River Town Retrievers

Our goal at River Town Retrievers is to build the best retrievers in the country. We do this by providing the highest quality of training and pushing each dog to reach its maximum potential. We pride ourselves on the results we attain using proven techniques, our attention to detail, our experienced team of trainers, and our amazing training grounds.

We know that the greater the variety of training experience you can provide a dog, the more confidently and proficiently it will perform in the field. Dogs in our retriever training programs are exposed to various environments throughout their training to ensure the skills they learn are well entrenched. They practice each skill in different locations with varying terrain, in a variety of weather conditions, with a variety of dogs and people in attendance. Once a skill is learned, each dog is also worked by our other trainers and handlers so they learn that they must perform for anyone who is handling them. This all helps to ensure that your dog is prepared to work for you when you take them to the field.

Basics

Our basic retriever training program consists of basic obedience on and off-leash, whistle commands, collar conditioning, force fetch (hold, fetch, and drop), and basic marking concepts on land and water. Your dog will be introduced to gunshots, decoys, live birds, dog blinds and stands, and a variety of hunting settings.

When a dog completes our basic retriever training program, it will be obedient to verbal and whistle commands, be reasonably steady to shot, deliver birds to hand and be retrieving out to 100 yards or more on single marked retrieves, on land and in water.

At the completion of our basic retriever program, your dog will be capable of handling basic hunting situations. If you choose to compete with your dog, it should also be capable of successfully competing in HRC Started and AKC Junior level hunt tests.

If you wish to pursue more advanced training, the foundations will be in place to move to the next level.

* Because the success of your dog depends greatly on the strength of his foundation, Basics takes approximately 6 months to complete

Advanced

Advanced training begins with "transition". During transition, your dog will learn a variety of new concepts and strengthen ones that they have already learned. Dogs in transition will learn 3-handed casting, remote sit, and be forced to the pile. A variety of complex drills are used during this time to teach your dog the skills of running blind retrieves on both land and water. Your dog will be introduced to increasingly difficult marking scenarios as well. Your dog will also learn the concepts of honoring, walk-ups, and diversions including diversion birds, auditory distractions, and scent distractions.

From there, we will move on to perfected handling, literal casting, carrying a straight line, land and water triples and quads, and how to fight the factors. Your dog will learn advanced marking concepts and advanced blind retrieves, with emphasis on precise marking, handling and straight lines through cover, difficult terrain and water. Hunting scenarios will include exposure to poison birds, blinds under the arc, inline marks, etc.

*The length of time your dog spends in this Program will depend on your goals. For example, do you just want your dog to run simple blinds, or are you looking for a QA2 title. At a minimum, you can expect 4 months to complete transition.

It is important to remember that all dogs mature and learn at different levels and speeds. Therefore, training time can vary depending on your dog's natural instincts and ability.

We highly recommend that you come out to train with us regularly while your dog is in training. This allows you to see your dog's progress, and allows us to show you how to handle and manage your dog. It's our goal to teach each owner how to handle their dog in order to enjoy the benefits of its training. This is a critical step in helping to transition your dog from one in training, to obeying you, and then continuing to obey you once you get them home. It also allows you to ask questions about behavior and progress while your dog is in training. Prescheduled, owner training sessions are included with all of our training programs.

Retriever training grounds

River Town Retrievers is blessed to own and have access to an abundance of training grounds to suite all stages of training your retriever. Our grounds cover over 6,000 acres of diverse landscape that includes flat land, rolling hills, steep hillsides, swamps, sloughs, pastures, orchards, and numerous ponds with different shapes, depths, and features.

Our training grounds feature two "tech water" facilities. Tech water is short for technical water. The ponds at these facilities have numerous points and peninsulas, along with many channels and levies, making them technical in their appearance and challenging to the dogs. Whether we are introducing a young dog to water, teaching a dog not to cheat water, or building confidence on out-to-sea memory birds, we have the types of water features necessary to teach in.

Our grounds offer unique opportunities to train on land and water year-round. Their diversity ensures we can simulate an endless number of scenarios to build confident and consistent retrievers.

Age

Vaccinations

Most dogs enter our program at around the age of 6-7 months. At this age, they have passed the critical socialisation period, their attention span and cognitive abilities have improved, most have developed enough physically to have enough strength and stamina, and most have their adult teeth.

Vaccinations

All dogs are required to be current on their vaccinations (DHLPP, Rabies, and Bordetella). *We also recommend K9 Influenza.

Proof of vaccinations is required. All vaccinations must be done prior to drop-off and must remain current during their stay.

Heartworms

Vaccinations

Intestinal Parasites

All dogs must be heartworm negative and current on heartworm preventive. You are responsible for providing heartworm preventive for the duration of your dog's stay.

We recommend

Proheart 6 or Proheart 12 (a six or twelve month shot).

Intestinal Parasites

All dogs in our retriever training program are given dewormer each month to aid in the prevention of intestinal parasites.

Fleas/Ticks

Intestinal Parasites

Fleas/Ticks

Dogs are required to be flea/tick free at drop-off. You are responsible for providing flea/tick preventive for the duration of your dog's stay.

Food

Intestinal Parasites

Fleas/Ticks

Your dog’s training includes the premium food we feed at the kennel. However, if you would prefer your dog to stay on the same food they are eating at home, you may bring their food.

TRAINING

Let River Town Retrievers Build the Retriever You've Been Dreaming About

Basics

Advanced

Tech Water Facility at our South Kennel

Retriever training grounds

Age

Vaccinations

Vaccinations

Vaccinations

Vaccinations

Vaccinations

Heartworms

Vaccinations

Intestinal Parasites

Intestinal Parasites

Intestinal Parasites

Intestinal Parasites

Fleas/Ticks

Intestinal Parasites

Fleas/Ticks

Food

Intestinal Parasites

Fleas/Ticks

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