Build From Here
Build From Here
CGA Nashville Chapter Inaugural Meeting | Kevin Wright
#72 What happens when the digital world of retriever training transforms into face-to-face connections? The answer lies in the groundbreaking Nashville Chapter event – the very first Cornerstone Gundog Academy chapter gathering that's changing how retriever owners train, learn, and build community.
Kevin Wright returns to the podcast to share the remarkable success story of organizing and hosting this inaugural chapter event. As a passionate CGA member who took the initiative to bring fellow retriever enthusiasts together, Kevin offers valuable insights into how the Nashville Chapter came together, what made their first gathering so special, and why this model represents the future of retriever training communities.
The Nashville experience demonstrates how the supportive online CGA community translates perfectly to in-person gatherings. Members who previously knew each other only through screens instantly connected on a deeper level when meeting face-to-face. Dogs and handlers alike benefited from the collaborative training environment where mistakes weren't just accepted but viewed as valuable learning opportunities. From basic obedience to water retrieves, every dog received plenty of work while handlers exchanged knowledge, encouragement, and friendship.
Beyond the training itself, what stands out most is the genuine community being formed. Several members brought their families, transforming retriever training into a wholesome activity everyone can enjoy together. After the formal training concluded, participants stayed for an additional hour and a half simply enjoying each other's company – proof that these chapters are about much more than dog training alone.
Looking to the future, Kevin shares exciting plans for monthly Nashville Chapter gatherings and even group hunting trips. He also reveals details about the upcoming CGA app that will further enhance chapter communications and community building. For those inspired to start their own local chapter, Kevin offers this encouragement: "Just get one other person. If it's just two of you, it doesn't have to be the biggest event, just start something... if you build it, they will come."
Whether you're already a CGA member wondering how to connect with local retriever enthusiasts or someone considering joining this supportive community, this episode offers an inspiring glimpse into how the retriever training journey becomes infinitely more rewarding when shared with others who understand and support your goals.
cornerstone gundog academy online resources to help you train your retriever welcome to the build from here podcast.
Speaker 2:This is a special edition episode. I'm excited to have cg member kevin wright back on. If you haven't seen his first episode you've got to go check it out. It was incredible. We got to talk about his journey with Mabel and a lot of the challenges and the triumphs they've had along their journey and really just their successes along the way. It's been incredible. But on this episode I'm excited.
Speaker 2:We actually just recently had the first Cornerstone chapter event We'll call it the inaugural event and it was held in Nashville, tennessee, and Kevin actually basically pulled the whole thing off. Planned inaugural event and it was held in Nashville, tennessee, and Kevin actually basically pulled the whole thing off, planned the event. Him and a couple of guys Seth and Ben got together and got it rolling. I'd actually had a conversation with Kevin about really the vision of. You know, cornerstone really from the very start has been to help people have a better experience with the retriever and a lot of that comes through rubbing elbows together and so you know, as we released this episode, it's we. We have a few chapters in grassroots efforts, but it's kind of all happening at the same time. We've got a lot of new things upcoming, but chapters are one of the big things and I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2:But this episode I would just love to. We're going to dive in and talk with Kevin and hear his thoughts on how everything went, but without further ado, I just again I want to honor Kevin and applaud him because the first chapter event was a massive success. It was pulled off flawlessly and it was incredible, and I know that the people that were there would concur and agree. But without any more. Kevin, welcome aboard. Welcome aboard and glad to have you back on the podcast. Yeah, it's great to be back on here yeah awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, so the nashville chapter event. Let's, uh, let's just do a little breakdown of, um, how all that went down and, and, kind of uh, your thoughts on it. I'd love to just to dive in and share some of that yeah it, it was.
Speaker 3:It was awesome. You know, when we, you and I, had talked about it and I know you, you, you had spoken with with a few other people, uh, but when you know that first call that we had with with uh, seth and Ben to talk about, okay, you know, let's do this. You know what are the ideas, what are the thoughts about, you know how this could work and and then you know, um, we had these amazing public grounds here in the nashville area that that was available. Well, there's some scheduling issues had to reschedule a couple of times and the part of that was on me but uh, and trying to find availability for for a lot of the people. So we, you know, we posted and reposted a couple of times but, uh, but yeah, it was, it was great.
Speaker 3:Um, a lot of people were excited about it. I mean, there are people that couldn't be there that were like, man, I want to come to the next one. Um, so it was it. I couldn't have been happier. Um, you know, for our first time we weren't sure exactly what to expect, but we'll figure. Sometimes you just got to pull the trigger and make it happen.
