Build From Here
Build From Here
From Dove Openers to King Eiders: ALL IN | Russ Freehling
In this episode of Build From Here, Joshua Parvin talks with CGA member Russ Freehling about a lifetime of waterfowling, finishing the 41-species North American quest, and the rewards of training his own retriever—from backyard drills to seasoning a pup on real hunts. Tune in for practical training tips, creative urban adaptations, and the joy of building a true hunting partnership.
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You're listening to the Build From Here podcast, a podcast for the hunter and sporting dog enthusiast alike. Join your host, Joshua Parman, as he interviews retriever owners and discusses the trials and triumphs that lead to a great gun dog. Build from Here is presented by Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy. Online resources to help you train your retriever. Now your host, Joshua Parman.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the Build From Here podcast. On this episode, I am so excited to be chatting with CGA member Rust Freelink from Southern California. I've been talking with Rust for a while now, and I've just been uh really uh I've admired his progress he's made with his dog, but I've also admired his waterfowl journey and really just his life story. Uh this is gonna be a great episode. So you're gonna want to sit back, listen in because as you can see, if you're looking on the screen here, if you're watching this on YouTube, if you're driving around the road, you can't see it. But if you're watching on YouTube, you can see there's a lot of birds sitting back behind him. So this is gonna be a cool story and can't wait to share more. So without further ado, let's bring on CGMember Russ. How's it going, Russ? Welcome aboard.
SPEAKER_02:It's going well, Josh. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's an honor to have you here for sure. And uh I think if any of us are uh any waterfowls are watching this and they can see the birds back behind you there, they're probably drooling over themselves right now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's it's a passion. And uh I'm an old guy, I'm 65, and and uh I've been waterfowling for probably 45 years, something like that. And um I I counted them up the other day. Somebody was asking me, I've got 55 mounts. I have a very understanding wife, been married 40 years, and she said I can have one room, so I've just about filled it, not a lot of wall space or ceiling space left. Um, but uh these are from all over North America, and um you know some of them took me many years to get, some you get first try, just and everything in between. But it's uh it's been a nice journey.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. And you you now, and we'll talk more about this in a second, uh, but you have killed all 41 North American uh species, if I'm not mistaken, is that correct?
SPEAKER_02:About 10, 11 years ago, um an outfit called uh UWC came out and they said we have a way for those that are interested, they've they identified 41 different species of waterfowl in North America. So Canada, United States, and Mexico, geese, swan, ducks. There's 41 major species. And for anybody interested, and and if you wanted to go shoot a model duck in Florida, uh they had a guide down there that they recommended and that kind of a thing. So I joined it with my son, uh, who's who's uh he's 34 now, and I said, this would be just a fun thing for us to go see different parts of the United States. And if there's certain birds you want to go target, we want to go to Tundra Swan or something, we could go do that. So it started out that way. And I got about you know three or four years in, and we're where I hunt, fortunately, there's a lot of different species. So I got like 15 of them in my home here, uh, my club. And uh we kept going and he got busy with work and things that happened, and all of a sudden I started getting into the low 30s and mid-30s, and a buddy of mine had been on several of these hunts, and he said, you know, you're getting real real close here. We gotta we gotta think about keeping going. So then it became a quest, and uh it took me over nine years to do it. The last bird was the king eider on St. Paul Island up on the Bering Sea, and that that was the hardest one by far. And you don't have to do them in any particular order. It it probably should be that the hardest one is the last one. But uh in December of 2023, we uh we went up there and hunted that those birds and finished the the quest. And uh yeah, other than um being married and having uh a kid, that's probably the greatest accomplishment that that I'll achieve in life. When I did it, there were only 39 of us at that time that had done it. I think now it's up close to in the 50s somewhere. But uh yeah, that was uh that was yeah, it was just a nice way of and and a lot of a lot of these birds I'd already shot before, but I started to kind of okay, now let's officially start counting, and we kind of like if you just figured clear the deck, like getting a puppy, you know, and just start from scratch. And uh, you know, you register these birds and then keep track of them. And so I get my mallard, and even though I'd shot a bunch of those in my life, I I would log that and register that, and we just started from there. And and uh so it it was it was quite the journey. I met a lot of really nice people all over North America and became friends with them and see how they hunt, what they do. So you have kind of a kindred spirits with folks, and uh we're we still stay in touch today. And uh it was really a really good adventure, nice journey to to kind of chronicle your hunting career.
SPEAKER_01:That's absolutely incredible. I mean, only 39 at the time and and still 50. That's slow. And there's there's a lot of waterfowlers out there. So to be able to do that, that is that is something else. Before uh before we dive more into the dog stuff, let's go back. Since you're such a passionate waterfowler, where did all that begin? You know, who got you into hunting? Where did where did your story start?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I'm probably very typical for most folks. Uh typically, you know, a father, uncle, brother, somebody takes you. My dad took me out um in 1973 for a dove hunt, dove opener. His buddies did that and had done that for many, many years. It was kind of a reunion for them, and they'd all get together and catch up and talk and and uh socialize, and then we go dove hunting. And uh, like most dads, he you know, you expose your children to a lot of different interests to see if something, whether it's music or sports or whatever. And that was one of many. And that one just for some reason it let a fuse. And I loved it. And uh 1973, I was 13 years old, and last year, 2025, was my 53rd consecutive dove opener. I I kept going, kept doing it. It it as everyone knows, that dove hunt hunting for us opens all the seasons. That's the very first one. So we go out to Yuma, 115 degrees, and and uh I'm out there in the field sometimes. Yeah, it's hot. And I'm thinking, I, you know, I'm more dedicated than smart, but I'm I'm not gonna not miss, you know. So um we uh that started it, and then uh a big depression would set in when the the trip was over, and that was kind of all I did until you know many years later, my wife worked with a gentleman at work who was a duck hunter and he hunted the refugees out here, and he didn't have anybody to go with, and he mentioned it to her and said, Well, my husband might want to go with you on that. So that started it. I I was my first duck hunt. I remember three redheads came in. I was actually I fell asleep on the levee because we've been up since midnight, and it was like 10 in the morning. And I I woke up to him shooting, nice heads up, right? He's shooting and these redheads are falling before I can even get my gun up. But uh that that took me to the next level. And uh I've been hunting waterfowl ever since, and that has been really my passion um chasing those birds all over North America. And I belong to a club down here in North in Southern California, and I hunt two or three times a week. We hunt Wednesdays and weekends, and uh I still pursue it that way, even though the it's becoming a concrete jungle here, so the hunting has not been great, but it allows me to get out and and hunt and call and work my dog and and uh hopefully some birds will come in. But that's that's kind of the the scope of it, and then a whole bunch of hours in between um all over North America hunting these birds.
