Build From Here
Build From Here
"If We Can Do It, I Think Anybody Could Get it Done." - Scott Marquis
Every hunter deserves to have a hunting dog that they are proud to hunt with in the duck blind.
So often, hunters end up settling for less because they just aren't sure how to train their dog or because they are overwhelmed by all of the misinformation out there.
Scott started out on his journey unsure if he would be able to train his dog with limited time and the uncertainty of not doing it before.
Once he got connected and started following 52 Plus, that's when everything changed.
Scott went from unsure to confident in himself and his abilities as a dog trainer. Scott has been able to make the most of his time by being more effective because 52 Plus has empowered him to work on the right things with the time that he does have.
Want to hear the details of how Scott has trained his dog with confidence? Listen to this podcast to find out more.
Ready to train your dog with confidence? Follow our three-step simple plan below...
1. Purchase
2. Follow the Videos
3. Train Your Dog
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Cornerstone Gundog Academy
cornerstone gundog academy online resources to help you train your retriever welcome to another episode of the build from here podcast.
Speaker 2:On this episode I'm stoked to have a fantastic cga member and friend, scott marquis.
Speaker 2:How you doing, hey, doing well, thanks man I'm so excited to have you and just kind of we'll take a different direction than we normally do with the start of these things, just because I want to just dive in straight to a story and then we'll kind of get into your background, mainly because it was such an impactful moment when we went up to New York and we had the opportunity to get to train with you at the New York member weekend. But that was an incredible experience for Lottie Mae and for you and there's just that one memory that I would just want to get right here off the front. That was just incredible. You want to kind of dive in and just talk through what you were thinking as you were approaching the opportunity for the mock hunt situation with a young dog for the first time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, certainly I'd been in contact with you and we'd kind of discussed. Lottie hadn't been through any gunfire intro and I knew that there was the mock hunt coming up so I was definitely nervous going into it myself. Um, I think she was pretty pumped and ready for it and we slowly over the kind of obedience on friday evening and then the drills on saturday. Um, I think really helped prepare us for it. It was kind of our first time being around working with other dogs and kind of seeing that and then having the gunfire close by, with you holding the shotgun and shooting. I think the retrieve you're talking about is one that when we were setting up the wingers, we were trying to get the bumper to kind of land in the middle of a little channel. Yeah, and I made the joke, I think, to Jake who was helping set up we were trying to get the bumper to kind of land in the middle of a little channel. Yeah, and I made the joke, I think, to jake, uh, who was helping set up, and I said you know, it'll be lottie's turn and the wind's gonna blow just enough that her bumper's gonna land on this little island that was kind of just covered in. It was thick, it was pretty thick, yeah and uh, and so the other dogs were going and it's landing right where it should be. And then it's Lottie's turn and she was eight months old, so little young pup, full fire, and she's looking out.
Speaker 3:I brought my Mo Marsh blind cause that's what I'm going to primary hunt with and we switched that out. I put her in that and then, uh, sure enough, you shoot and the bumper goes in the middle of that Island and I wasn't going to send her. But then, jake, it looked like she marked it. But I wasn't quite sure and I didn't have enough experience at the time to really understand and read my dog. At that point Especially, I was worried about watching her to make sure she wasn't reacting to the gunshots or anything.
Speaker 3:And then so I was kind of trying to get her to go to one that landed in the open water. But then Jake's, like she marked that on the island, like just send her. And so I still remember I had like sent her out of it, called her name and I had a long lead on her just in case she did jump out of the blind I could grab her. And when I sent her she ran, jumped dove, swam right to the island and you had walked over. At that point You're like, okay, young dog, you know, don't like kind of kind of getting me prepared just in case she doesn't find it, or something like that. Like let's see how she does. And no sooner did those words probably come out of your mouth and out she came with a bumper in her mouth, charging back through the weeds, swam it all the way, delivered a hand on top of the bank behind us was kind of like a little cheering section that was crazy.
Speaker 3:It was one of those memories that I think probably my proudest moment of her Wow Through a ton of proud moments, but that one was probably like it was something out of her wheelhouse. She had not really done anything like that and just faced all those kind of small challenges head on and absolutely crushed it beyond my wildest expectations and I was just like, oh that. I kind of like I got a gun dog now.
Speaker 2:Like she heard the gunshot, she got the bumper, she did the thing and that was challenging too, like where she went, she would, she disappeared, if I remember correctly, we couldn't see her, yeah, and then boom, there she is with the retrieve.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because I landed kind of on the backside of the island that's crazy Through some cattails. So she took a nice straight line and then you could just see cattails kind of moving back and forth and then she pulled out with it.
Speaker 2:Dude, that was an amazing experience and that whole weekend was incredible. But that was so cool. Just to see that happen for you, I know like, like afterwards you're talking about it and you were just so fired up yeah, as you should be, I mean that's. You know, you've got an eight-month-old dog. You're just into the program at that point. I don't remember exactly when you started. You may have started it right when you got a pup, but you're into it a little bit, yeah, but probably not to that extent, but you were still able to to get her to do that, which was incredible yeah, 100, and I, um it was a little bit of a far drive from Maine to Mexico, new York, it's like on the other side of New York.
Speaker 3:But you know I was talking to the family and like, hey, I really want to make this happen, like they're putting this on, and driving there by myself was kind of like is this going to be worth it? You know it's a long drive with a lot of commitment, hotel and all that and 10 times over. It was well worth it. Not just just you know you guys being there to help shape some stuff, um, that we were still kind of working on or right, or just issues that popped up with her being around, you know 20 other dogs or things like that.
Speaker 3:Um, but getting to meet a lot of the other members that now we chat on the regular, um, you know, back and forth or troubleshoot different things, and then just watching some of the dogs that necessarily, like Lottie wasn't struggling with something but another dog was, and then seeing how you know you coach that person or how they handled it, or Chris was also up there and like just watching him work with his dogs and helping some of the other members through things. Like as far as the goals that I wanted out of CGA and really teaching myself how to be a trainer. Like that was invaluable. And now I'm driving, you know, flying into Alabama to come meet you guys and then heading over to Mississippi to go to a Southern Oak Summit. And you know, it's got me realizing that taking that long distance and that travel, though it may seem costly, is well worth it and pays dividends in the end. And that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, I just wanted to get that story going because I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait to get into the podcast but per usual, I would love to just give a little background on you and for those that are listening to be able to just kind of hear your story. And for me, one of the places that always starts is, you know the, the start, the start of your hunting, right? You know when, how old were you, what do you remember your first experience and what was it all about for?
Speaker 3:you? Yeah, my first. I do remember my first experience. Um, I, my dad, raised us kind of deer hunting um up in Maine, and my first experience I remember we stopped at the local gas station and he bought probably like 20 chocolate bars and we went to a sandpit and we walked up into the middle of a sandpit and right before that he found a deer track. That probably was seven years old, but he showed it to me and he said, hey, look at this, they come through here.
