Build From Here
Build From Here
How Building a Retriever Helped Matt Rebuild His Life
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Matt didn’t set out to rebuild his life.
He just wanted a dog.
But somewhere between early morning training sessions, setbacks, and small wins… everything started to change.
In this episode, Matt shares how training his golden retriever, Chief, became more than just a hobby—it became a turning point. From battling addiction and rebuilding relationships to finding purpose and stepping into a new life, this is a story about what’s possible when you commit to the process.
It’s not just about building a retriever that works.
It’s about what happens when the process starts working on you.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you can really train your own dog—or whether it’s too late to start—this episode will remind you what’s possible.
Want to learn how to train your hunting dog with confidence?
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hy Retriever Training Feels Hard
SPEAKER_01Have you ever felt like your retriever might not turn out like you hope for it to? We get it. The truth is, training a retriever isn't simple, but it doesn't have to be hard. On the Build From Here podcast, you're going to hear real stories from real people who used to be stuck with the retrievers, but are now confident they're on the right path to training their dog successfully. Welcome to the Build From Here Podcast. On this episode, it's my great honor to be introducing you to TG member Matt. Matt's been with us for some time but has had an incredible experience as far as the fact when he said his story. I mean I was truly blown away. I think it's his story tells us what we all know about dogs, and it's just you don't recognize it until you just know it. If you've got a dog, you'll experience this, but it just changes your life in so many different ways. When you go through this journey of training a dog, it makes your life better, your relationship's better, everything is better. That's what I love about this story, it's an incredible story, really, of redemption and just a story of what's possible if you get out there and you find something you're passionate about and pour your passion into it. So Matt, welcome aboard. So glad you're here. And really, again, we're honored to have you share your story with us.
arly Dog Memories And Outdoors Life
ew York Exit And Colorado Party Years
hoosing Sobriety And A New Path
inding A Positive Training Program
SPEAKER_02Well, th thank you very much, Josh, and good morning. Thanks for having me on. So I mean, I definitely am a fairly strong believer that uh finding your program. I mean, I definitely I found it through the internet, but it uh it was it was it was a good time in my life to stumble across uh Cornerstone Gun Dog. Uh just a backstory about I guess how I got into like retrievers and whatnot. I I grew up in in New England. Uh, and my the first job my family got was a golden retriever. So I was probably like, I think I was in seventh grade, um, loaded up. I had five brothers and sisters. I have a twin brother, a younger brother, and then two younger sisters. And they said we're going to church on Sunday, and it was a super snowy morning, and they just drove right past church, and everyone was getting excited, like, oh, maybe you know, we've been begging my mom to get a dog for a while now. And I mean my youngest sister was finally old enough that she felt like she could probably help do it, you know, because my youngest sister is about nine years younger than me. So kept driving out into the countryside and you know, ended up going home with a golden retriever that day, and we named her Sunday and had her for about 14 years. She passed away, I think it was 2017. So she had a nice long life. Uh wasn't a hunting dog. We didn't grow up hunting. Um my grandfather had had like a hunting accident when my dad was about two years old, so he got rid of all the guns. That's what my grandma made him do. So uh grew up spending lots of time playing in the woods, you know. Uh probably did a decent amount of archery growing up, uh especially in Michigan. We would spend summers up there. My grandparents live up in northern Michigan, so spent a lot of time on the water, uh you know, water skiing and um canoeing and doing lots of camping trips, you know. Uh definitely got into backpacking after that and uh eventually made it made out to Colorado when I was uh what 27. My twin brother and I we lived in New York City for a while and kind of just got tired of walking over needles and everything. I was living in we lived in a really crappy apartment in Queens and uh yeah, came out with no job. We we sold elevators for in New York City and just quit on the same day and drove out to the Rocky Mountains and um ended up becoming pretty big ski bums for a couple years and really um yeah, partied really, really, really hard. Harder than I did in college, probably. You know, it was just like a never-ending party out here, especially when you're in the whole ski industry. When I don't know, all you do is we taught ski lessons all day and you got off and it was like, let's go get a beer, and kind of just uh super fun time, just not really sustainable, you know. But uh my my younger brother went up probably uh in 2018, he decided to get another golden retriever named Haley. She was an awesome dog. He he rescued her from uh eastern Colorado. Uh lots of upland hunting out there. We actually rescued her like from a farm. Pretty sure that she she was so gun shy, we kind of figured that that's probably why they got rid of her. Because she she'd already like had some basic training down. Like uh my brother definitely taught her some stuff, my butt uh yeah, she was just a supernatural. I'd never seen