Speaker 2:You guys are pioneers. In fact, it's pretty cool because we've actually been talking about this for a while, about this idea, just weren't exactly sure how to kind of pull it off, and the hope has always been was that people like you would take it and run with it. And so when we had that conversation I mean that's kind of what happened you guys ran with it. In fact, you guys beat us to the punch. Obviously, the HQ down here in Beehem, we haven't had our first chapter event yet. The first chapter event for Cornerstone happened right there in Nashville, which is incredible. It was a race. We were trying to rush and beat you guys. Well, you did. You did beat us. We do finally have one. The Birmingham chapter has one on the schedule for July. We're very excited about that. Hopefully you can make it down. Well, I will definitely be there. Yeah, good, well, and I couldn't have missed. I couldn't have missed it. The first event.
Speaker 2:Let's kind of talk about chapters. I'll share a little bit of the concept, the vision behind it. I know we've actually had a lot of members ever since we posted the photos in the group there and a lot of members have been excited about chapters hearing about it chapters, hearing about it and I don't know that everybody fully knows what it is. Obviously we'll do a live Q&A for our current members for them to kind of understand. But I say all that to say we got a lot of people that are raising their hands and are excited to dive into the chapters. But chapters is really just an extension of what already exists. You know, I would say, and if you've listened to a lot of the Build From here podcasts, I think a lot of people say and a general theme and consensus is that the community is just amazing. I was buying access. I've even heard people say I was buying access so that I could get these courses, but I had no idea what was even going to be available to me. If I knew that all of this was available to me, I would have said yes a lot sooner.
Speaker 2:And I've heard that story a lot of times and what it comes down to is the people that you get surrounded with when you're in Cornerstone. And we know that training a retriever is a journey and it takes a day in and day out journey. But nobody should go on that journey alone, alone, and you know that's where the community kind of comes in and we've had the Facebook group, for you know we've been doing Cornerstone, for at the recording of this podcast we're seven or eight years in now and you know we've had the Facebook group for a while and it's been. It's been incredible to see people connect from really different countries, different parts of the world, different states. All have connected around the one common passion and that's retrievers and training retrievers.
Speaker 2:So really what chapters are is an extension of the digital world, but it's on a deeper scale, it's a local scale, right, it's people in your area, cornerstone members in your area, and so that's kind of the whole chapter thing. But, kevin, I would love to just kind of dive into, you know, maybe, some of the background in this chapter, maybe what some of your hopes were, and let's kind of break down the day on how you thought things went. But specifically, you know, I would just love for you to just share, you know, share your thoughts on community thus far. You've been with us for a while too and I know we touched on that in the original podcast a little bit, but I would love just to hear some more on your thoughts about community as a whole, as far as Cornerstone goes and the people, because, again, the people is what makes this thing amazing amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, you know when, when I very first started with cornerstone, um, you know I posted in the group you know about. You know people, you know if there's anybody in nashville, you know, and I had a couple people reach out to me. It was michael nicks and gerald cook, and gerald actually, you know, early on he had a few of us at his house. That's cool, and we did some training and we did that a couple of times and you know that was before I ever made it to a CGA weekend. Mabel was maybe not even six months at that time. So we were really really rough, really raw, you know. But you know Gerald was a super guy, you know, give me some advice, you know. But that's the great thing that I've loved about Cornerstone is everybody I've met has has been super helpful, super helpful. You know. They've been friendly, you know, and everybody wants everybody to succeed, you know, and there's but but, there's no pressure behind it.
Speaker 3:You know, yeah, hey, you know, the only pressure was what I put on myself. You know what we do, so you know, from early on, seeing that community with that. And then, you know, I met seth and Ben and we had trained a few times together and but then, talking to you about your you know you and your dad and Barton's vision on the local aspect and you know the concept of the chapters and we were all three of us were really excited about it, were really excited about it. You know, I know we talked to you, but you know, we, the three of us, you know, texted each other and talked on the phone. You know ideas about it and concepts of what this could be, how it could work, how, you know, a first meeting could happen. So, yeah, we, you know, after we had that first call with you, you know, talking about and talking about our ideas and you were asking our feedback of how it could work and and you know how you guys could help, you know, build that. So, uh, and then we, we took it and ran with it.
Speaker 3:Now it was, it wasn't hard, it was just a matter of doing it. Yeah, you know, that's really what it is. You know we, we went into it. You know, at first I did all right, let's just get together and we'll figure it out. But you know, seth and I talked. Well, we probably ought to have some you know some things planned, you know. But so you know we, you know we did look. You know, obviously we started off with the basic obedience and and did the walk up and did a little, you know, quick, little water set up.
