TESTIMONIALS
Matt Geater, "Deuce's Grown Ace Man" - Somerville, TN
I can attest to my experience with the services offered by Chris Christopher. In the spring of 2006, I purchased a lab pup in hopes of training my next gundog/hunting companion. With all of my prior hunting dogs classifying as "meat dogs" who were only steady to shot and were capable of multiple marked retrieves, I decided that "Ace" was going to be a "handling" dog. So armed with a bunch of Lardy articles and an undisclosed $$ amount of training equipment from Dogs Afield, off we set...only to quickly realize that we were in need of some help. Through a mutual friend, I was introduced to Chris Christopher. At the time, Chris was an amateur trainer with several nice hunting dogs that were competing nicely in the white-coat game. Chris took me under his wing and taught me from step 1 the basics of properly handling a retriever. Man, to think back at what a yahoo I must have looked like. When Chris decided to make the jump to a professional trainer and established Wolf River Retrievers, I decided to recruit his assistance formally. With his training assistance and encouragement, I decided to give the FT game a shot. At 14 months of age, Ace received his first derby placement, a 4th at the Chattanooga spring trial. He also passed the only 2 Senior hunt test stakes in which we entered. Several more derby JAMs and a Reserve Jam were also earned in the following fall trial season. With his excellent blind attitude, Chris pushed us to enter the Qualifying stake. Ace ran 3 Qualifyings in the same fall at received 2 4th place finishes back-to-back, being the youngest dog entered in the stakes. Duck season took precedent over trials in November and he has transitioned nicely as an outstanding gundog.
Chris is one of the most patient and genuine people I have ever met. His ability to read dogs and understand their thinking is uncanny. Even while trying to manage a business, train dogs, and devote time to his wife and children, Chris still makes time to talk with his clients and give honest and sincere feedback. I would recommend Chris to anyone seeking training services/assistance whether for gundog training or competition, both hunt tests and field trials. Chris has quickly gained the respect of many trainers (both professional and amateur) on the southern circuit.
Chris is one of the most patient and genuine people I have ever met. His ability to read dogs and understand their thinking is uncanny. Even while trying to manage a business, train dogs, and devote time to his wife and children, Chris still makes time to talk with his clients and give honest and sincere feedback. I would recommend Chris to anyone seeking training services/assistance whether for gundog training or competition, both hunt tests and field trials. Chris has quickly gained the respect of many trainers (both professional and amateur) on the southern circuit.
Walt Maki, "Cody" - Lakeland, TN
In 2008 I purchased a male Lab puppy (Cody) from Candlewoods kennels with the intent of trying to compete in AKC Field Trials. I had never competed in or been to an AKC Field Trial previously. I trained several Labs to duck hunt and I thought Field Trials couldn’t be that much different. My dogs were steady and handled so how hard could it be? Well, I loaded up and drove to the Memphis Spring Trial 2008 in Hernado, MS to watch the trial. All I could say was "WOW, this is incredible." The level of the dogs' work was far above anything I had ever seen. I realized right away I needed help. Thanks to the friendly people that had dogs entered in the trial, I was introduced to Chris Christopher. After a day of an million questions, Chris in his patient manner invited me to come to his training grounds and train with him. I was excited about learning what I needed to do to teach my pup to compete, so I loaded up my 4 month old pup and away we went to train. Chris took the time to help me with Cody and we have been training with Chris every week from that day on. Cody is now almost 2 years old and has a Derby 4th place and has made to the 4th series in every derby I ran this fall 2009. Cody's success was possible because of all the help and lessons learned from Chris. Chris has helped with my Handler skills and worked with me through every training obstacle that we have encountered. If you want your dog to be competitive, well taught and treated with tender patience then I can tell you, from my experience, that you will not find a better dog trainer than Chris.
