PAUL AND JULIE KNUTSUN

At any given moment, Paul and Julie Knutson have between 32 and 40 Labrador retrievers in their kennels for serious training. Their dogs are like professional athletes--fit, hardy, athletic, enthusiastic, and very, very serious about their work. The Knutsons, as well, are very serious about their work. After they rise at dawn, it's off to the training grounds, where they may or may not take five minutes to eat a sandwich at some point during the day. By nightfall, they're back feeding dogs and cleaning kennels before finally calling it a day.

For both Paul and Julie, hard work and long days are nothing new. Julie's father was a full-time professional horse trainer when she grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She started training dogs in 4-H at the age of 10, competing in AKC events through her teens. After two engineering degrees from the Colorado School of Mines, one day spent out training field dogs with her retired father changed her dog training days forever. A year later she had her first Labrador and started running field trials, getting her first competitive dog on the Derby List the first season. She continued to work in research, all the while training and competing in field trials with her own dogs. Paul's background is similar, as he spent years training and competing with such notable field trial pros as Danny Farmer, Judy Aycock, Jackie Mertens, and John and Laura Parrot. After having learned the challenging field trial circuit, winning and titling Open All-Age dogs, Paul ran the Rocky Mountain circuit one year, where the two met. Within a year, they were married and started their own professional training business. After Paul finished two degrees in Environmental Science, and the birth of the couple's two children, they decided to leave the corporate world entirely and dedicate themselves to working and training professionally.

Over a decade ago, pointing Labrador enthusiast Delery Guillory brought the skeptical Knutsons a Labrador that was known to point. "I want the advanced titles on this dog," Delery said. Putting aside their doubts about this “pointing Labrador”, Paul and Julie began to work with the dog, who subsequently became one of the most famous pointing Labradors of all time. Since then, the Knutsons have trained the biggest names in pointing Labradors--Sir Hershey, Gumbo, Cajun, and Grits of Black Forest Kennels among them.

As hard-working professional dog trainers who regularly compete on the field trial and hunt test circuit, Paul and Julie Knutson have designed the foremost program for training pointing Labradors. Of the 24 dogs that have achieved the status of Grand Master Pointing Retriever, the Knutsons have guided 13 of those Grand Masters and 15 Masters to the winner's circle. "The Pointing Labrador" is the Knutsons' guide to making it happen. "The Pointing Labrador" is the first book to ever cover the topic of training and breeding natural pointing Labradors.

From their home and kennels out on the eastern plains in Orchard, Colorado, the Knutsons' influence is beginning to ripple throughout the country. They are regular contributors to the Gun Dogs department of Outdoorsite.com, where their training tips are a favorite topic of discussion. The Sunday, February 25, 2001 issue of the Denver Rocky Mountain News featured the Knutsons and their new book, "The Pointing Labrador", in a full-page treatment by outdoor writer Ed Dentry.