Speaker 3:And we walked up and he gets to the top and he didn't bring any ammo. Come to find out. But I was a kid, I had my little BB gun and I think I was like five or so and he laid back, took a nap and meanwhile I'm like, hey, can I shoot my gun? Yeah, okay, and I getting on the top of the you know sand pit and eating chocolate bars, just stuff in my face, and but it led to, hey, when's the next time we can go? Oh, wow, right.
Speaker 3:And then so, um, we got into competitive archery and I shot archery. So when I turned 10 I stopped rifle hunting or anything like that and kind of switched over, just uh, archery. And we would take a like a two-week trip down to pennsylvania every year to bow hunt, um, and then hunt locally, wow. And then that lasted for a long time. And then, um, it wasn't till I was out of college that my dad had grown up duck hunting, okay, and then when they had changed over to, uh, outlaw lead shot, and then you had to, like, know the type of ducks and stuff, he kind of gave it up. Yeah, um, and so I was begging him, you know, hey, take me out, take me out.
Speaker 3:And so, um, I had moved back from colorado and he ended up, hey, you know, I bought decoys and I said I'm going to go on them and learn this. So he brought me on my first time and I think I went through 25 shells and maybe nicked a feather, but I was instantly hooked and I was like this has become my new thing, wow. And so from that moment on it's been pretty much an obsession and it started with kind of me being the dog and getting in the boat and retrieving we hunt a lot of canoes and kayaks and on rivers and lakes in maine and, uh, yeah, kind of the dog seemed to be the next final chapter, when I kind of got to the point where I didn't really care about limits anymore and I wanted the. You know I wasn't going to shoot unless I was finishing writing the decoys and the next kind of thing to check off of my list was all right, now I need to get a dog.
Speaker 2:It's nice that's so cool it's. I think a lot of people can relate to some first hunts like you just had, and it's so interesting too, like how sometimes it's the little things that like hook you in, like the things you wouldn't expect. You know, seasoned hunters are like looking for like certain things, but you bring a young kid on a hunt or just somebody new to it and it's like even the small details, like the chocolate bars and being able to sit here and just be outside, yeah, yeah, that makes all the difference, kind of get you out of the roots.
Speaker 3:I had a moment of that with my own son. He's 14 now, but I brought him out when he was probably seven and we got out there and I'd set the decoys out. It's in the dark and of course he's bored, he doesn't know what's about to happen or anything like that. And I can kind of see some ducks off in the distance and kind of hear him and I, hey dad, can I, can I blow the duck? Call? I said no, no, you're gonna scare the ducks. You don't know how to blow yet. Hey, hey, can I blow the goose call?
Speaker 3:I said no, no, you, you know you're gonna scare them off. And then all of a sudden it hit me and it was kind of like the chocolate bar on top of a sandpit. I was like you know what, buddy, this is your hunt, like I could do this anytime I want, and it kind of was a mental switch for me and I was like took the lanyard off, put it on. I said go for it, buddy, and he just caught on and the sounds weren't great coming out, but he was calling and calling and then there's crows flying over and he's like I'm getting them come in.
Speaker 2:I was like, I think, you are and I mean we sat out there till he got cold.
Speaker 3:But he blew on those calls non-stop, wow. And had the best hunt in his mind wow. And then we packed it up and went. I mean nothing came in because of his calling, but he had the best time and that's wow. And then we packed it up and went.
Speaker 3:I mean, nothing came in because of his calling, but he had the best time and that's amazing and it was one of those things where all of a sudden I was like you know what I gotta whenever I bring the boys, it's their hunt, it's not my hunt and I, you know, I I kind of took that pretty serious, um, and so hopefully I've never kind of pushed them or anything like that. I think it's cause, I think it is those memories, and he still talks about it. Hey, you remember when you let me blow those calls, and now he knows the difference and he's like you know I wasn't blowing it right, was I? And I was like no not at all.
Speaker 3:But like you were having a great time, so we just let it go.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, oh man, I love stuff like that. Just gets me back to my first times and just stuff like that. And I mean I think everybody can relate to that and kind of go back to those moments. But that really is what it's all about is just getting out there. It is nice to have those. You know, I think a lot of social media these days would have you think that it is limits every time and for some people, it is if you get the right spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah, sometimes, those moments when everything just falls into place, those are special moments and there's only so many of those we get and they're important. But there's also those special moments, like you're talking about, which is just hey, this is your first time to come out here, not blow the duck call, have some fun. Yeah 100% and that's honestly probably more meaningful than we just limited out and killed 70 birds with this big crew of guys and all that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I, I mean it became a moment that I can look back fondly and remember every detail of that hunt, wow, and other hunts where we did shoot limits, or you know, a stud drake, mallard, that did something just perfect. It's kind of like, yeah, I don't quite remember, they come from the left or the right, but I could tell you every detail about that day, wow, and you know that kind of interaction. And so, you know, I think that's what made me shift my focus because, you know, I think as duck hunters or maybe just myself but I think you go through a stage where you're like I want to shoot any duck and then you want to shoot limits of ducks, yep. And then you're like, okay, I want to only shoot like the drakes. And then I only want to shoot the drakes if they're cupped up and they're in the decoy spread and I'm not going to just shoot other stuff just because I can, you know.
Speaker 3:And then I think you know there's things that build upon that and I think it for me personally it was I want to see my boys get out there and success be defined as them just wanting to go. That's incredible. Um, and then the stuff with lottie has been, you know, other milestones where this was our first hunting season that she got out and, wow, you know, similar to, hey, this is more your hunt than it is my hunt and trying to make sure that I was patient and it wasn't all about, you know, telling the group of guys that I'm with hey, this isn't about just shooting as many ducks as we can, this is about my dog getting her ducks, wow. So let's make sure we're taking good shots and, you know, getting them in front where we are and, um, trying to keep those same principles.
Speaker 2:Uh, if I could, yeah so so kind of going from the place. What was there, anything in particular that made you decide like, hey, I'm going to get a dog, and then not just going to get a dog, but you know, you ended up going with a really well-bred dog. What was your journey there? Discovering like, hey, I need a dog, and I also want to have a good dog too, not just you know any old dog?
Speaker 3:I think when you think about duck hunting, there's always a dog somewhere in the story. Yeah, if you read, you know books or watch movies, there's always. You know, everybody remembers that good dog. And before I got into duck hunting, we had what I would consider the best chocolate lab. Did not duck hunt or anything like that, but she was a perfect family dog. Yeah, duck hunt or anything like that, but she was a perfect family dog.
Speaker 3:Um, and kind of, while I was working with her on just like basic obedience, um, I was like, oh, this is pretty cool Someday, yeah, once I got into duck hunting I was like, oh man, when she gets older, I'd love to replace her with a dog that, um, I could duck hunt with. Uh, and I was listening to a different podcast way back when, all about duck hunting, when I was trying to learn that journey and happened to feature Barton Ramsey on it and he was talking about Southern Oak Kennels and I started to do some research and ended up knowing a couple of people that bought dogs from him and seeing their success and then got to see the launch of Cornerstone through that.