Speaker 3:You know it was, I think, you know, for us and you know what we talked about with it. It wasn't as much about the particulars of the execution, it was let's just get started and get the snowball rolling, love and see where this goes. And you know we, we had, we had a really good turnout. I think it was like eight or nine people, but there were multiple people that wanted to come, that couldn't but that want to. In the past, you know, and we, we've all talked about it and you know there's ideas. You know I'm gonna, we're to try to do something again next month and try to do something monthly outside of hunting season. That's awesome, you know. But you know, and I think this is going to grow. You know we've talked about. Several of us have already talked about maybe trying to plan a hunting trip together.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's going to be a cool. The Nashville chapter duck smash, that's right. That, yes, that's going to be a cool, the Nashville chapter duck smash, that's right.
Speaker 3:Well, and I did include our poor, isolated buddy up in Indiana, chad Batten. He doesn't have anybody really around him, so he can be a de facto Nashville member. We'll let him come Only because he has Mabel's sister.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's cool, and I was. I was talking to Colin Berry. You know he's down in the in Florida 38, the panhandle. He's actually uh helping facilitate the panhandle chapter. That's a cool chapter. You got to go down there and get some seafood. I'll tell you what. Uh, I mean yeah, but he told me he's like I would love to travel up to the next Nashville event. If I can make it work, I'll be there. And that's what I love too. You know it's.
Speaker 2:It's this we've got these sub components right. You've got Nashville, you've got Birmingham, we've got Great Lakes East, we've got the New England chapter, many more. We've got Oklahoma City popping up in the group. We've got I know there's going to be a chapter there. In fact there's going to be chapters a lot of places, because they're CGA members a lot of places and everybody deserves to be able to gather and train together. But what I love about it is like, even though you may be in a different chapter, you can still come hang out, like if you're down in Florida, you want to come up, hang out at the Nashville event. Come on right, it's one big family, it's that we call it the CGA family, the Cornerstone family, but you can travel and connect.
Speaker 2:So but I would say the first event was a huge success. Actually, I was fortunate enough. My wife, abigail, and I were able to make it a trip together, which is cool and very special and meaningful for me because she's been with us since the very first. She was there on the night Cornerstone launch. We were dating back at the time. She didn't really know what she was getting into at the time, but no, and she was able to come to the very first chapter event. To me that's a monumental step, a big step in the right direction of furthering this vision and mission. Hey, our goal is to help people experience the fullness of training a retriever and have a better experience and also inspire future generations to do the same.
Speaker 2:And a big part of that is gathering and, like we said, rubbing elbows together and friendships. I'd love to kind of chat about the specifics of the day. You know, when we rolled up, it was it was awesome Kevin, you're already out there and there was like a whole convoy of trucks behind us. We everybody kind of got there at the same time and it was just. It was awesome.
Speaker 2:You know, we get out of the car and meeting a couple of new people that I have not had the opportunity to meet. I have a couple of friends that have been there that I've already met and uh, just it was almost like an instant click, instant gel even, and I don't know if, if y'all have had the opportunity to train with everybody, but it's almost just like member weekend. When you pull up and you roll up, it's almost like you already know the people. The connections are almost already there. It's really just unique and special and it's nothing that we've done. I can go ahead and tell you that it's just something about the culture and community at Cornerstone that just makes that happen. But at least that was my take on it.
Speaker 2:We roll up and then everybody's getting their dogs ready and it was just like this just natural gelling of connection. I thought it was. I thought it was pretty cool. Build From here is brought to you by Retriever Training Supply. Build unforgettable moments with your retriever and equip yourself with the tools to create a lifetime of joy and discovery with your dog. Retriever Training Supply offers the tools you need to train your retriever with confidence. To shop now, visit RetrieverTrainingSupplycom so that you can strengthen your bond, inspire new adventures and train with confidence, knowing you have the right tools for your retriever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean there's probably a little more than half of the people I had already met, you know whether at a CGA members weekend or there's a couple that have come to some of the repair club I'm in. You know Casey and Adam. I'd met them through that. Yeah, I didn't even know they were Cornerstone members. That's so cool. You know a reason, after before I did, before we had the chapter because I saw I think I saw Casey Post or something like that, I forget. I was like, oh, I know those people, we've actually trained together before. That's cool.
Speaker 2:And they're great people. They are great people. Those Boykins are some cool dogs too.
Speaker 3:They are. Well, don't tell her I'm kidding, but they are cute and they were really talented dogs too. Uh, yeah, it was really cool to see. And then you know sam wolf, you know, uh, he and his wife and daughter came out. You know, he had his little puppy and you know, meeting him, he's super nice guy. Uh, that's my first time meeting wayne. You know we've chatted a couple of times about training and things like that. Everybody just jumped right in and was just, I mean, happy to be there. I mean, you know it's beautiful grounds and you've got dogs with you. It's kind of hard not to have a good day and thankfully the rain held off, so we didn't. You know, it was a that was a threat of some storms, so we, I think it sprinkled a little bit, but it worked out. Honestly, it worked out better than I thought. Wow, it really did.
