Layton Retriever Kennels Estacada, Oregon

Greg and Brenda were a pleasure to work with over the three months our pup was there. Greg had us out to the property to see the kennels, pond, and field ahead of our commitment- all of which were in great condition, providing ample space for the dogs to enjoy themselves and train effectively. Each time we visited our dog we could tell that she was INCREDIBLY happy and healthy, and had developed a strong bond with Greg and Brenda. Training sessions at the property and off-site were convenient and productive. Near the end of our pup's training she entered her first heat cycle and was sent home early. Greg called us as soon as he noticed the change and coordinated pick-up. Being that her time was cut short, Greg suggested bringing her back in for a tune-up at no charge to make up for the credited time she missed out on and has been flexible/accommodating in regards to rescheduling her tune-up. Since bringing our dog home, she has transitioned seamlessly to my personal command, displaying all of the learnings/training acquired during her time with Greg and Brenda. It's wildly apparent that their training style allows for the dog to maintain a high level of fun and enjoyment in its purpose as a working dog. I've since had the time to hunt 10-15 days over this dog already, and couldn't be happier with where she's at for just a year old. Excited to see what the future holds for her, and will certainly be using Layton Retrievers again.

My mom has a GSP that she thought she'd have to re-home as at her age an unruly dog was a lot BUT at the 1 month check in at Layton I truly thought I was watching a different dog!...The change in behavior after 1 month was absolutely remarkable!! Layton Retriever Kennels brings the impossible to reality!! I would give 10 stars if possible....WOW ????

Greg and his staff are awesome! We enrolled our 18 month old black lab named “Chilli” in Layton Retrievers “duck dog” boot camp! All I can say is “WOW”!! Absolutely impressed with how far our dog has come in just a few months. Really looking forward to hunting her in the very near future! Thank you Greg, and Layton Retrievers, for working with our young Labrador. Sincerely, Adrian

We loved working with Greg. We weren’t sure Gru had what it takes to be a duck dog but after Duck Dog Bootcamp we have a hunting dog! Gru was well taken care of during his time at Layton which made it easier for us to be away from him. We will recommend Greg and Brenda to everyone we know.

Simply the best, awesome people. Brenda is very good at the obedience part and Greg is so into what he does. I really liked the way they handled my pup. I just got her back the other day and she is not a pup any more. I am a first time dog owner and wanted someone i could trust to train my dog. I read all the review of all the local trainers and decided on Layton Retrievers. A very good decision. I really like the way they trained me and showed me how to handle my dog in the field. Very important. My Remi misses Brenda and Greg.

My lab Elsa has been trained by greg 2 times now right before hunting season. Wow what a dog, greg is great with animals and knows how to get them to work. I would highly recommend this place to get your dog dialed! Be it hunting or just training, Elsa was always happy to see Greg and learned so much! Thanks

Greg and Brenda at Layton retrievers are phenomenal! Greg really took the time to get to know us and our lab, Thor. He spent time learning how Thor learns to train him to fit his needs. He showed him off when we went to visit and worked with us to teach us how to work with Thor. Greg is honest and hard working and the team at Layton retrievers create a clean and fun environment so we felt comfortable leaving our dog. The price was super reasonable and worth every penny. Thor is very attentive and hard working! We plan to bring our newest lab to Greg when she is old enough. Thank you Greg and the team at Layton Retrievers!

All the trainers were very nice, responsive and available. They asked us detailed questions on what we wanted to accomplish with the basic training for our dog and they definitely delivered! By the first check in, our dog was well trained beyond our expectations. We're extremely happy with the abilities our dog has after his training, on and off leash. The kennels were big and clean. Overall, our dog seemed to enjoy his time there as well.

What do you say about Greg Layton and his assistant Brenda?! They are amazing!!! I brought my dog Double to them and within a month he’s a completely different dog and I’ve gladly signed him up for another month. Other trainers told me I had a dog that would never amount to any quality hunting dog and Greg and Brenda have already in one month brought out a retrieving machine in my pup! They are so amazing and I can’t recommend them enough!!! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Quality!!!

