I was raised on a family farm in southeastern North Carolina. The farm lifestyle has taught me strong work ethics which include being honest and respecting people, nature, and definitely animals. I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about training dogs in the last 19 years. One thing that I learned immediately is that you have got to have respect for your dog without respect you will never be able to work as a team. I graduated from East Carolina University in the spring of 1991 with a BS in Industrial Technology. After looking for a job for a couple of months, I returned home to work on the family farm where I later became a partner in the tobacco business . However, all of my spare time and off-season farming time was spent on training my own personal hunting dogs, which I titled Master Hunters. After years of farming and experiencing a lot of success in the retriever training field, I decided to pursue my passion professionally. I trained my first Labrador retriever in 1996, a black female I bought from Black River Retrievers. Her name is Layce and one of the best dogs I have ever hunted beside. In 1999, I decided it was time for another dog. I read about a litter in the newspaper, after talking and visiting with the litter owner I bought Trouble. While training him, I realized at the age of 6 months that I had something special. Researching the internet I found out about AKC hunt tests. Being a little skeptical I went to a trial, and was immediately hooked. Four years later this newspaper dog was North Carolina's first GRHRCH/MH. I am very thankful that Grand Hunting Retriever Champion (GRHRCH) Sin Lake's Big Time Trouble MH picked me. I decided to take my passion to the next level and began taking client dogs in '04. Here at Gold Leaf Retrievers we have qualified over 80% of our dogs since fall of 04'. Juan Rosas joined me in March 05', and has been a very important part of our program. He has several years of field trial experience. Juan is known by many as one of the best young dog trainers on the east coast. Because of Juan we are running a limited number of AKC Field Trial qualifying and derby events. Dillon Bass joined our team the summer of 2014 and gaining lots of experience in training and handling. Dillon qualified Cole's Night Moves MNH at the Master Nationals 2016. I have been married to my wife, Laura, for 20 years. We have three children. Haley, Hannah, and Caden.