a junior in high school and Emily is married with a new baby, Carson. Dale has titled many dogs in major stakes from Master Hunters to Hunting Retriever Champions. What started as a hobby, eventually turned into a lifestyle for Dale and his family.

Troy Merrill has been training Retrievers since 2000. He has run hunt tests for the last six years titling three dogs for clients and two of his own at the master level. He would say his greatest achievement is not in the hunt test world but producing quality trained dogs that hunt in the marshes and rice fields of Northern California.

Robert Milner, a retired Air Force Reserve LtCol, is a Retriever trainer and breeder of many years experience. He founded Wildrose Kennels in 1972 and brought it to the forefront of the breeding and training of British Labrador gundogs. He worked several years for the Memphis Fire Department structuring a world-class Urban Search and Rescue Dog and Handler training program for their FEMA USAR Task Force. He also served several years as program manager for the task force and made numerous deployments with them. He is author of Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter (1984) and Retriever Training – A Back to Basics Approach (2000), as well as being a past Retriever columnist for Ducks Unlimited magazine. He has judged field trials and hunt tests in both the U.S. and the U.K. He currently owns Duckhill Kennels and is breeding and training British Labrador Gundogs and experimenting with positive training protocols for gundogs, passive alert scent detection dogs and disaster search dogs. He is also experimenting with Headstart Programs of early learning in young puppies headed for those three career fields.

A retired senior analyst, C.W. Bud Moore has field trialed bird dogs for over 50 years and won over 500 placements. He has finished several AKC Champions, and FDSB Champions and won over a dozen dog of the year awards. Bud has also judged over two dozen major championships and many qualifying trials. He is the secretary and treasurer for the Kansas Field Trial Clubs Association. He also hosts the Sunflower Open All Age Championship, a National Championship qualifier. Bud has mentored many young people who are now winning trials, and currently operates The Mountain Man Kennels, with 10 winning Pointers at present.

Ken Neil purchased his first field trial puppy in November 1999. Her name was Good Idea's Whoa Nellie and she was 49 days old. This month she will be nine years young! Ken's biggest achievement in the sport would have to be winning two national championships in one year with two different dogs: 2007 NAFC FC Good Idea's Whoa Nellie and 2007 NFC AFC Candlewood's Something Royal "Windy."

Tom Oblinsky started his dog career training search and rescue dogs for the USAF. Along with search and rescue he worked with drug enforcement. While on active he started a small business training Labrador Retrievers for hunting. Toward the end of his career with the USAF, Tom found his way into AKC field trials and hunt tests. He has run dogs in hunt tests and field trials from coast to coast. His biggest accomplishment was reaching 401 overall master passes last year, while his most memorable accomplishment is reaching 67 out of 69 master passes with one dog named Pearl. Tom has a great passion for his dogs and has since he started in 1992. Tom's number one core value is respecting your dog.

See Tom's dogs powered by Eukanuba at www.triplethreatretrievers.com.

Luann Pleasant purchased her first Retriever about 20 years ago. When this dog was about three years old, she began helping and training other people's dogs for field trials and Hunt Tests. She has brought seven dogs to their Field Championship titles along with at least 30 Master Hunter titles. They have qualified for and ran six Open Nationals and three Master Nationals, one of which she took eight dogs and eight dogs went to the last series and qualified. At a recent Trial she won the Open and qualified the dog for the 2008 Open National, won the qualifying, which qualified the dog All Age, and won the Derby, putting a total of 20 points on the dog. What a great weekend!

Rich Robertson is a second-generation dog trainer who lives in Payette, Idaho. He competes dogs in American field trials all across the United States. He's one of the top 10 handlers in the sport and has been for the last 20 years. Rich has won over 200 championships and has started this year's trial season with a bang. Already, he has won two of the four Big Prairie Trials in the Dakotas - the largest entry in the trial's history. He attributes his win record to quality dog food.

Doug Shade has been training dogs for 24 years now. He's spent the entire time on Sauvie Island just outside of Portland, Oregon. He has a few accomplishments he is especially proud of. He had a perfect 11 for 11 in the Masters at a weekend hunt test in 2002. In 2007, he qualified seven of the eight dogs he started with at the Master Nationals. Doug is also proud of his 35 Master National qualifications to date along with the six dogs he's placed in the Master National Hall of Fame.