We are beyond grateful to Greg Layton, owner of Layton Retrievers!! He has been an absolute lifeline to our family helping to train our French Pointer puppy!! Our 10-week old “Callie“, came home with us from California the same week that COVID-19 was first announced. We were already in a quarantine mode to protect her from puppy parvovirus which for us evolved into a second and greater quarantine for COVID-19. As the months unfolded, we saw how desperate it was becoming for Callie to be socialized around new people and other dogs. Her personality was quickly becoming very timid and afraid due of her isolation. I spoke to our veterinarian and she highly recommended we call Greg at Layton Retrievers. I also reached out to close friends who had hunting dog breeds and they all said, “....go see Greg.” From my first contact with Greg, I knew we were in the right place. Greg’s gentle and kind heart towards people and dogs made him the perfect choice for us. Our first lesson was just getting Callie out of the car. She was very afraid of the whole new experience being out in the big world. Greg was extra patient and reassuring, before we knew it Callie couldn’t wait until her next lesson. Each time we would meet with Greg and Brenda they answered my every question and showed me how to handle Callie with her strong-willed hunting dog personality. I would have been lost without their expertise and invaluable years of experience working dogs. Greg truly is a “Dog Whisperer “ in our opinion! He understands the true nature of dogs, especially hunting dog breeds. He completely brings out their authenticity for owners to fully enjoy. Without his wisdom and insight, we would have remained frustrated and unsettled with Callie, not being able to maintain control of her. Thanks to all the efforts of Greg and Brenda, we now have an amazing well-mannered and well behaved one year old puppy!! We highly, highly recommend Layton Retrievers to all dog lovers and owners who need and want the highest quality custom training for their new best friend. All our unending thanks and praise!! Tim, Kim and puppy Callie!

We sent our 7 month old Boykin Spaniel to Layton Retrievers for obedience school. Greg and Brenda are so kind and wonderful to work with, and their passion for training dogs was clear right from the start! They kept us informed on Rudy's progress throughout the 2 month period and it was clear he was very happy and well taken care of. They made sure we had all the tools and knowledge to continue to work upon the foundation they provided our pup. We've already decided that obedience school at Layton Retrievers will be a requirement for any dog we own!

Great place. Inside kennel with heat. Separate quarters for every dog. Secure play area out back of the kennel building. Acreage for training complete with a pond and he has access to other land in the immediate area. Greg is super friendly. We just needed a short stay with a training tune-up. Complete with some ecollar conditioning. My dog was happy when I picked him up. The work that I asked to be done was completed. I will use Greg and his services in the future. I highly recommend.

Greg and his crew worked wonders with our very “strong willed” chocolate lab. I was nervous to leave my girl, but was immediately at ease when I saw how clean the boarding area and grounds were. It was obvious that all of the dogs were happy and healthy. Greg provided regular updates and was immediately responsive to my questions. He also went out of his way to work on situations unique to my dog. When I picked up my dog, despite all of the exacting hard work, my dog obviously loved Greg and crew. Greg and his staff also worked patiently to train us to reinforce the work. The results exceeded every expectation. We now have a dog that is not only obedient, but consistent and trustworthy. I give Layton Retrievers my highest endorsement.

We have a 2-year old charcoal lab named Tango that Greg has been working with for over a year and a half. Greg and his team have done a great job training Tango, who is really athletic and wants to work, but is also pretty "smart"/sensitive and can get discouraged. We didn't bring Tango to Greg to make him a champion. We only wanted him to be able to make a straight retrieve reliably, so we aren't losing birds. He needs to be properly put on some real hunts this fall, but Greg has gotten him ready. We also really appreciate Greg's eagerness to continue to work with dogs after their initial training. He has a well-run operation that is clean, safe and warm for the dogs. He had no problem with some of our unique asks around medication and supplements. Most of all we trust him and his team. We have returned after the initial training for extended refresh stays, that are really incredible for Tango. When Tango gets out of the rig when we drop him off he is excited to see everyone on Greg's property. When we pick him up a few weeks later he is happy and lean after all of the work he had done. It works well for my family, and we couldn't recommend Greg and his team more highly.

We have been extremely happy with Greg and the staff at Layton Retrievers. His training and handling resulted in our yellow lab Porter earning his JR Hunter title at 11 months old. He is patient and truly cares for the dogs he trains. He balances hard work with allowing the dogs to enjoy what they are doing and having fun. Porter is back early this year to continue his training and looking to that SR Hunter title before he is 2 yrs old. Greg’s training also produced a great gun dog! We hunted geese and ducks plenty this past winter and Porter performed above expectations, especially for a one year old dog. The kennels are kept impeccably clean. Greg communicates regularly and is quick to give us a call when there is anything out of the norm. We highly recommend Layton Retrievers for a well trained gun dog!

