High Desert Retrievers

High Desert Retrievers HD Retrievers is Western Colorado's premier gun dog training facility - offering complete hunting an

The 2025 AKC Master National starts today in Giddings, TX. We’re beyond happy to be here and proud of our amazing crew o...
10/31/2025

The 2025 AKC Master National starts today in Giddings, TX.

We’re beyond happy to be here and proud of our amazing crew of dogs who qualified for this prestigious event.

Pictured from left to right:
HRCH “Storm” MH
HRCH “Wyatt” MH
3xGRHRCH “Tucker” MH
HRCH “Maggs” MH
4xGRHRCH “Diesel” MH
4xGRHRCH “Yotie” MNR QAA
GRHRCH “Bear” MNR
GRHRCH “Tag” MH

Team HD Retrievers is in flight D and we start on a land series consisting of: a triple with a go-bird pheasant flyer, double blind and honor. The terrain is a left to right sloping hillside with checkerboard mowed cover and a dense tree line background.

Best of luck to all the dog/handler teams competing this week!

Team HD Retrievers had another outstanding Grand! Words can’t express how proud I am of this crew of dogs and the progre...
10/27/2025

Team HD Retrievers had another outstanding Grand! Words can’t express how proud I am of this crew of dogs and the progress/success they’ve had this year. It’s so gratifying seeing your hard work come to fruition. Huge congrats to their owners and sincere thanks for the opportunity to train these amazing dogs.

We finished the event passing 4/7 wonderful dogs and actually had 6/7 of our crew in the 4th series but unfortunately, lost two who pointed out.

Introducing:

4xGRHRCH “Yotie” MNR QAA
🔥🏆🐾🦆

3xGRHRCH “Tucker” MH
🔥🏆🐾🦆

GRHRCH “Tag” MH
***NEW GRAND CHAMPION***
🔥🏆🐾🦆

HRCH “Wyatt” MH (1st Grand Pass)
🔥🏆🐾🦆

Yotie earns his 4th Grand pass (3rd consecutive) and becomes eligible for the HRC Hall Of Fame!

Tucker earns his 3rd Grand pass (3rd consecutive)!
Congrats Derek Wessels.

Tag and Wyatt went through the entire Grand on a perfect score of 2s! Huge congrats to Tag for earning his Grand title. Congrats Todd & Morgan Kirkham.

Huge congrats to Andrew Coppa (Wyatt’s owner/trainer) and thanks for the opportunity to handle Wyatt in this event.

Finally, most sincere thanks to the and Music City HRC for hosting this event. Thanks to all the volunteers who make this possible twice yearly including: the judges, site coordinators, committee members, and photographers!

More photos/info to come but for now, we are in full swing preparing for the Master National!

The “big show” begins tomorrow… welcome to the !Team HD Retrievers is in flight D and we start on the “Ducks Unlimited”...
10/18/2025

The “big show” begins tomorrow… welcome to the !
Team HD Retrievers is in flight D and we start on the “Ducks Unlimited” Water series.

Pictured from left to right:
HRCH “Storm” MH
HRCH “Wyatt” MH
GRHRCH “Tucker” MH
HRCH “Maggs” MH
4xGRHRCH “Diesel” MH
3xGRHRCH “Yotie” MNR QAA
GRHRCH “Bear” MNR
HRCH “Tag” MH

Our rotation is: DU - Water, Gunner Kennels - Land, Winter Timber - Water, Garmin - Land.
Best of luck to our clients’ dogs and all the handler/dog teams participating in this event.