In December of 2001, George Shaw opened Stony Point Kennels for business, offering general pet boarding and Retriever training. They are located in Shenandoah, Iowa, which is in the very southwest portion of the state. One achievement that he is very proud of is not losing focus of the fact that "every dog counts." Many trainers push for winning trials or qualifying for a national, and in the process "wash out" dogs that don't live up to those high standards. There are probably less than 2,000 Retrievers that qualify each year for national events offered by the different organizations. But the way George sees it, AKC alone registers around 200,000 Labradors each year. He wants to give the same effort to the weekend hunter who just wants a hunting dog. Years after the fact, he gets emails, cards and photos from owners who are bragging on their successful season. George feels Eukanuba is the best food he can feed, period. He strongly encourages his clients to keep with Eukanuba when they are feeding at home.

Chad Smith Birddogs, Tucson, Arizona. Chad has been training pointing dogs professionally for over 15 years. Focus is on gun dogs for the foot hunter. He has trained over 150 English Pointers and Setters for multiple clients throughout the United States. Chad considers his biggest achievement the satisfaction he receives from the dog's owner when he returns the animal.

Justin Tackett grew up in southwest Arkansas with Retrievers. His dad ran competitive Retrievers and Justin started his career as a kennel boy and bird thrower at the ripe old age of 10. He ran his first All Age stake in 1985 at 16 years old; he also began his career as a waterfowl guide that same year.
After attending the University of Arkansas Justin went west with his yellow Labrador, Lucy, where he spent his summer as a fly-fishing guide in Montana, the fall as an Elk and Mule Deer guide in Idaho. But, he always spent his winters in Arkansas guiding hunters up and down the White River corridor in Arkansas.
It was during a fly-casting competition in Denver, Colorado, in 1995 that he was interviewed by an ESPN production team. That interview got Justin his start in television. Not long after that Justin headed up the team that created both the ESPN Great Outdoor Games Retriever events and the ESPN Fly Fishing Challenge. That Retriever event would later become the world’s most popular sporting dog competition, the Super Retriever Series, now in its 10th year on the Versus network. In 2002 Justin and his yellow Labrador Yella also became the host of Duck's Unlimited Water Dog, now in its 8th season and also airing on Versus. Justin and Yella are currently working toward her AKC trial titles after completing her HRC/UKC Grand Title. Justin and Yella continue to guide hunters every autumn from South Dakota to Arkansas.

I was born in California in 1966 into a dog family. My mother got her first field trial dog when I was 4 years old. Throwing birds was always a part of my life, however I didn't start running dogs until after college. (B.S. University of Northern Colorado).

My first trial dog was a hand-me-down from my Mom. Hawk and Mom didn't see eye to eye on things so I was lucky enough to run him. The first trial I ran was the Open at Idaho Retriever Club, dropped on the water blind. By the end of that year Hawk was a Field Champion and we ran seven series in the 1989 National Open. All this before I ever ran a Derby, Qualifying or a hunt test. This dog opened my eyes to my future.

In 1990 I moved to Oregon to begin working for Jerry Patopea. While there, I did anything to learn more about training Retrievers. Jerry had a great crew of dogs then (FC AFC Aces High II, FC AFC Circuit Madam, FC AFC Midnight Code Breaker, FC AFC Westwinds Mighty Mo among others). During my time with Jerry, he won the high point open award twice and had 15 National finalists. This got me fired up to do the same thing.

In 1994 I started my own business in Colorado. I arrived with one paying dog. Within the first year my truck was full. In 1996 I was lucky enough to finish my first National as a pro with FC AFC St. Croix Pelican. Since then I have had 50+ Open wins, successfully trained 18 Field Champions, made numerous Qualified All Age dogs and have had many dogs on the Derby list. My clients have also been very successful with 50+ Amateur wins. We have qualified for many Nationals, with six finalists. (FC AFC St. Croix Pelican, FC AFC Teal McKenzie II MH, FC AFC Tartan Prime Time, FC AFC Mizpah Miss-both National Open and two-time National Amateur)

Lance Vines started training dogs in 1997, after his wife surprised him with a Golden Retriever puppy that she had bought from a pet store. Shortly after, he bought his first registered Labrador. He then started competing in hunt tests, which turned his passion of training into a career. He now owns and operates Duck Band Retrievers, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he has trained numerous HRCH and MH level Retrievers, including the second-youngest male Chesapeake Bay Retriever Master Hunter in history. Lance also competes in the Super Retriever Series, and has recently begun competing in AKC field trials.
Visit his training facility at: www.duckbandretrievers.com.

Dave Wilson is the owner and operator of Gold Leaf Retrievers in Newton Grove, North Carolina. He has been training Retrievers since 1996. The first Retriever he ran in a hunt test attained the title of GRHRCH and MH. He mainly trains and runs AKC hunt tests, however, he has put Derby points and QAA titles on a few dogs. He has fed Eukanuba for the past few years and is a strong believer that it improves performance level.