West Region Director

Dana Schmidt

I have been a bird hunter since about 12 years old and had my first Chesapeake Bay Retriever at about age 13.

I first started training dogs and running in hunting tests with a black lab in 1971. Although I have trained dogs continuously since that time I seriously began running NAHRA hunt tests in 1991 in Soldotna Alaska.  I also became a judge several years later and ultimately was president of the Peninsula Retriever Club up until I resigned and moved to Canada in 1997.  My Chesapeake obtained her MHR and I successfully ran in the Richard Walter’s invitational in 1997.  

After staying away for a few years I began running my Chesapeakes in hunting tests put on by the Northeast Washington Gun Dog Club and the Spokane Bird Dog Association.  I have been a board member with the former for the past several years and have helped putting on tests with both clubs.

I recently updated my judging credentials and have judged a couple of NAHRA events over the past couple of years. I have also ran my dogs in AKC, HRC and CKC hunt tests and a couple of derby AKC field trials. I have been bird hunting almost every year for about 65 years!  

However it was Richard Walter’s book that I obtained when it was recently released gave me the confidence I could succeed in training dogs after being totally discouraged by James Lamb Free’s book that I had when I was first started hunting with a retriever. Although improvements have been made since its release in dog training,  it made a large difference in my attitude toward dog training.

Dana Schmidt, Canada

Email: westregion@nahra.org