Waterfowl Gundog &
​HRC / AKC Hunt Test Training

At Drake Creek Kennels, our specialty is building high performance waterfowl hunting dogs. Our small size allows us to deliver an experience no one else can offer. We cater to the waterfowl hunter who truly wants a Champion gundog they are proud to hunt with, but also has the titles and ribbons to prove it!

Our dogs compete in HRC Hunt Tests & AKC Hunt Tests in Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado & Kansas. We have a very high success rate in both HRC & AKC Hunt Tests Titles.  
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Each year we take on a small number of outside hunting retrievers for training. We are a small family business, not a commercial operation so space is limited!

There are many great hunting dog trainers in Nebraska & we are close friends with about all of them! However, our small size makes us vastly different from rest of them.   

Our typical training client:

• Is an avid waterfowl hunter, professional guide or breeder who has hopes of turning their retriever into a “Hunting Retriever Champion” and/or “Master Hunter”
• Is seeking a small operation where their dog is given special attention based on their unique needs.
• Wants regular and frequent communication regarding their dog.
• Wants to come visit their dog and learn to train/handle them with us.
• Wants to watch their retriever compete in local area events! 

“Why title a dog? I just want a hunting dog.” We hear it all the time!

You will have a hunting dog! You will have one nicer than any of your buddies have ever hunted around. We train our “duck dogs” the same way we train our test dogs. Our duck dogs simple compete while training for hunting season!

​That is what hunt tests are: simulated waterfowl hunting competitions. Hunt Tests prepare a retriever for any duck or goose hunt they will ever go on.
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If you ever plan to breed your dog, hunt test titles are a must. This is how other breeders who may want to breed to your male or potential puppy buyers know just how good your dog is.
But for most of us who have played this sport for a while know, it runs deeper than that….

Why Title A Dog?
Not just a brag, not just a stepping stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores, a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a way to honor the dog, an ultimate memorial. It will remain in record and in memory for as long as anything in this world can remain. Few humans will do as well or better in that regard.

And though the dog itself doesn’t know or care that its achievements have been noted, a title says many things in the world of humans, where such things count.

A title says your dog was intelligent and adaptable, and good-natured. It says that your dog loved you enough to do the things that please you, however crazy they may have sometimes seemed.

And a title says that you loved your dog, that you loved to spend time with it because it was a good dog, that you believed in it enough to give it yet another chance when it failed, and that, in the end, your faith was justified.

A title proves that your dog inspired you to that special relationship enjoyed by so few; that in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved, and loved greatly in return.

And when that dear short life is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, the best you can give to a deserving friend, volumes of pride in one small set of initials after the name.

​A title earned is nothing less than love and respect, given and received, and permanently recorded.
-Sandra Mowery