Speaker 3:Honestly, it worked out better than I thought. Wow, it really did. I tried to temper my expectations, but I think it exceeded it and seeing what we have, and I think, as more people get involved, the more people, the more ideas, the better ideas. We talked about this. Every member takes ownership of it, you know, and we can take this. You know the sky's the limit. You know it's only limited by us. You know what we're willing to do and the time we're willing to put in. You know it.
Speaker 3:It doesn't have to be the regular meeting. You've met people. Hey, we live near each other. All right, we'll get together. I'm going to go visit Sam and do a little bit of training with them and also, I'd never been to Casey and Adams. Yeah, come on over. So it just provides. It's an extension of the members weekend. You know the great times of the members weekend, you know, but on a local level, you don't have to. You know, of course you guys are closed, but people driving across the country. Well then, you find people locally and just get together and and train, because and you build great I mean great friendships.
Speaker 2:I've made so many great friends through Cornerstone and it's awesome, oh man it's incredible and, like you said, you know, and what's crazy is, at Member Weekend we have people that will come from Canada to Member.
Speaker 2:Weekend it's wild. Canada to Birmingham, alabama. I pinch myself. I can't believe that that's happening. But it's not because of us, it's because of the shared passion and it's because, hey, this is a, it's a family, it's a community, and right, and if you, if for those that are listening to this podcast that are not cornerstone members you just don't know until you taste and experience for yourself. But being part of that community, that's honestly one of the biggest things that's going to help you succeed. Look, it's training a retriever. Anybody can do it. Anybody can do it if you're willing to put in the time and you're willing to learn and you're willing to adapt. If you're willing to do that, then you can 100% train a retriever. But I can promise you, if you train a good dog, once it starts to do some cool stuff, I mean you kind of want to go show it off a little bit. I mean you don't want to be out there in a field by yourself saying, wow, that was cool. I mean it's nice to have that affirmation of the community and that of someone patting you on the back saying you did a good job. And that happens at member weekend, that happens in the Facebook group and now that's happening at chapters.
Speaker 2:Obviously, as we're recording this, this is kind of pre pre launch, but it's all kind of happening simultaneously and thankfully it's all coming together. But you know, I'm just I again I pinch myself and I'm just proud of people like you. And you said something that was really good. You said you know, we can take it as far as we want to. The sky's the limit, right, this is something that we're collaborating together. On that, everybody's collaborating together. And you said another thing that I think really stands out is that you know, everybody jumped in and everybody starts making it happen together. It's a team effort. Hey, we're all in this thing together. Right, you starts making it happen together. It's a team effort. Hey, we're all in this thing together. You kind of helped guide it, like, hey, we're going to do this, you guys planned it. And then, when we rolled up, you said, hey, here's what we're going to do for the day.
Speaker 2:But as soon as you kind of said that, everybody went into positions and started getting bumpers and getting gear and getting everything lined up, and then we started training and the dogs started doing their part, I mean that's pretty cool. I mean it's just this unique thing that unfolds, which is just the community, and I believe in fact, I more than believe it, I'm confident. I've seen it with my own eyes because of Member Weekend. I know for a fact that when you come and you gather in person and you train together and you build that relationship, even not in person, let's say let's go ahead. Let's just go ahead and tell them Kevin, we've got the app coming right, we're updating. I'm tired of holding that back. I'm just going to let that one out the back. I've been holding it in too long.
Speaker 2:No, so one of the things that's going on right now and Kevin knows about this, because we've got quite a few people that have other than Kevin that knows as well, that are in the grassroots, that have been beta testing but we have an app that is coming out and we've had an app for a while which houses the courses, but now the app will house the courses and the community. We're not getting rid of the Facebook group. It'll still be there, but we have currently a recording of this is around 4,000 of the Facebook group. It'll still be there, but we have currently recording of this is around 4,000 in the Facebook group. We have well over 7,000 members. So there's a lot of people and understandably so that are not big on social media. They don't want to be on social media. Well, that is now off the table, not an issue. Now people can pull up their app on their phone. They can access their courses and in the same app you can go access the community. We've got the CGA members group and we've got special sections for chapters. So your chapter that you're a part of will have its own place in the app so that you can go in there, you can comment, you can post, you can plan your events together and it's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I'm excited about it being able to have, like we said, it's almost you've got the layers. You've got your community, your local people that are in your area, and then you've got the big broad community, which is still the CGA family. So I finally let it out the bag. But I'm excited about that and y'all have done a good job messing around with that. I mean, we y'all have given feedback. We've been able to kind of build this app together. Uh, any any thoughts you want to share on the app? Um, thus far, or kind of all this together I'm excited about it.
