BIOGRAPHY


Grady Istre is a Cajun, born and raised in Louisiana where he hunted and fished the marshes, swamps and
bayous as a young man---his efforts putting a variety of food on the table. He inherited a deep-rooted
family hunting tradition, mainly from his grandfather who was a market hunter during the heyday of
American waterfowling. He learned at an early age the importance and in the case of his grandfather, the
necessity, of a well-trained hunting dog who could dig out wounded birds in the unforgiving Louisiana
mire. The hunting dogs in his family were not treated as pets, but with the same respect as any other
working animal on the farm.



It wasn’t until a little later in life that he was introduced to a higher level of dog training, when he began
pursuing his goals as a field trialer with his Labrador Retrievers. In the mid-seventies his search for a better
method of training brought him to California where he studied with and later married, his wife, Dana. The
two of them operated Reibar Kennels until 1982 when Dana retired to pursue other interest and Grady
took over the operation continuing their kennel tradition of training competition dogs. However, in 1992
Grady decided to get back to his hunting roots and began the transition from competitive dogs to hunting
dogs. Upon his retiring from competitive training Reibar had some 36 field and amateur field champions to
its credit. His goals today remains the same as they were back then: to educate willing hunters in the
techniques known only by field trailers so they may elevate their standard and experience the joy of
hunting with a well trained dog.


In his spare time he enjoys writing dog training articles for Western Outdoor News, a California weekly
sportsman’s newspaper and playing a relaxing game of tennis.
REIBAR- EXCELLENCE IN DOG TRAINING