Speaker 2:Oh really, that's really cool.
Speaker 3:And so kind of had it all in my mind that this dog was approaching an older age and was like, well, the next dog.
Speaker 3:I mean, for years I was telling people the next dog I get is going to come from Southern Oak Kennels and I'm going to train it with CGI Wow, and mainly not because I'm going to train it, but I'm going to train me, wow, train it, but I'm going to train me. Wow. Right, um, cause I I really felt that it was important that I had the skills able to handle the dog when a problem or something arises, and not have to bring it back to a trainer or call the trainer and be like this is my problem, help me, walk me through it. Wow. Um. So I loved what you kind of you guys and Barton were putting together as far as here's this thing with videos and and actually at the time you guys didn't have 52 plus, but here's this program with videos and you can watch it um, so when aspen, our previous lab, passed away, I made the phone call and put money down and, um, I'd seen red on.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, a bunch of videos and things and I was like I gotta get a red pup, yeah, and barn had a red scarlet, uh, later. But it was like a year and a half out, wow. And so I bought cga and started watching videos and what to do before you get your dog, even though I still had a year and a half to go, just to try to get a head head start on that. Um. But I really wanted to buy a dog from a well-known breeder, to stack the deck as much as I could, because I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker 3:I was like if it's in their blood then I want to be half the battle is done and then she's mine to screw up basically. So I wouldn't take anything back as far as that goes. I think, if somebody is looking to get into it, I think making sure that the bloodline comes from a really reputable bloodline, um, outside of all the training you could do, starting with a good foundation there, is.
Speaker 2:I mean it's definitely. I mean you can train any dog, right? Yeah, you can. But stacking the deck in your favor makes your life easier and things typically go smoother and easier and you all a lot of times have a better experience. It's not to say you won't have a better experience any other way. I mean we've got. I remember Nicholas Hibbs who was on the podcast. I think he paid $300 for his dog and it turned out amazing and it was the easiest dog to train, just had the best time. But I do like to stack the odds in my favor. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:One of the things I was big on was a buddy of mine had brought a dog out with us. Yeah, and it whined constantly.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and I was like this is not. I was at that point where I was like I'm going to get a dog, it's going to be cool. And then this dog whined the entire hunt. Yeah, and to the point where I was like hunting with a dog is not it like I was having a lot more fun without the dog. Yeah, this can't be it. And you know he was telling me oh, it's just because it's a hunting retriever that they whine like this, it's just normal. Yeah, and then, following along with southern oak and some of the other reputable breeders, like their dogs weren't whining, yeah, and I was like okay, well, you can get it. So that kind of the, the bloodline does everything it can to reduce that. Does it eliminate it? No, probably not. But it, you know, I think if English trials and things like that over in the UK they try to yeah, those dogs get weeded out, right.
Speaker 2:If they whine, they're actually out of the trial. You can't continue. If they break, you know you're off lead. There's 12 dogs on the line. If your dog steps forward too far, you know you're out. So I saw that intense.
Speaker 3:I saw that and that's where I was like okay, well, this is the style dog, yeah, me personally that I want, and I know that you know everybody has their version of what they seem as ideal. Right, my big one was like I hunt a lot of canoes and kayaks. I want something a little bit smaller, package, yeah, and I don't really want them to whine if they don't have to, because I was like that would be the most annoying thing for me personally, and so, yeah, I went down, got.
Speaker 3:Lottie ended up getting her in January, which is not a great time in Maine to bring home a puppy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a pretty cold time.
Speaker 3:It was super cold, but they gave us a lot of time to work on place training and healing around, and I was snow blowing my backyard to give her training room and stuff like that. So, um, but yeah, it was, it was good man, and that's pretty.
Speaker 2:this is kind of a pretty, a surreal moment. You were saying that you so you kind of found out about Southern Arcanum, so you've known about Cornerstone since the beginning, if you saw the launch. So we're seven years, we just had the seventh anniversary. Yeah, you were. Uh, we actually just watched the video that's going to be released out there, one that's pretty surreal, though that all that time was so crazy. You're sitting there watching that scene at launch and now here we are today. You're here, yeah, sitting in this seat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of crazy yeah, I still remember the announcements and things like that. It was another group, uh, that did uh, hp waterfowl, yeah, yeah, podcast um josh and dan, yeah. Then I had talked with them and was a part of that and you know, adhered Barton give dog tips and things like that on a monthly basis. I was like man, this guy seems to know what he's talking about. And then just kind of fell in love with social media and all the content that he was putting out. And then he kind of did like a hey guys and gals in that Facebook group and was like there's this new thing called Cornerstone and we're launching it. And at the time I didn't have a dog, but it was. I think you guys had the Founders Club and a bunch of people were jumping into that Founders Club and so it was pretty cool. But then I had kind of checked those two boxes. I didn't know where I'm gonna get the dog from and I know how I'm gonna train the dog.
Speaker 2:And then I just was like man, I just gotta get the dog. So yeah, and then you got the dog. Got the dog, let's dive into the journey. So all right, so you've got that vision. Like this is what I want. I now have my dog and I'm starting training. How'd things go? What was your experience? Like you said, you got it in January, so it's real cold. You're doing obedience stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we worked on a ton of obedience inside the house Found, found it a little bit challenging to kind of burn off energy with a little velociraptor that wanted to do 100 miles an hour in our house. The wife, she, was a little leery about like what did you just bring home? And the two older boys were like what is this thing? Oh man, that's crazy. You know, just such a contrast between an older lab that wasn't made for high energy stuff and just wanted to lay on a couch to a small little puppy bundle of energy that wants to wants to go, go, go, yeah. And so, um, you know, I think we we followed through with a ton of the lesson programs um, week to week and we did 52 plus yeah and uh, and then along the way, like we just ran into issues with trying to burn off steam, and so I think there was there's moments where now, looking back, I probably would have stayed a lot more regimented to the weeks because they were building blocks. That I found out later on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, um.
Speaker 3:But we did a bunch of stuff where you know, um, I think we built retrieve drive real early.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, um, which worked really well, but it was just because I was like I gotta get some energy out of this dog. So I had like one of the like chuck it things, stick with a ball and would put that in there and just launch it in parking lots. And she'd go a million miles an hour to go get that thing and bring it right back. And I had watched far enough ahead of a lot of the programs that I tried to stay out of any of the kind of bad habits that's like I, you know, would, as she was coming back, I'd take like a couple steps back with my hands out. That's smart, bring that kind of ball, even though it's a ball and not a bumper, bring it right back in. And so we worked on a couple of different things like that kind of skipped around a little bit. Um, the other piece of the story is the week before I got Lottie. Uh, we found out we were having our a third child.
