Southwestern PA Hunting Retriever Club

Who is The Southwestern PA Hunting Retriever Club?

SWPAHRC is a both a NAHRA Club (North American Hunting Retriever Association) and a HRC Club (Hunting Retriever Club). We host monthly retriever training days for our members in the western Pennsylvania area. Typical grounds locations are Ford City, Jeannette, Homer City, Indiana, and Apollo, but we are always looking to find more grounds to train on to get our dogs more experience. Our members range from hunters looking to improve their partnerships with their dogs, to handlers who enjoy entering their dogs in hunt tests and field trials. We welcome new members and dogs of every level of training as our training days are all inclusive and setups are tailored to help every handler/dog pair learn and grow. Training days typically will include retrieving or upland work and dogs will have the opportunity to work with real birds. We also may work on specific drills as a group or schedule specific drill training days.

Our club also hosts a HRC Test once a year and a club fundraiser sporting clay shoot. Check out our events section for this year’s tentative schedule.

SWPAHRC was established in 1989 as a nonprofit organization with the following objectives:

To encourage and promote the responsible breeding, care and training of purebred retrievers and to do all possible to bring their natural qualities to perfection, especially their field, working and hunting instincts, abilities and performance.
To do all in its power to protect and advance the interest of hunting and retriever breeds by encouraging sportsmanlike conduct at field trails, hunt tests, training opportunities, and other activities; and, to further the application of high ethical standards, good habits, and good manners in hunting and land use.
To actively support conservation efforts and management of game birds and wildlife species at the federal, state, local, and private levels and, to actively support strategies and programs designed to improve hunting conditions and opportunities in the United States, and especially in Pennsylvania.
To conduct licensed hunting retriever tests according to the general procedures and regulations, field procedures and judging guidelines of NAHRA, AKC, HRC and/or other recognized hunting retriever organizations.
To conduct classes for the training of dogs and educating of handlers, to encourage the training of judges and to cooperate with other groups with similar purposes.