My wife and I recently took our Golden Retriever, Oakley, to Layton Retrievers for obedience training. Before we brought him in, Oakley had a real hard time listening to anything we said. He would constantly pull on the leash when walking, he would steal things off the counter and coffee table, and for the life of us we could not get him to stay in one place for any period of time. Granted he was, and still mostly is, a puppy, but we were at our whits end and needed some help. We heard about Layton Retrievers from a friend and decided to set up a meeting with Greg and Brenda to see what they had to offer and what they thought would be best for Oakley. When we came to the meeting, Greg and Brenda were extremely gracious with their time and were able to reassure my wife and I that Oakley was not acting out and that we weren't doing anything wrong with raising him. They told us that everything we were experiencing was normal for a puppy and that he was actually pretty mild in behavior for a puppy of his age (Oakley was only about 6-7 months old). Greg and Brenda told us that the best time to truly begin Oakley's training was when he started calming down around 10 months old, so, if we were willing to wait, they'd be able to do much more with him once he got to that age. Even though waiting another 3-4 months was hard, we are truly grateful that we did. Once Oakley got to 10 months, we brought him back to Layton Retrievers and after a quick 2 month boot camp, Oakley is more obedient and better than he's ever been! I cannot believe the change in Oakley and, not only, his willingness, but desire, to obey our commands. He still has his moments, as all normal dogs will (Greg and Brenda DO NOT break or abuse the dogs in their care in order to get them to comply, so it is not like our dog been turned into an emotionless robot), and Oakley still has his incredible personality. Everything Greg and Brenda did to work with Oakley was perfect and I hope our story serves as a testament to others who are looking for exceptional trainers for their furry friends. It also helps that Layton Retrievers as a company is extremely affordable, especially compared to other trainers we were researching throughout the Portland Metro area. The hardest part was not being able to see our dog for the first month as Greg and Brenda needed that time to curb Oakley's bad habits and reinsert new ones. During the second month, however, my wife and I were able to visit Oakley every Saturday to work with him and to learn his new commands ourselves. Overall Greg and Brenda at Layton Retrievers are amazing! And I would recommend them to anyone that needs a little help with their dog's obedience.

Greg and Brenda did an amazing job with our Golden retriever. He went to stay with them when he was a very smart, but stubborn headed 6 month old puppy. He now is almost 10 months old and is doing so great with his obedience training. His healing It is like night and day, along with fetching and bringing back the ball or bumper. He loves to work and go. He has come a long way and we are so proud of him, and thankful for Greg and Brenda’s patience and hard work with him. We would definitely recommend them to others and will be sending Riley back next spring for some upland training as well.

Can't recommend Layton Retrievers highly enough!! We dropped off Maddux, a good-tempered but rambunctious, high energy, easily-distracted dog who had no experience retrieving. Greg Layton delivered back to us a disciplined, experienced, super obedient gun dog. The results are amazing. We took him out for his very first hunt last week and he retrieved 19 birds - didn't miss a beat. Like he had been doing it for years. Thanks for the amazing work, Greg! Looking forward to a lot of great hunts with Maddux!

Greg and Brenda did an amazing job working with our girl Maggie! Maggie exceeded numerous steps with Greg's know how and training tips! Brenda did an excellent job with obedience and Maggie is now awaiting her first duck hunt thanks to Greg! She knows 'leave it', 'out', 'off' and many more and even helps her daddy bring in the mail ;) each day. We couldn't be happier with her demeanor and temperament!!! Highly recommend both Greg for duck training and Brenda for obedience! We are waiting to get our next puppy to take and have trained at his facility! Sincerely and with great respect, Russell and Jodi Wells

All we can say is WOW, we brought our 11 month old Chesapeake bay retriever to Greg and his staff for duck dog school, at first I was not sure Scooter had it in him, he is my 4th Chessy and the most stubborn one of the lot. Well with our first trip down after a month my wife was so over joyed. Scooter was a changed dog already. His obedience training that Greg did was amazing. He never tried to push my 5 year old daughter around and was right by her side following her everywhere. After the end of the training cycle, Greg gave me back a retrieving machine. We are %100 satisfied with Greg and Brenda and will give him our complete recommendation to anyone wanting their dog trained or boarded. In fact Greg will be the only one we will board our big brown fuzzy boy with! Thank you guys for all the hard work you put in to make Scooter what he is today. And if I can talk my wife into it you guys will have another Chessy from us soon!

We could not be more pleased with Greg and his staff and how they transformed our wild, loving puppy into an awesome, obedient dog, but most importantly how great they treated our Puppy Ollie. I wanted to wait two weeks to write this review since this was our first time having our family dog trained and others have said that a Dog NOT trained properly will forget what they've learned and revert back to the way they acted before they began "school". NOT the case with Ollie. He spent 2 months with Greg and his staff and even though he's now a 10 month old Lab (known to be a high energy breed) he came home a totally different dog in regards to his knowledge of commands and his overall manners around people and surprisingly inside our home. He just seems to understand do's and don't like a much more mature dog. We work him daily (with the directions Greg gave us on his exit meeting) walking and retrieving and Ollie responds greatly and it's very obvious he enjoys the training. This is my 3rd Lab and I truly believe that taking a young dog to get trained helps them at a young age to develop a part of their brain that makes them open to learn, obey, and just want to please, and I cannot recommend a better facility than Greg's. His cost was VERY reasonable (you couldn't Board alone for less) and as I admitted to my wife before we signed up with Greg; "I don't have the time, Knowledge, or Patience to help Ollie to be a solid addition to our family". Take it from our family, if your thinking about having your dog trained, Do It...and contact Greg for his next available opening... No, I'm not related or getting paid for this,, lol Best Regards, Oliver Buckshot Finnegan's Dad.

