Dennis Voigt - Retrievers Online

Jennifer met Dennis in Florida training retrievers 3 years ago. They hit it off right away with their mutual love of horses, hunting and dog training. Jennifer has had the opportunity to attend two of his clinics as well as train with Dennis on the winter grounds. Jennifer highly recommends Dennis' magazine "Retrievers Online". Whether you are a competitor or hunter, Dennis' articles are packed with training ideas, lessons, and tips that are easy to follow.

Dennis Voigt has trained multiple Field Champions and won 3 National Championships while training alone the majority of the time. 

He hunts extensively with all of his dogs on both waterfowl and upland game. 

Retrievers ONLINE features...

• State-of -the art information on training and handling retrievers 
• Retriever community news 
• Articles and interviews from some of the top people in the sport, including: Rex Carr, Mike Lardy, Jerry Patopea, Dave Rorem, Jackie Mertens, Judy Rasmusson, Charlie and Yvonne Hays and others. 
• Detailed articles on training drills and advanced field work 
• Information on training and learning theories. 
• Articles on judging and evaluating retrievers. 
• Articles on health and breeding 
• Reviews of the latest books and videos 
• Classified ads

Mike Lardy - Total Retriever Training

Jennifer has had the opportunity to attend four Mike Lardy workshops over past two years and has been selected as a handler in two of them. Mike has since become a friend and his methods have become a source of knowledge, inspiration and motivation for Jennifer's training program. Jennifer now spends 3 months in the winter training on and around Mike's facility. His two trainer's Ray Voigt and Pat Burns have become great mentors and personal friends too.

Mike Lardy began training professionally in 1981. He and his wife, Cindy, and their children live near Montello, Wisconsin. At Handjem Retrievers, Mike and his assistants, Dave Smith and Ray Voigt, train 24 dogs daily in situations designed to prepare them for challenges that will place them among the top nationally competitive retrievers. During the winter months they go to southern Georgia for training. Mike's training grounds at both locations feature a variety of water and land settings.

Mike has trained retrievers that have won twenty National Championships; seven National Championships and one Canadian National Championship handled by him, and one National Championship, nine National Amateur Championships and two Canadian National Amateur Championships handled by his clients. 

In 2003 Mike ran his 33rd National Finalist. Cotton Pershall had the prior all-time record number of 30 Finalists run by a professional retriever trainer. Cotton's first Finalist was in 1942 and his last in 1973. This record had stood alone for almost 30 years until Mike tied it in 2002 and surpassed it in 2003. In addition to the 33 National finalists handled personally by Mike, numerous Handjem-trained dogs have been Finalists with their owner-handlers or Mike’s assistant, Dave Smith.

Dogs trained at Handjem have attained over seventy-two Field Champion titles and Mike's clients have made close to that number of Amateur Field Champions. In addition, Mike has contributed in the training and development of many other titled dogs.

Dale Spartas Photography

"I am proud to call World Class Photographer Dale Spartas my good friend! Many of his photos can be found throughout our website. I have had the honor of working with Dale over the years, and his dog photography will take your breath away". Jennifer Broome, owner Quinebaug Kennels

Since 1976, Dale C. Spartas has been an outdoor photographer and writer. His work has allowed him the pleasure of hunting, fishing, and subsequently photographing a vast array of outdoor activities and his assignments have taken him all across the world.

Dale has had more than 6,700 photographs published, including 250 magazine covers. Dale is on the masthead of Gray’s Sporting Journal and has had more than 70 photo essays published in Gray’s since 1985. He is also on the masthead of Sports Afield, Trout Magazine, and Flyfish America. Editorially Dale is frequently published in Sports Afield, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, American Hunter, Retriever Journal, Pointing Dog Journal, Men's Journal, Town & Country, Flyfisherman, Gun Dog, Wing & Shot, Wildfowl and in Orvis Catalogs. 

Dale's commercial clients include Orvis, C.C. Filson, McAlister, Remington Arms, Sig-Arms, Browning Arms, Winchester, 7 Lakes Lodge, Hatchet Lake Lodge, and Turneffe Island Lodge. 

His books include Just Labs, Just Goldens, The Little Book of Fly Fishing, and 101 Uses for Labs. Dale recently completed two new books: Rooster!, which is a tribute to pheasant hunting, and To The Point, a tribute to the beauty and sport of hunting with pointing dogs.

Dale lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, children, black Lab, English Pointer and Brittany Spaniel.

Bill Hillman's "Training a Retriever Puppy"

Bill explains his way of starting a retriever puppy, to get him started in the right direction. 

This beginning training will create habits and form a relationship that will be the foundation for any retrieving activities whether it's hunting ducks, chasing a tennis ball in your backyard, or going into competitive events. The most important part of the beginning stages of training is to develop a relationship with the puppy that will create a bond or a partnership. This will be based on respect and kindness. This will create a partnership that will last forever. Good training is not one giant lesson, but small and gentle lessons that mold the puppy to be the model that we want. If you have the idea of going forward into advanced retriever training or competition this information will be an excellent introduction to the basic program of almost any professional gun dog or retriever trainer. 

Training a Retriever Puppy - with Bill Hillmann shows consecutive days of training with a chocolate Labrador Retriever puppy which has never been worked before the camera started shooting the sessions. In other words the puppy is being trained in front of the camera. This film does not show a dog that is already trained and merely showing the end result. No other video has ever been produced that shows the actual training of one specific puppy over a period of time, much like a slow motion picture of a flower beginning to bloom. You will see the first time the puppy hears the "sit" command and the first time he walks on a line.