Merced to Rio Vista: training a bird dog from the heart of waterfowl country

Merced is a city of about 92,000 with a median age of 30.0 (Census Bureau), in a county whose wetlands hunters rank among the state's best for ducks and geese. A young city with that much marsh around it is a natural place to want a dog that can retrieve in real water.

Where Merced sits on the map

From Merced, the road to Rio Vista runs about 103 miles. OpenStreetMap routing, with no traffic, puts it at about 2.1 hours, so this page files Merced under the long-drive tier. Think of a long day each way, and give yourself a cushion for traffic.

Because the dog stays at Hastings Island for the work, the number of times you make that drive stays small. The board-and-train page explains the arrangement, and the San Joaquin Valley region page shows how Merced compares with the other valley cities.

What the hunter survey says about Merced County

CDFW's 2024 Waterfowl Hunter Survey named Merced County second among all counties, at 9.20 percent of respondents (Technical Report, June 2025). The survey records where hunters go, not where they live, so it says nothing about who trains with Richard. It does show that the county's marsh draws a crowd every season.

Los Banos Wildlife Area covers about 6,200 acres and offers waterfowl and pheasant on limited days, and San Luis National Wildlife Refuge adds over 26,800 acres (CDFW and USFWS). Both are in Merced County. A retriever that has learned steadiness and delivery in a controlled setting is easier to manage on days like those.

A plan for a dog that lives in Merced

Handler lessons can be one-on-one or in a group. They are how a trained dog becomes your dog.

1. Phone Richard and tell him the breed, the age and whether you hunt ducks, pheasant or both.
2. Settle the program and timing with him. Lengths and weekly rates are on the board-and-train page.
3. Ask about drop-off and pick-up from the San Joaquin Valley, then drive the dog to Rio Vista.
4. Come back for a handler lesson, so the commands the dog learned work for you too.

Clubs on the valley's west side

The Vizsla Club of Northern California lists a pointing-breed event at O'Neill Forebay Wildlife Area in Santa Nella, in Merced County, on the 2026 calendar. For retrievers, the California hunt test calendar explains how to check AKC Event Search for current tests and links to the clubs hosting them.

If you own a pointing breed, start with the Vizsla page; for a Lab, see Labrador Retriever.