A three-time qualifier at the AKC Master National hunting test for retrievers and a member of the Master National Hall of Fame, Alli helped to cement Kristie’s expertise as a retriever trainer by earning her a spot on the Women’s Challenge Trophy, an honor shared with 13 other female trainers. Alli’s upcoming litter is important because, for one, Kristie can count on two hands the litters she has raised since becoming a full-time trainer in 1999; and because, for two, the breeding of Alli to a multiple Purina Open and Amateur Outstanding Retriever reflects the selective breeding that is a cornerstone of the WaterDog Kennels’ breeding program.

“Breeding is very important to me,” Kristie says. “Along with looking at genetics, I evaluate performance, temperament and trainability in choosing dogs to breed. Ultimately, I want dogs that are a joy to be around. Historically, people have said that field trial-bred dogs can’t be pets. That’s not true. Every dog we have bred will come in here and lie on the couch and relax. I want out-of-the-box nice dogs.”

That’s not all Kristie wants. Success in the field is another cornerstone of WaterDog Kennels. In the past four years, Kristie and her retrievers have compiled an impressive resume in the American Kennel Club’s retriever hunting test program, with 20 Labradors, nine of her own black Labs, becoming Master Hunters.

Kristie’s focus on producing dogs that succeed in fieldwork is another reason for the excitement about Alli’s upcoming litter. The sire of the litter is FC AFC Creek Robber, the Purina Open All-Age Outstanding Retriever in 2003 and 2004 and the Purina Amateur Outstanding Retriever in 2003 and 2006. Alli, who is formally known as JTM’s Alli Oop, MH, is a standout retriever herself. She became a noted Labrador in the AKC hunting test program when she qualified three straight years, from 2003 to 2005, at the AKC Master National hunting test. The event is held annually to showcase top hunt test retrievers. Because of her three straight passes, she earned a spot in the Master National Hall of Fame and also qualified Kristie on the Women’s Challenge Trophy.

A Master Hunter title recognizes dogs that have passed a series of tests designed to simulate hunting situations. The AKC began sanctioning hunting tests in 1985. In hunting tests dogs are judged against an overall standard, not against one another. The retriever hunting test requirements typically include at least three sets of marked retrieves, two sets of blind retrieves, an ability to honor other dogs while they retrieve, and an ability to finish a retrieve despite a diversion. Success is no sure thing since master level tests involve difficult combinations of retrieving over land, water or both. To become a Master Hunter, a dog must pass at least five master hunting tests.

Kristie is a firm believer in the AKC hunting test program. In fact, she boasts that every one of her dogs that have been physically sound has become a Master Hunter. She also is a firm believer in selective breeding and points to Alli’s littermate sister, NAFC FC Good Idea’s Whoa Nellie, the 2007 National Amateur Retriever Champion, as an example of the power of selective breeding. “Nellie” is owned by Ken Neil and Brenda Little of Jupiter, Fla.

Alli and Nellie are the result of the first breeding between 2XNAFC FC 2XCNAFC Ebonstar Lean Mac and Kristie’s foundation bitch, WaterDog’s Trida Stop Me, MH (“Allie”). Those same dogs were paired for two more breedings, and their bloodlines flow strong through WaterDog Kennels.
No Background in Dogs

It’s also a breeding that demonstrates how far Kristie Wilder has come in the world of dog training. You watch Kristie work, train or interact with a group of 16 black Labradors in the yard, and it’s easy to assume she’s been around retrievers all her life. She hasn’t. Raised in Westport, Mass., Kristie had no formal background in dog training.

After college she earned a master’s degree in business administration and planned to work in sports marketing. Along the way to a business career she met Joseph Wilder, a former center for the University of West Georgia football team who was recovering from a near fatal bout with bacterial meningitis. The disease struck Joseph suddenly at age 19.

Joseph wound up in an Austin, Texas, hospital in a coma for three weeks. At one point doctors gave him a 3 percent chance of survival. Joseph beat those odds, though the 6-foot-7-inch 300-pounder did lose both legs and most of his fingers. Undeterred, Joseph returned to athletics. By the time he met Kristie, Joseph was in a wheelchair hoping to throw the javelin and shot put at the 1996 Paralympics. Interning for a sporting goods lobbying group in Washington, Kristie was assigned to help Joseph find sponsorship. Though he never competed in the Paralympics, a romance blossomed.