Speaker 3:And so a lot of this training coincided with prepping for a new baby and then having the baby, and so our training schedule got kind of mixed up a little bit with that and I knew that I had some certain goals in mind. Like we have a camp on a lake and so I wanted to get water retrieving done early. You know, it was another way. If I can get her swimming, she could burn off some energy. So we were doing a bunch of stuff because I watched, watched, it was, it was good and it was crippling right like I'd watched far enough ahead that I knew that like the good stuff was further and I was like I can't wait to get to that and I was super excited. Looking back, I wish I would have taken the time. Yeah, because each little week stacks on top of the next and not only that. I think as a handler I wasn't ready to jump ahead. Yeah, like that was probably the biggest thing. She was ready, she could jump ahead and was doing everything. I asked her more.
Speaker 2:Like the Mexico, new York thing, right, like she crushed it.
Speaker 3:That was crazy, absolutely and she'd never done that kind of stuff before new york. Yeah, I mean, right, like she crashed crazy and she'd never done that kind of stuff before. Um, but I didn't know how to read my dog as well, as if I would have really been diligent in all those and not just like, hey, try this new thing, try this new thing, because she could check the box, but I didn't know what to necessarily look for in her body language to know, like, is she understanding this concept or is she just like getting lucky? Yeah, um, so some some things along the way. Like I would definitely go back and focus a little bit more on yeah, um, but you know, she, she soaked it up, she passed it, chucked the week off, cool, we're on the next thing. I know that it's going to get better and better and more fun, more fun, more fun.
Speaker 3:And at the same time, I was looking at this september due date for a baby and I was like I need to get as much done as I can before that baby comes, and so we skipped around a little bit, but I would say, overall, the way that it's laid out, I mean you can't find something more practical and useful as far as having. Here's what you're going to do today. Here's what you're going to do tomorrow. And then being a part of the members group on facebook and knowing that I could ask questions or message you guys and say, hey, here's where I'm at and you know that you don't have to stay, yeah, in a lesson or you can go back and refresh something. Um, was really nice it wasn't.
Speaker 3:It wasn't like you, just bought something, yeah, like a dvd. You put it in. Then you got nobody to ask questions to or anything like that. You're just watching. You're like, okay, now what? Like there was a community behind it to go back and ask questions? But this is what my dog's doing. What do you guys?
Speaker 2:think and I love the community and having people like you in the community that help support other people, and now that you've been in two or three years however long it's been you know you've been able to help other people even, too. They're asking questions and giving them advice, and it's making a difference for them, which is beautiful Some of it.
Speaker 3:I don't take back some of the struggles that Lottie and I went through because it made me learn what not to do, absolutely you know, which is not great for me but for other members because they can learn from that experience. Listen, don't do this because I did that and you don't want to go through that because you'll have to redo this. So I think in a lot of ways, like that, training was good, but I got kind of the crash course and oh, now you've got to learn how to read your dog on some of these more advanced drills and some of these more advanced things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all those little details add up, but at the end of the day, I love that we're talking about that too, because, I mean, life happened with you guys, and I think life happens to everybody, whether it's their job or whether it's uh, you know, uh, maybe a career shift, whatever they're doing, yeah, and it can put all these pressures on the dog training and training your dog and I think it's more so like an internal pressure we put like, oh no, well, I know this is coming, we've got to do all this, and so we start reacting. But in reality, even if you do kind of go around the block, like you said, where you bounce around a bit, it's not the end of the world, because you're able to go back and you are able to fix it.
Speaker 2:It is ideal, yeah, if you kind of go and you build all those blocks out because you learn, like in those weeks, even though it seems like there's a lot of repetition as a trainer, you're just learning things that you just can't replicate.
Speaker 2:And when you multiply that out into the advanced stuff, when your dog is 100 yards away from you, being able to read their body language at 100 yards versus being able to read their body language of three feet totally different ballgame and it's super valuable to learn all those skills.
Speaker 2:But even though in your situation that all that happened, you're able to bring it those skills, but even though in your situation that all that happened, you're able to bring around full circle and you can still learn it and you can come in and feel anything you need, which is, you know, it's not a bad thing and the ultimate goal for people is just to get to where you want with your dog, right? Yeah, and even if I mean, nobody's journey is ever going to look perfectly straight, perfectly the same, it's always a. It's a circle journey, like multiple circles. You're going to go in circles a few times before you get to where you need to go, but that's also part of the process, which is. It is interesting, I think, in the world we live in, everything is so regimented, so detailed, so now every systems are so good that people have built things, can you?
Speaker 3:you can just get on a phone and you can do this and that and get what you need immediately I think it's easy to not to not remember that it's a dog, it's not a robot, and like you're gonna have days when they crush it absolutely everything that you ask, and then the next day they're gonna act like they don't even know what. Yeah, you're talking about especially like around teething around, like a female going into heat and things like that.
Speaker 2:That'll make them crazy.
Speaker 3:It's like you're looking at the dog and you're like, what is your deal? And that takes a little bit of research. Oh, maybe that's what it is. And just even regular days, like, just like no, I don't feel like doing that.
Speaker 2:And you're like, oh, okay, that's interesting, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3:So we had our third child, but I think we got to spend a lot of time building the bond. Yeah, we weren't doing the most fancy drills or anything like that, you know, but we were working on place training outside of a football field or at a soccer field and we were having a bunch of kids run up and say her name over and over and she's looking at me and being like I know, I'm supposed to wait till you say my name, and you know, just working down through all that kind of stuff and, um, we got to spend a lot of time on that. And we also had a pretty good size break in between that where we didn't do a lot of the lesson programs for Lottie and I. I think we had gone so far so fast. Um, that a break was actually kind of a welcome thing, yeah, for both her and I. And then, when we did pick it right back up, um, I think she matured a little bit more too yeah, we talked about that a little.
Speaker 2:You were concerned that I don't know like everything I've done has like been a waste because we've taken so much time off thinking that she would forget everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but yeah, I contacted barton and was like how do I get her to a trainer? And was like trying to figure out, like how do I send this dog? Like everything I've done it's all for nothing. Yeah, like I had these magical moments in mexico, new york, which is doing all this stuff, and now nothing. Yeah, right, like not that she couldn't do it, but it just didn't. It just didn't feel like I could commit the time to it to make her perfect. And then I slowly started to realize I'm not trying to achieve perfect. Yeah, I'm trying to achieve better today than yesterday.
Speaker 3:Man, that's awesome and keep going, little building blocks, each day getting a little bit better, a little bit better. And then now we're through year, year two, and she's phenomenal. Wow, you know there's still stuff that we need to work on. Yeah, you know we need to clean up blinds. We trained a lot for marks and then my shooting or something we did mostly blinds all season. And so it's like, okay, we got to start working on more blinds and different things. And so it's like, okay, we got to start working on more blinds and different things. Calling her away from a bird that's stone dead, that she saw really well marked because a cripple's trying to get away over here. Those are the things that we started to learn together through our first hunting season. I was like, okay, cool, that's what we're going to work on now.