a dog that had a drive like her. So um that was really, really cool. Um, we took her on a lot of like you know, backcountry skiing adventures and whatnot. And she loved going down the lake, white water rafting. She was just an awesome dog. Um and then in 20, what was it? Probably 2022, I was living with my younger brother, and he decided he was gonna move out. So I was pretty heartbroken that I was gonna lose this dog in my life. So I kind of, yeah, it was like real, I was really upset, probably more upset that my brother was moving out and move about losing her. So I that's when I really started like uh doing some serious research about like, alright, well, I know I'm gonna get a golden retriever, but I really kind of wasn't, I just started like digging into like, alright, I what kind of training program can I do? Um about six months before he was gonna move out, I actually quit drinking. So that was something I've been battling, you know, ever since I started when I was probably 17, you know. Just uh a lot of bad decisions, a lot of broken relationships. Definitely drove my mom crazy, you know. She was uh always kind of putting a little bug in my ear, like, when are you gonna grow up? You know, like uh especially because me and my twin brother are just fed off each other, you know. Um I lived with him till till I was like probably 30, 31, and um then moved into a town home with my younger brother. So um, yeah, I just all the those first six months was like a pretty big journey, you know. I just starting to all of a sudden get this clear clarity in my life, and it's amazing how much time you find that you have when you're not just battling yourself every morning, you know. Cause I I just all of a sudden was like, man, I kind of felt like I could do anything, you know. I I uh I finally quit my job that I'd had for four years that I wasn't really happy with. Um I was I was selling elevators for a smaller company in Colorado, you know. I was successful at it, but it wasn't necessarily rewarding. So I um I was one of the things, you know, I I'd always kind of thought about hunting ducks and stuff, been like, oh, I want to get into hunting, but it was like, oh, I can't, I'm gonna I couldn't really ever thought I could actually do it. Um so I actually had applied for my uh I got in hunter uh safety that year, and I had applied for my my first big game tags because they got a lot of elk hunting and deer hunting out here, so I was I knew I was going on my first elk hunt that November, but um I just the more I read about dog training programs, I came across Cornerstone Gun Dog, and I I was really drawn to the fact that it was like uh like a the the whole positive reinforcement rapid reward, like and the fact that it didn't involve shocking your dog. Like I I read a lot about Force Fetch, but the reviews I read about the program that you helped create with 52 Plus just really seemed like the way to go. Um so I I signed up for that before and well, and then right around that time, one of my neighbors he said he found this little ad in a newspaper for Golden Retriever Puppies getting delivered at Wendy's off the interstate on October 22nd of 2022. So I, you know, starting to get really excited, and I got your program, and I actually ended up connecting with the guy that had used your program in Silverthorn, Colorado, where I was living at the time. And I like I kind of started talking to him about like what he did. He actually used your program during uh COVID. So and he had a great success. So I was like, all right, this is it. Like, we're gonna do this. Uh I knew that just doing a little research, you know, that golden retrievers, you know, the people in the Scottish Highlands, they had used them for waterfowl hunting for like I think what they they started the breed like 120 years ago, I guess, or something. I don't know. But I was pretty excited about the plan I helped kind of created. So, you know, I picked up Chief and immediately started with the program like from the very first day. And uh that's kind of like where I started out, you know.
SPEAKER_01So um what's awesome, man. It uh I mean that's that's just an incredible story. Yeah, I there's so much I want to unpack. I mean, even thus far, but I I know we can get more into the training and kind of how that was part of your life. But I I just wanted to clarify, you said that uh say back this is just for me personally, but you and your brother were working in New York City and then you quit. You decided that day you quit, and then y'all literally got in your cars that day and then drove to Colorado. Is that what I heard too?
SPEAKER_02Well, we did well when we quit our job, like we drove out the next day. There was a little bit of a there was a yeah, I mean, we'd done a ski trip out to Colorado the February before, and like we hired a backcountry guide, and I just remember standing on on top of the mountain up on Vale Pass being like, man, I should just move out here. So yeah, we were able to make it happen, which was which was cool, and we did it together. He just he had to break up with a girlfriend first.
SPEAKER_01Uh y'all were cutting ties with New York City. You're getting out of there. That's awesome, man. That's cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, yeah, yeah. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01It was uh I just I just wanted to I wanted to know that. I just thought that was a kind of a cool story. So you made you made your way to Colorado, then you kind of went on a journey there, then you ended up getting a dog. What um let me ask you this while we're on the subject, what made you decide to stop drinking? Like, where did that decision come from? Is it something you knew you should have done for a long time, or kind of what was the deciding factor there?
