Mark and Heather have a combined 25 years of training, competing, socializing and breeding Retrievers.  

As a lifelong waterfowl & upland hunter, Mark followed his passion for training Retrievers and became the Assistant Trainer for Jim & Jackie Gonia at McKenna Kennels in McKenna, Washington in 2003.  During his 8 years with McKenna Kennels, Mark was fortunate enough to do Basics on 16 Retrievers that made the National Derby List and more than 25 Retrievers that became QAA.  Mark was also fortunate to be able to do Basics on FC AFC Widgeon’s Carbon Chip, AFC Whisp of Carbon, FC Riverrun’s True North, FC Waterdog’s Sweet Peaches and AFC Hoot N Holler.  Mark will always remember the remarkable careers of dogs like NFC AFC Clubmead’s Road Warrior, NAFC FC Carbon Copy of Horn Creek, FC AFC Creek Robber and FC AFC Price Club, all of whom were trained at McKenna Kennels.

Heather has had a passion for Retrievers since purchasing her first dog in 2000.  While balancing a full time career as a Senior Director of IT at Microsoft, Heather has found success competing in both Hunt Tests and Field Trials.  Her true passion lies in breeding and socializing young puppies, having bred and raised numerous dogs with Derby points and budding all-age careers.

 Lastly, we are very happy to introduce Nick, the newest addition to the Clearwater Retrievers team.  Nick is amazingly hard working, has a great arm and is catching on very quickly to life around the kennel.

Our Business

We believe that by specializing in only young dogs, we can provide the attention to basics that is needed to prepare each individual dog to meet his potential and pursue his owners personal goals.

We will target early competitive situations for the young dogs, but will look to partner with other All-Age trainers when the dog is ready to move up to higher levels of competition