Speaker 2:Start to write some of that stuff down and be like gotta make sure that for that yeah, would you say, one of the greatest struggles or challenges you had was kind of like time constraints being uh, yeah, yeah, the husband, a father, you've got all these commitments yeah, 100 and finding the time to dedicate.
Speaker 3:I think it's easy to say I only have 20 minutes, yep, so I'll just do nothing, yeah Right, or I'll just I'll go in the backyard and I'll just throw.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then she'll bring it back and I'll just throw, and you only really cheat yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like it seems like, oh, I'm going to save a bunch of time. But even as simple as like if you're going to do that, make them sit, yeah, throw it. Make them hand, give you a good delivery. Throw in the denials Even though it's a little bit of extra work, like it will pay dividends, versus just throwing the throw and then just kind of, if you got 20 minutes, there's a lot of obedience and things that you can work on in a 20 minute time period. That wears them out mentally absolutely.
Speaker 2:It doesn't always have to be physical exercise of running running, running, it's you're going to sit on place. Sometimes it's better to give that mental exercise to you, yeah.
Speaker 3:So a lot of that was like, okay, I can't, I'm going to drive to the local gas station and she's going to sit at my side, yeah, and people are going to go in and out and she's going to know that, like you know, kids and parents and are going to try to run up and you know, I'd have to advocate like hey, you know, we're training, don't touch my dog, like um. But yeah, a lot of that mental stuff we worked on and that seemed to really help in some of those times when I didn't have enough time to get a full training session.
Speaker 2:What was it that made that click in your mind Like, okay, 20 minutes is actually valuable, or 10 minutes here is valuable, because I think so many people struggle with that. You know, we just got off, it's late, I'm tired, just let the dog go, let it play and then get it back in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I it was, um, definitely my wife and some other friends and family. Um, you know, I was kind of beating myself up because she wasn't like a grand hunting champion retriever by like nine months old or something like that. Right, like I had this expectation that she was gonna nail everything, yeah, and I'd be the first person done cornerstone in the fastest amount of time and have the best dog that does everything I needed to do. And they were kind of like listen, your goal is you want a duck dog? She's already accomplished most of the stuff besides taking her out on an actual hunt, and if not, she's one heck of a good dog. That's true, right. Like she has better obedience than most.
Speaker 3:Like you can put her on a playstand at a baseball game and walk around the baseball field with kids and parents and a game going on, and she stays there watching you to see what's going on. So just stay with it. You're doing it. Like you don't think you're doing it, but you're doing it. And then I was kind of like, yeah, all right, all right, yeah, I, I'm going to jump back in, I gonna, I'm gonna look for things I need to tweak. And then we started for that whole winter, um kind of, if I noticed something lacking, yeah, I would go back watch that week and then work on that kind of week so then it was all shuffled out of order.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wasn't necessarily in the same order, but it was back in winter at that point and so I wasn't able to do some of the lightning memories and some of the different stuff right just space constraints and things. So I went back to more obedience and kind of focus there yeah, man, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she's, uh, two years old, which is incredible. You know, a lot of dogs don't even really come to their own until three, four years old when they start to peak. And, uh, you know, this is your first dog to ever train as a hunting dog. Yeah, for sure. So, and what's so funny?
Speaker 2:I love the themes are hitting on here, because you know really good, dog training can be boring, right? Because so often we think we we've got to get into these big advanced concepts. But what you were talking about earlier, that 20 minutes where you're just making them sit and it seems so monotonous because like, yeah, my dog can do that, no problem, it'll sit on place, I'll throw a bumper, it'll wait till I tell it to go and I send it. But all dog training is a reps game. How many successful reps can you get?
Speaker 2:And so the dog is built in like those monotonous times where you've done it over and over so many times, really to the point to like that's just what. They can't do it any other way because they've just done it so many times this way, and I think so many people like that is really simple, but like it's hard to like get that concept, even for anybody, even pro trainers. I think it's hard to get that concept because in our minds we're here, we're thinking of all these places where we're going and we got all these ideas, but in reality all that matters is one rep now, one rep next one rep tomorrow, that's all the dogs thinking about.
Speaker 3:That's all they're thinking about Okay, I saw that go out and say my name.
Speaker 2:And you okay, I saw that go out, say my name and you stack up 200 reps in your favor. Yeah, like every time y'all are going to a baseball game, that dog's sitting on place, not getting off place. Yep, that is the best training you could probably ever have. Yeah, because your dog is learning to stay right versus a lot of people like we. Just we run into the habit and it's easy to fall into this habit of like you know, if you, if you don't value that 20 minutes, it's like okay, well, it doesn't matter anyways, but it does. You're letting that dog get around, do whatever it wants in that 20 minutes. That's what's going to start replicating.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you take your five minutes that you've got when you get home from work late and you do two reps, like that's not actually truthfully. Yeah, that's not a lot, but if you do two times 365, now that becomes a lot. It stacks up. It stacks up. It's just time. It's honestly a time game. Time is in your favor. Yeah, if you just wait it out, right, and just a little bit here, a little bit here, a little bit here, and I think that's really cool to see, like how you figured that out and how your family and friends around you helped you kind of come to that conclusion. Like you know what, like hey, like this is a really good dog and if we do all these little things like you're going to be okay, and now you're poised for a great. This coming hunting season ought to be just off the charts, should be great it should be great we learned a ton on our first season together.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because I never hunted with a dog before, besides the one that whined the entire time, which I wouldn't really call that a hunt. It was more just sitting there next to a dog that you know it's not very.
Speaker 3:It's not what I wanted, um, but this one, you know, we'd learn every single time that we went out. She learned stuff, being her first hunting season. Yeah, and it was like my first hunting season too, because, wow, I was focused on her and you, and when she wouldn't do something that I thought, well, she's done that concept 900 times in training. How come she didn't pick that up? I had mentioned to you like we were hunting this one spot with a lot of wood ducks and they feed on the acorns, and then there's little rocks that stick up out of the water. Well, the ducks had been piling in, which is great, yeah, and they're eating acorns, and then they're going on top of the rocks and kind of preening their feathers and doing that.
Speaker 3:So, shoot a henwood duck. Which early light, almost invisible to myself. Even my buddy that was there was like I don't even see it and I was like no, it's right there. Yeah, I line her up, give her a back man, she runs hard, charges in, like we've practiced, start swimming in a straight line right out of the dock and I'm like oh, yes, and all of a sudden she takes a hard 90 degree right to a rock and gets on top of rock and I'm like, what is this?
Speaker 3:And I could see that now. And she jumps in the water, she swims across to another rock. I mean we're talking in like a 10-foot distance, you know what I mean. But now she's just ping-ponging around these rocks and I'm sitting here and being like, what is this dog doing? You know, I know, like Josh and the other CJ, they don't put a bunch of pressure on them. It's their first season. We finally get the duck, we get back. I put her in her blind and we're sitting there and we're waiting for the next you know birds to come in. And I'm like I just got to figure out why she went to those rocks and she's never done that in training. And then it dawned on me that she'd smelled live birds on every one of those rocks and she was using her nose and I was, okay, cool, like she did she's learning man, I need to figure this out with my nose because I can't see where it is.