SPEAKER_01:That's incredible. That's insane how uh one little dove hunt in 115 degrees can can lead to where you're at today, which is all 41 and a wall, uh really a room, a whole room full of birds.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it is, and and there's not much wall space left here. There's pictures in addition to the mounts, but um everybody that mentored me is unfortunately passed on. Um I'm the old guy now, so it started, you know. If you looked at a picture, for some reason we always put the kids on the left, and the old guys kind of were on the right. Well, I've been working my way to the right now for a few years. So uh, whenever we take a picture, it's me on the right. Um, but I remember my dad and all his friends, and um, I will call family members of those gentlemen on my my drive. It's a five-hour drive down to Yuma, just uh reconnect with them and let them know that I'm carrying the torch and I'm the last of the Mohicans, but I'm still out doing it. And I think about all those guys and all the stories they used to tell and the hunting stories and everything. Um, so it's just it's just a great family tradition. And I, my son, of course, he's 34, he's got two small boys. Um, so it'll continue on, you know, with them as well.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Yeah, that's very special. I love you know seeing that pass down and and continuing the growth of and pr preservation of what we love. I mean, it's uh that's the only way to do it is introduce it people and and family and slowly bring them to develop that passion, which is for those that are that enjoy it, it's not hard. That typically one hunt is all it takes. You then you're addicted, and then you have a lifetime of hunting or pursuing of hunting.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that's true. And I I firmly believe if if you're fortunate enough that that God kind of instills a passion in you, um you you should pursue that. And whether it's hunting or fishing or tennis or baseball or music or um you're if you have a passion, there's a reason for that passion being there. And I a lot of folks would start that and they say, Oh yeah, I don't know how many times I've heard the story. I used to hunt and then I got married and I got a job, and I haven't been in 30 years and 20 years, and you know, I mean, it wasn't really a passion for them, but I I won't let life interrupt that. To me, it's too important. And I feel very connected uh with the man upstairs when I'm out there. And uh it's just, you know, for those watching, they understand what I'm talking about. When you see the sun come up and the world wakes up all around you and you're a part of it because you're out in that ecosystem in the marsh, or you're in the evening and you watch the world kind of go to sleep as the sun sets down, you're a part of it. Um, there's something in your soul that stirs there that um you know, I don't know what why else a guy would be out there in 115-degree weather in September and then out then in two months fly to North Dakota and be in 15 degree weather, um, freezing, uh, other than there's a passion there, and and uh you know, you just my opinion is you can't let that go. You've got to go after it and pursue it. So um that, you know, long story short, that that's what's driven me to do all the stuff that you see in this room um and and um pass it on to my son and and his sons.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. Yeah, the the passion, you're right. That's the only thing that can describe it. And that's one thing I'm passionate about and excited about for your story, is I think that passion that you have for the waterfowl bleeds over into the dog training because they kind of all mesh together. Now, for you, I I'm curious that where did the dog thing, where did the dog thing come in? I mean, I'm sure it doesn't take long when you become a waterfowl to realize, well, there's a problem here, and that's we could be killing more birds if if we had a dog. But what about for you? When did that moment come in? And when was the the moment you said, I'm gonna and we can even go to your first dog, you know, where where did that come in? And I would love to know the background on that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I, you know, um this I'm on dog number six. Again, I'm an old guy, so I got my first dog when I was in high school. And um, you know, the I think it was those guys that the mentored me with dove hunting, one of them had a dog, even though they typically don't take the dog dove hunting. Um, and they said, Well, you really need to get a dog if you're gonna be into you know bird hunting and stuff. And I think for me it was, you see, the in those days you had to buy a video, they weren't they weren't on TV like they are now. Um, but the first hunt that I experienced where a guy had a dog, and to watch that dog work, and none of the dogs I've been around would be what I would call world class or they're gonna be a field champion. Um they fetch the ducks, they come back, they shake all over everybody, then they drop the duck at your feet. You know, that would be a good dog. Um, but to see that dog work, um again, you talk about a kindred spirit with another with an animal, uh, but also you see the passion in their eyes and you see that they're doing what they were bred to do. This is it's not just they're being trained um to do something that's foreign to them. This is something that wakens up within them with the training. Um, it's a joy, uh is the word that I I use when when the dog does well, whether it's in in practice with bumpers or in the field, there's a joy uh to their to their gait, the way they run, the way they look at you, the way they hold their head. Um, and to experience that is like, all right, we we're on the same wavelength here, dog. We we think the same way. So yeah, it it became um a lot of times I'm I'm hunting by myself for various reasons. Um now you have a friend, you have a buddy, a hunting partner. Um, and yes, it is a conservation tool. I don't like to use to lose birds. Um, I've been known to look 20 minutes for a down bird if I didn't have a dog, because I hate to I hate to waste the resource. And guess what? When when birds typically fly, they typically fly about at the same time. So you're out there looking for a bird, and you can you can kind of see birds on your peripheral flying around, but you don't dare take a shot because then you once you take your eye off the spot, you're you now you're really lost, right? And then you finally either find the bird or you don't, and you go back to the blind and it's like it gets all quiet again. It's like, well, I just wasted probably the opportunity of the morning. Um, so you get you get to shoot more, my experience. Um, if you have a good, clean, uh, efficient retrieve. You get to witness the joy of the dog and of your new new best best buddy, um, experience that with you. Um, and then you don't waste animals, you don't waste the birds. And to me, all three of those are very, very important. And quite frankly, um, even though we have a hundred-day season, and my wife thinks that's enough, and it should be after January. I should be not thinking of hunting anymore and doing family things. I like to make my my existence and my life kind of hunting a year-round sport. So, one of the things you can do if you have a dog is you can um, I got a puppy right after the season ended last year, and that's become my everyday um keeping a connection with hunting is working with my dog. And uh either that or go practice shooting, or I take the dog with me to go shooting, um, so she can learn about the the my side by side and how you ride in the in the ranger and getting out and sitting at my feet while I shoot sporting clays and being well behaved and not being gun shy and all part of that that shaping process that you talk about a lot. So um, long answer to your question is it it for all of those reasons, it just makes a perfect fit into the passion that I have for waterfowling.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. It's uh I mean, everything you described is spot on for I think many of us, you know, having that dog, that connection, that bond with them. What was the deciding factor for you for training the the dog yourself?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I'm a little wired different. I I like to do things myself kind of on a grassroots or from an organic standpoint. Um, I've loaded my own shells before for practice and for hunting. I've painted my own decoys, I build my own blind from scratch, uh, paint my duck boat, my own kind of camel pattern. Um, and so I I this dog, I actually, because I'd just retired, I was actually gonna um take it to a trainer. I've always trained him myself because I wanted to take pride in the dog being a good dog and know that I'm the one that that taught it those things, have kind of that coach's pride. Um and my dog has been good. Um they're never gonna will win a uh a ribbon in a competition. Um my criteria was that they need to be a good citizen in the blind so they're not a nuisance to me or other hunters around me. Um and if they fetch more birds than they don't, I'm a happy guy. They're probably gonna find birds that I would not have found with their nose and so on. But this dog, I thought, you know, I I think I want to have a dog that's really dialed in, that really knows how to do casting and right and left and back and can do all the advanced stuff that I've seen so much of the time on all the YouTube videos and on the duck shows and so on. So I'd actually made an arrangement. The breeder uh is also the trainer. I bought the dog, and at seven months he wanted the dog back and he wanted it for three months uh at a thousand dollars a month to for training. And then part of the package was, you know, I'm I'm available for the life of your dog after that. If you run into a problem, you just tell me what's