Whisky River Gun Dogs comes off award-winning year

Scotch (left) and Maverick (right) pose in front of the trophies they won throughout 2022. Photo by Julia Wolf

By Julia Wolf

Whisky River Gun Dogs is a passion project turned career for Cadott native Todd Stelzer, a professional gun dog trainer and winner of the 2022 Hogan award.

“I started training dogs, probably almost 30 years ago,” said Stelzer, where he worked with English Springer Spaniels for hunting.

He says he attended a field trial over 20 years ago, and got hooked on them. The field-bred Springers, used in field trials, are different than the bench-line Springers he had.

He says he came home from the field trial and told his wife, Ann, that while they are the same breed, they are not the same dog.

“I got my first field-bred Springer Spaniel,” said Stelzer, who has a picture of that first dog, Brandy, along with a collection of the ribbons she won, hanging on his wall.

From there, Stelzer says it snowballed. “I had a pretty successful amateur career in the field trials,” said Stelzer.

He says he started to get a lot of questions and people asking him for help, so about eight years ago, he decided to become a pro trainer, where he takes payment for training dogs.

“Now, that was scary,” said Stelzer. He quit his job and started Whisky River Gun Dogs, where he trains dogs for pheasant, grouse, duck and geese hunting. Stelzer says it was a bit of a slow start for his business, which made him nervous how he was going to pay his bills. But, as things progressed, he says he got more and more clients, and more talented dogs.

Now, Stelzer says he has to turn some people away, who want their dogs trained, because he is just so busy. Over summer, he says he has 40 dogs to train.

“It’s never a day of work for me,” said Stelzer, adding he is never disappointed about going out and working with dogs. “It’s all passion.”

Stelzer calls it the best job he’s ever had. The way he describes his role to others is that he is the owner, operator, head trainer, vet and No. 1 at picking up No. 2 at his kennel.

“I travel the country and compete with a lot of them in the field trials,” said Stelzer.

He also spends the winter in Kansas, to train client dogs, since there is too much snow and ice in Wisconsin.

“I have about 20 dogs right now, that travel with me,” said Stelzer.

The dogs he trains also come from all over – Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, Colorado and North Dakota.

He says the reason he went with the AKC field trials, is because it is the closest simulation he can get to actually hunting.

A field trial challenges dogs to find birds, flush them and retrieve them.

“When you run a field trial, there’s a flag line,” said Stelzer, “And they plant pheasants every other flag on your side.”

Two dogs run at the same time, with a gunner in the middle and one on each side of the two dogs. There is also a judge for each dog.

He says some of the “mortal sins” are passing a bird and the dog does not find it, or if the dog fails to retrieve.

“If your dog flushes a bird, it needs to sit down immediately, until told to go get the retrieve,” said Stelzer.

If the dog leaves before it is told, that’s also a mortal sin.

“Your dog has to be extremely obedient and an excellent bird finder,” said Stelzer.

Last year, at the Open Nationals, the Super Bowl of the sport, there were about 120 dogs competing for four placements and the next six closest to placing, earned a Certificate of Merit. Stelzer says they took second and had three dogs with Certificate of Merits, meaning they took four out of 10 ribbons.

“That was awesome,” said Stelzer. “I wish every year was like that.”

Stelzer also received the Hogan Award, given to the top trainer of the year, calculated by the trainer who has accumulated the most points in the nation.

“It’s the biggest honor you can get as a handler,” said Stelzer.

The four-legged members of the family also saw recognition during the year, with Maverick taking home three trophies and Scotch bringing home trophies for her run in the puppy stakes.

And family they are. Stelzer says he was not planning on the dogs being lap dogs when he started.

“But they are,” said Stelzer. “I think the Springer Spaniels are one of the best dogs at reading people’s emotions.”

He says the dogs will calmly sit on their laps, when they notice someone having a bad day.

Stelzer says they also breed a couple of litters of puppies, per year, and do imprinting with them, where the puppies get used to people touching their mouths, ears, feet and tails. He says Ann is a huge supporter of him and the business, and has taken over whelping the puppies. His two sons are also big supporters and a lot of help.

More support comes from a training group, some of whom have trained with him for over 20 years. Some group members go to field trials with him to help him keep track of which dog comes next.

“They’re tremendous at helping me compete at a field trial,” said Stelzer. “But more so, they’re the support on the back end, right, where you do all the training and all the work. Without them, I would struggle.”

Whisky River Gun Dogs also offers stud services and some limited boarding.

Stelzer says people can reach him, via email, at whiskyrivergundogs@gmail.com, or learn more at whiskyrivergundogs.com.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="116"] Todd Stelzer has trained dogs for almost 30 years, focusing on bird hunting and traveling across the United States, to compete in field trials. Training also involves traveling with client dogs, as Wisconsin winters come with too much ice and snow. Photo by Julia Wolf[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="242"] The ribbons Todd Stelzer’s first field-bred Springer Spaniel, Brandy (center), won are proudly displayed on the wall in his home below her photo. Awards other dogs won also adorn the room. Photo by Julia Wolf[/caption]