We are a small kennel, located just outside the university town of Athens, Georgia.  We strive to breed correct Flat Coated Retrievers in type, temperament, structure, working ability and overall character. Our dogs all live in the house, so we demand correct temperaments from all of our dogs, and all are worked in the field and titled there as we have the opportunity.  We also seek complete health clearances (hips, CERF, elbows and patellas) before breeding any of our dogs. At a minimum, we compete in AKC all breed and specialty dog shows and AKC hunting tests.  We also strongly believe that Flat Coated Retrievers are first and foremost companion gundogs, so we also hunt over our dogs whenever possible. Some of the dogs you will see on these pages do not actually live with us, as we have a limit on how many dogs we can happily keep, but all are within our circle of friends and are available to us at any time.                                      

 

Many Bertschire flat-coated retrievers are also successful at obedience and agility competitions. We are proud to say that our dogs have earned major awards at national specialties, including Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex, Select Dog, Reserve Winners Dog, Winners Dog, Winners Bitch, Best In Puppy & Veteran's Sweepstakes and Best of Opposite in Puppy and Veteran Sweepstakes and numerous Awards of Merit. Bertschire flat-coated retrievers have also qualified for the FCRSA Hall of Fame.  We are members of the Flat Coated Retriever Society of America, and actively serve on committees, and Andrea Holsinger  judged the Puppy and Veteran sweepstakes at the 2002 national specialty.  Please email with any questions or suggestions!  We can also be reached by phone at 706-742-5743 (this is our business phone number, leave a message, we will call you back!), but email is preferred!  If you are new to Flat Coated Retrievers, please read our page on the downside of this breed first!

 

Please browse our site, and we hope you enjoy virtually meeting some of our best friends!  Some of our pages are still under construction, but you should find something of interest.  We also occasionally have adult dogs available through either FCRSA Rescue, or dogs we have bred that we are placing.