Speaker 3:I think it's going to be, you know, because it has some wallet. I won't give too many details, I'll, I'll leave that you, but it has some really cool features of being able to, you know, I mean obviously share pictures and and photos, I mean, and videos, you know it's. You know, and also you know scheduling events, I mean it's, it's. It's really cool because we've talked about it some too and there's been some others, you know, outside of it we've kind of chatted about it. You know, at times the Facebook group is amazing, but Facebook itself, it can get buried in the noise in there and the way it, the way it presents stuff to your feed. You know they try to decide what they want to. You know what they think you want to see and you know you don't really have any control. But having the app specific for that, all right, I want to go see. You know the cornerstone stuff. You know and you can have it. You know, alert you when there's posts and stuff like that, so you can get notifications on your phone and it's. And obviously there's a web portal too so you can check it out on your, on your desktop or PC or whatever. So it's. It's.
Speaker 3:I think it's great, you know, when, going back to the, you know how I think it's a great tool for the chapter. So you can I mean I know you can do that with a Contagio app but having it all together if we're come out, hey, well, let's think about another drill we want to do and you have all the videos there. Well, let's look at, you know, the group work section there where you have that, hey here, all right, let's just look over this real quick to kind of refresh how a drill may be run or something like that. Or if somebody's you know they're stuck on a week, you know we're that we can review it with them real quick. You know, I think that's, I think that'd be awesome to have when we're training together and you know, above, just the individual use of it. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm, I'm beside myself honestly. I'm just so excited because I'm excited for for everyone to have that even better experience, anything we can do. And this is the tip of the iceberg On this on-ramp that we're looking at in the next year, next couple of years. We're planning a lot of good things here. Honestly, I don't know if I've been this excited about something since we launched 52 Plus, mainly because, again, at the end of the day, it's about the end result for everyone. You know, let's, not let's. Let's get this tied back to the bottom line of what the goal is.
Speaker 2:If you purchase Cornerstone, you're buying it because you, you, you're wanting to get somewhere, and so our goal is to help make sure that you can get somewhere, and I think one of the best ways to do that is is the community and the people.
Speaker 2:So, and one thing I'll say too about um, let's flesh that out a little bit more. We kind of talked about, you know, training and you know there's there's gathering to train and and focusing on training. But there's a kind of a deeper level here with the Cornerstone family. It's not just all about like the technical thing, like hey, we're gathering just to train dogs. I mean, we're really gathering as friends and and family, so to speak, right, um, you, you have any thoughts you want to share on that? Because I know we before we kind of started recording, we were kind of chatting about that a little bit and I thought that was a cool, a cool take and, on things, it makes sense, right, it's, yes, we're here to train, we're here together, but we're also here just to connect and and have a good time well, it is about training dogs.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's what brought us all together. But you know the community aspect of it takes it to another level. It makes it more enjoyable. I mean, you know you had which, you had which you know we will. I don't have kids, but we want this to be a family affair too, because the dog's part of the family, you know, for for all of us and the community aspect of it was awesome. You know, because you know how long did we stay afterwards eating? You know probably an hour hour and a half, you know. You know just just spending time. You know that there's no pressure.
Speaker 3:Uh, it was just a a great community event. Yeah, you know it. You know dog training was in it and it was great and it was awesome and we had some awesome wins, you know, for for multiple dogs, dogs there but and learned a lot and get a lot of exposure. But we got a lot of exposure in meeting people, making new connections. You know that's to me that was one of the best aspects of it because you know I feel like I connected with a lot of the new people that I had.
Speaker 1:I feel like I connected with a lot of the new people that I had.
Speaker 3:Me too. That was so cool and built better bonds with others, in spite of Seth bringing out that ugly UT bucket but he'll love that when he sees it, he sure will.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, I've made great friends and I feel like I've made some, some new great friends and I'm just excited about the future of it. You know with, because there are, you know, I know in the Nashville area there are a lot of CGA, oh yeah, oh yeah. And I know nothing about, you know, as they see this, because there's been several that have reached out, but I think as it grows and as we get together, more and more people will come. They have to make better connections. You know it's, it's, it's amazing and exciting.
Speaker 2:It is, it is.
Speaker 3:But you know Seth brought his little boy. You know he's playing around. You know playing around Sam had his daughter there. It was awesome just to see everything like that and see people just enjoy spending the day together, it was great.
Speaker 2:family affair, right? That's. One of our greatest goals is to get this to where the whole family wants to be involved. Because you know what I mean. In the world we live in today, we're not going to get into politics and all that, but in the reality there is a lot of divide between this is my thing and your thing, right, you know, if the family split, well, you go, do your thing, I'm going to do my thing. But there's nothing better than when a family comes together and, hey, we're doing this together, and that's really kind of one thing that we would love to see too. And the reason is number one sustainability. It's going to help sustain it more, because I mean, let's just get real. I mean, we, we thank God. I mean, there's a reason. Hunting season is in a season outside of just conservation. I mean, if hunting season was year round, well, nobody would go hunting, but at least we could say hey look.