My 1-2 year old vizsla has been there 3x for 1 month each. He is well loved and happy while at camp. Greg and his staff are wonderful people who enjoy their work with dogs. They definitely help me break all of our bad habits. I live in Bend, wouldnt take my dog anywhere else.

This place is awesome. Greg and his staff go above and beyond with training and customer service. I first sent my dog in for 3 months of consecutive training and the outcome was fantastic. The obedience alone was worth the wait. My dog would retrieve to hand, follow hand cast, quarter in the field, everything that was on the website was exactly what I got. Best of all my dog was happy and healthy. I just sent him back for a refresher course and again I was amazed at the outcome. My dogs obedience was even better than before, he was doing blind retrieves, and much much more. I will continue to send him back yearly for a refresher course. Being new to having a hunting I truly didn’t know what to expect, but Greg and Brenda take the time with you one on one to explain and show you how to hunt with your dog safely and efficiently. I truly recommend Layton Retriever to any novice bird dog hunters and to any seasoned vets out there. Thanks again Greg and Brenda, you guys are the best.

Best animal loving dog trainer around.

Greg is a fantastic knowledgeable breeder. We are very pleased with the dog we got from him and would definitely go back for another.

I have taken my Golden Retriever, Maggie, to Layton Retrievers multiple times for boarding. She has the best time and Greg Layton takes the absolute best care of my dog as well as the others. You just know he loves these dogs so much!! I would recommend him to absolutely everyone!

After having worked with several other trainers previously, I was hesitant to try another. However, our 2 year old field lab was a handful and we needed help. I found Greg's site online and sent him an email, and from his initial response on through all our sessions, I found him to be truly pleasant to work with, and very knowledgeable about field labs and dogs in general. At first, we were going to drop our girl off for a board and train program, but we quickly realized we just couldn't leave her overnight. She's as much a part of our family as our children, and is with us 24/7, so needless to say we weren't going to work with just anyone. Greg, understanding our concerns, was flexible and helped us come up with a plan. We did 1:1 sessions, dropped her off a few times, and within 6 weeks of 2-3 sessions a week I was getting "wow, she's well trained" and "how did you get her to stay there like that" comments. Pretty amazing considering how much energy she has, and how stubborn she can be. Now, I said we'd never board her overnight, and to date we haven't. Our life/schedules permit that she's always with family, but if in a pinch, I wouldn't hesitate to take her to Greg. He's a genuinely good, honest person, and I trust him completely. What I like the most is he's honest and flexible... ever heard the one "if you put three trainers together, the only thing you'll get two of them to agree on is the other one is wrong." Well, Greg worked with us and helped to provide a lot of good alternatives when we were honest about what we would really and really not do when at home. None of this you have to do it this way or else it won't work garbage. Bottom line, he's a knowledgeable trainer and a really nice guy to work with. You can't go wrong by giving him a call.

I took my 1.5 year old chocolate lab Belle to Greg for retriever training this spring and the transformation was amazing. Belle arrived with good basic obedience, but Greg took her the rest of the way training her to retrieve to hand, taking whistle commands, and casting. I now have total confidence with Belle on and off leash and this fall we were able to hunt grouse where Belle got her first wild bird and retrieved it beautifully. There are trainers closer to where I live, but I chose Greg because he listened to what I wanted out of Belle and learned how to teach her best. Greg allowed me to come work with Belle during training which was very important to me. If you go watch Greg work with the dogs you will see how much he loves the dogs and how much respect he has for them. There is no yelling or frustration, he is incredibly patient with the dogs and works with them until they get it. I found Greg to be honest, hard working and a great trainer. I would not hesitate to take another dog there!

Just had an amazing day at Layton Retrievers. My dog Loki was able to spend a couple hours retrieving live fliers with Greg. First time back in 6 months after his training Loki didn't miss a beat. It just shows the time and quality that Greg spends with dogs. Thanks Greg

I have trusted my dogs to Layton Retrievers for years! As soon as we get within a mile of the place, my dogs get so excited! They are so well cared for and they enjoy the walks, the pond and playing with other dogs so much. I have total peace of mind when my dogs are here. Thank you for being the best boarding place!