Training classes
Eight Sunday sessions each spring, starting indoors while there is still snow on the ground and finishing with a picnic test out at Chena Lakes.
Class details →About us
About the club
The oldest established retriever club in Alaska, active in the Interior since the early 1950s.
Originally known as the Alaska Field Trial Association, the club was formed under its current name in 1960.
Through the years, and despite changes in members and leadership, the Fairbanks Retriever Club remains dedicated to all the retriever breeds and to helping their owners improve their knowledge and skills in training, testing, trialing and hunting their dogs.
Over the course of a year we hold training classes, outdoor field sessions, a picnic test and trial, and AKC hunt tests and field trials. We welcome all retriever owners, from the beginner puppy owner all the way to the seasoned trainer.
Our history
The club through the years
Retrievers have been worked in the Interior since before Alaska was a state.
1950sWhere it starts
The Alaska Field Trial Association
The club has been active in the Interior since the early 1950s, first under the name Alaska Field Trial Association. Training happened on open ground around Fairbanks, in the short window between break-up and the first frost.
In 1960 it was reorganized under the name it still carries: the Fairbanks Retriever Club.
1970sSpring training
Working the thaw
Interior training has always been shaped by the calendar. Classes start while there is still snow on the ground and move outdoors as break-up allows — the same rhythm the club’s spring classes follow today.
1970sOn the line
Handlers of the Interior
The club has always been made up of owner-handlers — people who train their own dogs rather than send them to a professional.
1993Paxson / Tangle Lakes
Seven Chesapeakes at one trial
In August 1993 the club ran a double-header with the Alaska Women’s Retriever Club at Paxson and Tangle Lakes. Seven Chesapeake Bay Retrievers were on the grounds and six of them competed — almost certainly a record for the breed at an Alaska field trial.
“A group photo of all seven Chesapeakes that were on the grounds at the Fairbanks Retriever Club – Alaska Women’s Retriever Club Double-Header AKC Licensed Field Trials in the Paxson/Tangle Lakes area on August 5–8, 1993. Six of the seven dogs competed, and seven Chesapeakes at a field trial is probably a record for us in Alaska!”
Handlers and dogs, left to right:
- Paula Elmes — Slewfoot Sukey
- Gene Agee — Jay’s Youkon Silvertip
- Jim Mauney — Honeybear’s Yukon Jay, MH, and Honeybear’s Yukon Simba
- Karen Wilson — Yukon Sloughs Clipper
- Bill Pfisterer — Yukon Sloughs Choppy Water and Yukon Sloughs Drifter, MH
FRC newsletter · 1993
2000sTests and trials
Licensed events at Chena Lakes
By the 2000s the club was running licensed AKC hunt tests and field trials on the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project grounds, alongside spring classes and the picnic test that closes them out.
That is still the shape of the club’s year.
What we do
Through the year
AKC hunt tests
Two licensed tests every summer on the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project grounds, judged against a standard rather than against each other.
About hunt tests →AKC field trials
Two trials a year on back-to-back weekends, where dogs compete for placements and points toward their championships.
About field trials →How the club runs
Members, officers and the club year
The club year runs from October 1 to September 30. Officers and board members are elected each October at the annual membership meeting, which doubles as a potluck and the place where the coming season’s calendar gets set.
There are three classes of membership — single, family and honorary. The club is not run for profit: dues and donations go back into training classes, field sessions, the picnic trial, and the licensed AKC events the club puts on each summer.