Bill bought his first Springer Spaniel in 1965 after returning to southern California from Germany where he lived with his uncle’s family for a year and a half. He purchased the book Water Dog and trained his new Spaniel like a retriever. When Bill was 16 he took Raider to Warcon Kennels east of San Diego and, upon seeing the dog work, the owner, Warren Grimsby, offered him a job as a trainer on the spot. Bill worked part time for Warren through high school and Junior College. During this time Bill met another local pro trainer, Ray Hubbard, and purchased his first Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy from him. Bill and his friend, Greg McDaniel (who owned a littermate to Bill’s puppy), trained and field trialed together for the next three years.

“Children can be raised to be proper. Dogs can be bred to be proper.”
— Carl Colclough, Lakenheath, England

Bill was drafted into the Army in 1970 and, other than training President Ford’s Golden Retriever while a member of the White House Military Staff, he stayed out of serious dog training until 2005. With two extremely well-bred, talented young Springers Bill imported from Scotland after a 2001 kennel visiting trip to Great Britain, Bill’s Montana friend, Dr. Jim McCreedy, convinced him to get back into trialing…but with English Springer Spaniels this time (Bill’s first love) . And the rest is history…field trialing has become a passion like never before!