Speaker 3:And she thought, just like all the other blinds, we've run, wow, run till you smell the mallard, run till you get to the bird, smell the bird, scent birds right there. And so she was taking the straight line and then she smelled the bird. Just happened to be a bunch of rocks that had bird scent but no bird on it. And then we hunted a bunch in rivers and just watching her learn the current and figure out, okay, I need to jump in here and then swim at an angle to meet this duck downriver and then swim back the other way. A lot of times I'd walk down the riverbank with her so that she'd be coming back with the current to me, um, first trying to have her swim upstream and just a bunch of different stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, you know, getting into a canoe and paddling in the middle of the night, uh, to our spot, was all stuff that we had practiced. But when you start to put guns in and camo and decoys even though we'd practiced it, we weren't necessarily doing it at like 3 am, so all of a sudden, you know she starts to the next time we went out at that early morning she's like, oh, something's happening, and by the end of the season she had put a lot of it together pretty well Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's incredible. What was your first retreat with her Like after training her? What was that first bird experience like? First?
Speaker 3:bird that we shot was a big Canada goose Wow, big Canada goose, of course. Yeah. Two flew in. We were on kind of an island, we had a bunch of decoys out on a sandbar and two flew in. We were on a kind of an island and we had a bunch of decoys out on a sandbar and two flew in from our right and I was had had my shotgun leaned up and I was holding her because I was like, listen, this is our first hunt. Like had my buddy who had kind of gone into it and said, listen, this is her hunt. Yeah, similar like what we were talking about with my son, this is her hunt.
Speaker 3:We could shoot geese all day, like if something comes in, I want you to get a good shot, make sure it's really dead, then I'll come over and we'll send her if she can't see it. And so they flew in and we were sitting there kind of chatting. I said, hey, walk up over the bank, shoot it, and then I'll send her on a blind for it. So he does, shoots the goose and I bring her over, put her heel. She marked like she sees it floating in the river.
Speaker 3:Yeah, jumps off the bank, swims right out to it, noses it, even though she had picked up geese before noses it and I was like turns around, comes back to me, at which I'm like immediately, like oh man, and then she stops and kind of looks at me, looks back out, and I was like no back, and gave her a cast and she jumped back in the water, swim out, picked it up, dragged it to shore that's so cool while like she was coming back and didn't pick it up, my buddy, because we were on a river and he's like running over to get the boat and trying to untie it and you know, go get it and uh, it was a pretty cool moment to be able to yell and be like she brought it back you don't need to get the boat, we got it dude, and then we threw it in a couple times and had her just, yep, just had her.
Speaker 3:You know current big old goose had to bring it back up and down and we were hunting pretty steep bank and having her carried up that um put her in line. Five minutes later, uh, like three came in on the left side. Oh wow, yeah, she got to watch them circle a couple times and then they cupped up and we shot two of them, uh, right in the decoys and she sat and just like ready, ready, ready, called her name. She launched off the bank out into the water. Classic red launch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, got the first one my buddy couldn't even pull out his phone for the first launch, like way off the bank, and then, um, because it was such a steep bank, I jumped down, grabbed that one and then sent her on another one, and so at that point she had got two and the one of the ones I was like she seems pretty steady, so I looped my hand through her leash, yeah, and I shot, and the one that I shot on the far left ended up being a band. So the first bird she retrieved for me was a banded goose. No way, um, but yeah, we ended up getting nine that day, wow. And so she. Right after that she was crushing all of them. I think there was only one that sailed pretty far, yeah, up river, that my buddy got on the boat and paddled for, but then he got like 60 yards away, threw it in the water and we sent her for that retrieve so she could get it.
Speaker 2:But that's an incredible first experience. Yeah, I went into it, especially for geese.
Speaker 3:I know I went into it being like that's a goose. I really I, I was like I might not even send her. I don't think I will.
Speaker 1:And then, the moment I caught up, I was like ah, I'm going to try it. I mean, you're going to try it If she doesn't get it we're not going to put a bunch of pressure on her.
Speaker 3:I'll just leash her back up, put her in just sitting in the blind on a hunt and hearing the gun go off, and you can retrieve them in the boat. And my buddy was cool with that. But after she brought the first one back, after I sent her back out and it was like game on and she like yeah she was starting to piece together Like like we can do this, now we can hunt.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's so cool yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it started to be like you see her, like you click the safety off and she'd back into her blind a little bit, like that's nice, and then she'd poke her head out a little bit and then back in, and so you know, she started to learn the game real quick from that point on I get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we all have those, those ideals, like yeah, we're not gonna send them, but I mean the truth is for your dogs out there, you're gonna do. I mean she sat steady through the shot she waited till I called name.
Speaker 3:She checked all the boxes as to like why I wouldn't deny her, and at that point she had picked up geese and brought them around on land and water. So I was like it's a win-win.
Speaker 2:I mean, you had to do it, let's try it. There was no other option. You had to do it.
Speaker 3:So I was like you earned this one, let's send Jen was a big defining moment for you and for her.
Speaker 2:I mean all this work, y'all put in is now in play on geese, yeah, of all birds and all geese I mean that's yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:I mean, the adrenaline was definitely going. I was shaking like I had just shot a big buck or something like that. I was really pumped and that's what it's all about and it just takes time to get there too.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, maybe little by little, and y'all the cool thing is y'all didn't even have the program completed by then, because you don't really need to to have a good hunting dog. I think, yeah, yeah, by the time you get to week 36, whatever you've got by what I think most would consider an incredible hunting dog. You know, maybe not in all the blind stuff, but yeah, you know, just a great dog for the small pockets of water and the smaller rivers that we hunt.
Speaker 3:And, like I'm at week 36 ish that I'm I did some of the blind stuff and I've done some of the drills.
Speaker 3:But I'm going back and yeah, tune it up starting up and, okay, we're gonna go right from here and be really dedicated. As soon as I get back, um, and I mean you could definitely take her out and hunt and she's doing just fine, you know, is she going to do like a 200-yard blind Perfect? Nope, not at all, but I have confidence that we'll be able to get to there. Yeah, you know, and we'll slowly be able to get to that. But my goal was I want a dog that brings ducks back and it's well-mannered in the blind, and I've got that checkmark right now. I mean, got that checkmark right now.
Speaker 2:I mean that's amazing, yeah, and I think that's. I love that too that you don't like in your case, like you don't you didn't have to do two years of training to get there, right, your dog just turned two, so year and a half old. We get midway through and we got a dog we can hunt with. And then the following you get them experience, but you know, without the foundation to give them the experience, and that's where things get really haywire. It's probably where that dog learned to whine.
