This past summer, we set out for Minnesota to spend some time with the crew from Next Generation Retrievers to catch a glimpse of one of the Midwest’s premier retriever training facilities. What started as two friends, a handful of retrievers, and some leased land has coalesced into a 10,000 sq. ft. facility and over a decade’s worth of time & commitment, producing some of the best retrievers in the country. Next Generation Retrievers is a full-service training, boarding, and breeding facility, and owners Adam Levy & Andrew Barbouche have brought years of experience in both the duck blind and the competition line to the forefront of their operation. With one main principle ruling all, when your dog is here, they’re treated like family. We sat down with Adam and Andrew to learn more about Next Generation Retrievers in this edition of Behind the Brand.
Interview with Co-Owner & Head Trainer Andrew Barbouche
Split Reed: Who are you and what do you do?
Andrew: My name is Andrew Barbouche, and I’m the Head Trainer & Co-Owner of Next Generation Retrievers and Fireside Pet Lodge. We’ve been here for 12 years now, and we’re a full-service training, boarding, and breeding facility.
Split Reed: How did you get started in retriever training?
Andrew: I got into dog training through my upbringing. Being around my family’s dogs and all of the upland/waterfowl hunting we did. My family always had dogs, my uncles, specifically, and those dogs were machines. They were really good working dogs, but boy did the training really make things frustrating. When I got old enough to get my own dog, I told myself my dogs and their training weren’t going to be like that. It just grew from there. I started training dogs for myself, and I started working some dogs for my neighbors and here we are!
Split Reed: How did you and Adam meet? How did that evolve into Next Generation Retrievers?
Andrew: Adam and I met when I moved to Texas to apprentice under another professional retriever trainer, and while I was there, Adam had bred a litter of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and was in the process of moving to Texas and needing a place to board his dogs while he got situated. That just happened to be at the kennel that I was working at. While those dogs were there I started to work with them, and that’s how I got to know Adam. Eventually, he started to work for the same kennel that I was working for. My plan was always to move back home to Minnesota to start my own operation, and Adam fit the mold to a ‘T’ to be a part of that and start this business together.
Split Reed: How would you summarize the evolution of Next Generation from its inception?
Andrew: When we started, Adam and I were renting an old farmhouse on a piece of land that was nothing but cow pasture and overgrown field, and we were keeping dogs in kennel crates in the house with us. We basically grew from that, and living paycheck to paycheck, all the way up to now we’re on a 100-acre piece of property with the capability to house 90+ dogs, a full-time groomer, an obedience trainer, and 4 full-time trainers. It’s really humbling to look back on where we started and the things we had to do to get to where we are.
Split Reed: How have Next Generation’s processes & training evolved over the years?
Andrew: I was just talking with one of our full-time trainers about this–the type of trainers we were so many years ago. The biggest jump that we’ve made from our younger trainer-selves to now is that we’re looking for ways to get the dog trained in the nicest, cleanest way possible that requires the least amount of pressure. We are much more thoughtful about the process and doing our best to use as little pressure with dogs as possible. We try to show the dog what we want and show them in a way that requires us to use such little pressure that when we do use pressure, the dog understands why they’re receiving it very well. Back in the day, we thought pressure was how you did it, and I think most trainers start that way. In my opinion, the sign of a good trainer is one who is looking to get better day after day. Every year we want to be able to look back and say–we are better. Better because we’re paying more attention, we’re trying to learn, learning from people who know more than us, and using the resources and people we’ve met along the way to make ourselves better trainers in the end.
Split Reed: How does being an avid waterfowl hunter help you and how you train retrievers?
Andrew: Growing up as hunters played a critical role in our ability to make others the gun dogs that they really hope for because we know what all those different waterfowl hunting situations look like. From duck hunting flooded timber to hunting out of a permanent blind in a flooded corn field, long boat rides up the Yellowstone River to the prairie pothole region of the Dakotas. You name it, we’ve done it, we’ve trained for it, and we know what that client is looking for based on how they hunt.