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, I mean um I I I ruined so many relationships, you know, especially like in my personal life, where it was starting to definitely be a pattern. Um and this time I just my now wife, you know, I I uh I def I I started just really realizing like I knew I was gonna lose her, you know. And yeah. I kind of like some of her friends are kind of like, you know, my my brother, like people were kind of telling me. And um yeah, I I just kind of listened to my gut or intuition, you know. Um I was actually uh in in 1 Corinthians, I know uh it says like no temptation is seized to you except uh what is common to man, and God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you're tempted, he'll also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. So I just think that that's a really good passage. I was actually reading that the day that you texted me. Because I I've been trying to Yeah, I like I immediately marked it because I was like, man, like this is just kind of interesting, like because it really resonated with me. Because like you texted me at like 6 30 in the morning at like our time, but uh when I had filled out that little quick thing on uh share your experience, I wasn't really expecting you to reach out to me right away. But um I just the the path, the structure of the 52 plus program, that was my way out, kind of, you know. Like I I really believed that like that helped solidify my sobriety journey when I when I started it. I was uh I I was probably about six months into my pat sobriety journey when I uh when I started the Cornerstone program. And you know, going into winter, that was my first winter since I'd been living in the mountains. I'd probably been there what 16 or 17 five years now, you know, just doing the same thing, like, oh it's ski season again, like and this time I didn't have my job because like I was a ski instructor the first two winters and then went back to selling elevators. So now I actually went back to teaching free skiing for a nonprofit. Um and I did that, I was doing that like every weekend. It was cool. I would work with the same group of kids, like there was like eight, like ten of them, and we just would go shred a basin Saturday and Sunday, and then I was driving for a limousine service during the week. So I I really had to carve out dedicated time for uh Chief. That's the name of my golden retriever. He's three and a half years old now, so I would just uh between waking up at like 2 a.m., you know, when when they're a puppy, you know, just we would go out. I think it snowed like the first night I got him, and he didn't even see grass till he was like seven months old. So we'd have I'd I'd have to suit him up in his booties and his jacket, and we'd uh we lived on a little creek at the time, and we'd be out there like basically in at dawn, like in the dark, like sometimes with a headlamp, like you know, I built the little place board, and we'd we'd just be working on place, you know, and um that I just remember like you know be like negative 15 degrees outside and be like, alright, I only gotta make it like five-10 minutes, like that's all we gotta do. So that just building that in from the start was like really important, but it helped me like just have something to look forward to besides like skiing and and partying. And I was immediately seeing like wins like right off the bat, you know, like people complimenting you like on how well behaved your dog is just because you're you're training it, you know. So many people don't train, like so that was like cool to get, and like I remember like one of the first times like I was like, you know, the intro to hand signals, like just being like, wow, I'm actually teaching my dog like some some some pretty cool stuff that I never really thought that I'd be able to do. So that was like from the very beginning, like I just thought that that was really neat to see like some getting some quick wins, you know.
SPEAKER_01So man, that's so cool. Wow, I mean that's the truth. When you get a dog, that that definitely eats some of your time up, especially when you first get them at night. That would be kind of hard to that. I could see how that would be a good motivation to keep going because you definitely didn't have time for anything else once you once you got that dog. Yeah, friends, family, work, dog, and and sleep.
ireworks Fear And Rebuilding Trust
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean that was the that was just the start of it, right? And then probably the first big hurdle we had was uh didn't take too long. I got him on like October 22nd, and it was like Thanksgiving, and my mom and my sister were out, and they decided to take him for the night because I was probably working or something, and they brought him to a Christmas tree lighting, and they didn't advertise it was gonna have fireworks, but uh there was definitely a lot of fireworks, apparently. And uh yeah, date my uh my my brother's dog uh Haley was there, and she's the one who's like super gun shy, so she they were having like pin her to the ground because she was like shaking so hard when the fireworks were going off. And I guess that uh chief like my sister grabbed him because he was seeing how scared Haley was. And I guess he just like crapped all over her.
SPEAKER_00Oh dude, that's terrible. Oh man.
