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August 2024 by Brad Bayer
We have a blue heeler that can be a bit snarky at times but Ray is able to really work with him and get our dog into a really good place. Ray has always gone above and beyond to answer my questions about how to train my dog correctly so that our dog can be a great family dog. I highly recommend him to anyone, not just bird dog owners.
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July 2024 by Lenny Branch
Great job. Showed me how to train my retriever. Amazing progression.
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February 2024 by C. Anderson
I have an English Cocker Spaniel who spent a couple of months with Ray at Webfoot Retrievers and my experience was absolutely fantastic. Prior to being with Ray, my ~1 year-old puppy was very difficult to manage. She would demand bark, lacked general obedience and was a source of stress for our family. Ray transformed our puppy into an obedient, fun family member who listens and behaves, but still retains her same energetic personality. Our puppy now walks on heel (with and without a leash), obeys commands, and no longer demand barks. It is truly amazing what Ray accomplished in just a short period of time.Ray accomplished this because he takes a very scientific approach to dog training. He understands dogs and how their brains operate and tailors his training to dogs’ individual needs - no two dogs are the same. Importantly, the dogs love Ray. On our last training session, my dog was sitting on his knee wagging happily!Ray was always communicative, clear and transparent with me. He invested time in my dog and in me — he made me a better owner through our training sessions and was always very generous with his time. I know he did this because he knew it was important for my dog and it would help her to have a better life if I knew what to do.Ray is an absolute expert. He loves dogs and they love him. I highly recommend him.
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August 2023 by White S.
Similar to another review, everything started off well with Ray. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about and I had a good feeling about leaving my dog with him for training. As the months went on, he would add to the length of time that she needed to be there saying "she wasn't ready" after previously saying she was almost ready several times. After 8 months, I ended up taking my dog home because he told me she still needed 6 months and he still hadn't shot a gun around her after 8 months of duck training???? When I brought her home, she was incredibly underweight and skittish. She also had a hot spot on her back that he claimed was from her sitting on the pavement. Every time someone (especially men) lifts a hand, she crouches down and runs the other direction in fear of being hit. This was never an issue before she went to training. I am very disappointed in my experience and I wish I had read other reviews and looked further into other training places before sending my dog here.
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July 2023 by Leah Barwick
Ray did a fantastic job with my two male littermate labs on obedience training. They became too much for me to handle by myself as they got bigger and started listening to me less and less especially when I would give a command to both of them together. When I brought them to Ray they barked all night long, were impossible to walk on a leash, and didn’t stay or come when called. I picked up two completely different dogs. They are quiet on command, heel and walk on a leash like champs, and sprint back to me when I call them. I can now walk them around my property with confidence that they won’t go further than 30 yards off leash. I cannot express my gratitude towards Ray and would suggest him for any obedience issue. He knows dogs like the back of his hand and helped me understand how to communicate with them better as well. On a last note, when you send your dogs to him, you can tell they become part of the family at his house. My dogs adored him. Thank you so much, Ray, for all of your hard work!!
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February 2023 by Alpha Trooper
If you value the life of your pet do not use Ray Godwin’s service. He had my dog 3 days and was killed (so he says) by something unknown. I paid 1 month in advance with no refund and paid over 2k for my Boykin that he said he would repay. Not to mention that I had to tell my son on his birthday that his dog was killed in this man’s possession. It’s been over a year now and have not heard a word and come to find out his company is not even a legit business. Apparently this is not the first time an animal has died in his care but he told me he has never dealt with a situation like this. He has other judgements against him that are not settled. LIAR! This man is a crook with no integrity in his body or soul. Look for another trainer!
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October 2022 by Thomas Stroman
I have used them with two different labs and they know their stuff. They really care about your animals also. Super Place.
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July 2022 by Valere Hardy
Ray did a good job training my dog. He worked with me as much as possible and worked with her. She is not hunting test ready but we could take her to the field and she will do well. We are continuing our training and will go back here if we need "refreshers" on our training.
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December 2021 by Mason Johnson
My brother took his 6 month old lab and the guy said he was trained. Well he is not trained. All he does is retrieve the dog is not finished at all. He will not answer the phone or anything. Terrible place to take a dog. Paid full money and dog is not ready to hunt. A dog should leave ready to hunt.
