Apex Retrievers

Apex Retrievers Apex Retrievers is a fully licensed and insured retriever training facility in central Nebraska.

Its a wee bit toasty in Kansas today for Sunflower HRC. Thankful for a club and judges that know how to run a quality as...
08/29/2026

Its a wee bit toasty in Kansas today for Sunflower HRC. Thankful for a club and judges that know how to run a quality as well as efficient test! Also grateful for our Ainley trailer and the A/C units on it. We have 24 dogs on board and those units are working hard to keep them all nice and cool! 🥵

This weekend, the team ran Elkhorn Valley HRC. In the Pierce/Norfolk Nebraska area. We had a great time and ran a ton of...
08/24/2026

This weekend, the team ran Elkhorn Valley HRC. In the Pierce/Norfolk Nebraska area. We had a great time and ran a ton of dogs! One was extremely special as Al earned his 1000th HRC point putting him in the HRC Hall of Fame!!! I cant thank Travis and Jolene enough for their commitment to Al and I!

Dane took 12 finished dogs and Nate took 12 first time seasoned dogs making our total for the weekend 48 dogs ran!!

Thank you to the judges Deb Eckhardt, Jessica Dowler, Heidi Goeman, Doug Powell, Jeremy Lowry, Lyne Rabern and Cj Bolen! Also thank you to the club members of Elkhorn Valley for everything!

Lots of passes this weekend so here we go!!

Finished passes were:

9xGRHRCH AL HOF MNR
***NEW HALL OF FAME***
4xGRHRCH Blue MNH
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

9xGRHRCH Cash MNH4
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Flash MH
HRCH Piper MH
Owned by Libby Milroy

HRCH Branch MH
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Eric Scott

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Brix MH
Owned by Jason and Leanne Larson

HR Twist MH
Owned by Theresa Bilava

HRCH Riley
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Clint Didier

HRCH Flounder MH
HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

Picking up Seasoned passes were:

Scout
Owned by Darin Ashcraft

Hank
Owned by Ted and Kim Smith

Scoop
Owned by Linda Alexander

Scarlett
Owned by Tim and Milinda Laeger

Bo
Owned by Larry Muck

Murphy
Owned by Seth McCormick

Cruze
Owned by Aric and Holly Hanson

Ice
Owned by Sam Porter

Reaper
Owned by Derrick Tucker

Louisee
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

Max
Owned by Kent Wright

Ranger
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

This weekend we finish up our regular tests for the year at Sunflower HRC! Thank you everyone!!

We love this trailer, until it’s time to clean the heifer! It takes a team effort! Thats a whole lotta aluminum and stai...
08/20/2026

We love this trailer, until it’s time to clean the heifer! It takes a team effort! Thats a whole lotta aluminum and stainless. But she sure does shine up nice!

Another huge week for the Apex team! Dane took 9 dogs West to Bayard NE for the Co Women’s Double Master. The dogs all r...
07/21/2026

Another huge week for the Apex team!

Dane took 9 dogs West to Bayard NE for the Co Women’s Double Master. The dogs all ran great and we were able to qualify 6 more dogs for the Master National! Not to be outdone, the 3 non qualifiers(all three running their first Master tests) picked up their first 2 Master passes!

The three rookies were:

HRCH Jack
Owned by Kent Wright

HRCH Zyn
Owned by Sami Strutz

HRCH Arrow
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

The 6 Master National Qualifier’s were:

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Bizzy MH
Owned by Joe Shadden

HRCH Faith MH
Owned by Darin Dunn

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet Thompson

HRCH Teeter MH
&
HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

Nate on the other hand took 12 dogs to South Dakota to run HRC. Nate knew the pressure was on as he was running 6 brand new rookies in started and he had 2 dogs running for their final points to be officially GRHRCH. It was a warm weekend but the team ran strong. Thank you Dakota HRC and Volunteers!

Picking up started passes were..

Scout
Owned by Darin Ashcraft

Scoop
Owned by Linda Alexander

Frankie
Owned by Louis and Steph Olberding

Beau
&
Hank
Owned by Ted and Kim Smith

Scarlett
Owned by Tim and Milinda Laeger

Picking up Finished passes were:

GRHRCH Rye MH
***officially GRHRCH***
Owned by Matt and Steph Stricklin

GRHRCH Fancy MH
***officially GRHRCH***
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Twist MH
Owned by Theresa Bilava

HRCH Gunny
Owned by Libby Milroy

HR Branch MH
Owned by Eric Scott

HRCH May MH
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Brett Hovis

Thank you to all our supporters, followers, clients, family and friends! We will have a few weeks at home before we hit it hard in late August!!