Move That Changed Training Access
unfire Introduction And First Hunt Lessons
SPEAKER_02Yep. So I came home from work that night and they had to tell me, like, yo, there was an incident, and like I I immediately was like, I thought he was ruined, cuz you know, I I read plenty of stuff about like you know, dogs being born gun shy, or they're not born gun shy, they're made gun shy, right? So I was like, oh man, he's screwed up. Like, how am I gonna fix this? So I started the you know, probably made the mistake of spending too much time on Google, which uh I actually gave up for Lent. I'm trying to get through the next 40 days without going on Google. Um, but yeah, you know, it I I was like I started trying some guys, you know, like they they feed their dogs outside when they have like some land and they'll like shoot off a starter pistol or whatnot while they're feeding, you know. Well, that wasn't a good idea to do inside in a house because it it amplifies really loudly. So I did that a couple times, and uh that was pretty dumb. Uh and then I think I called you. I got in contact with you, and I remember you called me one morning because I like reached out that I was like, think thought I'd developed this problem. And you basically I just remember you telling me like just focus on building trust with your dog. You know, you got a long way until I think like you know, like week 27 or 28 in the program, and you're like, just focus on building trust with your dog, and by the time you get there, you'll be fine. So I stopped doing all that stuff that I was doing and just focused on the program. Um, and that was definitely some really good advice. So thank you. Um, yeah. So and it was around this time too. This was probably, you know, so this was going on to like the heart of winter. And uh also my other brothers were I also start this is also when I started like probably my return to prayer again regularly. I started to get more into prayer because one of my br my younger brother, he was he was like probably gonna kill like the way he was drinking was probably gonna kill himself. So just uh yeah, so that was all going on at the same time, and that winter my twin brother actually quit drinking too. And um because and uh we actually ended up, you know, we had a really great hunting season this past year because he's started going out with me a whole bunch. We'll go out before work now. So it's been really cool to like develop that passion together with him. But uh anyways, that was all going on at the same time, and I uh I remember like vividly waking up in the middle of the night because uh I just have I was dealing with this thing like where I would just kind of feel it like in my chest or like uh just kind of something that wasn't going away, like this thing, like it was it ended up being as simple as like basically asking forgiveness from my brother because I kind of like was beating myself up for feeling like responsible for his problems, kind of. Think because I I wasn't the grep the best role model, you know. I probably taught him how to do some of this stuff, you know. But um in in 2 Corinthians 12 it says the Lord said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. So I I I I was feeling so like uh kind of defeated there. But the minute I I I remember waking up in the middle of the night, it was like dark, it might have been, I don't think it was by candlelight, you know, but I wrote a letter. I wrote a letter to my brother and sent it to him and kind of got everything like off my chest, but like even like the from the moment I put that like letter in the mail to him, like I just like I haven't really felt that feeling ever again. It just kind of disappeared, you know. So like it's just like kind of like demonstrates how like with human weakness it can provide like the ideal opportunity um for a display of like divine power, kind of, you know, like so that yeah. So ended up my brother Dave actually like that spring was able to finally beat his addiction too. So that was all that that was just like and all all along this time. I'm training cheap every day, you know, trying to like build it up for this I knew hunting season stuff. Started in October, right? Out in Colorado. So um, and then also uh at the same time, right around this time, I decided to buy a house with uh my now wife, too. So we like uh it's kind of funny, like I kind of felt like the universe was kind of collapsing around me, so to say, from the changes that I was making, which was you kind of hear people talk about that, but I actually believe that it it happens when you start to make the right changes. So I we uh finally decided to leave the ski country, the whole ski town area, and moved about 30 minutes north out into the country uh to a like a cattle town basically called Kremlin. There's only like 1400 people here, but it's really cool because there's like BLM land all around us. So I was super stoked about having plenty of land to train chief on. Especially I I remember thinking like, man, where am I gonna shoot this launcher at without people calling the cops, you know? So, because anyway, yeah, you know, lots of people on the ski town, like I just knew it wasn't gonna it wasn't gonna be easy, but it's great up here. There's like uh multiple rivers, you know. We got the Blue River, the Colorado River, and then Muddy Creek up here. So there's plenty of places to go to do all a bunch of good training. So um yeah, that summer uh it was just the line, right? We moved up here in May, and I every morning I go out in five minutes. I could be at BLM land. And uh I remember the second big hurdle that me and Chief hit was with the the line memory, you know. Some dogs have drive and he just doesn't. He doesn't have pre-grive. I had to like really teach it to him. So I would, you know, every morning I wake up super early and go out there in the field and I would just walk, you know, like we must have walked miles. Like, oh, that was too far. Let's bring it back to 10, 15 yards, you know. Like I was I wanted to just get to 100 so bad so I could introduce the launcher because I just thought it was gonna look so cool, right? And I just had this thing in the back of my mind, too. I didn't know if he was gonna be gun shy still, you know, from the fireworks incident. That was always in the back of my mind, like, man, I don't I wonder what's gonna happen, you know. So that that June we went on a road trip to drive, uh drive to Michigan to see my family, and then drive to Rhode Island to see Danielle's family. And we like planned out all these hip camp spots along the way so we could just camp out of the back of my truck. And I brought all the training stuff with me. So I mean, we trained in like Seneca, Nebraska. We trained out in like uh Monroe, South Dakota, you know. We'd be at these campsites, and I would just have everything set up, trying to push them a little bit farther. And um the one guy at I think it was called like Uncle Bob's farm or something out in South Dakota, he was like saw the trainer with chief, and he's like, Man, your dog listens really good. So that was cool to get a compliment