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October 2021 by Caitlin Butterworth
Ray Godwin at Webfoot Retrievers is, hands down, the best, most caring and effective trainer with whom I have ever had the pleasure of working. I have taken 3 of my dogs to him and highly recommend him to any dog owner who wants to build a great relationship with a well-behaved dog. He effectively teaches operant conditioning to you as the owner and takes the time to establish and reinforce positive behaviors in your dog. Once he trains the dog, he works with clients to teach them the appropriately interact with their dogs so that they can continue to maintain the training at home. He truly cares about every dog's well being and goes above and beyond the call of most dog trainers to set clients and dogs up for a successful future.
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June 2021 by Hunter Horn
I have a yellow lab named Cutter who I brought to Webfoot Retrievers for duck dog training when he was 4 months old or so. Before deciding on Webfoot I visited a larger kennel in the up-state that I did not like quite as much. I chose Webfoot over this kennel for a few reasons. One main reason being Ray, the owner, had more time to work with my dog, Ray took the time to not only work Cutter but to work with me as well, and Ray was dedicated to each dog in his kennel.Ray makes sure he has an appropriate amount of dogs so that he is able to train and keep every individual dog happy. Ray has a very close relationship with each dog in his kennel and is committed to making them the best they can be. After leaving Cutter there for a month I realized Ray genuinely cared that Cutter desired to retrieve as well as excel in his training.Ray also makes sure that the owner is able to handle the dog. He offers handling sessions along with the monthly training which allows you, the dog owner, to come and learn how to handle your dog correctly. I learned quite a lot from these sessions including how to discipline correctly and effectively, as well as ways to get the dog to listen better, but as I was told by the Ray the best way to have your dog listen is to spend time with it.Ray is a very dedicated dog trainer. He not only cared for Cutter during training he also cared about Cutters well being and happiness level. I am very impressed with Cutters performance after being with Ray for the full retriever training program he offers. Cutter knows basic obedience which includes your basic commands, here, sit, stay, heel, and mark. He is able to heel at walk and at stop. He has been introduced to gun shots and real hunting situations, and is able to mark long single, and short double retrieves.I would happily take another dog here again for training. I know they are safe, well taken care of, and I know the end result of a dogs time spent with Ray is worthwhile. I will say Ray spent an incredible amount of time with Cutter and told me on multiple occasions that he wanted Cutter to be the best dog he could be. If you are looking for a dog trainer that will spend the most amount of time to train your dog as well as make sure that it enjoys hunting as much as you do I highly suggest dropping your dog off at Webfoot Retrievers.
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June 2021 by Joey Cerato
I brought my 1 year old Boykin Spaniel, Jake, to be trained to be a duck dog by Ray when he was about 4 months old. When I dropped him off, he had never been swimming and was very much a Boykin spaniel puppy. The obedience training he received in addition to his retriever training has been excellent. From the first time I met Ray, I could tell he genuinely cared about the dogs in his care. Throughout Jake's time with Ray, I would join in periodic training sessions to help sharpen my skills as a handler and to bond with my dog. In those sessions it was easy to see that Ray was equally invested in the dog's success as well as my own as a handler. While I have no complaints on Jake's retrieving abilities in the field now that I have brought him home, I do plan on bringing Jake back for some maintenance sessions. Jake has been doing an awesome job so far this season and I cannot wait to make a lifetime of memories with him.
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June 2021 by Matt sasiene
Throughout the years I have owned 3 golden retrievers,1 yellow lab, and trained 2 of those dogs myself using the book Water Dog. Those dogs were great family dogs, and always welcome wherever we went. Our family has grown over the years, and I did not have the time to dedicate to training our current golden retriever. I decided to have this dog get sent to a professional for obedience training. We took our male puppy at 4 months old to Ray Godwin based on reviews I read about him on google. I spoke with Ray and asked for obedience training, which was a 3 week commitment. During our conversation he convinced me to have him go through retriever training as well as said he would incorporate both the obedience and retriever training with a commitment of 3 - 4 months. After one month I made my first visit to see him, and was blown away that he had not received any obedience training. Not heal, stay, nothing which are all basics. After talking with Ray, he convinced me that he worked in the obedience training while working on the retriever training. We decided to have our dog stay another month. This second month we were allowed to bring him home on the weekends, but that turned into only bringing him home every other weekend so twice that month. The family made it out to see him work after being there for 2 months. He looked pretty good retrieving birds, but the only obedience training he was working on was not jumping and heel, and those weren’t great. We were getting aggravated at this point, and said we need to see our dog learn obedience commands, or we are pulling him out. Our dog went for a third month and this ended up being the final straw. He endured two injuries while there, one abscess that had to be drained by our vet. This cost of several hundred dollars, and had our down for a week recovering. The other a week or two later was a bacterial infection on his head that Ray brushed off as a hot spot. Again several hundred dollars and many weeks of treatment to get our dog back to health. After three months of “training” by Ray and over $2,000 spent with Ray our dog only learned the “heal” command and to not jump, neither of which he was proficient at. We never sent out dog back, and I regret every putting him through this. Since he has been back he’s been very aggressive towards our kids, and even bite my wife and daughter. None of this behavior existed when we was with us, and only came out once he was back from “training” with Ray. I’m now convinced he took us as an ATM, and all he did was feed him the food I brought, and charge me $675/month. I would strongly recommend you look elsewhere for training.
