Blackwater Retrievers was established in the fall of 1987 by Bill and Becky Eckett. We are located in Centerview, Missouri which is about one hour east of Kansas City, Missouri. Our primary focus is training retrievers for Field Trial competitions.

We originally started as a Mom and Pop operation with Becky working the young dogs and gun dogs and Bill taking the dogs that were running trials.

We started with 100 acres that had a couple cow ponds. The first year we developed our first training pond and put up 23 dog runs. Over the years we have added an additional 150 acres in Missouri and now have over 20 pieces of water to train dogs on along with additional properties and water available in the area.

In the Spring of 2005 we purchased 185 acres in La Grange, Texas, which is located about 1 hour southeast of Austin. "Blackwater South" serves as our winter training grounds December through April. We have developed over a mile and a half of all weather roads and five ponds designed for dog training. At the same time, Susie and David Ritch bought 140 adjacent acres. They have been very gracious to allow us to train on their property which they have also developed with all weather roads and water. In addition to training grounds in Texas, we built a kennel facility to house the dogs during winter training. This part of Central Texas is becoming very popular with retriever people who are developing grounds and willing to share their land and water for training.

Our program has grown over the years as well. Bill and Becky still actively manage the kennel business. Our emphasis has shifted to specialize in field trial retrievers only. We have incorporated additional trainers to specialize in basics, transition, and advanced training. Bill's main focus now is the Open dogs and field trial competitions and Nationals.

Since 1987 the team at Blackwater has produced numerous dogs on the derby list and qualified all age dogs, as well as over 65 Field Champions including numerous National finalists with 4 National Champions, 2 Top Open dogs, and a Purina High Point Open Dog. For several years in a row, we have won over 50% of the Opens we have competed in.

We are still committed to being a full service training kennel. It is a team effort to produce the best retriever we can. While a truck or trucks may be at a field trial, there will still be a trainer back at the kennel working with the dogs that are not yet ready for competition.

Blackwater has always believed in developing and improving dogs by encouraging a positive training attitude and focus. Along with working with the retrievers, we work with the owners to help them learn proper handling of a field trial dog. We then put the owners and their dogs together so they can compete from the Derby to the National competitions.

Over the years we have been very fortunate to work with some very talented dogs and some great people. The team at Blackwater will always be committed to you and your dog.