from a guy. I mean, he had all of his dogs running around. He tried to give me a cattle dog. He's like, You want them for$600? By the end of the time, I kind of give them to me for$50. And I was like, no, I don't need another dog right now, dude. So then we got out to Michigan, you know, uh, and uh I remember it was the door, I think we were in Door County, Wisconsin, out on the door peninsula, and that's where he did his first water retrieve because we had we were we camped out on some creek or whatever. So that was cool, and then he we we worked more on swimming up there um up in Michigan on the lake, uh, you know, just working on water retrieves just because we had access to water finally that was like every day. And um with uh Haley was a great retriever, like she would she could like go fetch my brother's dog Haley, right? Uh she would go return she could go retrieve for like two hours straight. It was insane. So people would be like, When you can tell her to stop, and it's like she's having fun, man. And then we got out. I remember we got out to Rhode Island, and that's where we kind of hit another hurdle because they had some crazy heat wave where it was like 86 degrees at 8 a.m. You know, 100% humidity. You guys are probably used to that out in Alabama, but being from the mountains with Chief, like him being used to that, like he hit his drive was just he he didn't want to train at all. I would be going out to these like fields trying to find places to train him. I remember like you know, one time someone called the cops showed up because they're like, you're not allowed to have a dog off leash. It was like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to get out of here. And uh so when anyways, I just I just don't think he had anything to do that day. But um I remember I think I reached out to Abigail because you know, I was having a lot of issues where I'd send him. We were probably at like up to like 50 or 60 yards by now, and he would just kind of stop and turn around and like almost forget what he was supposed to be doing, kind of. So I would like, you know, sometimes I'd go out, walk him back, or like heal him out, and stop him, and then send him, or like take a step forward and give him the back commands. So we were like working through it, but it just was like Abigail was like, you probably just need to take like a week off and just stop if he's not really feeling it. And I did that. We drove back to Colorado, and by the time we got back out there, I set up and he just kind of finally got it. It finally worked out where I felt like he was gonna. I finally felt like, all right, let's we can finally get to the gunfire introduction. I think it was probably late August, so we I knew that hunting season was coming up. So yeah, what we we went out. I went out with my now wife, and uh she helped me uh introduce the gunfire, and it it went good, you know. No problem when yeah, when you start out at the hundred yards and work your way forward. So that was just a big weight off my shoulders with that.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's gotta feel good because I mean that was a huge question, Marky you were carrying that whole entire time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So he's he's he's good now too. I mean, um when he sees where the noise is coming from. But we actually live really close to a sportsman's club. I mean, you can hear the gunshots from our deck, and sometimes like when you get like if we go on a hike kind of near it, and he doesn't see like the noise happening, he could still sometimes get a little skittish. So that's just something I've learned about my dog, you know. It's just like who he is, it's but uh as long as like he knows like you're in the hunting mode or whatever, like it's fine now. So wow, but but uh so yeah, um so yeah, that first season, I think I took him out on his first hunt uh up near Steamboat. There's a reservoir there, and went out and probably had just been focusing so much on the launcher. I didn't necessarily train with like live birds at all because I'd never hunted before, you know. So uh we went out there and uh Dawn, you know, I was with my buddy, and we sh we got a bird down on the water and sent him for his first retrieve. And I was like, oh man, like he's going straight out at it. This is perfect. And he ran a circle around it and came back to shore. I was like, oh I was like, man, this sucks. Because like this is the first duck we I ever shot, and it's kind of like floating out a little bit. So I was like, Well, I gotta go get that. So I had to strip out on my waders and everything, and I swam out my boxers and got it. And uh it was pretty cold. Uh so I bet it was.
SPEAKER_01I bet it was.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, luckily it got up. You know, the sun was just peaking up over the reservoir at that point, so luckily it warmed me up, and we stayed out there and hunted for another couple hours, didn't get anything else that day, so I got the only retrieve that day. So, but it was still I still felt like it was a win because I'd at least gotten my dog some action. He'd get been around gunfire and a hunting situation, and I just was like, alright, um, definitely gotta do a little bit more work here. So I, you know, kept used those the wing feathers, right? And tied those to some dummies, right? And we just started doing a lot more drills with with that to get him used to picking up and get like that that different feeling in his mouth, right? So then we went out the next time we went out hunting, and the next time we got uh a bird down, I uh decided to like this time we weren't at a reservoir. Well we were, but it was an area where it was kind of flooded through with like it was kind of like a channel. So it was only like I don't know, 15 yards across where we had set up. And I kept the check cord on this time and kind of waded into the water with him and like gave him the command, like dead bird, like chief. And uh he went out and like I kind of like waded out up to my knees next to him while still holding on to it, and he got the bird and brought it back to me. So just kind of being a little bit closer to him, like we got a we got a good win that day, and that was like the first time I can remember him like retrieving like a bird like correctly, so to say, right? Even though I was there with him, right? But that felt really sweet to actually at that point I was getting pretty pumped, so yeah, that was great, great feeling.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah. I mean, it's the journey is amazing, and every every dog's journey is different, and y'all overcame some serious challenges with like the gunfire stuff, too. But that I love I love the stories to farm man as you're just talking about, you know, you kept kind of coming up on a challenge, but you just kept kind of plodding along, and then you would hit overcome it and then keep going from there, and then it just gets better. So that's uh yeah, that's the that's the story of dog training. It uh takes takes time, takes effort, but you can get there if you if you keep at it.