Speaker 2:I mean, some of it's totally genetic, absolutely. But everything is also just based on either reinforced or rewarded, right, if you're rewarding or reinforcing behavior, that's what creates it. So it can be easy to teach a dog to whine on a hunt. If they don't have that foundation, you just got to watch out for it. But and now, here you are, now you've got this next summer, you're in a perfect, you're primed to get out, get, finish out, like you said, and now you've got a dog that runs big blinds, it does all those fancy stuff, and then then you're probably thinking about okay, you know, maybe the next dog at this point so we can continue this training journey, yeah, yeah, it's definitely, definitely come up.
Speaker 3:It's definitely come up, that it's definitely come up. That first season that we didn't hunt was definitely tough to pack the stuff and go out knowing we had put almost a. She was born in November, so almost like a full year in of training. But I've read or heard more horror stories. Some dogs can handle it at a young age Absolutely, but I've heard more stories about things that go wrong than some of the buddies that I have now that didn't go through that and let their dog hunt too early. They break on every shot and I was like this is really important to me that we don't do that. And so I think you know, waiting for us for Lottie you know Every dog's a little bit different, but for her, waiting for that second year making sure that that foundation was really there was super important for us Makes sense Really looking forward to the third year second season, third year.
Speaker 3:Because I think it's going to be just 10 times better.
Speaker 2:It will be. I mean it is.
Speaker 3:She's already got the experience.
Speaker 2:You've had even more training. I mean the cool thing about their second season when you go back out, like they know what to do. They show up ready, they're ready to roll, you're ready. It's a really unique experience. I mean there's something special about those first few retrieves, but there's something really special about when you just show up and it's like everybody knows their role. Your buddies know their role, they're doing their thing, you're doing your thing, your dog's doing its thing and you've got this beautiful orchestra of just incredibleness when you're in the field and it's a beautiful thing, yeah.
Speaker 3:We ended on a strong note. Her and I went out the last day of the season on the main coast and it snowed and we hiked out through the snow, sat on the edge of a rock outface with, uh, some seaweed and stuff and black ducks were just flying all over the place and one cupped up and landed right there. She sat, I shot it center and it just kind ofam, but she broke through ice and came back with it and it was one of those like you worked for that one, I worked for that one. One's good, let's head back, we'll end our cap, our season, on that. And it was, that's incredible, it was pretty awesome and it was kind of like okay, man, september can't come soon enough.
Speaker 3:But I knew that like part of that excitement is now I know what I need to work on with her. So this summer is going to be so great for us to get into that training routine and fix a couple of those things, because I know the stuff that she struggled with that first season. We're really going to be able to fine-tune it and really get it.
Speaker 2:And it's going to be incredible. I'm so excited for you and her and man, it's going to be incredible. I'm so excited for you and her, and and y'all just it's incredible to have you on the podcast as an ambassador to you know, you're an ambassador because we believe that you, you know you exhibit the characteristics of someone who's truly authentic and just loves what they do, and you can tell it. I mean it's evident from hearing you talk right now you're passionate about this. I mean this seems to have really hooked you up pretty good.
Speaker 3:it does, yeah, yeah I've fallen in love with it for sure. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:I've done a lot of things wrong with it, so I can speak from experience, maybe save some other members a little bit of time and be like, hey, this didn't work well for us or we tried that, and you know, um, I would definitely recommend trying to go week by week and stay there until you've got it done before moving on, cause each week builds on to the next, it's. It's one of those things like if you want that lifetime with the dog and you're going to go, you know, let's say, 10 years as an average, hopefully longer, right? Um, you know why, rush it in the first year, or the first two years even like, just really like, make sure you take your time with it, because it is so much more worthwhile to go through it all. And we you know family life got in the way a little bit of like perfect dog training.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's okay. Everything was there and I think it kind of made us stronger for it. And so, like you were saying, probably in a couple of years another dog probably will be coming. Don't want to get too far out of a lot of getting too old before we get one.
Speaker 2:That's good. It builds that competition for them.
Speaker 3:That's right. It makes them even better, that's right, that's right. Yeah, well, it's Make me even better. I'll train another one.
Speaker 2:And I think a lot of people, for their first ones, they want to rush through, not because for the sake of getting there, just to make sure that can I do this Right? And the truth is you can, it's going to happen. But I get that feeling Right. I understand that, like it's sometimes hard to like scratch that itch without doing it, but I think one of the beautiful things I'd love to point out that you did is you you said that you watched ahead a lot. So like you still, even though like maybe you didn't like do it in all perfect order, like it was still in here, yeah, and that's the most important thing, because you were able to at least keep a picture of like where you're at, where you're going, yeah, 100%, and that probably saved you just tons of headache that could have happened, right, if you just blatantly just skip and don't even watch, then you're missing out on some pretty important stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, and I think just you know you still got to live with your dog day to day. That's right. It's not always constantly training and I think there's a lot of, like you know, being a first time retriever owner, you know for where a gun dog was. Like you know, make sure I'm not doing the wrong thing. Yeah, if I'm doing nothing really hurting anything, you know obviously the right thing, but just make sure I'm not doing the wrong thing and reinforcing like bad behavior. So a lot of times looking forward a little bit to be like what's the next session coming up? What can I plan for? You know, make sure that I understand, I understand the concept before I try to teach to the dog. That way I can make sure she knows the concept and then we can move forward with that.
Speaker 2:But I said, as a first time trainer, trainer, just something, especially with time constraint being a potential issue did you end up training more like? Was the training more than you thought, less than you expected to train a dog, or about what you expected? Uh, because you made a statement there which is very true and true reality you're spending actually majority of your time actually not truly like formally training your dog, right, yeah, but I mean so some people were like well, I do, how often do I train and all that stuff.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, um, I'd probably say it was the right amount. You know what I mean. Um, yeah, I think my expectation going into it, especially doing place for the first time, I was like I'm the best dog trainer in the world. Look how easy she gets onto the board. I'm looking at the wife like look she gets right on. She clicked she already knows sit like how fast I'm going to breeze through this.
Speaker 3:Right, and then you get into like some slower things and stuff like that. So I think my initial expectation within the first month was like this is going to be awesome. This is the perfect amount. Honestly, I don't need this many weeks. This is going to be.
Speaker 3:You know I'm going to fly through this and I'm already you know she's doing great. It comes down to pedigree and I thought we were just crushing everything and then it gets harder. And then life happened and then all of a sudden it's certain things I could have done quicker or at that same pace, and then there's other things I probably would have dragged out a little bit longer than I did. So I think the expectation going into it was this is going to be a ton of time. I'm not going to be able to fit this in. I'm going to have to take like three hours every day to do this.
Speaker 2:And the reality is it's not that at all. Yeah, definitely that would probably be bad.
Speaker 3:uh, bad, not good you end up getting yourself in a pinch pretty quick yeah, and you know, once I started really realizing that a lot of the obedience and a lot of the like basic stuff can be done on daily and reinforced daily with small little segments here and there. You know simple as like, put the food bowl down and don't let her go get it until you give her name. Basic stuff like that. Um, I think if you're staying really on top of that, then you know you can get a lot further um in a faster timeframe than what I originally imagined.
