Ladies in the Field

A BREED APART FROM THE PACK

Amy Sterner Finds Her Niche in Dog Training

Growing up in Corpus Christi, Amy Sterner always knew that her path would lead her to a career working with four-legged co-workers. She began working as a volunteer at the Coastal Bend Small Breed Rescue facility when she was seven. She spent her summer days helping out in the kennels while her parents worked. When she turned 13, Amy knew that she wanted to find a job with a veterinary clinic to learn how to treat and care for canines at a deeper level. So, she began a letter-writing campaign to area veterinarians outlining her experience and asking for the opportunity to learn more. She found a veterinarian willing to take her on, and at 15, she was hired by a clinic, cementing her desire to pursue a career working with dogs.

Amy attended Texas A&M at Kingsville, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Management. It was here that she also became interested in hunting and training hunting dogs. She became experienced at duck hunting in the Coastal Bend region and spent a couple of summers in Alaska working with outfitters who specialized in training sled dogs.

After graduation, she continued to work for the veterinary clinic until she landed a job training Labradors for hunting. As she continued to learn more about the sport of quail hunting in South Texas, she decided to adopt her first poodle, Birdie. Amy noticed that her dog seemed to pick up the commands and the hunting techniques just by being around the other dogs that were active in training. This sparked her interest in starting her own business specializing in training poodles as hunting dogs. Her business is called Simply Southern Retrievers. Although she trains all dog breeds to be experienced and effective hunting companions, she is unique in that she also promotes training poodles as sporting dogs.

During one of her hunting expeditions, she met her husband, Greg Sterner, who also happened to be the brother of her best friend. Amy spent weekends at his ranch in Castroville learning to train hunting dogs for quail hunts. She was immediately smitten and recalls that she didn’t think Greg was very interested in her. Still, she was determined to win his affection.

By Meredith Kay Photography by Jennifer Lugo

She says, “In the beginning, he paid more attention to his dogs than he did to me.” They continued to work together for months before Amy boldly confronted him to inquire if he was ever going to ask her out, and they have been together ever since. Today, the couple lives in Castroville with their 2-year-old daughter, Gentry Grace.

Amy truly believes in utilizing correct breeding practices, and most of her hunting dogs are rescue dogs. She works with these dogs extensively and trains them to become effective quail hunting team members. When asked what drives her passion, she states, “I love to experience that moment when a dog clicks and gets it during training. There is such a sense of pride that emanates from the dog when he or she locks up on a covey of quail and points perfectly. Then when given the command, to see the dog bump and flush the birds out is so rewarding.”

Currently, Amy has six poodles, including her champion mini poodle, Paisley, who holds several hunting titles. Amy tells how she carried Paisley everywhere for her first six months while training the dogs on the ranch and in the field, and then simply through observation, Paisley picked up the hunting techniques and has become one of their best hunters. She laughs when she describes the reactions from the hunters who contract them for hunting expeditions when they see her work.

“Nobody expects this tiny poodle to race into the brush and successfully find and flush coveys of quail. They get a kick out of watching her retrieve the fallen birds, beating larger dogs to the punch.”

March through November is training season at Simply Southern Retrievers. Along with their rotating pack of hunters in training, Amy and Greg have 40 trained hunting dogs of their own that they take on guided hunts. The dogs live large in air-conditioned kennels, and they take about 15 dogs out at a time on hired quail hunts around South Texas. Amy takes great pride in knowing every dog personally. She says, “We work with each dog very closely, assessing their strengths and their unique personality traits. This allows us to know which dogs work well together in different situations so that we can put together the best team for every hunt.”

Quail hunting is a gentleman’s sport, and people will pay handsomely to hire the right outfitter for a three to five-day guided hunt. For Amy, the dogs are everything, and she feels incredibly blessed to wake up every day surrounded by her poodles to do what she loves, which is rescuing, training, and hunting with her dogs.