About Royal Gun Dogs

The name on the logo says it plainly: train, hunt, compete. Royal Gun Dogs exists to turn a dog with drive into a partner you can trust in a duck blind, an upland field or on the line at an AKC retriever hunt test.

One trainer, from first call to finished dog

Royal Gun Dogs is Richard Gebhart. You call Richard, he talks through your dog's age, breed and goals, and he sets the plan himself. Booking is by phone at (530) 341-4496.

Richard's experience runs from top-level field trial and hunt test dogs to everyday hunting dogs and family companions, so the same approach fits a first Labrador and a dog headed for Master tests.

Owners bring dogs to Richard from all over California for board-and-train. The dogs train in the Delta and go home to hunt wherever their owners do, from Sacramento Valley rice to upland country across the state. The work is bird dogs for the hunt: dogs that do the job in the field, waterfowl and upland alike.

On Google, Facebook and Instagram the business is listed as Royal Gundogs.

Where the training happens

Richard trains at Hastings Island Hunting Preserve, on Hastings Island Road outside Rio Vista in Solano County, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Retrievers are also sometimes trained at Denverton, near Suisun City.

The preserve is a licensed hunting club with its own members and rules; it is not a training school. Royal Gun Dogs is Richard's own business, and training there follows the preserve's seasons.

How Richard trains

His philosophy, in his own words: "Balance, encouraging the hunting drive and desire in the dog, coupled with the necessary 'team player' attitude to develop an exceptional hunting partner or competitive team."

His retriever foundation comes from Billy Sargenti, under whom Richard worked with field trial retrievers and learned the Rex Carr method for Retriever Basics. In 2013 he expanded into pointers and other upland breeds under Steve Klassen at Blue Ridge Kennels.

• Board-and-train for dogs from all over California
• Retrievers for waterfowl and upland hunting
• Pointers and other upland breeds
• Hunt test work inside the waterfowl programs and lessons, with help on local weekend test days
• Handler lessons, one-on-one or in a group

What owners say

Royal Gun Dogs holds a 4.9 rating from 12 reviews on Google (October 27, 2026). Reviewers mention progress updates and pictures while their dog is in training, a Junior hunt test pass, and dogs that came home with good house manners as well as field skills.