While courting Kristie, Joseph got involved in dog training. His first efforts were with “Austin,” a black Labrador given to him by friends who had been at his side during his battle with meningitis. Joseph decided he wanted to train Austin to be an assistance dog.

Austin wound up changing the Wilders’ lives. After watching a group of dove hunters and seeing their dogs work, Joseph decided he wanted to teach Austin to do the same. So he started training from atop a four-wheeler and from his wheelchair, and Austin eventually earned a hunt test title from the United Kennel Club. Today, Austin’s portrait, painted by Helen Nash of Wildside Studios, hangs in his honor in the front hall of their home.

Shortly before they were married, Joseph and Kristie acquired another black Labrador, Water­Dog’s What’s Your Excuse, MH (“Woodie”). The combination of Austin and Woodie was a catalyst for the changes that were to come.
“We had sent Woodie to a field trial professional for training, and to pay the bills for that we started doing obedience training,” Kristie says. “When people saw how well-behaved our dogs were, they would ask us to help. Then people would ask if they could leave their dogs with us when they left town."

To accommodate the business, the Wilders started building kennels around their rural home. At the time Kristie was working full time for a sports agent in Atlanta and Joseph was going back to school to finish undergraduate studies. They trained dogs in their free time. The schedule was hectic, but Kristie found herself growing more disillusioned with the corporate world and more enamored with the canine world.

“I came home from work with a headache every night,” Kristie says. “The dogs were my release.”

Finally in 1999, Kristie quit her job with the agent and decided to make a go at the dog business. They had adopted the name WaterDog Kennels in 1996 after seeing “Water Dog” on the spine of Richard Wolters’ famed retriever training book.

“We had built a good number of kennels, had a good number of hunting test and hunting dogs for training, and had a pretty good number of obedience dogs,” she says.

So instead of daily commutes into Atlanta, Kristie began working exclusively as a professional dog trainer. She has not looked back since. “Everything has just fallen into place from the get-go,” she says. “It’s been great. My life is no less busy, but it is more fulfilling.”

Learning the Ropes
The setting for WaterDog Kennels is on 2.3 acres that were part of a former pine tree farm 47 miles west of Atlanta between Temple and Villa Rica, an old gold-mining town whose name means “City of Gold.” Pine trees line the roads leading to WaterDog Kennels, and red clay soil is underfoot everywhere.

The kennel consists of 23 outdoor partially covered dog runs. The main kennel has a separate septic system and is washed down daily as dogs romp in fenced yards. Nearby are a series of small lakes, known as “technical ponds,” which are ideal for training.

“One set of ponds isn’t enough,” Kristie explains. “Retriever training requires that the dogs are exposed to a variety of fields, ponds and other hunting situations, so I load the dogs in my 16-hold Deerskin dog truck and travel to approximately 6,000 acres of privately owned property, most of which is within a 25-minute drive from the kennels. This property is made available to me for training by generous land owners, friends and clients.”

Inside the Wilders’ home trophies line the mantle. Pictures of black Labradors are everywhere and so are figurines, paintings, carvings and other dog-related knickknacks. “I buy anything that’s got a black Lab on it, and friends and clients are always giving me dog stuff,” Kristie says.

Though Kristie has come a long way, learning the ropes of dog training was a struggle at first. Teaching obedience was one thing. Training to succeed in hunting tests was more of a challenge. “We were failing miserably at almost every test we ran. It’s almost embarrassing,” Kristie says.

Hunting tests became more manageable after Kristie discovered retriever trainer Mike Lardy. After watching a few of Lardy’s videos, Kristie attended a seminar in exchange for maintaining Lardy’s Web site (www.totalretriever.com). From 1999 through 2005, she attended six more seminars and credits the Wisconsin trainer with much of her success.

“That’s when things really turned around for me as far as understanding fairness and balance in training and effort on the dog’s part,” Kristie says. “Mike has revolutionized the retriever training world.”

Another thing working in her favor was the sheer number of dogs with which she worked. “One benefit of being a pro trainer is that you’re dealing with a volume of dogs with different personalities, temperaments, trainability and desire,” Kristie says.

