The country’s top retriever teams converged on Balmoral last week for the 2025 Canadian National Retriever Championship, where Oregon professional handler Amie Henninger and her yellow Labrador Floyd captured the national field trial title and West St. Paul’s Peter Dozois and his black Labrador Rocket claimed the amateur crown.
Hosted Sept. 14 to 20 by the Manitoba Gun Dog Association (MGDA), the event opened with 62 entries and 59 dogs on the line. Six days later, it concluded with a 10-dog final that tested the very best, ultimately deciding both professional and amateur honours. Over 10 series, judges called for precise marking and disciplined handling through a progression of land marks, land blinds, water blinds and, on the final day, a demanding water quad.
Henninger and the nine-year-old Floyd — co-owned by Amie and John Henninger — arrived in Manitoba with rare momentum. Already holders of back-to-back national titles in the United States and Canada, they came to Balmoral seeking a Canadian three-peat. They delivered under pressure. In the final, a mis-thrown bird prompted a reset, but Henninger was able to settle Floyd before he marked the fall, and the pair completed the rerun cleanly to seal yet another national title.
For Dozois, the week carried a different kind of significance. Competing at home on Manitoba soil, the lifelong hunter said the victory resonated on a personal level. As a boy, he dreamed of owning a hunting dog and working the marshes around his home province. A career in the Air Force carried him away, but he never forgot Manitoba’s reputation as one of the finest waterfowl regions in the world. Returning to pursue both his passion for hunting and retrievers, he said it was “wonderfully satisfying” to now showcase Rocket to a national audience.
Rocket’s performance in the finale electrified the Balmoral gallery. He drove hard to the falls, ran clean lines and returned eagerly, showing the kind of consistency that had carried him through earlier rounds. The final retrieve sealed a championship on home ground, and Dozois said the moment left an imprint he won’t forget.
“I’ve said that this sport is not about the pursuit of perfection but more of a search for the sublime,” he reflected. “That look across the marsh at my boy slipping back into the water with the bird while the gallery roared behind me… sublime. I turned and shook hands with the judges and thanked them for one of the highlights of my life.”
Observers saw a retriever brimming with speed and intensity, but Dozois emphasized the bond behind the drive. Rocket, he said, is what handlers call a “Power Dog” — a Labrador with immense natural ability who demands focus and foresight from the person holding the whistle. Running him, Dozois joked, is like driving a Baja Trophy truck with 1,000 horsepower.
At home, though, Rocket is more than an athlete. He is a family dog, sleeping on the bed, sprawling across Dozois’s wife while they watch television, and following every move in the kitchen in case a scrap falls. The relationship, he explained, is like that of siblings — a big brother guiding a younger one with talent to spare. There is authority when needed, but mostly an effort to channel Rocket’s instincts without dulling them.
The dog’s qualities were apparent early. In 2022, Rocket was named Canada’s High Point Junior Retriever after earning ribbons in all 15 trials he entered. That kind of consistency, Dozois said, spoke volumes about his style and ability to mark. With maturity, his marking has improved even further, and his hard-running blinds — while sometimes nerve-wracking — reveal a drive that separates him from most dogs on the line.
The MGDA bid aggressively to host the 2025 championship, and the timing proved fortuitous. This year marked the 90th anniversary of the club and the 75th for the National Retriever Club of Canada (NRCC).
“Hosting the national in our 90th anniversary year is very special to me,” Dozois said.
He had personally written the club’s bid letter two years ago, knowing the MGDA’s grounds north of Balmoral offered both history and first-rate facilities.
“The walls of our club are loaded with black-and-white photos of champions going back decades. To now have a photo of me and Rocket up there with the National Champion guys … sweet.”
The week also held perspective. Floyd’s victory established him as arguably the greatest retriever in North American field trial history, with multiple national crowns on both sides of the border. Seeing Rocket sitting at the champions’ table beside such a dog, Dozois said, was an honour and a moment in field trial history he’ll never forget.
Though the title represents years of training, Dozois doesn’t view it as a culmination. At four and a half years old, Rocket is just entering his prime as an open-age trial dog. Winning the National Amateur Field Trial Champion title at this stage, he said, is both a validation of their work and a springboard to new goals.