going on, I'll meet you down at the club and we'll work on it together. So I was gonna do that, and I had signed up for it and everything. And then I stumbled on your your program and um I started doing it, and I thought, you know, A, my wife got attached to her and not having her in the house for three months, I could tell it's gonna be a pro. Um, and then and B, I I thought, you know, I've always kind of taken pride on success or failure, it's it's on me. Um, and I I think I can do this. I think the way these courses are laid out, uh, I have the discipline to stay with it. Um yeah, you know, maybe maybe it'd be, you know, maybe I could get the dog to, you know, a 90 percentile where the trainer might have it at a 98% because he's a professional. But a 90% of the cornerstone way would be way more advanced than any other dog I've ever had. Um, and it again it lets me, because of the roadmap that you put out with the daily planner and your and your lessons on video, it allows me to work on that daily. And and uh, you know, we're training five, six days a week at some capacity. So um it's it's she loves it. I mean, she the program is we get up, we have breakfast, and after breakfast, she seems to have her most focus in the morning versus in the afternoon. Um, and she starts coming after me and kind of doing circles around me and kind of runs over to where the bumpers are, and it's like she knows this is time to to go to work, and that's fun for her. Um, so again, long answer to your question, but uh I just wanted to take the pride in doing it myself um and um kind of get that satisfaction that um I got this dog to cast and to stop on a whistle and then go back and then come back on a whistle. Um and look at the joy that she has when she figures it out, how happy she is that she was able to do that, get the praise. So that that stuff I I would have missed that if I had paid somebody else to do it. So that that's kind of why I I did that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's that's one of the most beautiful aspects of doing it yourself. I mean, there's so much joy that you get. You use the right word is joy, not just even pride, but joy and knowing that, okay, I did that, but my dog, when I stop the whistle, we have that connection. And there's a lot to be said for that connection. Yeah, it's that deeper level of if you get a dog to do that, you to some degree, you have a special connection with that dog. And then if it happens to be your own dog and you do that, you definitely have a special connection with it because you're hanging out with a dog in the house. I love how you said the word good citizen. You know, your dog's a good citizen, but also y'all go out and you do some cool things. You know, you're out there retrieving, picking up birds, getting the hand signals and all that. And it's uh, I mean, in my opinion, and it's also just I love what you said too earlier about extending your waterfowl season. You're no longer just training during the waterfowl season. It makes it a more, use the word um organic. It makes it a more organic, uh close-knit experience to where it's a fuller experience, in my opinion. It's it's just so it's so wonderful. That is awesome. Well, you said you had trained some dogs in the past. Let's kind of dive into, you know, a training this way. Obviously, you would have brought your past experience into the program, and uh that makes the most sense, right? Use what you have and then grow and learn more. Um were there any adjustments you had to make per se, or is it more of just the experience that you had as you were training the dog? Come in and train in uh three cornerstone?
SPEAKER_02:Uh it's probably a combination of everything. Um, again, and where I'm at now, 180,000 people used to be vineyards and orchards, you know. So it's a concrete jungle here, and they they don't let us go to schools and use that facility anymore. Um you can go to a park, there's a leash law. So I can break the light leash law and do things off leash, but there's other dogs out there. And my experience, people don't have the control on their dogs that they think they have, so I don't want to get the dog in a fight or have an issue or that kind of thing. So I'm limited in terms of where I can go. I love when in in your lessons where you have these fields and you and you're able to go do a mow and put a lane in. And um, I don't have that here. Um there if there's a field that's vacant, um, hasn't been built ever, and I try to go work within 10 minutes, the sheriffs are pulling up and are running me out of there. So it's you know, welcome to Southern California. So what I do is I uh we we live in a horse property here. That there used to be horses here before we got too urbanized, and there's bridle trails, which are like an alley uh between properties. So that gives me in between the homes long linear areas to work that are probably eight, nine homes times 30 yards each per lot. Um, and they're probably about 10, 15 yards wide. So any drill that I need to do that's a linear drill, that that's where I go down and I work out there. Um, one of the things I learned through your program that I didn't know before was the generalization that how dogs think. Um, you know, I I fill in that trap that if I get the dog to retrieve bumpers in my backyard, they should be able to go do it out in the in the swamp, right? No, you you change the texture, whether it's grass, dirt, asphalt, concrete, um, you change the environment, you go from the backyard to the front yard, different. You go from the front yard to the bridle trail, different. So um what that allowed me to do is I would I call my backyard mic my lab. That's the smallest area that I have. We start the training there, try to get the the whatever the processes or that lesson of the day down where she understands it, but it's all very close. And this dog's a very most athletic dog I've ever had. She's very strong. Um, and the little backyards and even the bridle trails, she's bored in about 20 minutes. I mean, this dog needs you know 100 yards at a time to really get the flavor of it. Um, there's not going to be any distance that she can't retrieve. That's she's I've never seen a dog like this one before. So um we start with the basics in the backyard, then we go to the front yard, a little bit bigger, different area. Um, repeat it there, then we go down to the bridal trail and we take it down there. Um, and then I go down to the club. Um, and in some cases, I don't have a bird boy, I don't have somebody that can help me do remote marks. So what I've had to do is put her on place, and then I will leave her and I will walk in front of her, get behind a tree or behind a little building or something 30 yards away, and I'll throw the bumper from the side, just as if a bird boy were to do it, if I had a bird boy or had a helper. Um, not ideal, but what I've what I've kind of lost by having maybe the perfect scenario of a bird boy helping me throw it from the side, it's helped with the steadying process because she's had to stay on that placeboard while I've walked all the way over there, tossed it, said mark, and then walk all the way back. Um so it's helped with her steadiness. It's she kind of gets impatient, starts chirping at me a little bit, like, well, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go. But it taught her she's got to stay there. So I gained that by not by having to do something different. Um, and then I go down to the club, is everything's a drive here, right? And in Southern California, it's 22 miles. It takes me almost an hour to get there with traffic. So I go down to the club twice a week, and they put in a artificial turf football field for youth sports off to the side, and it sits vacant. So now I can take a different texture, right? I got an artificial turf versus dirt or concrete or whatever. So now I can do all the long drills there, wide and long. Um, and and do I don't have the cover there, but I have everything else. And then um, you asked a question, so I'm sorry I'm babbling on here. But the next thing that I was able to do is I do go down to my pond starting in June and we do pond work. Uh my buddy Tom Cornwell and I started that. He started me several years ago. And uh we go down and we drain the ponds and we become farmers. And so we we drain them, we disc them, we put in brown top millet. So I take her with me on those trips, and I take the first 20 minutes and I work her in our actual pond. So now I've got cover, uh, now I've got a blind, now I've got a levee, I've got all the things that you know, if I was Josh, I would have, but I don't. Um, so it's only a couple times a week, but it's it's real-world training in a real world. Um, I do stuff around the blind, I do stuff off on the levee. Um, I have her go when I drain the pond, there's all kinds of moist soil plants. So I have her run through the moist soil plants on a long lining retrieve, um, things like that. So in my mind, it'll translate into when I flood it with water, she's already been working it all summer long. And so she knows the geography of it, but it allows me to do the things in a perfect scenario in the in the ponds right there. But that's only I only started in like June for once or twice a week. And the rest of the time I'm having to do the other combination of areas that we discussed. But at the end of the day, I think she's getting it. I think you know, I'm seeing the progress, and um, it's just I had to figure out kind of a slightly different way. In a perfect world, I would want to follow the daily planner to the letter. I really think you've built a nice course where each one builds on itself and walks you down a path and sets a blueprint for you to follow. It's just for me, being out here in the concrete jungle and lots of people and so on, I had to improvise some of the lessons. And so she may not get some things just exactly right because of that, but I think as a blend, it's working very well.
