Brad Arrington Vs. Stephen Durrence

I have a Boykin spaniel I am going to pick up that I plan to get trained for hunting purposes.

Can anyone tell me from experience their opinions on Brad Arrington and Stephen Durrence?

Kline2054 said:

I have a Boykin spaniel I am going to pick up that I plan to get trained for hunting purposes.

Can anyone tell me from experience their opinions on Brad Arrington and Stephen Durrence?

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Brad & Stephen are both amazing trainers with top notch facilities, but unless you are going to campaign your dog heavily at both of their places your dog will be getting little to no one on one time with Brad or Stephen.
Both of these guys have very knowledgeable staffs with multiple trainers, but spend the majority of their time with the dogs that play the games on a serious level not those that are just hunt test and hunting dogs.


If what you are looking for is a possible HT or BSS Titled hunting dog and would like your dog and yourself to have a lot more one on one with the main trainer at the facility take a hard look at Blaine Tarnecki and Wes Chester, both of which are Boykin guys.

Let me make this clear, you can't go wrong at any of the above training facilities and the trainers that work at any of them. Just giving you a little extra info to go on.

A couple of other things if someone can help steer me in a right direction or a different direction even.

I like that Brad works with dogs multiple times a day. Some trainers work with the dog for 30 minutes and then put it away for the rest of the day. Also, Brad allows for you to stay at the lodge and visit while your dog is there

However, I do not want to send my dog off for 4-6 consecutive months. I know that I would be missing some of the dogs overall capabilities when I do that, and I am ok with that.

That being said some trainers will not touch a dog for less amount of time because after all that is that reputation.

what are your goals with the dog?

if it is just a gun dog brad or even lee howard will not be training your dog it would be Al Arthur's brother (last i heard was he was training the gun dogs) i dont know much about the durrance camp and gun dogs.

I can say Blaine has done an amazing job with the LBDs, i know he just finished his tech pond and heard this weekend that it is in his front yard. and i know Blaine runs multiple setups a day.

Kline2054 said:

A couple of other things if someone can help steer me in a right direction or a different direction even.

I like that Brad works with dogs multiple times a day. Some trainers work with the dog for 30 minutes and then put it away for the rest of the day. Also, Brad allows for you to stay at the lodge and visit while your dog is there

However, I do not want to send my dog off for 4-6 consecutive months. I know that I would be missing some of the dogs overall capabilities when I do that, and I am ok with that.

That being said some trainers will not touch a dog for less amount of time because after all that is that reputation.

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Every reputable pro is going to have a minimum of atleast 4-6 months. You can "not want to" all you want but at the end if the day, your dog is better off going away for that amount of time with you having regimented visits when the trainer of choice feels your dog is ready to handle. I know every pro referenced personally...nothing against any of them...but if it's a boykin you want then why in the world wouldn't you send it to the best in that business?? Hands down Blaine Tarnecki is the best in the country with the little brown dogs. His track record speaks for itself. But again, regardless of whether it's Stephen, Brad, or Blaine...there's going to be a substantial upfront contractual commitment. Might as well come to terms with that now.

Blaine is amazing with boykins. If I was wanting the most out of a Boykin, there's nobody else I would call. I can't speak for brad or Stephen personally, but most lab guys don't really like boykins or training them. Blaine loves promoting boykins and getting the most out of them.

Thank y'all very much for the input

Go with Blaine, best Boykin guy out there! Side note, once you see what he is getting out of your pup then you will be excited enough that you won't want to get it back in a couple of months

Blaine Tarnecki.

http://www.hudsonriverretrievers.com/

After much research I believe Stephen Durrence will be the one handling my Boykin. I will try to keep people updated on the status of how happy I am with the performance. Regardless all 3 kennels have been super kind to me on this quest and are top notch facilities and trainers.

Thank you everyone for your input and for the private messages I received as well