Four Brooks Wildlife Management Area, Milaca/Onamia MN
Our chapter works with a few other dog clubs, the Minnesota Field Trial Federation and the Minnesota DNR to maintain this site as a place for training and testing dogs. Our Chapter hosts tests, youth events, and weekly training nights (May through August) at Four Brooks. Members can do “open” training on their own or in small groups.
Unless you are at a chapter scheduled event like a test or full training day, you need a pass to be on these grounds with your dog for any off-leash or training activities.
General Location:
Dog Training Lease Area:
Questions? send inquiries to: [email protected]
(Only monitored during training season roughly mid-April through early September)
There will be a regular Training Group that meets Thursday evenings with Orientation night slated for April 23rd 2026 at 6pm at the NORTH parking lot.
For Thursday night group training, we will be laying out specific training nights to help individuals with puppies prepare for their NA tests. People/Dogs running the upcoming test will be given priority and will be the focus of the training night. People/dogs running later tests are welcome to help, learn and expose their puppy. One of the tendencies we have seen in the past is over training for the NA test. The objective with the schedule is to help expose many people to the basics of training towards test elements that they can do on their own, and vary our training to cover a broader range of skills and other productive dog work. We will talk more on this at the introduction meeting.
People who are focusing on the Gun Dog Test, Utility Test or Invitational Test will be encouraged to create small training groups to achieve your specific goals. The chapter has equipment available to assist in the training if you need it. If there is interest, Erik Borkoski, myself, and a few other members can help you put together a Gun Dog Test or Utility training schedule or outline.
NAVHDA is a volunteer organization. All training nights, tests and administrative items are performed by volunteers. If you plan on training at Four Brooks, the expectation is that you are helping maintain the grounds and assisting others with their training. If you plan on testing a dog, the expectation is that you volunteer at a test. Without volunteers, this organization will no longer exist.
Thank you!- Tony Henenn.
Below is the 2026 tentative THURSDAY night training schedule.
April 23: Four Brooks Introduction Meeting (no dog work)
April 30: NA Field Search Intro and Water Intro (May Test Priority)
May 6: NA Pheasant Track Intro (May Test Priority) *pheasant availability is questionable
May 9-10 Four Brooks NA Test VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
May 14: Open Training Night
May 21: Open Training Night
May 28: Open Training Night
June 4: NA Field Intro (June Test Priority)
June 11: NA Water Intro (June Test Priority)
June 18: NA Pheasant Track (June Test Priority)
June 25: Open Training Night
June 27-28: Four Brooks NA, GDT, UT Test VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
July 2: NO TRAINING
July 9: Open Training Night
July 16: Open Training Night
July 23: NA Field Search Intro (August Test Priority)
July 30: NA Water Intro (August Test Priority)
August 6: NA Pheasant Track (August Test Priority)
August 13: Open Training Day
August 15-16: Virginia NA, GDT, UT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
August 20: NA Field Search Intro (September Test Priority)
August 22-23 Four Brooks GDT, UT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
August 27: NA Water Intro (September Priority)
September 3: NA Pheasant Track (September Priority)
September 10: Open Training Day
September 12-13: Four Brooks NA Test VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
End of Training Year