Speaker 2:And that's, that's neat. Well it's. I mean I'm just happy to celebrate with you here and get to bring you out and let you share your story, and I mean I'm just happy to celebrate with you here and get to bring you out and let you share your story.
Speaker 2:And I mean your story is incredible, especially with the way it kind of was this interesting perfect storm how everything fell. You got your dog waiting a year and a half for it and all of a sudden then timing his baby and dog. But it's amazing just to see how things have turned out for you, man, and I'm just so happy for you, just for what y'all have been able to accomplish together. It's incredible. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you, thank you guys for putting on an awesome program to follow. It's really made you know me checking that last box, having a gun dog that is also a family dog that I can bring anywhere I want to go. Then it's just a killer out in the field. It has really made that attainable and achievable. So it's.
Speaker 3:I recommend it to anybody that walks up and you know they see this weird looking cot thing that she's sitting on and or she's in this like has this little house built for a dog. And you know get to kind of explain that story. And I can't tell you how many kids at a ball field have thrown a bumper for her and called her name and just thought isn't this the coolest thing that this dog goes? Only, you know we'll do the like, we'll rattle off like four or five names and she'll just sit there patiently still and then when her name goes like a rock I mean you saw her in Mexico, how fast she is so she goes off like a rock at 100 miles an hour every time and kids get a kick out of that.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. It's the little things like that I mean. That I mean that is a big deal most dogs won't sit there. You say any other anything they're going or heck. As soon as the bumper's in the air, they're gone. But just training a dog to sit there and wait I mean, that's a really big deal, yeah, and it's worth the effort because it produces something that makes your life better.
Speaker 3:I mean maine's not exactly the most famous for waterfowl hunting, so we do a lot of waiting in between birds and so I think you know all that time on the sideline out of the parks has played to that favor. You know where. You're just sitting there and you're like this is what it's about, and she just lays down and then the second she hears like a whistling go by, ears perk up. She gets up and then she's looking and you're like, oh, you're ready, Okay. And then she's looking and you're like, oh, you're ready, Okay. And she's just as fast. You know, man. So it's been awesome, it's been a great journey.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. Well, what would you say to someone or yourself or someone thinking about getting started? That is unsure. If they can do this, they want to do it, they have the desire. They're just like you know, because there's a few different considerations. Do I even get a dog? They even have the time to do it. Can I even do this? Should I get someone to help me with it? You know the whole nine yards, like if someone has a desire, but I would really like to do it myself. Yeah it's.
Speaker 3:I could be a testament to somebody that, with a busy life, family life and being able to squeak time in to get it done, if you want to do it yourself, I think there's a lot of avenues. It depends on your family, your dog, what kind of what you have going on. Everybody's going to be a little bit different. So I don't know if there's a cookie cutter response. Yeah, to actually answer that, um, but I would say with cga you could definitely fit the time in. Yeah, um, I think a majority of issues that you might see out in the field are obedience issues. So all you do is focus on obedience. In the times when you can't put together a big training session, you're going to end up with a really good duck dog or a really good field trial dog if you're focusing on that.
Speaker 3:My life with two boys in travel sports and a little one is super hectic, and so if we can do it, I think anybody could probably get it done, but anybody that sends a dog away to be trained and then buy CGA also, because when that dog comes back, you're going to need to know how to be a handler and I think that's the big key driver that, for me, cga teaches. There's a lot of people that could teach a dog, probably better than I could teach a dog, but I needed to know how to be a handler and that you guys teach that and it's invaluable in a lot of the lessons as to like how to read a dog, how a dog learns. All those kind of modules really, really gives you the tools, um, to take it not just from regular training but to like keep up with it and just like basic stuff that that we've been able to focus on. So it's a that's incredible. You can get it done with a short amount of time. I'm testament to that.
Speaker 2:I mean, the biggest thing is you just got to get out there and try and you've done it, man, and continue on on that journey, right, you know, and we're never done. Even when we finish, when they're fully trained, we're never done. Yeah, we still. But this is one of those things, like you don't just start in the finish, it's something you start and then you just do, yeah, because it's something you enjoy, even when they're fully trained. You get to get out there still, train them a few times a week, have a good time, incorporate it into your family. But uh, man, I the only real quick.
Speaker 3:the only tip I would give to somebody that doesn't have a ton of time to train is you really got to make sure that your emotions don't come down through the lead. That's a great tip. You don't have a ton of time to take a breather or cool down, so you really got to go into that training session. Being like I have 20 minutes Work might've been terrible. You might. The kids might've been driving you nuts, right.
Speaker 3:But all that has to stop and it has to just be. Okay. I'm here with the dog, so for me it was a lot of stress relief. Yeah, have whatever kind of day, hey, and sometimes wife, look at me, hey, go train Lottie. Like you need 20 minutes on your own.
Speaker 3:I'm like, okay, but that's a big thing that I would say for anybody that doesn't have a big time constraint. Really focus on that, because they pick up on it. And there'd be days where I'd notice I'm like man, she's acting super funny. Oh, wait a minute. I'm super frustrated about this other thing that she doesn't she thinks it's her. But I'm frustrated about this other thing that she has no concept about and it's like, okay, just relax about that. And oh man, look how she's amazing does exactly what she's supposed to be doing now. So that would be the only thing that I'd say that somebody that doesn't have a ton of time to train big long sessions. You're not going to have that cool down period where your dog makes a mistake. You just got to. You can't bring the baggage with you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you added that, Cause that is like number one and if you can do that and what's so funny is you just don't have to force things right it's what's weird is, when you're trying to make it happen, it's almost like it's going the opposite way, but then all of a sudden you let go. It's like man, things seem to be flowing.
Speaker 3:Yep, yeah, sometimes the session you call it to do isn't the session that gets done and you're like, okay, I guess we're working on this now and you just gotta like flow with that, because time's limited in my scenario. Right, like, so, all right, I can't spend a ton of time trying to get you redirected onto what I actually want to teach you. You want to do this? Okay, we're learning this today and we'll keep reinforcing that, and then tomorrow we'll go back to it and try it again.
Speaker 3:So that'd be the only thing I'd add, that's fantastic advice and just really good Like that's.
Speaker 2:I hope everybody listens to that and gets that one nugget right there, cause that, no matter what you're doing with a dog, that can be a game changer. But, man, scott, it's been. We're just proud of you, man. It's just an honor to get to have you on this podcast, someone. I mean for us it's really. I mean we wouldn't be what we are without you and members like you, because I mean we created the program but ultimately you have to run the plays and you're the one out there doing it in your busy life and everything that's going on. So we're just honored to have you here, man, and it's just a great moment to celebrate with you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the build from here podcast. To learn more about retriever training or our podcast, visit cornerstonegundogacademycom slash podcast.