SPEAKER_01:That's incredible. And you know, that's exactly what we would want for you. Uh, if you really think about it, could you imagine training your dog without the guideline? You know, that's the thought I have. Um, you know, the guidelines, the lesson plans are there to lead you. But ultimately, we believe it's cornerstone, and our goal with the course is to teach you and empower you to think for yourself, just like you teach your dog to think for itself. Um and in doing that, when we teach you those principles, you know how to improvise because the fact is you're right in a perfect world, but every single dog's a different experience. And every single time you go out and train, something new can happen. And so there is no such thing as a perfect dog or a perfect session, but there's a difference between perfection and those that train their dogs well and have a good connection. Um, and the people that do that end up getting great results for the dog. And the people that are trying to be perfect um typically struggle. So I love, I love that you were recognizing that and saying, hey, look, we've got to improvise, we've got to do these things this way in our circumstances for my dog. And I think that's probably served you pretty well. And I hope a lot of people heed what you're saying there and and realize and and know that it for the members that are listening to this, hey, full support, you know, we call it adopter adapt. Um adopt it as much as you can, but you're gonna have to adapt, right? Because every training ground is different. I mean, if you know, Rush, you're in Southern California, the concrete jungle, and you're training your dog successfully. Um so you know, the fact is, whether you've got a farm or whether you live in Southern California, you can train your dog if you put in the work and you enjoy it. And that's the main thing. And it seems like you guys have had uh an incredible experience. What's been one of y'all's greatest moments uh thus far? It sounds like uh your pups in the background there. That's awesome. Yeah, sure. So what's been uh go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:That's good. Yeah, she's she's uh watchdog, doing a watchdog mode right now.
SPEAKER_01:What's been y'all's greatest uh victories in training thus far or hunting uh together?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I again I um maybe experience, maybe just a combination. I I did something a little different, and you know, probably the the purist would slap my hand for it, but I decided that I can't, because of all the things I mentioned, I can't replicate hunting in the ponds during the off season too much. So at she when she was six months old, that was opening day last year. I took her hunting with me every hunt but but opening day. Um so she hunted with me three days a week from six months old to nine months old. And my my agreement that I made with myself, because I I'm kind of the guy they you know I'm striving for for perfection, but I'll settle for excellence, right? I I try to kind of kind of had to say ease up a little bit. She's only six months old. So um it was about it was about in your term shaping, or to me, it was like seasoning the dog. I wanted her to get you, we had a we have a 15-minute ride from our containers and a side-by-side down to a parking lot. Then we have another 12 to 15 minute walk in the dark on levees to get to the blind. Um, I wanted her to experience that on morning hunts doing in the dark and then evening hunts coming back in the dark the other way. Um, I wanted her to experience what actually being in a blind is with two people with a gun or my myself with a gun, um, how to go through the water with the decoys, um, how to work the levees. Our levees are raised up quite a way. Uh above probably 15 feet above the water level on an angle. So to negotiate that. So everything again to your training of generalization and every you throw one little new thing at them, it can kind of throw them off a little bit. That was all new experiences for her. So that was the intent at the beginning. And then the training was going pretty well, even for six months old. So I thought, you know what? I if I get a bird that's an easy retrieve, and she if she sees it goes down and it's belly up and it's 15 yards in the water, I'm gonna try to send her and see what happens. And I'm not gonna overly criticize it. I just want to try to get that as a duck, and that's what you want to go get. And don't worry about these plastic things floating next to it. Those are decoys. So I did that all season. She retrieved probably between 60 and 70 birds in the 100-day season. I lost track after 60. Now, were they all perfect? No. Um sometimes she would go get it and she'd go the other way, or she'd go right past me and go to the levee. I want to run around on the levee instead of going to the blind. Um, you know, maybe 15% she delivered a hand. So the purists would say, and the guys that tick dogs to trainers say, I'm not taking my dog hunting at all until they're two years old or a year and a half old, and they've had all this extensive training, and they're gonna go out and they're gonna be perfect because I don't want to reinforce bad habits or bad behavior. In my mind, it was like, I'll give up on the discipline part, and I'll give up on the I'll live with the sloppiness part. If I can get that chain to kick in, that she absolutely knows what a duck is. She found some that were blind retrieves that if they were there for an hour, and we would send her and she'd go dig it out, pull it out of vegetation, toolies, or whatever. That's all stuff I couldn't duplicate in the off season. And then I made a list of all the stuff that she needed to work on with the discipline. Some of it we hadn't gotten to yet in the training. Other stuff is like, okay, I gotta work on that better. I gotta get it delivered to hand, I gotta get her to come back, I gotta, you know, that kind of stuff. So that to me was the biggest overall, uh, you know, probably the first duck she retrieved was a wood duck. That probably would be the one that started it all. But there's no whether it's a cripple or it was dead, it didn't matter. Um, I've had some dogs that if the bird's a cripple, it kind of freaks them out and they're not quite sure they want to go run that bird. It didn't matter. She found them all. So that was the biggest, that gave me a base to work on. And then I thought, okay, these are the things I need to work on as I go through the course. And at the end of wherever I end up in October, if there's anything left, I know I need to go figure that part out. But we've pretty much cleaned all that stuff up now. So this year I'm very optimistic that I've got the best of both. I've got the the seasoning part down, and I've got a year now, you know, nine months since the season ended of training, that she should it should really click, you know, now. So that was probably the first big achievement. And then there's been a bunch of them on the way. I mean, that when when I sent her on a long lining retrieve and I hit the whistle as she's going, because when she goes, I mean, it's an athlete running a 40-yard dash. I mean, she is a she's an animal to hit that whistle and have her stop on her track and turn around and look at me. That was amazing. That to me was for that dog to do that. That was it, we're just kind of about a week after that started that process. Um, really, really excited about that. And the look on her eyes are like, did I do that? What do I do now? So then when I get this, when I send her back and she finishes the retrieve, boy, they talk about the joy that she gets when she brings that bird back. So those are all there's a bunch of little ones along the way, in addition to the you know, the really big ones that come along too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, every, I mean, honestly, every day training a dog is an opportunity, even for little victories. Uh, you know, I love what you said there. And and you're right. A lot of you know, a lot of times we would recommend waiting until your dog is older. But um, I I want to highlight something that you said that I think is extremely important. Because you know, a lot of people maybe that have never trained a dog before, they would wait into a