Speaker 2:I've only got this long to go hunting. So we're all going to get out and the family they permit that, they're cool with that, they understand that it's a process. But I mean, I've got to be real with you on those hunting trips. I love hunting and I love going and traveling and doing all that. But I love my family too and I love spending time with my family. And anytime I'm out there and I'm out in the middle of nowhere and no cell service, you know I'm away from the family and those conditions are harsh. It's not exactly ideal for a young family to have little kids out there in the frozen, frigid Arctic of blasting negative 20 windchill. But when you've got something that the whole family can be involved in, I think it's something that builds those bonds and those memories and those relationships. And that's kind of one of the things that we're all about too is these relationships, these memories. These are opportunities for people to on a deeper level than just have a trained dog. This is opportunity for friendships to be developed and lifelong bonds and memories to be developed, but also family bonds and family relationships and family things to be developed. You know, as far as for my kids, as far as vision goes. I see this is something they're going to look back on and I believe they'll look back on it fondly.
Speaker 2:Wayne said that hopefully, wayne's going to be able to bring his whole family down to the Birmingham chapter here in July, which will be awesome. I told him, man, that's fantastic. That's what we want. We want to get as many people involved and we want the family involved and we want it to be fun too. We want it to be fun for the family, right For spouses and for kids. We want it to be something that everybody's like. This is what I look forward to. You never want it to be a burden, you always want it to be a delight, and that's what we're going for, and I feel like the way you guys ran the chapter event was very conducive for that.
Speaker 2:It was, like you said, a laid back environment. Everybody had fun, every dog got a lot of work. It was just, it was just cool, and that's one of the things, too, that distinguishes the way that Cornerstone does things is hey, I mean, the dogs are pretty much out the whole entire time. So your dog's getting a lot of work, your dog's getting the opportunity, but you know, it's not just running retrieves, it's steadiness, it's sitting there and being patient, it's actually doing what a good dog is supposed to do be a family dog too and 99% of that is sitting at heel or sitting on a playstand and not being disruptive. And I thought that and I was actually really impressed with the dogs at the Nashville chapter event no disruption going on. They were all like I was like man, you know as far. You know, when we do member weekend, like the first, the first half of the day, it's a little. You know everybody's getting things going. But it was like we only had like three or four hours here and boom, everybody jumped in and dogs were rolling right to it.
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Speaker 3:Well, and you know it's, that's another opportunity. You know, talking about the dog and the socialization I mean that's, you know that's one of the best tools of members we can. But being able to do it with chapters, you know it's on a smaller scale. Yeah, but getting that socialization with your dog, getting comfortable around those things, that pays dividends. You know, obviously with family life, but it transitions into hunting. You know being you know with with stuff, you know, even though it wasn't chaotic, you know, at times when dogs are running and the, you have your dog sitting there watching. You know it's got to learn to. That's something Mabel struggles with a little bit. She's gotten a lot better. But you know, having those opportunities with your dog, you just can't can't beat it.
Speaker 2:No, no, you can't beat it. It was uh, man, it is cool and I'm I'm really excited. I'm excited to see what member weekend is going to be like, as the chapters are launching here, you know, in mid summer and or member week. It's member week. Now, I keep forgetting. We've called it member weekend so long, but member week. Can you imagine how much easier the transition is going to be, for I mean, if you've been doing this, you know this is all your dog knows. Hey, once, every little bit, you know, once a quarter, once a month, we go and we train in this group and then you roll up at member weekend. It's just a natural extension of what's been going on throughout the year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, and as new people become members, you know you'll have an easy way to get plugged in. That too, yes, the local chapter, you know, and we all help each other. I'm excited about that. My only regret is that it didn't start sooner, when I started Me too, I regret that it didn't start sooner too.
Speaker 2:Me too I.
Speaker 3:I regret that it didn't start sooner too, but no, I think it's going to. It's really going to be a great tool for everybody from you know, training the dogs, but just it's just going to be great for people to plug in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, yeah, I think it'll, it's awesome you know, wayne mentioned that too when we were there. I think we actually interviewed him. We've got it on the phone. I need to pull that video together but he mentioned something that was super valuable and this is something I saw too at the chapter event, the chapter gathering, whatever we want to call it. But there were some small tweaks that were being made and like the dogs were getting better, like immediately. And also Wayne even mentioned like wow, it was cool to see that from a.
