An Evening At Puget Sound Retriever Club Training Grounds

One of several bodies of water on Puget Sound Retriever Club grounds

 Fast Pup Dog Training recently visited the Puget Sound Retriever Club grounds in the evening.  These are some of the pictures taken. 

This is a picture of a small pond at the grounds.  It is only about 100 yards across.

Puget Sound Retriever Club leases land up in the hills north of Belfair and west of Bremerton.  The grounds are beautiful and the training ponds are awesome.  There is a feel when you are here of being far away, even though it is only an hour away from downtown Tacoma.  Currently there is a ground cover of flowers near the ponds, with bumble bees working on collecting pollen.  There is a perfume of herbs, especially mint all around the ponds.

A bumble bee works collecting pollen at Puget Sound Retriever Club grounds

 This year, with our cooler than usual summer, the water has been late in receding from one big lake into a number of smaller ponds, but now the water is perfect.  There is room for several training groups to work on one of several bodies of water at the same time.  It is always difficult to gain access to great water for training--and when we do, sometimes conditions are less than optimal.  Many of the ponds that are available locally in the spring are too overgrown with high grass, blackberries and cattails by mid summer to safely train dogs on.  The ponds at the Puget Sound grounds seem to be carved out of river rock, and the grass naturally stays very short and thin.  There currently are a few (very few) lily pads developing and there are no blackberries or cattails.

Big water at Puget Sound Retriever Club grounds

Becoming a member of the club requires filling out an application and submitting $60.00 for the annual fee.  Upon approval of membership, you will receive a key to the gate at the ponds and the combination for the gates of the big field and the horse pasture.  (See pics below.)

This is a huge field leased by Puget Sound Retriever Club

Club members refer to this field as the "horse pasture."  About 12 acres of open field

The club has regular training days on the second Saturday of each month.  The next training day is August 13 and the club is hosting a BBQ in conjunction with the training. This is a great way to connect with some of the members and get a chance to see the grounds before joining.  There will also be a NAHRA hunt test and BBQ on September 3rd & 4th.  The training day on August 13 will be a mock hunt test to introduce people and dogs to the format of the test.

Cooper enjoying a romp in the water

Hunting season is coming up very quickly.  Now is the time to train our retrievers and get them conditioned for the season.  If you live anywhere in the greater Seattle Tacoma area, you should consider the benefits of joining this club.