At dropoff, we ask the owners what type of hunting they do. What type of situation is the dog going to be exposed to most? And we’ll cater that specifically to the owner and their dog. Being avid waterfowl hunters, we’ve seen it all. We know the things that can happen in different situations–especially to a young dog–and how to deal with them. We can communicate to owners how to deal with different situations, if there are things they should/shouldn’t be doing, and how to build that young dog. You have to remember you’re laying the foundation for the next 10-12 years of this dog’s life, so let’s get it right the first time. We can discuss all the hypotheticals of different situations, and we want to make sure we are sending that owner home confident, knowing that they can deal with whatever situation might show up for them.
Split Reed: What drives you in your career as a retriever trainer?
Andrew: Making dogs successful in competition is really what drives me to come here every day, and I want to learn to be better, seeing the amazing things that these high-level dogs can do. They all start from somewhere, whether it’s a dog that knows a little bit or a dog that knows absolutely nothing. I know it takes those blank canvases to turn into something really special, and that only happens when getting up and going to work every day. That’s what really motivates me to go. I enjoy looking back on where we came from, looking at a dog, and saying, “Look at what you’re doing now compared to what you were doing when you got here.”
Split Reed: What are some characteristics you like to see in retrievers that come in for training?
Andrew: First off is breeding. The potential has to be in that dog. There are definitely certain cases where some really good dogs don’t have the best ‘paperwork,’ but that’s not common. The things that I like to see, to begin with, are good papers with a puppy, and then when that dog is getting ready to come into training, what the owner has done with the dog leading up to that point. Dogs that have been socialized well, exposed to new and different environments, even things as simple as car rides and trips to the boat ramp to get that puppy swimming. Simple things like that early on T-up well into the kind of dog we will make for the future. Whether it’s a basic gun dog or a competitive field trial dog, the things that I like to see are generally pointed at what the owner did with them as a young dog. I love seeing confident, social dogs, dogs that don’t get put off or distracted by random new things (loud noises, vehicles, new people, etc.). A dog that’s ready to come to the kennel and ready to work. When you have to wait to get to know a dog or wait for them to come out of their shell, it’s hard to get a jump start on them with training. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that’s because of what the owner has or hasn’t done with that dog leading up to training.
Split Reed: What can someone expect when they bring their puppy/young dog in for training with Next Generation?
Andrew: First off, I don’t like forcing anyone into one thing or the other. I’m not going to force you into choosing us over somebody else. I want the owner to have a really good gut feeling about everything that they do every step of the way. Even going back to looking for a puppy, once they’ve decided on a breed–whether that’s a Labrador, Golden, Chesapeake, etc.–if that leads to us, that’s great. We do all of the health testing requirements, we compete with our dogs, our dogs are titled, and we make dogs that we would want to keep, compete with, and show in confirmation shows–for our Chesapeake. But I don’t want to sound like a used car salesman and get you to buy a dog from me.
I want you to be comfortable and confident about your puppy, your training, and the process as a whole. I want you to have nothing but a good gut feeling right from the get-go. If you want to talk to us about any of that, we’d love to, and we’d be happy to have anyone out to see our facility to meet our dogs and watch us train. We have a very open-door policy at our kennel. We’re out there training every day anyway, so if you want to call and make an appointment to meet our dogs, meet some of our past puppies from prior litters, or watch us train, all of us are here and happy to help. I just want everyone to have a good feeling about their puppy all the way through training and leading into the dog that they hope to have for the next 10-12 years.
Split Reed: What is your favorite breed of retriever?
Andrew: I’m a Labrador Retriever guy, color I’m not very specific on. They are just such mild-mannered, easy to get along with, and pliable dogs. Let’s say we have a litter of lab puppies; one of those puppies could go to a die-hard, everyday type of season duck hunter. Someone who travels to Canada in the early season, hunts all year in the States, and turns around and hunts snow geese all spring. And that dog is going to work very well for that guy. From the litter of puppies, one of them could go to the very occasional hunter. The guy who hunts the opener and weekends here and there but also wants a great family dog that does well in the house. One that’s good with kids, can go on family walks, etc. The Labrador just fits both of those molds equally as well. Additionally, regarding competitive-level dogs in high-end retriever sports, the Labrador is definitely the way to go and is generally the most competitive dog out there.