Although pictured, unfortunately, “Diesel” will not be running this Grand. We’re not completely certain of the source but, he sustained a bite from a venomous snake or spider and is currently doing well in recovery at a veterinary clinic. 💪🏽🐾

It’s our favorite time of year when we get to see cool action photos of the gun dogs we have trained! Here’s “Bomber”, a...
10/13/2025

It’s our favorite time of year when we get to see cool action photos of the gun dogs we have trained! Here’s “Bomber”, a yellow Labrador on a Great Salt Lake air boat hunt!
Bomber is out of 4xGRHRCH “Diesel” MH 💪🏽🐾

10/07/2025

Afternoon play/exercise time for our Grand & National crew! 💪🏽🐾

After a two year hiatus and overcoming some health concerns, it was a pleasure having Rika return to our kennel this sum...
09/12/2025

After a two year hiatus and overcoming some health concerns, it was a pleasure having Rika return to our kennel this summer.

Rika achieved her sixth Master pass with us and earned her Master Hunter title at the Mt. Rushmore AKC event in June.

This puts Rika into an elite group of Boykin Spaniels - making her one of only fourteen female HRCH/MH dual titled Boykins in history.

Introducing:
HRCH Brandywines Marika’s Magic MH
“Rika” 🐾💪🏽🏆

Huge congratulations to her owner, Dave Sunderland, and sincere thanks for allowing us to train/campaign Rika thru her Finished and Master titles respectively.

Working with Rika was truly an honor as she is one of the most driven, yet compassionate dogs we’ve seen.

A significant amount of teaching/learning can be accomplished by breaking your advanced training down into simplified co...
08/28/2025

A significant amount of teaching/learning can be accomplished by breaking your advanced training down into simplified concepts.
We like to call this drill “One & Ones” in which we run “one single mark” and “one single blind”. This is essentially a simplified KRD (Key Relationship Drill) in which the dog learns the difference between a mark and a blind as well as, their relationship to the gun station.
We often run these in complimentary sets to teach a specific concept (as pictured).
💪🏽🐾

08/14/2025

Hazel the Chesapeake knows how to make a strong entrance!
💪🏽🐾

07/30/2025

Wednesday water set up!

From our family to yours - hoping everyone had a safe, fun, and relaxing Independence Day weekend!
07/07/2025

From our family to yours - hoping everyone had a safe, fun, and relaxing Independence Day weekend!

Last week the High Desert Retrievers crew was in Wisconsin for the 2025 Spring HRC Grand and we truly had an outstanding...
06/07/2025

Last week the High Desert Retrievers crew was in Wisconsin for the 2025 Spring HRC Grand and we truly had an outstanding event. I was so proud of how our team of dogs handled the various challenging elements we faced in each series. Coming home having passed 4 of 6 dogs is truly an accomplishment at the Grand level.
It was very gratifying to see all our preparation pay off, as driving home with two new Grand Champions sure made the trek that much easier.

Huge congrats to the following dogs & owners:

HRCH Watermark’s Blackwater Spartan MH
“Tag” cruised through the event on a perfect score of 2’s to pick up his first Grand pass!
Owners: Todd & Morgan Kirkham.

Introducing:
GRHRCH Black Watermark’s Brown Bear MH MNR
“Bear” passed his second Grand in a row to earn his Grand Title!
Owner: Cole Peck.

Introducing:
GRHRCH Kennedy’s Big Bass Splash MH
“Tucker” cruised through the event on a perfect score of 2’s and passed his second Grand in a row to earn his Grand Title!
Owner: Derek Wessels.

Introducing:
3x GRHRCH High Desert’s Top Grade Coyote MH MNR QAA
“Yotie” also passed back-to-back Grands, earning his third Grand pass overall!
Owner: HD Retrievers

Sincere thanks to my friends: Jake Stinson, Clark Kennington, Preston Robbins, Ryan Compton, & Jeremy Lowry. We made a great team during pre-training!

Finally - most sincere thanks to the Wisill HRC club and the Grand committee for doing such a nice job hosting this event. Thank you to all the volunteers and judges who work tirelessly every spring & fall to make these events possible.

thehrcgrand

06/01/2025

Singles Off Multiple Guns -
AKA: ABCD Marking Drill.

Address

2352 K Road
Grand Junction, CO
81505

Telephone

+19702010355

Website

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