Much of the WaterDog Kennels training regime is based on Lardy’s philosophy, but Kristie does include her own ideas, particularly an emphasis on yard play. Three times each day — at 6:45 a.m., noon and 4:45 p.m. — Labradors at WaterDog Kennels are taken out of their runs and placed in one of two large, fenced yards. While seeing Kristie in the midst of 16 black Labs can look chaotic, she says she learns a good deal about dogs by their interactions in those situations. Activity also helps to keep dogs calmer and quieter throughout the day.

Kristie feeds her Labradors Purina® Pro Plan® brand Performance Formula. “Throughout the year we see just about every dog food on the market, from high to low quality. And we see stool volume, stool quality, coat quality, and general health and conditioning of the dogs in our care,” Kristie says. “Nothing from our experience compares to Pro Plan. All of our dogs are in very good condition. Their coats are shiny. They have low-volume stools. We tell all of our clients about Pro Plan, and we’ve switched many dogs that way.”

Every one of Kristie’s dogs — puppies, young dogs, working dogs, house dogs and older dogs — eat Pro Plan Performance. “We found by accident that everybody does great on it regardless of their lifestyle,” she says. “You also can raise puppies on Performance, and that certainly makes feeding time easier.”

The strategy seems to be working well judging by the ribbons on the walls and the condition of the dogs. Only one Labrador has allergies and requires a special diet. “I think part of that is luck, and part of it is the way we manage the dogs,” Kristie says.

For instance, Labrador Retrievers are notorious for developing ear problems. Not so at WaterDog Kennels. “The whole point is keeping them dry. The biggest mistake people make is hunting or training their dogs and then putting them right back in their box wet,” Kristie says. “Whenever we can, we tie our dogs out after they are done working so they can dry out. And if we have to put them in a crate we put a towel in with them.”

That’s one of many lessons learned by this late-blooming trainer, whose ability to get the most from dogs extends to Standard Poodles. Kristie trained CH Ascot Boucheron Joailleria, SH, CD, RN, CGC (TDI),  the first AKC show champion poodle bitch to earn a Senior Hunter title. The same bitch went on to earn two Master passes and is still working toward the Master Hunter title. Kristie met the poodle’s owner at one of her Retriever Retreats she holds for women.

Every bit as impressive is Kristie’s work with the Atlanta Dog Squad, a group that rescues mistreated, abandoned or neglected retrievers. Kristie has placed three dogs in homes so far and has three more she is working with. One is “Sara,” a black Labrador who arrived last February unpredictable and eager to attack any dog in her way. “She would lunge like a wild animal and snarl and bark. She couldn’t play with other dogs,” Kristie says.

Since then Sara has calmed to the point that she can be let off the leash and will eagerly retrieve bumpers for Kristie. The change impressed kennel worker Kirsten Davis. “I was scared of Sara at first,” Davis says. “She was pretty nasty when she first got here, but now she’s a good dog that you can let off leash and not worry about.”

“The rescue people came out to see Sara and could not believe it was the same dog,” Kristie says.

While the rescue dog work is heartwarming, the focus remains on developing dogs for hunting tests and pleasure hunting with their owners. Though Alli was unable to make this year’s Master Nationals, held October 14 to 21 in Remington, Va., three WaterDog Kennels’ dogs did pass: Water­Dog’s Ebony Diva, MH (“Diva”); WaterDog’s Maxximum Wannabe, MH (“Abbie”); and Water­Dog’s Handjem Hot Feet, MH (“Tootsie”).

Such success is a point of pride for Joseph, who no longer has time to help with dog training. Fully mobile now thanks to two prosthetic legs, Joseph is an associate veterinarian at Carrollton Animal Hospital. Despite his injured fingers, Joseph is able to conduct surgery and was honored as a top surgeon during his veterinary training.

Though his own story is inspiring, Joseph seems genuinely more impressed with the accomplishments of his wife. He still has clear memories of the humble start of a business operation that began when a client offered him $60 to make their dog more obedient.

“How many people can take $60 and turn it into a thriving enterprise?” Joseph asks, smiling. “Kristie is just a natural at this.” 

Editor’s Note: All of us at Purina are deeply saddened to report that Kristie’s husband, Dr. Joseph “Joie” Henry Wilder Jr., passed away unexpectedly on November 5, while we were producing this issue of Today’s Breeder. He had overcome bacterial meningitis and the loss of his legs and most of his fingers to become a veterinarian and active sportsman. He was 34 years old. Our thoughts and prayers are with Kristie and her friends and family during this difficult time.