Public Relations

Wayne Howell

My love of the outdoors was fostered by my father in my early years when spring would finds us fishing the Ramapo River for trout or pan fishing on Kemah Lake.  We didn’t always catch our limit and often we would have to tell Mom we got skunked again. He taught me early in life it was the fishing that was important and not the catching and my mom taught me that fish are not to be cleaned in the kitchen sink.
Fast forward to my early 20's, I had the opportunity of getting my first bird dog—a Springer—and for the next 20+ years I spent my time pheasant hunting, breeding, and training with them.

Then, one winter Sunday in 2004 while watching a show on OLN, my wife Anne said, "I want to do that!" It seems we were watching a retriever hunt test. We didn't have experience with labs so Anne started searching the internet and informed me we were going to Virginia to pick a puppy.  I said, "Can't we find a dog in NJ?" That seemed to have gone unnoticed because soon after, we were on our way to Deep Run Farm and brought home an Elvis puppy.

Soon after we were at Colliers Mills WMA and met the good folks of Navesink River Retriever club and quickly became amazed at what these dogs could do. Then, we made a second trip to Virginia to pick up a puppy for me.

Since my first spring test I have been hooked on hunt tests and the NAHRA program.  Currently a member of both the Northern Piedmont Retriever Club and Navesink River HRC, I have held the office of President and Board Member at Navesink and received my judge's license in 2009.

We have enjoyed creating memories of caravanning to neighboring clubs to spend the weekend testing dogs and making new friends.  When you are a NAHRA member you acquire a huge extended family who are always willing to help and share their expertise.  I recently took a friend pheasant hunting who had only hunted with pointers and thoroughly enjoyed hunting behind a lab, he never knew labs could be so versatile and I told him it was due to our training for NAHRA tests which develops and tests all the capability of the retriever.
I am proud to be a NAHRA member and thank you for giving me the opportunity to give back to an organization which has given so much to me.