But to put it plainly -

We're folks who own retrievers and love them, and usually hunt with them. Somewhere from getting the puppy and hunting, we got caught up in this group, figuring that somebody probably knew a little bit more about making that puppy sit and stay than we did. Surely someone in a retriever club knew how to make a Lab stop (pick one!) digging, chewing, barking, shedding! And possibly someone in this group knew where the ducks and geese were landing, and could take us out hunting some winter morning. And maybe, if we were lucky, we could make some friends who would share some shells, some hot coffee, some goose gumbo, some training tips, and some tall tales.

And we were right.