situation, honey their dog at that age and not know any better. But what you I love how you handled it, because if you handle it right, it is possible. It what you you did seems to be the right thing. You didn't overbear, you let the dog be free to learn, you gave it its freedom, but you were also taking note of, okay, these are some things that I'm gonna need to work on as we move forward. And it sounds to me like you actually did work on that. Uh, you know, a lot of people think, hey, you know, three months of training from a little bit, and then all of a sudden we got a hunting dog. And the reality is it's just not true. You know, it takes a long time to develop a hunting dog. That's why the course is 56 weeks. Um, people can say what they want. You leave a dog at the trainer for four months, it's not fully trained, it's barely trained. It started. And to work through that, you've got to continue on the training. And whether that's hunting and you're training on the job, whether that's training at home and actually developing the dog. But the key that I want to pull out of what you said, I think is so crucial and that made that successful hunting get there is you already built the foundation, started young, but the other key was you're taking note of it and you're giving the dog the freedom to make those mistakes uh, you know, without reinforcing the mistakes. And then throughout the training over the next year, you work through that. I think that's uh I think it's a crucial part. But that first retrieve, I know that uh that had to fire you up, especially seeing the the fire turn on on your dog because and your body shares the same passion.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you you just don't know. And I and it was one of those ones that just presented itself as this is this is if there's ever gonna be one that's gonna be a success, and you've always said set up your training so your dog will be successful, right? Then you build from there. That's the retrieve right there. I was never gonna send her on a blind retrieve or through a moving creek, or it was she saw it go down, it was belly up, you know, and I thought, well, let's let's see, let's see what this dog got. And it was just textbook. Um, and I thought, okay, I got we're good. We're this is gonna be good now. But you know, I think the school systems, I I I critique them heavily, but I think the colleges in the last several years they figured out when my day when I went, you did all this education, but in in many ways, the real education begins the day you start your first job, right? So you you can excel in the academic part of it and be a stud or stud at, but then you go to the real world and it's like I don't know anything. These people are like pros in their field. So the colleges have done internships, right? To to try to mink to marry the two worlds together where you have academic, and then in the summer they want you as an intern in your chosen career. You're actually putting in the time um in the area that you're gonna go to and work along people that have been doing it for many, many years. So in my mind, it was kind of that. It was like, you know, I if if the dog never retrieved the duck ever and I finished Josh's complete program, that's a win. But if I can do that and have some real hunting scenarios in the mix and not jump all over her when she doesn't do it right, or not putting unrealistic expectations on her, uh, obviously I praised big time when she would do stuff right. And at nine months at the end of the season, she was way more advanced than she was at six months. I still trained during that time, in addition to the seasoning part. Um, so she she evolved tremendously doing them kind of concurrently. Um, but it took some discipline. I I know a guy we talked one time that I walked up with him, he had a strap of ducks on him, and he was all upset. He was pacing around and kind of swearing under his breath. And I thought, looked like you had a good day. What's the why y'all upset? He goes, I can't believe my dog. I spent all this money on this training, and she knows that when she comes back with the bird, she's supposed to circle behind me and sit at my left side and sit there and hold that duck until I release it. That dog came back three of the seven times and sat on my right side. I can't believe it. I think I need to get my money back. I thought, what are we what he was serious? He it ruined his day. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01:He must have spent a lot of money on that dog. Yeah, that's what it was.
SPEAKER_02:I'm like, dude, I we need to have a reality check here. I said, number one, I don't have a dog right now. Number two, if my dog did that, I'm taking a dog for breakfast afterwards. I'm giving him some some make McMuffins or something. I mean, that's a fantastic day. Who really cares if the dog went to the wrong side of you half the time? I mean, it did everything right. So I think we have to, again, strive for perfection, right? And and uh I again I admit I'm not the competition uh field trial guy, but if the dog does those things, I'm good.
unknown:I'm okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:I'm I'm good with it. And and I think you have to be realistic and not, it's like when you go shooting, obviously you want to shoot 100%, you want to shoot 100 out of 100 birds. I'll take 90. I mean, it's a moving target, and sometimes you don't mount just right, or sometimes you read the bird wrong, or whatever. If I kill nine nine out of ten ducks uh over a period of two or three hunts, I'm a happy guy. I I don't need to, I'm gonna try to get 10. I'm really gonna try, but I'm not gonna not sleep at night because I missed one, you know.
SPEAKER_01:So that key is so important. Like it's what you're aiming for is that's important. And so I see so many people on the internet that have reached out. People, yeah, I see people just trying, you know, they're just gonna wing it and see if their dog turns out. That usually never results in good things. I we I've also talked to many people. I can't tell you how many people have come back two years later and said, I wish I'd have just started the course to begin with. Um, here's where we're at now, it didn't turn out. Because when you're just seeing, you know, may relying on genetics or relying on just maybe my dog will become a good hunter, that's a problem. But I love what you're doing, Russ, is you're setting a target and you're aiming for the highest that you can get, knowing that if you fall short, it's more than good enough and you're content. Um, that's you know what we've got to do if you want to be successful. Otherwise, you're the the fact is you're never probably gonna hit that highest goal. You should aim for it, though, and you should strive to hit it. But if you have no goal and your target's way down here, the bottom of the barrel is not too bright at that point. It's not a good place to be. Uh, and that ends up in that's why you see dogs running all over the place. That's why dogs get a bad rap. That's why a lot of you know guides won't take let their clients bring dogs, because a lot of people are just skipping through just seeing if they can get a dog to go pick up a duck. It's more than that. You've got to aim for that level of that discipline. But like you said, the fact that the dog came in on the right side and delivered to him, myself included, that's why we train to such a high standard at Cornerstone. Like we're gonna go the highest we can go. But in the real world, when the pressure's on, there's people, uh people the dog's never met, they're shooting all kinds of chaos, no hunt ever goes like it. I mean, half the time we've got to readjust the decoys anyways to get it right. All of these variables change. I can't imagine what the dog would be if we didn't train to that high standard. It would be a train wreck. Training to that high standard allows us to actually function in a chaotic, un ever-changing environment. So I love that that's what you're talking about here is that goal that you're shooting for. And uh, like you said, you you're you're trying you're gonna try to shoot all the ducks. You won't hit them all, but you're trying with all of your heart to do it. And uh, I bet you get pretty close to it too when you try that hard.
