ELLIOTT LABRADORS - ourfacility

Angie and I purchased the "Diamond E Farm" as part of a dream to own a place of our own to train and enjoy our dogs. We looked all over the area and found a place only 1 mile from our home. It was grown up with briars and vines like you wouldn't believe but we knew that it was a diamond in the rough, thus the name Diamond E. After days and days of tough manual labor and several track hoe hours in the pond we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We'll never finish because we love projects and as soon as we finish one we start discussing and planning another.
We have a large technical training pond built specifically for retriever training, a small technical pond built specifically for retriever training, an impoundment style pond, sunflower, grain sorghum and corn fields for the doves and dog training , a couple of large rolling pastures, a beaver/stick pond with platforms for wingers, a green tree reservoir pond, a swim by pond, a tractor shed, a cook shed and a barn converted into a cabin with kennels on the side. This is not only a training facility but a refuge for Angie and myself. We enjoy having friends over for training, hanging out at the cook shed and sharing hunting and dog stories.

Click on "Our Farm Photos" to Enlarge

The barn has heating & cooling, a full bath, a kitchenette and a great room with a pull-out couch for sleeping. The left side shelter is for kennels and the right side shelter is used as a patio. This makes a convenient place for buddies that visit and train.

The "cook shed" overlooks the sunflower field and the stick pond in the rear. It has a really big live oak which provides nice evening shade for both the cook shed and the fire pit.
This picture is before we closed it in. The next picture shows the "after" look. There is always a project it seems.

The screen enclosure made the cook shed a lot more enjoyable during spring and summer evenings. Along with the retractactable blinds it added more shade and keeps the bugs out of the burgers.

A great place for both man and dog to relax after a hard day...........not bad for a quiet, early morning cup of coffee either.

One of my simple pleasures in life is going from the sunflower field to the grill with a bacon wrapped dove breast. It's a grand southern tradition.

This is a view from the other end of the technical training pond which offers several challenges.

We plant sunflowers and corn which allows us to have a dove shoot and cover to train the dogs in.

The beaver pond (stick pond) in the back has 4 of these blinds. The trees have this pond blocked on the aerial photograph.

This is one of several challenging casting points on our 5 acre technical pond which is designed specifically for retriever training.

This is a view from the stick pond looking back up towards the cook shed.

This is one end of our new Green Tree Reservoir. We'll add some more pictures once the grass starts coming up.

The water depth in the green tree reservoir is pretty shallow and allows the dogs to run or lunge in a lot of it. We will drain it using our water control device in the summer for the health of the trees and to also faciliate planting some millett or other waterfowl food source.

Our new green tree reservoir is going to add some new challenges to our water training. It's also attracting ducks.

Our pastures have small rolling hills and the grass is cut at different heights so that we can vary the difficulty of land marks and land blinds.