Building Quality Gun Dogs

Early Exposure Puppy Program

Setting 10 week - 5 month old puppies up for success. Proper exposure to live birds, dead birds, water, gunfire, obedience and potty training. Foundation is key!

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Basic Gundog

Basic gundog consists of force fetch, collar conditioing, teaching a dog how to mark in various cover, terrain and water situations, steadiness, place, formalizing obedience, exposure to live and dead birds, gunfire and decoys. For those who do, we also train from our boats in a duck hunting scenario.

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Advanced Gundog

Advanced gundogs can retreive multiple marked retrieves, as well as, retrieve birds that fall unseen through whistle commands and hand signals, what we call "handling'. Depending on the time in training, dogs continuing into our Advanced program will begin pile work, T drill, water T, swim by, patterns blinds and ultimately cold blinds. A finished dog is steady and a pleasure to hunt alongside in any scenario. Advanced training picks up where our Basic Program leaves off.

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Hunt Test Training

We offer both HRC and AKC hunting retriever training. We train all our gundogs to a very high standard; the training doesn't change, the letters before and after their name does!

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Blue Sky's Cuts Like A Knife MH

Cutter is a handsome, hard charging absolute machine in the field with an amazing off switch in the house. He placed in Derby field trials as a young dog and has gone on to run Master and Qualifying trials. Cutter is as stylish as they come in the field and has the sweetest disposition when he's off the clock. He really will work with his handler in running blinds and his marking ability is very impressive. Cutter qualified for the 2023 Master National. Cutter has Excellent hips, normal elbows and is genetically clear on the entire panel. He is available at stud to approved females.

Goose Creeks J O Spice MH

Sook is our newest addition and is excelling much like Boomer. She is out of FC AFC Snapper. Sook was raised for us by our good friends Matt and Amber Kelly and returned when she was just over 5 months old. She immediately began to excel in training and ran her first two junior tests only 2 weeks after turning 6 months old and being elidgible to enter the event. Shortly there after, Sook earned her Senior level AKC tests before she turned 11 months old and immediately went on to run Master AKC events and will pursue qualification for the 2023 Master National. She earned her Master Hunter title at just 2 years old and Sook has now hunted puddle ducks as far west as Missouri and Eiders in the fierce tide of New England and thrived in both environments.

Goose Creek's Liquid Courage

Hooch is an absolute work horse with a goofy, fun loving and playful side. He loves to work and is all business, but equally is relaxed and calm in the house. He is a lover and can find any way to entertain himself, as well as those around him. He loves the water, gets along with every other dog and is an absolute joy to train. Hooch's sire won the 2022 National Open. https://huntinglabpedigree.com/pedigree.asp?id=162921

Goose Creeks From The Ashes SH

Phoenix was a pup we kept from our first Boomer x Ember breeding. She has amazing drive and is exceptionally eager to please, much like both her parents. She will campaign through her Master title and be added to our breeding program.

Our Facility imageOur Facility imageOur Facility image
We operate a 18 dog climate controlled indoor kennel. Each of our dogs stays in a 30 square foot run with a Kuranda bed and fresh water on hand. Our facility has a training pond on site, timber training pond and technical ponds offsite. The kennel has a 6,400 square foot fenced in airing yard and we live on site. Our vet makes routine kennel visits, providing the utmost care for all of the dogs with us.

Will my dog forget me or my family?

Absolutely not! This is probably my most often asked question and couldn't be further from the truth. If you have a good relationship with your pup before they come to us, you will when they go home. You will just have a more obedient hunting partner.

Does Force Fetch make dogs who don't like retrieving retrieve?

If your dog doesn't like to retrieve, forcing them isn't going to help anything. Most likely, it will have the opposite effect. Force Fetch is about creating a dog who thinks through mental/physical pressure and is a pivotal precursor to advanced training. It is far more than holding a duck for a photo or making a dog pick something up.

Why is a dogs pedigree so important?

I often hear, "I don't need a field trial dog," "I don't need a fancy pedigree dog," or things similar when the reality couldn't be further from the truth. Dogs who have excelled in field sports for generations tend to breed puppies who are trainable, driven, have an off switch, are healthy, mentally stable, handle pressure and did I mention... are trainable? Dogs who are "back yard bred" have no grounds to prove why they should have been bred, typically don't have health clearances ensuring they age with good hips and elbows etc

What do all the titles and letters on a pedigree mean?

In the hunting/sporting dog world we want pedigrees heavy in FIELD Sport titles.

FC - Field Champion
AFC - Amateur Field Champion
QAA/QA2 - Qualified All Age (twice)
MH - Master Hunter
SH - Senior Hunter
JH - Junior Hunter
HRCH - Hunting Retriever Champion
HR - Hunting Retriever
SHR - Starter Hunting Retriever

If someone is trying to sell a puppy with "Champion Bloodlines" and you do not see the titles listed above on the pedigree or they can't provide the pedigree, let's look for another breeding. CH and other show title variotions are meaningless in the sporting dog world and show you nothing about a dogs ability to perform in the field. They are show ring titles, not working dog titles.

If my dog is trained to run hunt tests will it know how to be a good hunting dog?

A dog trained to the higher standard that a hunt test requires will be more confident and successful in the field vs a dog who was only trained to a "hunting standard."

When do I need to book my dog a place in training?

folks who contact me when they're looking for a puppy or are just picking their new puppy up always have the ability to book their spot for future training. Unfortunately for those who wait until their dogs are older, I don't always have availability. Be sure to call and check if you let time slip away and now are faced with trying to get your 7,8,9 month old in training, as I can sometimes make some room, but as always, the earlier the better to ensure a spot in my programs.

Do's and Dont's getting your puppy ready for training.

DO:

-Treat train behaviors like place, here, heel, walking on a light leash, kennel.
-Build retrieve desire with short simple marks that increase in distance as pups ability/age increase
-crate train!! if you aren't actively involved with your puppy, they need to be in a crate. Crate time is IMPORTANT. Crating teaches boundaries, how to settle down and self sooth, that they aren't the center of attention and how to be alone.

DONT:
-use orange bumpers for retrieving. ONLY WHITE
-allow squeaky toys or stuffed animals
-allow puppy to dig holes
-demand barking - barking for attention or interaction. Quiet dogs get rewarded
-allow puppy too much freedom. If you have issues with recall (here), pup needs to be on a check cord until that behavior improves

HRCH Goose Creeks Here Comes The Boom MH

Available at stud to approved females

HRCH Boomer MH x SHR Dixie JH REPEAT Breeding

  • Cambridge, Maryland, United States

About Us imageAbout Us imageAbout Us image
We are a small, 18 dog, family run program. Our puppies grow up in our home with our children and our older dogs in training enjoy time with our family, group play and exercise in the river. We know your dogs are a member of your family, so while here, they're a member of ours. Goose Creek Retrievers is proudly sponsored by Eukanuba Sporting Dog, Retay Arms, Sitka Gear, and Dogtra Electronics.