I purchased my first Labrador in 1958 for hunting, and she turned out to be an excellent hunter. In 1963, my next-door neighbor was a member of the Montana Retriever Club and related to me the fun he was having with his dog in the club trials. I attended the next informal trial and became "hooked" on the sport.

In 1964, I purchased a pup and some books and started training him for field trial competition. He turned out to be a good one, knowing more than I did; and it was a good thing he did because my time for training and trialing was very limited due to business and family considerations. As these circumstances became less demanding, I became more involved in training and trialing dogs.

Max Darling was very helpful in helping me better understand dogs and how to train them.

Due to the geographical location of Billings, I have had the pleasure of running a few Canadian trials the past few years and have had the opportunity to meet some great people involved in trialing among our neighbors to the North.

The greatest enjoyment of trialing has been the many good friendships that have been made and training and working with dogs. My dogs have qualified for twenty-nine American and Canadian Nationals since 1969.

RFTN December 1988