ear Two Wins And River Mistakes
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. I mean it we had a probably uh I don't know, we went out till like December of that year, probably. Um our last retrieve, probably, I think it was like December 7th that year, and I remember because I took a pretty cool picture of it. It was like 17 degrees out, and my buddy actually shot a uh goldeneye that was like pretty far out on the lake, and Chief swam out like in a straight line, like 40 yards, and brought it back, and that's when we decided to call the season that year because ice was starting to form and everything. But that was a that was a great way to like end this that first season on a win. And uh so yeah, so then the did a lot of training the next uh throughout the next year. Um one of the things I did is like I I kept some birds in the freezer and we would do work in the backyard with that, just trying to dial in, getting him used to handling actual birds, and that set us up for uh really good success the next year. Um pretty early on, I think we were out hunting on the Colorado, and uh he actually got his first like triple retrieve where I was actually good enough to actually shoot some birds for him for once. I remember like I was by myself this time, so like some of the the best the best like growth I have as like a duck hunter myself is when I would just go out by myself, you know. You you learn what works, you're not relying on anybody else. But I remember like jumping up out of the blind where we were hand where we were hiding, and just my hand was like shaking. I was so excited, like I was like, go get that one first, and then giving him the over command, like go get that one now. That one's that one's about to go down the river, buddy. And he got them all, and it was pretty sweet. So that was like pretty early towards the start of our second season. And uh then uh just kind of a funny story because it turned out okay, but uh I I learned that you have a whistle around your neck for a reason, right? Because the whistle stop is a pretty important move. Um I went out one morning, I was thinking I was on the Blue River, and I remember there was a hunter set up down in the corner, and then I was set up more towards the point where there's a confluence of some rivers with the Colorado. And I shot a duck I shot the first duck in the morning, I shot a mallard and it landed around the shore, and he brought that one back, and it was negative two degrees this morning, this morning that we were out there, and it's cool because like all the mist is coming up off the water, you know, and because it hasn't started to freeze over yet because it was still November, and I was like, Well, we could probably get another one. Like I I don't like to keep him out too long when it's that cold, but I shot another one and it went all the way across the other side of the river, and I hadn't done a whole lot of pushing across water drills, but I sent Chief and he went all the way across the water, and then he started to kind of have like a celebration party, right? Where he's rolling around like next to the duck, and I'm like, oh shoot, like and uh I never I never heard it called that before, but I love it.
SPEAKER_01A celebration party. Yeah, that's a good one right there. That's good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, he's just like rolling around like oh I'm next to the duck, and like I was trying to tell him to like fetch, and he wasn't listening, and I made the mistake of not using the whistle at all. I was like, oh, I'll just go help him. So I decided to like try to safely cross that river, and uh it got pretty deep pretty fast, and next thing you know, it flooded my waiters, and I made it across the river, and I'm like, man, this this really sucks. So, and right when I got there, the duck took off swimming back towards the side of the river that I just come from, and Chief starts chasing it, and like now we're basically both swimming after this duck together, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, dude, and this Gother Hunter must have thought that I was the biggest idiot ever because he's watching the whole thing. So we got that duck, and uh, I went home and sat next to the the fire the rest of the day, right? My yeah, and I have not made that mistake again because it's like you train a dog to do something, it's like just remember to use the whistle. So that was that was my fault. And uh this this year actually we were hunting on the Colorado River again, and we had a couple scenarios where you know my favorite time to go hunting is for you just you just you gotta be out there for legal shooting, like because they're all coming into decoy. Um your best chance for them to come into decoy because they don't always do it out here in the mountains for sure. But yeah, we got some ducks that went across the river, and this time when Chief swim out, and like we give him the the hunted up whistle that we've worked on quite a bit, which I think that's one of the coolest things when you can send a dog in for a blind retrieve, and then they can sniff it out, flush it back up into the river, you know. And he did that perfectly um on one of our first hunts this year, and it was just felt awesome to have corrected that issue. So yeah, I I don't I'm not retrieving ducks anymore.