SPEAKER_02:I've I've I've gotten better. But I but I want to say too, um, I work at it. I do have some God-given natural talent. Um, but I work at it, I shoot twice a week in the off season. I I train my dog almost every day without trying to overwork or over-train or burn her out. Um, the thing I was gonna to dovetail with what you said is I've also seen, we've all seen guys where they haven't worked with their dog or done anything with the dog since the last day of the season in our world, end of January, and they show up third week of October and expect the dog to know exactly what to do, like it did in January. That's not fair. You wouldn't take an athlete and just drop it into a uh major league game without any kind of a spring training or some kind of a from football, the summer football practice. You've got to work the dog. I feel you need to work it. I think you owe it to the dog to work the dog often. I think they need that. I think they thrive it, they need the exercise, they need the interaction with you, the owner and the handler. And the only way for an athlete to truly succeed is you have to put your time in. I don't care how much talent you have. I coached kids baseball for many years, and I saw kids just dripping with talent, but they didn't want to work at it. And that they carried them for a while until guys with the same amount of talent had a work ethic in addition to that. And at some level, it's high school or whatever, it they blow right by them. So um you've got to put your time in. To me, it's a fun thing, it's a part of the passion. It helps me kind of keep my head in the game with the hunting part. Um, but I I go shooting twice a week. I work the dog five to six times a week. Um, I'm working on my stuff in my shop doing something all the time. But it things, I don't think people in general are successful just by showing up. Um very rare that you've got that kind of talent and you're gonna have that kind of a special dog that knows exactly what to do without the work and without the discipline put in there. So you have to just kind of make the commitment that this is gonna be a five-day week, no less than 15 to 20 minutes a day um scenario for me. I have to stay fully vested and not just go through the motions. Um, I don't want to rush through it because I gotta get to this, that, or the other. The dog will sense that and they they know they're not getting the full attention. I think they pick up on your vibe a little bit. So yeah, right, you've got to you gotta be in that kind of at the same same level mentally. Um, but I'm I'm a big I enjoy it. I enjoy the I also go to the gym five, six days a week just to try to keep father time at bay a little bit. Um, but you have to you got to put your time in. I really feel and then when you're successful, how much sweeter is it you're successful because you did all that stuff. When you you had five ducks to shoot at and four or five fell, and the the dog retrieved all of them, you didn't lose any birds, so you didn't lose you didn't waste any of the resources that that God gave us. You're able to get all the opportunity, you didn't miss an opportunity because every bird that came in that was that was shootable, you were ready for it because you weren't out looking in the six-foot-tall millet, the dog took care of that. Um what a great sense of satisfaction it is to know that everything came together um the way it's supposed to. And to your point earlier, you can still do all the stuff we just talked about, and you're still gonna miss, and the dog's not gonna find a bird, or the dog's gonna not quite do something. That's just real life, right? But if that's the minimum, and the majority of the time it works out the right way, that's because you did the effort, you know, asking me, you know, why why did I decide to train the dog versus what a great sense of satisfaction it is to know that all worked out because I put the time in and I was invested in it. And you know, yeah, I mean Josh is gonna make the dog way better than Russ is gonna make the dog, but it worked out pretty well. And and that's because of the effort that I put into it. That's a great feeling. Nobody can take that away from me. You can't buy that feeling, and uh that that's one of the feelings I strive for.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's powerful. I mean, it really is. And you know, also on the journey, uh, I love what I love what we're getting into because I think I think we're getting into some of the keys here to unlock the success for your dog. Uh, but in just in general in life, right, you've got to be all in too. That's one thing I love about you, Russ, is you're all in. I mean, you don't go kill all 41 without being all in. Same thing with your dog. You want it to be successful, you're not hedging your bets. You know, I I get the the thought of, well, what if I don't work? What if this doesn't work out? What if I can't get my dog to where I want it to be? That's a real thought. Okay. Well, so what if, if that's what you focus on, that's what you're gonna get. Instead of, you know, hey, that's a possibility, but we're gonna push that possibility out and we're gonna focus on, like we talked about, the target, the goal. Whatever you're focused on is where that's the direction you're gonna head. So if you keep thinking about failure, this dog's not gonna make it, it's not gonna turn out. And that's what you focus on all the time. Well, you're probably gonna get those results. I'm not saying you're not gonna have those thoughts when your dog's running around. I mean, think about Violet in the videos running around because we show all of that. There was, of course, at that point in the back of my mind, I'm like, ooh, man, I hope this dog turns out. Uh, there's times where I thought, what if she doesn't turn out? And then I from experience, I know you have to push that out very quickly. You can there's no room to let that thought rest in your mind. You have to push it out. And then you have to jump in and say, no, we're gonna focus back on the target. I need my dog to do this skill. Like if we're working on uh when I've specifically in the videos I'm thinking about Violet, when we transitioned from the lane to the open field, Violet ran off out there whereas we're trying to do some retrieving. And that was one of those moments in my mind, I'm like, oh man, this is this is not good. We've got to have this work out. But shifting my focus and then re-engage, and we were able to make it happen because instead of focusing on that problem, I start focusing on the outcome of what I'm looking for. And then I just keep striving until I get it. And you know, the word I would say that I've seen what you're saying here is all in. When you're all in, you're gonna get there. Uh don't worry about failure. Failure is not really gonna happen if you're all in and you do what you're talking about. You put in the time, you put in the effort, and you said you just can't show up. Don't just show up, put in the work, you know, give it your all, and then see what happens. I think that a lot of people quit when they're like this close to victory. You're this close to getting your dog to where you want it, and then you just quit when all it takes is 20% more. If you get it output, 20% more effort, two more days of training. I can't tell you how many weeks of training where I've been going along the first few days or the first couple of weeks on something that's not working out. And if I quit, then it just doesn't work. But I'm just you're only a what you're you're literally only ever one rep away from success. The light bulb clicks and then you win. And then your dog wins, and then you have that accomplishment that we just talked about. That's what I mean. If if you don't like that, then maybe send your dog to the trainer and then get your dog back and work it. But if you like the idea of we can overcome this, and the the the feeling on the other side of the victory when your dog hits the goal, like you said earlier, you the lights turn on, and you stop your dog at the whistle, it's looking at you. And then it's like, I can't believe I just you're probably thinking, I can't believe I just did that. The dog's like, Whoa, what just happened? That moment when you finally hit it, that is a special moment. And that only belongs to those who put in the work and don't give up.