This weekend was a BIG one for the team!! The team split not only venues but states as well! Nate took a group of finish...
07/12/2026

This weekend was a BIG one for the team!! The team split not only venues but states as well!

Nate took a group of finished dogs up to the balmy North to run with our friends at Prairie Lakes HRC. Cant say enough good things about this club. They are one of the best!! Thank you to Kim, Jo and team for all you do!! Thank you to the judges and volunteers as well!!

Picking up Finished Passes:

GRHRCH Fancy MH
4xGRHRCH Blue MNH
both owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Rye MH
Owned by Matt and Steph Stricklin

HRCH Tex
Owned by Ethan Kerk

HR May MH
Owned by Brett Hovis

HRCH Gunny
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Libby Milroy

HRCH Hook
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Mike Martin

HR Twist MH
Owned by Theresa Bilava

HR Riley
Owned by Clint Didier

HRCH Chief
Owned by Eric Talley

HRCH Brix MH
Owned by Jason and LeAnne Larson

Dane and Ashlyn stayed home to run Master in North Platte Nebraska at West NE Retriever Club. Thank you West NE members and judges Larry Kimble and Jason Baker!

Picking up passes were:

9xGRHRCH AL MNR
***Qualified for Master National***
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Bean MH
***Qualified for Master National***
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Koa MH
Owned by Matt and Colby Larson

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

HRCH Koda
Owned and handled by Ashlyn Christner

HRCH Rudy MH
***NEW MASTER HUNTER***
***Qualified for Master National***
Owned by Jack Lindstrom

HRCH Flounder MH
***Qualified for Master National***
HRCH Cinch MH
HRCH Teeter MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

•Also need to give a shout out to Brock Thorburg and Tanner Benash for titling their Apex dogs Ace and Drake in Senior! We did the basics on these two boys but Brock and Tanner took them and are passing these two in both AKC and UKC tests!!! Congrats fellas!!

Next week Dane will be running a double Master in Western NE working to get a few more dogs passes to qualify for Master National as well as running some brand new faces in Master.

Nate will be taking a trip next weekend to South Dakota to run at Dakota HRC!!

Thank you everyone!!

📸 Pictures were taken Saturday and Sunday morning’s just North of the Kennel before we hit the road for North Platte.

Talk about a size difference!Both are newly HRCH titled last month in June. Both come from nice field bloodlines, and bo...
07/09/2026

Talk about a size difference!

Both are newly HRCH titled last month in June. Both come from nice field bloodlines, and both hunt in the fall and test in the off season and both these boys are preparing to run their first Master tests next week. To be honest thats where the similarities end outside of both being black lab males. 😂

HRCH Zyn(the Corvette) on the left and HRCH Jack(the 3+3 squarebody big block) on the right.

Test season update!The team has been grinding hard the past few weeks! We need to make some announcements for the past f...
06/30/2026

Test season update!

The team has been grinding hard the past few weeks! We need to make some announcements for the past few hunt tests!

First off Nate made the trip to Cheyenne WY to run HRC with a group of dogs. Want to thank the judges and Hidden Pines club members and volunteers for their hard work on this test!!

Picking up Finished passes for the team were:
9xGRHRCH AL MNR owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Chief
Owned by Eric and Elizabeth Talley

HRCH Jack
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Kent Wright

HR Tex
Owned by Ethan Kerk

HR Zyn
Owned by Sami Strutz

HR Arrow
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Hook
Owned by Mike Martin

Picking up Seasoned passes were:
SHR Gypsy
Owned by Joe and Whitney Shadden

SHR Sammy
Owned by Mike Jansen

SHR Dani
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

Our next event was the CO Womens mid week Master held at Flatlander Kennels. Thanks to Chris, Eileen and staff for hosting the event! Thanks you to tall Larry and Short Larry for the test!!

Picking up passes were:
GRHRCH Bean MH
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

HRCH Rudy
Owned by Jack Lindstrom

HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

HRCH Flounder MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

The last test we ran in June was Salt Valley HRC held outside of Unadilla NE. This test is one of my favorites that we run and even though I wasn’t able to go, I am glad Nate had a successful fun weekend with one of my favorite clubs! Thank you to all of the members, judges, and volunteers for all of their hard work in putting on one of the best tests in the region!