SPEAKER_01So wow. What a journey. So you're saying that the next year he he swam across again, but then he found a way to push them back in the water and then and then get them if they're still alive. That's awesome.
amily Hunting Plans Plus Final Advice
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and we focused on that too, you know. Um, there's some places by my house where I can easily throw marks across the water and just get them used to pushing across the water and then not get distracted and come back. So it just comes down to like, you know, they prep you just gotta practice, right? And I mean, it all if you don't if you don't build that foundation, like you can't expect them to be able to do it, right? But it's just if you just once you figure out what issues you're having, and uh we've been able to to work out, work, work out and correct that, so that that's been pretty sweet. And um yeah, now we actually my other brother, my younger brother that I've talked about a little bit, he's he has a one-year-old black lab now, and his mom his um her her mom was actually a hunting dog, so she's got some really great natural parade drive. I mean she's probably I've been helping him train her, and she's probably around like week 25 now. So we're getting pretty close to introducing um gunfire with her any week now, and he just got his uh his hunter education done about two weeks ago. So this coming year, I think all three of us will be able to go out together, which will be s really sweet.
SPEAKER_01So she's that's incredible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it's been pretty it's been really fun and just getting into um this hobby of duck hunting, which I didn't grow up with, but I just look forward to it. I'm already looking forward to next year right now. So and it'll be really cool to do that together as a family.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's uh that's amazing. And two dogs are well, so Haley's still gunshot, so she won't be out there, I imagine.
SPEAKER_02Well, she actually the reason he got Abby is because she sadly passed away about a year ago. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it was like a freak thing where it just came on super fast. I think it was meningitis. But yeah, she was seven years old and it just like boom. Man, so yeah, um, but uh he got this other dog afterwards, chose not to get a golden. But I mean, this black lab is something else, man. Like, it's making me think about if I get I want to get another dog to have Chief help train it. Again, for my um, but yeah, I'd have a hard time not getting a golden, but just seeing like the natural prey drive. I mean, Abby will go out like in a straight line, so much fast. Chief kind of like he'll just kind of go out wagging his tail, like, do what you tell him to do, but there's not a sense of urgency, right?
SPEAKER_01Ah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. That's a golden retriever. But uh, yeah, she she just goes out lightning fast. Like she got we would spend hours trying to craft his hold, you know, the fetch hold release training, and she's out there just picking up the big old dock and dummy perfectly, bringing it back. Like I it's like, yeah, it's just every dog's different, right?
SPEAKER_01So one hundred percent. Man, that's uh what a journey. So you and I guess so you'd never trained a dog before prior to your pop.
SPEAKER_02No. Wow, and no, so but this is gotta give me a lot of confidence now to be able to yeah, just feel like you can do whatever you set your mind to, right?
SPEAKER_01I mean, so that's all did I and I may have missed it. Did the did the dog get you into hunting, or had you started some hunting before and that's and then you got a dog?
SPEAKER_02No, I I had decided that I was gonna get into it once I'd kind of you know found that I had all this kind of free time now. It's like you can actually do the things that you've I kind of always thought about doing. And uh my cousin who lived out here in Colorado near us, she had grown up going on duck hunts to Louisiana. So I'd heard about some she'd always had cool stories and stuff talking about the dogs. So when I had decided that I was gonna get a dog, um, because my brother was moving out with H Haley at the time, I was like, I'm gonna get a I'm gonna I I'm gonna get a hunting, I'm gonna train it to be a hunting dog. So I had decided that when I had started researching the programs and whatnot, you know. So nice. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Man, what a what a journey. That's uh that's incredible. That's exciting. What is your what does your wife think about all this? Was she along for I sounds like she was along for the ride on all this as well, learning the training and everything? So what uh did she has she enjoyed the process? Has she helped you any, or has it been more of your project?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, she helped out, especially like with um some of like the further retrieves and stuff, and like throwing blinds. She'd go out there with me a little bit, and then um she definitely just loves how well trained he is, you know. We have another dog that she rescued a number of years before I met her, and that dog is just not as trained. It's uh so yeah. She uh she definitely is appreciative of what the program has provided, and um she definitely like we always like one of the things that helped is like every time that one of us would take a walk with him when he was younger, is like just having that slip lead. That definitely was a really big tool from the beginning to like teach heel work, you know. So she was really helpful with not slacking off and just using a retractable leash or whatnot, you know.
