San Diego to Rio Vista: board-and-train from the far south

San Diego has about 1.39 million residents and a median age of 36.2 (Census Bureau), and the county has its own active retriever community. The drive north is one of the longest in this set, so it helps to understand what you are signing up for.

The numbers

Drive times are OpenStreetMap routing with no traffic, measured to Rio Vista. Add time for Los Angeles traffic and rest stops.

Why you may still choose Richard

Mesa Grande Retriever Club holds AKC hunt tests at Raney Ranch in Santa Ysabel, on the 2026 California calendar. Owners choose a trainer for many reasons: the breed, the style, the grounds, the mentor. Richard's work came from Billy Sargenti's field trial retrievers and the Rex Carr method, and, since 2013, Steve Klassen's upland program at Blue Ridge Kennels.

He describes the work as bird dogs for the hunt, and he trains waterfowl and upland dogs from a base that sits between Sacramento and the Bay Area.

Clubs around San Diego

The Mesa Grande Retriever Club, established in 2022 around Santa Ysabel, hosts several AKC hunt tests a year, the San Diego Retriever Field Trial Club runs field trials near Niland, and the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of San Diego lists events at Camp H in California City (2026 California calendar). If your dog is a retriever, a test is a good measure of progress, and our California calendar page links to AKC Event Search.

Dates change; always confirm with the club.

Planning a trip this long

Some owners may prefer to plan each trip around a weekend. Ask Richard what timing suits his schedule and the dog's.

1. Call Richard and talk through your dog, your goals and the schedule.
2. Ask about drop-off and pick-up from San Diego before you book any travel.
3. Plan the drop-off as a travel trip and the pick-up as a second one, with a lesson on the same visit.
4. Use the handler lesson to learn the dog's work before you drive home.

Hours and arrival

Google lists Richard's hours as 8 AM to 2 PM Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, closed Tuesday. Call first, and plan drop-off for Wednesday to Saturday if you can, since those are his preferred days. After a nine-hour drive you will want a confirmed arrival time, so call ahead.