Speaker 2:You know, I only have this perspective and I'm so focused on all these things. But having someone outside looking in and we're all kind of going from the same playbook, so to speak. Right, everybody's Cornerstone member here, they're all using the course, or hopefully using the course, or at least have watched the course, but we're all kind of following the same playbook, meaning the advice you're getting is not off the walls, from left field, from a totally different way of training. It all is cohesive and it helps you see the fuller picture and get to where you're going. So I thought that was cool, kind of building off what you said there. I thought that was pretty cool. Man, I'm stoked for the next Nashville event. Hopefully we can make it up. I don't know if y'all have a date yet. Maybe I'll bounce that around. Yet we don't yet.
Speaker 3:Of course this time of year it gets hot, so we're going to. Of course you know this time of year it gets hot, so you know we're going to. You know, of course you know you guys are not. I mean it's, it's we're. We're all get really hot down here in the south this time of year. So we got to, we got to be careful with the dogs, but, yeah, we're.
Speaker 3:I definitely want to try to do something next month. Something next month, um, we'll, we'll just, uh, we'll, we'll probably next week start reaching out to people and see what we can work up and hopefully everybody and more people can come and and we'll just keep this rolling, keep it growing. And and I'm excited too you know selfishly when you know selfishly, when you know, as it gets closer to the season, you know to do. You know you know we'd love to do more mock style hunting. You know to get. You know to get dogs ready for the season. You know to simulate actual hunting conditions as best we can. I think that's going to be a great addition to it. You know, obviously we do drills and do these things to build their skills, but being able to put them into practice and run with other dogs I think that's you know in a training scenario like that. So you know if it breaks.
Speaker 3:If it breaks, well, yeah, that's great. You can address it and teach them through it instead of you know, in a hunting scenario, you know what do you do, because you and I've talked about it. When you're hunting these fast dogs, when they break, there's probably not a lot you can do about it and they get that reinforcement. So you've got to spend time dealing with that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm excited about all the opportunities with it. Oh yeah, I love that perspective.
Speaker 2:I mean, hey look, here's the deal. Nobody wants to be in the blind and be embarrassed by their dog but that actually happens a lot. You're right, it happens a lot.
Speaker 2:So if we can do it in the mock hunting and the mock blind before the real blind, that's going to be best and in fact I love you. You brought that perspective. I'm already seeing it now More dogs better prepared than hunting season ever before. I mean when we've done the mock hunts at the member weekend and the member events that have gone on, I mean it's truly incredible at like the dogs that go hunting after that they already know what hunting is. The only difference is it's just real birds that are flying and not being thrown. That's kind of really the only difference at that point and it's probably a lot colder than when we did the event. So that's kind of the only main differences, but I'm glad you.
Speaker 3:Well and it's not just about the dog, I mean, as a handler, you've got to learn how to handle a dog with another handler with a dog. You know being able to build that teamwork and learning how to work with other people with a dog. You know that's an extremely important part. You know how do you communicate when to send the dog, when's the appropriate time to send which dog. You know the kind of work through that, just to understand how that works.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's incredible. Well, I'm trying to think of what else, what some kind of final thoughts that you have, I mean initial. I know we're so early into this, but it's also. I'm just again, I'm just beyond excited, because the goal again is to and I've already seen you exhibit that, and that's what I love about you guys that have pulled off the first chapter event Y'all are here to give back, we're here to give to people and when you have that cycle of, hey, everybody's giving to each other, everybody's helping serve one another, that's a repeatable cycle.
Speaker 2:That's sustainable and versus a repeatable cycle. That's sustainable and versus a take-your cycle. Right, people come in and they're coming to this for what they can get out of it. But you guys and what I love about you guys you are coming to this for what can I give to people that are coming? And if we all maintain that attitude and mentality, it's a no-brainer. This thing will just cycle itself and continue. Uh, because that cycle can continue, which is just incredible. But any, any kind of closing thoughts, anything you want to share to to the world that's listening about chapters. I know we've kind of covered a lot, but is there anything else kind of final?
Speaker 3:thoughts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know as you know, because there's been a lot of people talking about.
Speaker 3:you know how do we start one, what do you? Just get one other person. I mean, if it's just two of you, it doesn't have to be the biggest event, just start something. And you know because Seth and I trained with Ben, first because I met him through, because I posted on there that he was in the area, so he and I got together, and then I met Seth at the members weekend and we've gotten together. And we've gotten together individually separate times and together a couple of times. But just reach out, find one person that's in your area and then you know, just keep getting together and keep posting about it. It's just you know, if you build it, they will come. So I like it, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah, do that and then, as it gets rolling, look into I think that's one of the beautiful things is like where we've got you guys that have already started one or us that have one down here. We've got some core chapters right now, but as someone that if you're interested in doing a chapter, that's it. You just got to look, get in your area and we're going to support you as much as we can Because, again, as long as you're supporting the mission and the vision, which is help people have a better experience with their achiever and inspire future generations to do the same, we're moving in the right direction. So that's what we're looking for and, like Kevin said, you don't have to have this big, huge chapter.