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June 2021 by Andrew Scherl
Some how this was taken down so I wanted to repost.Hopefully this review will shed some light on Webfoot retrieves and this trainer Ray.I worked with Ray on and off for almost two years. It started off well, (my money was green) but the more time went on the more toxic it became.I want to share my last interactions for you.This spring (2020) with junior hunter trials coming up, I asked Ray if my dog was ready. “Leave him with me for a few weeks and I’ll have him ready”. So Ray’s fee, $600 later, $187 entry fee for Junior Hunter trial, and Paying Ray $300 to come with me I received a text the Night before the trail telling me my dog was not ready....At this point I told him I was going to pick up my dog and go anyway. To this Ray informed me I should probably come get my dog that night because he was having troubles with diabetes almost slipping in and out of comas...I drove up at 10pm and picked up my dog, who smelled terrible by the way. Once I got him home I gave him a bath to find out he had a huge HOT spot on his foot that looked terrible. Ran him over to the emergency vet to be treated... My dog was so “off” and terrified...So in my mind Ray had health issues and instead of telling me this he let my dog rot in a crate doing damage to himself.This caused issues between me and my family. I felt guilty and flat out bad for my dog.I called Ray to express my feelings. He asked me to come up and talk. Against my better judgment I went. After our “talk” he took no responsibility and blamed it on his health. Again, against my better judgment we went back for training. I felt empathic for his situation. However I told him my dog would never stay at his kennel again. We trained a few more sessions but it was an awkward relationship to say the least. Finally we had a disagreement after a training which was a long time coming. After a few days I reached out to see if we could work things out. He ignored my calls, texts, and emails for 2 months now. He finally responded today with the following message:“I was hoping that you would catch on that I did not want to work with you anymore. But if I have to spell it out I will. This is not up for debate. Last year you trashed me to your family and friends but you still want to train with me. That took away about 90% of my desire to work with you.This year your harping about things that happened a year ago and you don’t want to follow my training instructions. That ended the other 10%. Also you keep taking a dog hunting that is not ready and making things worse. I wish you good will but I have no desire to train with you again. “The fact that he does business this way is appalling. Instead of being a man and saying what’s going on like he preaches on other reviews on here.. He did this, he make this situation... SMART...Let’s break this down. Why would I bad mouth him and continue to work with him?!? I think he’s confused. But better off this way.I ended up taking my dog to some hunter trials and dock dog events recently. When I brought up Rays name I heard so many colorful stories about him:“He’s a hands on old school trainer”- I’ve witnessed this first hand and wasn’t sure what to do.“My friend sent a puppy to Ray for training, puppy was killed by another dog”-Total Shock“Ray got busted breeding a clients dog without their knowledge”-WowThis is the tip of the iceberg. He has a terrible reputation. Go to an event and drop his name and you’ll see. There are others that have had similar experiences. Ray’s personality is dog sh*t.Ray once had me call Multiple places for ducks because “They won’t sell me any” I wonder why...I feel for my dog and I hope this is a warning to you and will save you from the heartache I went through. I think you can find a trainer that takes much more responsibility, understanding and is overall a better person.
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June 2021 by Caitlin Carlisle
Ray Godwin at Webfoot Retrievers is, hands down, the best, most caring and effective trainer with whom I have ever had the pleasure of working. I have taken 3 of my dogs to him and highly recommend him to any dog owner who wants to build a great relationship with a well-behaved dog. He effectively teaches operant conditioning to you as the owner and takes the time to establish and reinforce positive behaviors in your dog. Once he trains the dog, he works with clients to teach them the appropriately interact with their dogs so that they can continue to maintain the training at home. He truly cares about every dog's well being and goes above and beyond the call of most dog trainers to set clients and dogs up for a successful future.
