Vallejo gun dog owners: the Rio Vista drive

Vallejo sits at the mouth of the Napa River on San Pablo Bay, west of Suisun Marsh, and it is in Solano County, the same county as the preserve. About 124,000 people live here and the median age is 40.6 (Census Bureau).

Same county, short road

The road distance is about 38 miles and the drive is about 53 minutes with no traffic. That is among the shorter trips on the site for a city of this size, so a Vallejo owner can plan a drop-off and a lesson without a long trek.

Hastings Island is in Rio Vista, and Denverton, where Richard sometimes trains retrievers, is near Suisun City. Both sit in Solano County, as Vallejo does.

Your own backyard for hunting

Suisun Marsh begins just east of the city. It is roughly 116,000 acres, the largest contiguous brackish wetland in California, and it is managed mostly by CDFW and private duck clubs. Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, about 12,900 acres with about 7,900 open to hunting, is in the same stretch.

If you hunt either, you know the kind of work a duck dog does there: long marks over open water, and retrieves from thick cover. Our Delta hunting page covers how that ground shapes training.

What to ask Richard on the first call

A first call can be short. Richard can tell quickly what fits.

• What your dog's age and breed mean for where to begin.
• Whether to start with Puppy Camp, the Basic Waterfowl Program or, for a pointer, the Formal Gun Dog Training.
• How many weeks he expects your dog to need; program lengths and weekly rates are published.
• Drop-off and pick-up plans for your schedule.
• When a handler lesson makes sense.

Local clubs

Sagehen's Retriever Club lists Denverton in Suisun City as a hunt test site on the 2026 California calendar, and the California Retriever Training Association owns grounds there, according to the listings. Both are a short drive from Vallejo. For events, use AKC Event Search for the current schedule.

Using the hour in the car

Drivers from Vallejo can use the short trip to practice. Bring the dog's training leads, water and a towel, and plan a stop at Grizzly Island or the marsh edge to let the dog stretch. Keep it calm and quiet; the point of the visit is to see where your dog is working, not to add excitement before a lesson.

Richard can tell you what, if anything, to practice at home between visits.