Speaker 2:There may be three of you, guys or girls, there may be just a few of you in an area, but if you have the desire to do this and you're interested in it, just let us know, reach out so that we can support you and kind of cultivate that there is kind of a process for doing the chapter.
Speaker 2:As far as having an official cornerstone chapter right there is, there will be these official cornerstone chapters and obviously the nashville. The chapter is official, but we'd encourage you to do it. Do it officially so that it can actually be an official cornerstone chapter and you can go through that process. But all that means is just reach out to us so that we can help, support you and make sure that it happens. We're going to do everything we can and just give you the full support of CGA so that again you can gather, you can train with confidence and you can help yourself have a better experience and help other people have a better experience with a retriever and no more embarrassing dogs in the duck blind right, exactly, and maybe in the regular training field, right, let's make sure that doesn't happen.
Speaker 3:Let's get to where we're training with confidence, even though you hate that, that's where you want it to happen is out in the training field. Yeah, and you know, because I mean lord knows I was embarrassed first couple of uh members weekends with mabel. Um, because I had no idea what I was. I still don't know what I'm doing, but we're getting better. But, uh, but the great thing about that, you know, know, in that scenario, nobody I mean nobody cares. They, I mean they care, they want you to improve.
Speaker 2:They're not going to dog you about it. Yeah, they're not going to dog you about it, they're going to help you.
Speaker 3:Because most, because most people's been through it. Yeah, I mean, I'm not trying to single you out, but I've. I've seen Violet just take off on her own. She's done it At a members weekend. Yeah, you know, they're dogs, they're going to embarrass you, it's fine.
Speaker 2:Hey look, I pity the fool who would be. I'm above that, well, no no one's above that. Look, I've learned that. Let's make sure we know it. It can happen to anybody anytime. So if it happens, you're good, we're going to help you through it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just work through it. It's not the end of the world. It happens because they do have a mind of their own.
Speaker 2:They do. They do. Well, kevin, I appreciate you for coming on and sharing about the Nashville Chapter event. We're going to try to do some Cornerstone TV episodes on some future ones, maybe hopefully the next one, if we can make it up there. Unfortunately we couldn't get the camera crew together for this one, but we did get photos so at least it's documented photo wise. But that way people can you know on the YouTube here. You know, if you're listening to this on the podcast, then great, we'll check out the YouTube channel because there's plenty of YouTube videos you can see. Maybe you're watching this on YouTube, but that way you can kind of get a little deeper behind-the-scenes look. But also for those that are listening that are not Cornerstone members hey look, the Cornerstone family is amazing. I mean I'm going to just keep bragging on them. I'm never going to stop bragging on the Cornerstone family.
Speaker 2:You've got people like Kevin Wright who are willing to go out of their way, even purchase some food to feed us. Kevin did that out of his own accord. That's the kind of people you're around. They're going to help you. They're going to help you have a better environment to be in. They're not going to dog you when you do something that some would consider stupid, right, they're not going to dog you. Instead, everybody's there to just encourage you along and help you and offer advice and feedback when you want it. But again, it's all coming from that same playbook.
Speaker 2:I've seen some off-the-wall advice out there on the Internet land. Sometimes I wonder where did that come from? But the cool thing is with the Cornerstone community. I don't really see that going on in the Cornerstone community. It's sound advice, it's stuff that honestly I would say, and Barton would say and you see that stuff that you can trust, that you know is going to turn out. And so if you're on the fence and you're out there thinking about it, look, come on in the water's great, I think you're going to love it. I think you're really going to love it when you're meeting people in person shaking hands and rubbing elbows.
Speaker 2:But also for you Cornerstone members that are listening to this as you get excited, hey, look, maybe you're thinking about a chapter, like Kevin said. Well, just reach out, let us know. In fact, it's already going on in the group right now. We've got quite a few chapters getting ready to be organized and all that. So if you're interested in that, just let us know and we're going to jump in and support you.
Speaker 2:And, biggest thing is just thank you. Thank you to everybody that's put in the time and effort on this, the beta testers, and let's see where this thing goes. I think we're going to see people have a better experience with their dog, we're going to see families get involved and we're going to see the future generations inspired to continue this legacy and continue that on as we as we move forward. So I'm excited and, kevin, thank you for launching the first chapter event. We couldn't have done it without you. I mean, y'all did it and I look forward to the next one. So I just want to honor you on that and to be a pioneer in this process, and y'all have done a. Y'all have done a fantastic job.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me on here. It was a great time and, uh, I'm excited about the next one. I'm excited to come down and show you guys in Birmingham how to do it.
Speaker 2:Well, come on, we need the help, we need the help.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Build From here podcast. To learn more about retriever training or our podcast, visit cornerstonegundogacademycom slash podcast.