The amateur title automatically qualifies Rocket for the 2026 U.S. National Amateur in Junction City, Ore. Dozois is already sketching a campaign plan that will require months of preparation.
“It feels like a journey unfolding as you dreamed it might,” he said.
But first, Rocket will return to the field in the most traditional sense.
“My immediate plans are to take this dog hunting,” Dozois said with a laugh. “He loves geese, ducks, pheasants, sharpies and ruffies. When I uncase a shotgun, he’ll likely jump four feet in the air and bark with joy. That’s the plan — take the hunting dog hunting.”
He also intends to continue entering field trials and, for the first time, dabble in hunt tests now that Rocket holds a field champion title. Training sessions, he added, won’t change much.
“My partners asked if I’d be flying in by helicopter now that Rocket’s a national champion,” he joked. “Other than the helicopter, not much will change. This is the MGDA. Trespassers will be persecuted.”
This year’s national showcased Manitoba’s retriever community, with several local teams among the 10 finalists. In running-order:
#8 FTCH-AFTCH Docheno’s Got Me All Fired Up “Ember,” black Labrador female, owner/handler Matt Mutchison.
#14 FTCH Razor’s Red River Rocket, black Labrador male, owner/handler Peter Dozois.
#16 FTCH Belmont’s October Take Em “Kixs,” black Labrador female, owner Colette Prefontaine, handler Dan Danforth.
#17 FTCH-AFTCH Razor’s Deuce And A Half “Axel,” black Labrador male, owner/handler Todd Fournier.
#25 FTCH-AFTCH Razor’s M.M. And All That Jazz “Jazz,” black Labrador female, owner/handler Matt Mutchison.
#34 Canine Field’s Wonder Boy Thunder Storm “Thunder,” yellow Labrador male, owner/handler Mitch Bertrand.
#38 Truline’s Just Floyd, yellow Labrador male, owners Amie & John Henninger, handler Amie Henninger.
#39 FTCH Bowrivers Where Blacktop Ends “Bronco,” black Labrador male, owners Dan and Laura Danforth, handler Dan Danforth.
#58 FTCH-AFTCH Razor’s Livin On Da Edge “Quinn,” black Labrador female, owner/handler Scott Anderson.
#59 FTCH-AFTCH Eye Of The Tiger “Rocky,” black Labrador male, owner/handler Bill Kennedy.
Manitoba teams featured prominently among the finalists, reflecting both the depth of the province’s retriever community and the host club’s long investment in training grounds and volunteer development.
Judges Marg Murray of Alberta and Dennis Harwood and Sean Colville of Ontario spent days on site tailoring series to wind and terrain, ensuring tests were fair but demanding. The MGDA grounds allowed all 10 series to be staged on one property, with space for camping and camaraderie.
Officials thanked a long list of sponsors and volunteers who make a national possible, noting that birds, equipment, reporting, marshalling and hospitality all depend on a coordinated effort. National-level supporters included Purina Pro Plan, Garmin and other industry partners, alongside local businesses and club members who worked throughout the week. The NRCC emphasized the camaraderie on the line — competitors wishing each other good luck and applauding sharp work — as a defining feature of the sport.
The Canadian and American circuits remain closely linked. National winners are typically invited across the border, and qualified Canadian handlers regularly compete in the United States. That cross-pollination helps maintain depth in the sport and keeps standards high on both sides of the border.
Henninger said Floyd has one more start this year, in Georgia, after which she’ll weigh the nine-year-old’s future schedule. Rocket, meanwhile, gave Manitoba fans a home-province champion in the amateur ranks, his intensity and reliable lines standing up to a test designed to separate precise work from merely passable work.
For the MGDA, the successful national capped a milestone year and showcased a facility capable of hosting major events. For the NRCC, it was a fitting 75th-anniversary championship — a week of elite dogs, fair but challenging tests, and a final that rewarded steady, honest work.
Next year, the Canadian National Retriever Championship heads east to Perth, Ont. But Balmoral will be remembered for Floyd’s clean three-peat, Rocket’s home-soil triumph and a Manitoba crowd that roared when one of their own did something sublime.