SPEAKER_01So she's helping me. I love it, man. Uh I just love everything about the story. That uh that celebration party thing was cracking me up, but that was cool that y'all overcame that challenge as well. And uh so what are you what are you thinking about for this next season? Is there anything you're working on kind of prepping to improve? Or you feel like y'all have got to a place now where y'all are really kind of solid on those retrieves?
SPEAKER_02Uh I'm feeling like pretty solid on retrieves. I think the big thing is like working on honoring and just probably just dialing into like a lot of mock hunts with my brother's dog, because as the couple stories I've talked about where if I didn't actually work on something, you know, there's nothing more frustrating than when you're out there in the field working through something. So I think like I I see that like we're definitely gonna want to to do that. So we got all summer once the ice melts to do that, you know. So definitely that's gonna be a priority. So and then you know, working working on shooting too.
SPEAKER_01That's we can always work on that. We all need to be better. Our dogs would appreciate it if we'd invest in that a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so the sportsman's club right across the street from where we live. I I'm making a a trap team this year, so we're gonna do they do it like every Thursday night for like four months. So good camaraderie, and that'll be a good way to get out there and practice too.
SPEAKER_01So that's great, man. Well, Matt, I appreciate you for just jumping on and just sharing your story. I mean, it's been an incredible story. Uh and I would love to you know keep following up as you go, especially uh this is a unique story in that you know, I feel like this has made a big impact. Just taking the time to go train your dog and you know, reconnect him with Jesus and then all this journey happening at once, changing your life all at once. I I feel like this has been uh an incredible story. The fact that it's also kind of bled over into your brothers as well, you know, your passion and it's really uh, you know, your passion for this, I would imagine, inspired and encouraged them to kind of follow in your footsteps. Uh it's just what an incredible story. Uh I never I never thought uh, you know, when we're videoing that something like this would be happening, truthfully, honestly, you know, you you just don't think about those things. You're we're thinking about dog training, but hearing your story and how it's impacted your life is what an incredible story. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, thanks, man. And just the last little piece of I mean, most recently, my my dad just hit a year sober himself. So that's been uh just it just keeps on happening, you know, and now um yeah, it's just really cool that it's just good things continuing to happen. And uh, if anyone out there is struggling, I just want to say like don't be afraid to ask God for a little help because you might you might be surprised by his response. You just gotta just gotta be prepared to listen.
SPEAKER_01So Amen. That's uh that's a fine way to put it, and it's uh it's true. And uh who knows, maybe maybe that dog will come into your life, help you on the journey too. It's it's amazing how when you do ask, he uh he does answer, and he's so faithful and he's good, and uh your story's a testament testament of it. So it's uh wow. Absolutely that's all that's all I could say, man. I really am blown away. What uh let me ask you this. I like to ask all of our all of the podcast stories that we get to celebrate this, but what would be kind of if you had some advice for somebody getting into this, maybe in your shoes that had never trained a dog before, what's some you know, one or two nuggets of just things you've learned along the way that you would share that you think could help them?
SPEAKER_02Um you just gotta have faith in your dog. I mean I remember like there was some point where like he was struggling at something, you know, and I would make comments to my wife, like, uh, oh man, I'm gonna have to get another dog, you know, like he's not gonna be able to do it. And like it really just like you just gotta keep on putting in the work. And it might sound cliche or whatnot, but I mean, I think we were stuck on the hundred-yard line memory for six weeks. Like, and you you can if you just stay with it, you know, and like don't be afraid to take a few steps back, and like you'll you'll get there. And one of the big things too, like don't mess around with the the structure that you guys have created with the program about like you always want to try to end on a win, and then when you're reintro when you're introducing new skills, you know, like circle back, right? And like always start with something that they do something that they're they're good at during that training session too, right? So like just it just helps this continue to instill confidence with your dog, right? And uh and then one of the biggest things too is I mean, yeah, um for generalization. That's one of the when you're doing that, like go to different places because I mean especially when you start going out and hunting different places, like there's always different scenarios. You uh if you just continue to go out and find other places to train, you can really just help strengthen your dog's ability to retreat, right?
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's all that's all good, man. That's all great advice. And Matt, let me just to say thank you again for hopping on. It's been it's been my honor to get to share your story and uh encouraging, and I appreciate you for encouraging everyone out there too. Like you said, hey, if you're if you're struggling, don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help. He's uh he's always there and listening. All you gotta do is ask. So uh appreciate you, Matt. And I look forward to hearing more of your story. You gotta maybe maybe you gotta make it out there to Colorado sometime. I'd love to see this with my own eyes.
SPEAKER_02Sweet, man. Well, we'll be here, and uh I pray that you and your team continue to just continue to reach out to people and thanks for everything that you're doing to help people train amazing uh gun dog and just family dogs and companions, you know. So thank you.