SPEAKER_02:No, that's right. And I a couple things that you said. One, I love the fact that when Violet, you trained Violet, you left the bloopers I would call in there because my my dog is very similar to her personality, and she would do that stuff. I call it the Cindy Lopper moment where the girls just want to have fun, and she just takes off. I can hear that song in the background. You know, girls just want to have fun. You know, I'm not doing this anymore.
SPEAKER_01:I should have put that in there, we should have put that in the videos, that would have been hilarious.
SPEAKER_02:You don't know who Cindy Lopper is, but it that's what I hear. So I call her Cindy for the rest of the day when she does it. But I love that because you you watch all the the YouTube stuff and if they ended all that stuff out, the dog does everything is perfect. It's like, why aren't you like this dog? Why can't you know? It's that's fantastic. How you handled it as a handler and an owner and a trainer, and then how the dog responds to the hand. That that's as valuable to me as if everything had gone right, because that's real life, right? But the other part was about one thing at a time, and and uh if if you you gotta keep the negative thoughts away, um, and it's focusing on the goal. Um when I went after the 41 species, the last bird I got was the king eider in the Bering Sea, that's where they film deadliest catch. They've got those big tankers out there, and those guys, that's all they can do to kind of get through their day. We're out there in a 10 to 12 foot long zodiac raft in the Bering Sea on December 27th, hunting king either. There's my buddy Tom Cornwell and I, and uh the guy running the boat. Can't turn the engine off because the engine will freeze. We can only stay out there about an hour and 15 minutes because we'll freeze. Um, the boat's going in every different direction that you can think of up and down. We're seasick. The birds are coming in, they fly right along the top of the water, and they get the the swells were 12 feet long or 12 feet high. So you would see the bird, and then the then the swell would pop up and hide the bird. It was and it was so I've never my hands have never been that cold. They went from cold to hurt to cold again. It felt like if I had brushed them on the side of that raft, the fingers would have broken off. I mean, it was but I didn't I experienced it, but the goal was to get number 41. The goal was to get that bird that I studied two years on how you hunt that. And I and to because people would say, I would have quit. I would have I wouldn't even have gone. I mean, it was took us two days to get there. We landed on an ice island. I mean, there were so many things that could have gone wrong on that whole experience, but I didn't even think about what could go wrong. It was more what do I here's the goal, what do I need to do? How many steps do I need to do? And I focused on each step one at a time. And once I accomplished that, I went to the next step. And again, your your philosophy build from here. I would build it until I put myself in the best position possible to get that bird. Guess what? We did it. I mean, looking back on it now, it's like, how in the world did we ever pull that off? I don't understand. Uh the guy would would say this is the most extreme waterfall hunt anybody will ever do anywhere. This is life and death stuff. This is you know, freezing elements stuff that, you know, all that. And the shooting is not easy. The birds are big and strong. And I mean, but my buddy Tom and I both got it done. And it was, I'm not trying to brag, but it was just, I didn't even think about all the stuff that could go wrong, or all the negative stuff that could happen, or how miserable, you know, I'd get seasick and I'd have to take five minutes and we call the puke and rally, and we would get ourselves back together and be ready for the next shot, you know. But that that you just got to put stuff out of your mind and back to the goal. I'm back to the goal. So in the dog training, it's the same thing. It's like, what's the goal for today? They may or may not do it perfectly, but now I know what I need to work on for tomorrow. So I have a I've got a plan. I've got the next, and you're right. I mean, sometimes there's a whatever the drill is, she's just not getting it. And I and I I first I blame myself, okay. What could I do better? I'm obviously not doing something right. It's like go back and watch the lesson over again, and maybe I didn't do this, try again, not getting it, not getting it, not getting it. And then, you know, day three or day four, it feels like I'm doing everything that I've been doing. First time gets it perfect. And it's like, how did that how did you it just clicked in her mind? But I didn't quit, right? And to your point, guys stop a little short sometimes. Um, you got to stay the course, and sometimes you got to maybe approach it from a different angle. Maybe you move over a little bit if it's a remote mark, or maybe you come a little closer or something, change the dynamic a little bit so they get it. But you're right. They're um I think they I think these dogs are pleasers in their mentality. Um, they have the joy of retrieving, that's what drives them over everything. But I really truly believe they want to please the owner. I I I really believe that because I unless I'm imagining it, the look in her eyes and the way she holds her ears and her head, and the the kind of the bounce in her step, um, when she gets it right and I'm happy with her and she knows she got it, it's it's undeniable, in my opinion. I think these dogs really want to please you, and you're kind of on the journey together, and it's just helping each other understand the same kind of common language. Um, but the more we do together, the more successes, it leads itself to even more successes down the road, I feel.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Oh, there's so many good things that are that are talked about there. I mean, it's it's hard to pull anything from that. I mean, because there's so many uh ways we could go with that. But you know, one thing that the theme I'm kind of getting to is, you know, you also you have to develop yourself. As you're training your dog, you're gonna train yourself. It really brings you to the the place where you're confronting the realities of the internal battle. And uh that's something a lot of people don't talk about. I never I hardly I see a lot of people talking about technicalities where doing it, you do do it this way, but you got to get it back to the battle of within. You know, all that matters when you're training your dog is the next move. And I think it's it's very challenging at times because when the dog blows you off or when something goes wrong, you have these thoughts, you're confronted with the reality of, well, what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna sit there and think about that? Are you gonna set that aside and you're gonna move on to the next thing? And I think the people that find the ways to do that, like you're talking about here, focus it on the target, focus it on that connection with the dog. That's how you unlock that moment that you just shared there a second ago, when that dog stopped on the way the ears are, the way the eyes are. The people that are able to do that get to that place. And uh it just takes sometimes you got to train yourself, right? You gotta train the trainer too. You gotta, you gotta develop yourself too, not just your dog. I think a lot of us think about we're focused so much on the dog on this journey, but so much of the journey of training your dog is training yourself and growing yourself. When you grow along the journey, your dog can grow too. And make no mistake, when you step out and you grab that whistle and you go start training, you're gonna get better every single day. You can't expect yourself to be perfect day one. You know, you can't expect that even after the first dog. But what you can just say is, you know, there is no such thing as perfection, but I'm gonna get better every single day.
