Escondido and Rio Vista: nearly nine hours for a trained bird dog

Escondido has about 150,000 residents and a median age of 36.9 (Census Bureau). It lies in northern San Diego County, and the retriever field trials on the 2026 calendar for this part of the state are run on desert land near the Salton Sea.

Nearly nine hours

The road runs about 471 miles, or about 8.8 hours with no traffic by OpenStreetMap routing. That puts Escondido in the overnight tier. The trip needs a full day on the road each way, and a stop on the way is reasonable.

Since the dog stays with Richard, the drive repeats only for pick-up. Call him about drop-off and pick-up from Southern California, and let him set the schedule.

Imperial County's retriever ground

The San Diego Retriever Field Trial Club lists a retriever field trial on lands near Niland in Imperial County on the 2026 calendar (read October 27, 2026), where several Southern California retriever clubs run trials. Confirm dates with each club.

Imperial Wildlife Area's Wister Unit, about 7,900 acres five miles northwest of Niland, needs a Type A pass, with pheasant closed until further notice (CDFW). Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge holds over 100,000 birds and sits 227 feet below sea level (USFWS).

What you can do before the call

• Watch a field trial or hunt test and note what the dogs do.
• Write down what the dog can do now: sit, come, fetch, swim.
• Review the first hunt test guide if tests interest you.
• Keep a short list of questions about drop-off, pick-up and a handler lesson.

Google lists Richard's hours as 8 AM to 2 PM Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, closed Tuesday, so call within them and plan any visit with him.

Seasons to keep in mind

CDFW's 2026-27 waterfowl page lists the Southern California Zone ducks as October 24 to January 31. Confirm the zone for San Diego County on the CDFW zone map. The 2026-27 seasons page has the full table.

For the overview of the region, see Southern California and board-and-train.

A note on the return trip

The drive home with a trained dog is the start of the working partnership. Richard trains handlers, so a handler lesson before you leave helps you use what the dog has learned. Ask whether the lesson can be on pick-up day, so the long drive back is not wasted.