Final words from Andrew:
I want to meet people. I’d like for you to come see our facility and watch us train, and if you don’t get a good feeling about who we are and what we do, that’s totally fine. I just urge people to go out there and visit their potential breeder or trainer and not just watch them work their best dog. You really want to be a part of a training day where he/she is going to work dogs from the youngest level all the way up to what they consider their advanced dogs. After a full day of that, you’ll be able to have a good opinion on what you think of them.
Interview With Co-Owner Adam Levy
Split Reed: Who are you and what do you do?
Adam: My name is Adam Levy, and I am the Co-Owner of Next Generation Retrievers & Fireside Pet Lodge. We run a full-service retriever training facility that works on gun dogs, field trial dogs, and hunt test dogs. We breed Chesapeake Bay Retrievers & Labrador Retrievers, and we can do anything underneath the sun that has to do with a retriever. We also upland train lushing and pointing breeds as well to get them ready for hunting season.
Split Reed: How did you get started in retriever training?
Adam: I grew up in New York and I enjoyed sea duck hunting as a teenager up through the time I was a young adult. The guy I hunted with had dogs, and we hunted with them all the time. That started my fascination with the relationship between dogs and hunting. We got back from the boat ramp one day after a pretty harsh sea duck hunt. I believe I was 17 at the time, and some guy got off his boat with his Chesapeake who had ice just caked all over its face and body, and that dog was just dying to keep hunting. That’s when I decided I needed to get myself a Chesapeake.
Split Reed: How did you and Andrew meet? How did that evolve into Next Generation Retrievers?
Adam: Andrew is from Minnesota, born and raised. He grew up working for a kennel at a game farm and he helped train dogs. He wanted to get deeper into it so he found an apprenticeship down in Texas working for a professional retriever trainer. I lived in New York, I was big into hunting, but I also ran martial arts schools and we were actually moving to Texas to open up a martial arts school. I had to drop off my Chesapeakes somewhere for training, which ended up being the same place where Andrew worked. So we met each other there, we didn’t know too many other people down there, we started hunting together and it just took off from there.
Split Reed: What is Next Generation’s Mission?
Adam: Our mission is to give somebody the best and healthiest dog possible. Making sure their dog is well taken care of, well trained, and treated as they would be if they were one of our own dogs. We want someone to drop their dog off here for training, whether it be for 2 months or 5 months, and feel comfortable that their dog is being taken care of. Our mission is to make sure that you do not have to worry about the health, safety, or well-being of your dog while they’re here with us.
Split Reed: What are some of the different areas of focus that Next Generation Retrievers has when it comes to breeding, training and competitions?
Adam: We mostly breed Chesapeake Bay Retrievers here, but we do a few lab litters every couple of years. We breed specifically for dogs that we know have the trainability that we’re looking for. They are fun to work with, good on/off switches, and are put together properly to withstand hunting for long periods of time over the course of their life. We like to start off the process basically “from the box.” Working with a client that picks up a puppy from us, bringing them through that stage of how to raise a puppy properly, and then getting to see that dog get dropped back off here at 5-6 months of age to start their journey training.
We have programs anywhere from just an introduction to ‘bird and gun’ that covers obedience and shooting birds over that dog to an upland program for your pointer, flusher, or even retriever. We also have programs for a gun dog that put them through conditioned retrieves, steadiness, and working in decoys all the way up to a finished retriever. That’s where I would say it kind of bounces off the competitive side of things. You start finding dogs that came in here to be a gun dog, but they’re a really phenomenal example of what you’re looking for, and during the off-season, they can do something that’s fun, keeps them in shape. At competitions, they get to see a different place and scenario every day, like how it would be while you’re hunting. Say you go out on a hunt, there’s excitement, the dog’s endorphins are going crazy, you’re setting up decoys, they’re hearing birds and getting excited about it. It’s the same thing as a hunt test or field trial. They’re going to a new place, there’s dogs barking, there’s people out there, there’s gunshots. It’s something they’ve never seen before. You’re building upon that for hunting season and the off-season.
