About S&S Outdoors

S & S Outdoors is on Amity Hill Road in Cleveland, at the far eastern edge of this metro's reach, and is a gun dog operation rather than a pet training business. Its own summary of what it does: "Retriever and gun dog training, upland training, HRC Event training, obedience, boarding, puppy socialization, Labrador Retriever breeding."

What you can book here

The published service list is seven items: retriever and gun dog training, upland training, HRC event training, obedience training, dog boarding, puppy socialization and Labrador Retriever breeding. Obedience and puppy socialization are the two entries that apply to an ordinary pet dog; the rest are hunting and hunt-test work. HRC event training in particular is competition preparation – the Hunting Retriever Club runs the tests these dogs are being readied for.

Who runs it

The business is run by sisters Sloan and Samantha Williams, who are named on the About page and described there as award-winning. The page tells the story properly: a hunting father, a dog-loving mother, a household that has held anywhere from one to twenty dogs, and a switch from Golden Retrievers to Labradors that led the family to a professional retriever trainer. Both sisters learned to train and handle at that kennel, working with clients' dogs daily before taking it up themselves.

What to expect

A gun dog trainer is not a pet trainer with a different vocabulary – the work is built around drive, delivery and steadiness in the field. If you have a retriever you actually intend to hunt, this is the discipline you want. If you have a family Labrador with no field ambitions, the obedience and puppy socialization entries are the relevant ones and worth asking about specifically.