August All-Star: Jeremy Ries Moco Bottom Labs

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Jeremy Ries, the owner and operator of MoCo Bottoms Labs, has always been an adamant dog lover and waterfowl hunter. At a young age, his father had to carry him in a duck blind along the Mississippi River bottoms with a lab by their side to fetch ducks. For as long as he can remember, Jeremy has always had a dog by his side, and if you ask him, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Jeremy’s family had a friend, Deb West, who trained retrievers under the kennel name BrownWater Dog Retrievers. Unfortunately, she passed away, and they had to sell the remaining dogs. Jeremy decided he wanted one of the dogs but was torn between getting a puppy – which he knew his wife would love – or the started lab, which passed the wagon-wheel test perfectly. He managed to convince his wife that the started dog was the better choice. They then joined the local HRC club, Retrievers Unlimited, and began attending training days regularly, where their passion began to grow. After a while, they decided to buy another lab pup from a reputable breeding. They sent the pup off to Tammy and Stuart Garland of Sandy Creek Farm Retrievers. The Garlands were very helpful in answering questions and allowing him to train his dogs.

 

During this time, Jeremy also took the opportunity to read up on retriever training books, attend seminars, and watch any training videos he could get his hands on to expand his knowledge of retriever and gun dog training. After a couple of years, he bought his first puppy to train himself. After achieving Missi’s HRCH title, he kept a puppy from a litter that he trained himself and had a few others inquire about training their dogs. Starting with just a couple of part-time clients, his training business grew rapidly, and for over three years now, it has been his full-time profession, something he appreciates and feels truly blessed about every day.

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In the more than ten years that Jeremy and his wife have been involved with competitive dogs and now operate MoCo Bottom’s Labs, they have earned multiple HRCH titles, Master Hunter titles, a Grand pass, and even made the top 12 in the open division of a weekend SRS event. “The biggest accomplishment is training a great gun dog and training the gun dog of a hunter’s dreams and seeing that dog go home with their owner at the end of their stay,” says Jeremy.

 

Jeremy switched over to Joy Dog Food after seeing online ads for Joy and noticing some of his colleagues and friends, such as Cally Simpson with Antebellum Kennels and Dr. Tony Schumann (the Duck Dog Doctor), make the switch. “They recommended it to us when we were talking with them at a hunt test. I trusted their judgment, so I thought I would check it out.” After a few months, Jeremy noticed a difference in his dogs’ coat and skin health, and he also realized that he didn’t need to feed as much.

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If you would like the gun dog of your dreams, reach out to Jeremy Ries – 618-340-3155 with MoCo Bottom Labs. 

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