Split Reed: How has Next Generation evolved over the years?
Adam: When we moved from Texas to Minnesota, we moved into his uncle’s cabin with dog crates set up inside. We lived paycheck to paycheck and shot pheasants and deer to have meat. We then moved to renting out a farm and working with 10 or 12 dogs, and we were excited to have 10 or 12 dogs in for training. Then, we bought this property about 9-10 years ago and worked with about 20 dogs at a time, still just Andrew and me.
Today, we built the facility we have, with 12 people on staff running hunt tests and field trials. It’s definitely eye-opening to look back at where we started. We joke about it now, but Andrew and I would go out and shoot roosters in the evening because, hey, that’s what we were going to have for dinner that night. That was 12 years ago, and now we have a 10,000 sq. ft. facility on over 100 acres. It’s definitely eye-opening for us.
Split Reed: What drives you in your career as a breeder & retriever trainer?
Adam: The personal experience and the relationships you get to build with clients. I have a group of people that I consider family that I would’ve never met or known if it wasn’t because of the dogs. Watching our clients pick up a puppy and then come in for training and watch them evolve into this badass hunting dog is such an incredible experience. As a breeder, I have goals that have never been achieved before by anybody, and I can’t even think about stopping until I hit those goals. I think once I hit those goals, I will want to keep hitting those goals over and over again. To me there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, just obstacle after obstacle and goal after goal.
Split Reed: How was working with dogs your relationship with hunting?
Adam: Hunting is not about the actual hunt anymore for me. It’s more about the dog work. I enjoy shooting birds, and I love duck hunting and the adventures it takes you on, but if I’m not hunting with a dog that I know or a dog that we trained, it just doesn’t feel right. If I don’t get to get behind my camera and video or photograph dogs that have gone through our process, it’s not the same. It’s definitely a different feeling to watch a dog that started here. So, it’s changed the way I look at hunting. I used to think watching the dogs was fun, but I always had my hands on my gun, ready for birds to come in. Now, first light comes, and my gun goes away for a bit because I like working the dogs and taking photos.
Split Reed: What is your favorite breed of retriever?
Adam: Chesapeakes have a human-like mentality. Each dog has its own individual personality traits, like in all breeds, but there’s something about a Chesapeake: when they look at you, you don’t feel like you’re working with a dog. You feel like you’re working with a person. They feel your mood a lot differently. They don’t work great off of too much repetition. It’s like they’re saying, “Hey, I might be doing something wrong here why do we keep doing this over and over?”
There’s a human quality to Chesapeakes. They tend to be dogs that are tough on the exterior; you get to see the weather and ice on their coat during a hard hunt, but they tend to be softer internally. You don’t need a ton of pressure with a Chesapeake. It’s more about the teaching process. The old saying that “you need a 2×4 to train a Chesapeake” is so far from true. I just like rough and tough dogs; I think they’re fun to hunt over and fun to work with. I tend to hunt more during the late season because we’re training so much during that September-October time frame. So I like that dog that can withstand that late-season hunting.
Split Reed: How can someone connect with Next Generation Retrievers?
Adam: We’re on all forms of social media, I tell all of my clients my cell phone is always on if you have questions or concerns. You can call, text, send an email or even a DM on social media. We’d love to hear from you.
Thank you to the Next Generation Retrievers team for taking the time to chat with us. If you’d like to learn more about Next Generation Retrievers you can visit their website HERE. Also, make sure to check out our Behind the Brand video with the Next Gen team and follow them on social media to follow along with the latest from one of the Midwest’s premier retriever and gun dog training outfits.