Picking up Finished passes were:
Twist MH
Owner by Theresa Bilava

HRCH Chief
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Eric and Elizabeth Talley

HRCH Zyn
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Sami Strutz

HR Gunny
Owned by Libby Milroy

HR May MH
Owned by Brett Hovis

HRCH Arrow
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Fancy MH
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

GRHRCH Rye MH
Owned by Matt and Steph Stricklin

HRCH Tex
***NEW HRCH***
Owned by Ethan Kerk

Picking up Seasoned passes were:
HR Gypsy
***NEW HR***
Owned by Joe and Whitney Shadden

HR Sammy
***NEW HR***
Owned by Mike Jansen

HR Dani
***NEW HR***
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

These past two tests Nate and our young dogs have titled 5 new HRCH’s and 3 new HR’s! Great work!!

We will take this weekend off to celebrate Americas 250th birthday and will be back on the road the following weekend with Nate running HRC in Morris, Minnesota and Dane running AKC in North Platte, Nebraska.

Thank you everyone for the love and support!!

What a big, successful and WET weekend!Dane took a group of dogs to Central Nebraska Retriever Club to run Master. It ra...
06/01/2026

What a big, successful and WET weekend!

Dane took a group of dogs to Central Nebraska Retriever Club to run Master. It rained a good bit Friday but we got things done!

Picking up passes were:

GRHRCH Ginger MH
Owned by Josh and Sara Bathke
*Qualified for Master National*

HRCH Brix MH
Owned by Jason and LeAnne Larson
*Qualified for Master National*

HRCH Teeter MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

HRCH Pepper MH
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

GRHRCH Bean MH
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

HRCH Rudy
Owned by Jack Lindstrom

HRCH Flounder MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

HRCH Cinch MH
Owned by Dane and Kara Johnson

Thank you Larry Kimble and Ty Johnson for judging as well as the rest of CNRC for putting on the test!

Nate and Ashlyn took a group of dogs to Custer South Dakota to run HRC at Rushmore hunting retriever club. They had quite a tough weekend weather wise with multiple weather delays causing the Saturday finished test to run into Sunday forcing some dogs to run 3 finished series on Sunday. Quite a challenge for the 7 dogs we had running their very first Finished tests!!

Picking up Finished passes were:

9xGRHRCH Cash MNH4
Owned by Cory and Makennah Kienow

9xGRHRCH AL MNR
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Jack
Owned by Kent Wright

HR Arrow
Owned by Travis and Jolene Bock

HR Hook
Owned by Mike Martin

HR Zyn
Owned by Sami Strutz

HR Tex
Owned by Ethan Kerk

HR Chief
Owned by Eric Talley

HRCH Koda
Owned and handled by Ashlyn Christner

Picking up Seasoned Passes were:

HR Riley
Owned by Clint Didier
***NEW HR***

Dani
Owned by Jet and Sheryl Thompson

Sammy
Owned by Mike Jansen

Luna
Owned and Handled by Ashlyn Christner

Thank you to all the judges, volunteers and club members on MRHRC!!

On a proud side note we had LOTS of clients running this weekend. All the way from Oklahoma to South Dakota past Apex Students were running with their owners and picking up ribbons!!

In Oklahoma Kirby Lloyd titled HR Queen!!

In Nebraska, Tanner Benash passed Drake and Brock Thorburg passed Ace in Senior and Doug Brown passed Junior with Laynie at CNRC

In South Dakota Mark Stites passed Rip in Finished!

Super weekend for the entire Apex Family!! Congratulations everyone!!

After arriving home last night from the Grand, I got word GRHRCH Hawk MNH crossing rainbow bridge while I was in Kentuck...
05/22/2026

After arriving home last night from the Grand, I got word GRHRCH Hawk MNH crossing rainbow bridge while I was in Kentucky.

A talented marker, steady, as well as stable; but always the squealer.. Hawk made hard things look easy and sometimes easy things a bit tougher than they needed to be. He was a challenge from day one, but a talented dog throughout. He was loyal and sweet. After failing his first Master test he was a perfect 24/24 including 3 Master Nationals as well as being a Grand Champion. Dads personal hunting dog and buddy, he will be missed. Rest in Peace Hawk. Love ya bud.

GRHRCH King’s Hillside Shadow MNH
4/13/15-5/18/26

Address

7804 Custer Road
Elm Creek, NE
68836

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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