NAHRA - North American Hunting Retriever Association

To Our Guests:

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the membership of the North American Hunting Retriever Association, Inc., I would like to welcome you to our website and our program.

We hope you will enjoy what you see here and maybe interest you in visiting with one of our many clubs located across the United States and Canada.

To learn a bit more about our program, our past, our people and dogs, please tour our site. Download a printable tri-fold brochure, it also contains a membership form and additional information.

Thank you for visiting and please enjoy our site.

Frank Plewa
NAHRA President

 Mission of North American Hunting Retriever Association 

"Conservation of game through the development of trained retrievers"

NAHRA’s purpose is to discover and reward dogs that can fulfill the hunter’s needs in the field by performing in a manner consistent with the demands of actual hunting conditions.

The NAHRA concept is based solely on simulating real hunting situations, both upland hunting and waterfowling. Tests are designed to simulate a day's hunt in the field. The purpose is not to confront the dog with trick problems, but rather to test the dog's natural ability and acquired training. Under the NAHRA concept, the objective is to recover the bird as quickly and efficiently as possible, to create the least amount of disturbance in the marsh and field and to give the hunter the maximum amount of time to actually take game.

Dogs are placed in five categories based on ability not age: Beginner, Started, Hunter, Intermediate, and Senior. Dogs do not compete against one another for placements, but rather their performances are judged individually against a "standard."