SPEAKER_02:Right. That's right. And and uh they pick up on that. Um, and I think you kind of grow together. I think you really do. And um, you know, watching your videos and how you handle it again, I you know, going back to my early days of I have to read a book, and I'm trying to, you know, and that's the way we always did it back in the day, looking at illustrations that are black and white and trying to translate that into a 3D color world. Um the beauty of watching you how you how you handle your body language, how you handle the whistle, how you handle the direction, how you handle things when they don't quite go right, you know, that that's all part of it, and you try to emulate that best you can. And um, if you if you just I think it's just by putting in the time and by having an honest effort with the time, um, and not being overbearing, but being uh coaching, I I I think you're gonna win. I really think these dogs thrive on that. I think they they that's part of what they like to do. I think they're a lot happier going through that process than if you just throw them in the backyard and then you go grab them on October 18th and say, now go be a duck dog. Um that's that's not fair to the dog. And I've I've heard dogs called a lot of colorful names on opening day, and none of them are their real name. Um, and and the owners take no ownership that this is them, this is my fault, you know. Um, but um these these dogs really love it. I really truly believe they love it, and that's what's so great about it's kind of a partnership. Um, and I just it just kills me that you only get 10 to 12 years with them. Uh these dogs should go to 20. And um, lose one. I've had one go as early as eight and one at 14. It just kills me, and I swear that's it. No more dogs, I can't take the pain. But the the joy of having them as a companion and you know, working with them and making it a year-round companionship and partnership, um, it's worth the pain at the end.
SPEAKER_01:It is. Yeah, I was talking to a member the other day. You know, they're they were loving the program, they're having so much fun. Their dog's a year and a half, but found out their dog's gonna pass away pretty soon due to cancer. Um, but I love that his perspective was that, you know, it was worth it because I'm giving this dog a life and it's enjoying it and I'm making the most of it. And I can't wait till the next one. And it is hard, you know, it is painful for us. It is painful to lose them. That's the hardest part, just to lose them. Uh, but it's it's not worth, I mean, you've got to start. Every life is valuable and it's worth going, whether your dog is six years old or 14 years old when they pass, it's worth doing it because those moments every day. I mean, and we need to think more like our dogs too. They they're not they're not worried about tomorrow. They wake up and they're enjoying today. Like they're all in. That's one thing I love about a good old beautiful lab or Boykin or any dog that's a sporting dog. They wake up and today's the best day they've ever had and they're ready to go. And uh, I think that says a lot about uh you can you can learn a lot from a dog.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, they you're right. They live in the moment, right? And uh they don't have regrets from the past and they're not worried about the future. And uh so you you do your best and you give them the best life you can. And guess what? You both win. So it's there it's a win-win for everything, for everybody.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. Russ, I mean, this this podcast, this has been I can't believe we've already gone basically an hour here. Uh, we're gonna have to have you back on because I want we're gonna need to go through some of those stories on these birds. We've got to go deeper, but we're already hitting an hour. So uh what we'll do here is we'll we'll kind of land this plane on what I always like to, because the the nuggets that members share, whether the just sometimes the simple advice, and you've already shared some amazing advice, which is uh yeah, well, one of the one of the things is an honest effort, give an honest effort, be consistent, go out there on a regular basis. I mean, that's the key to success. I mean, it's it's not sexy to say, yeah, just go out there and be consistent and train your doc, but that is the legitimate answer. You know, there's no special, special sauce to this. It's just be consistent and show up every day and don't go through the motions, actually put in the work. But there are some things, you know, that I think a lot of our members like to share nuggets, things they've learned along the way. Uh, the way I like to say it is what is if you could, if you had one opportunity to share one thing to someone that you felt could help them, maybe they're in your shoes, they're thinking about sending their dog off to the trainer, but they're thinking about training their dog themselves. themselves or maybe this is their first ever dog. You could fat rewind back to that moment for you. What would be kind of like your your your top advice for someone getting ready to embark on this journey?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, before I forget, I want to thank my friend Benny for he's my IT connection. So I want to thank him for helping me get all this done because he's given me all this free time. So I want to thank you, Benny. He's a very good friend of mine. I would tell you that it goes back to what we talked to originally about passion. Um don't shortchange yourself on the passion that that God has given you for hunting. Um it's easy to get maybe distracted's a little harsh word, but it's easy to go in different directions when you've got family commitments, work commitments, health commitments. Um, those are all things that kind of pull at you. But I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that that one of their biggest regrets is they loved it at some point in their life and they let it get away from them for very good reasons, and now they can't do it for whatever reason it is. And they what we talked about, stay in a moment, tell yourself if you have a partner, say I want to have time with my dog, I think I want to train my dog and work with my dog. I'm gonna need 20 minutes to 30 minutes, you know, four to six days a week. Um, maybe we can do it together. Maybe on the weekends we can go to a field together and you can help me, we can make it a family thing. But but stay dedicated to the passion that you have within you. Um it the joy that you have um can't be duplicated in anything in the workplace, um, in doing chores, and in you know, all the mundane things that come our way that tend to distract us and interrupt us. Um, you owe it to yourself. Uh you'll be a happier person, you'll be a more well-rounded person, you'll be a more grounded person if you fulfill the passion that's within you. And the dog training part, I know people that that's that's kind of all they do. They they train their dogs, they're not real big hunters, but they love to train their dogs and they love to go to the field trials and they love to. That's great. If that if that's the passion, don't shortchange yourself that. Live that, enjoy that, spread it to other people that that may want to witness that, maybe youth, people like that. If it if you're an old guy like me that that does it as a complete as part of a package for the duck hunting part, um, don't shortchange yourself on that. Go out and and hunt. Take take that three hours on a Saturday morning. Chances are you'll be gone and back before your family's waking up, anyways. So they probably won't miss you much. Um, but don't shortchange yourself because it's tiring or it's cold that day, or it's the joy that you feel in your soul from reaching out, embracing your passion, and putting your time in. It's there's no greater joy in life. So that would be my biggest. It starts with that, and then at that point, you can figure out how do I devote the time that I need to devote to enjoy it the best and to be the best at it that I could possibly be.
SPEAKER_01:That makes me want to go trim my dog right now. That's amazing. That's uh that is that is powerful. Well, Russ, I can't thank you enough for sharing um your story and uh all the journey with you and your pups. And uh thank you, Benny, for helping Russ and us pull this off. We appreciate you. And uh Russ, I just again I appreciate you and I admire you. I would love to have you back on soon and share maybe some of these waterfowl stories because we didn't get to really tap into it. We talked about the Bering Sea one, which is incredible, but I would love to tap more into some of that at some point. If uh I think our listeners would love it as well. But I want to thank you for your time now and uh for sharing your you know your thoughts and uh congratulations on what you've accomplished so far with your dog. It's incredible, and there's more yet to come, but y'all have come so far, and it's uh it's amazing to watch.
SPEAKER_02:Well, thank you, Josh. Thank you for for the quality person that you are and for putting out a great product. Um, I'm telling everybody it works fantastic. Um try to stay as true to it as you possibly can with the the challenge that you may have with your geography or your time or whatever, but it does lay out a very nice roadmap for us all to follow. And um, yeah, I I'm an old guy with a bunch of stories, and you can tell I love duck hunting. And um I've been over all over North America. So anytime you want to grab me and hear stories, I'm there for you.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening to the Build From Here podcast. To learn more about retriever training or our podcast, visit Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy dot com Slash Podcast.