Build From Here
Build From Here
From Gun Shy to Gun Dog… He Almost Made the Same Mistake Again | Terrance's Story
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Terrance didn’t start with success.
In fact, his first dog ended up gun shy—and he thought he might make the same mistakes again.
But this time was different.
In this episode of the Build From Here podcast, Terrance shares how he went from uncertainty and self-doubt to training a dog that’s already exceeding his expectations. From struggling through early training “dips” to experiencing the moment everything clicked, this is a story about what happens when you stick with the process.
You’ll hear:
- What went wrong with his first dog (and what he’d do differently)
- The biggest challenges he faced early in training
- How the right system and community changed everything
- The moment he knew his dog was going to make it
- Why “don’t give up” is more than just a cliché
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re doing it right—or felt like your dog just might not turn out—this episode is for you.
Want to learn how to train your hunting dog with confidence?
Visit: Cornerstone Gundog Academy
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Visit: Retriever Training Supply
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Welcome And Meet Terrence
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Build From Here podcast. On this episode, I'm introducing you to Cornerstone member Terrence Carr. And let me just say this is my great honor to be introducing you to him. Terrence has been with us for a well, a little over a year. So back in September would have been a year. And it's just been incredible since he's joined the process and just started going through the program with his dog. One thing I could say about Terrence is I love his passion and just his excitement about this whole process and his optimism. And we'll talk more about it in the story. But you know, one of the things was there, you know, there's to people around him, just in his close fear, that weren't sure if he was going to be able to do it. But Terrence kind of had that mentality, you know, I don't it doesn't matter. I'm going to put my head down. I'm going to do the work. I'm going to make it happen. And um it's been amazing to see the results thus far. And uh it's just so cool. So I think you're really going to enjoy this story. We're going to have lots of great nuggets and exciting things to hear in between. So without further ado, welcome aboard. Terrence, glad you're here.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. Really excited to share our journey so far.
SPEAKER_01It's amazing, man. And and every one of the things that I love about doing this podcast too is we we have people from different, you know, levels on their journey. You know, some people have been with Cornerstone eight years, and some people have been for a very short period of time. But what's always amazing is that there's always something to gain out of it because everybody's experience is unique and everybody goes to something slightly different. In a lot of ways, there's a lot of similarities, but at the same time, everybody's going to have their unique differences with training their dog, whether it's it's also dependent on where you live, like depending on if you live in the city, out in the country, the environment around you. So everybody's got a different story, and it's just amazing to hear it. And I'm excited to share
From New Hunter To First Lab
SPEAKER_01yours. Uh before we kind of dive into the dog stuff, I do want to go background where you know where you're from. Were you into hunting before? How what got you into this whole thing?
SPEAKER_02So I grew up in a town uh about 45 minutes southeast of Boston, um a small town called Abington. I actually didn't grow up hunting. Um, I did a lot of fishing with my dad, but we didn't do any hunting. Um I got into hunting probably about 12 years ago now. Um a friend of mine invited me out on a pheasant hunt with his two German shorthairs, and as soon as I saw them work, I knew I wanted to have a hunting dog. And that's kind of where I got started. Um my first yellow lab didn't really pan out um as a hunting dog, unfortunately, but uh that's kind of how I learned that I need to find a program to work if I wanted to train a hunting dog. So that's kind of what led me down the the path of cornerstone was trying and failing on my own.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, what did that experience? I would love to know about that experience. Tell me about trying it on your own. What did that look like? And what were your hopes when you started with that dog?
SPEAKER_02So when I started with her, I really just wanted a dog that um would go anywhere, do anything with us, whether it was pheasant hunting, duck hunting. Uh, and for the most part she did. She was an amazing dog. Um, but she was terribly gun shy. I took some bad advice. I brought her out uh to a field and just shot some guns beside her. And uh after that, she wanted nothing to do with anything gun related. It just I think I I made her gun shy on my own. Um, in hindsight, if I had had cornerstone back then, I probably could have fixed that, but um that was 2014, so um there wasn't much available um in the way of programs that I knew about, so I was kind of just stuck with a uh generally great house pet, which was not that's not a complaint.
SPEAKER_01She was an amazing dog, but yeah, it still it still hurts when that happens. It's uh yeah, but I love there's that optimism peeking in, you're right. You said, well, I probably could have fixed it. And the truth is you probably could have. Uh but I I I just love that about you, man. I love that about you. So that was around 2014. Where did this dog come on the scene? Your current dog, and you know, it clearly there was was there any dogs in between? What's the what's the story there?
Losing A Dog And Choosing Holly
SPEAKER_02Um, so there was no dog in between. This is this dog is actually kind of a special story. So my yellow lab got sick and passed away in August of cancer. We had done chemo treatments, and yeah, it was a tough loss, and my daughter really took like it was awful on her. She was um I think she had just turned seven um and she was really struggling. So my wife and I were kind of going back and forth, and you know, the typical she wanted a big blocky uh English, I wanted a real skinny American, uh, she wanted a chocolate. I kind of wanted another yellow or a black. And I opened up Facebook one day at work, and a breeder that I follow from Pennsylvania posted a litter of chocolates coming up, and the father was English and the mother was American, and it was gonna be like a spring litter, which is what we wanted. So I was joking with my wife, and I said, Hey, look at this. Neither one of us has to give up anything. You get half of what you want, I get half of what I want. What could go wrong? So it was, you know, and it all kind of just the stars aligned, and um, so we surprised my daughter. We woke her up one morning for school, and I said, Hey, how'd you like to play hooky and run and get a dog down in Pennsylvania? And she looked up at me and was like, You're letting me skip school. And I go, Yep, we're going to pick out a puppy. And yep, we got um pick of the litter, which I mean, depending on who you ask, uh, I don't think it really makes that much of a difference. But for us, it was just special for my daughter to have that opportunity to meet all the puppies. And I say she picked out the dog, but really uh our dog Holly picked her out immediately as soon as they saw each other. She just went to my daughter, laid on her lap, and that was when I knew I was in trouble. So it was it was good. You know, and we brought her home that Memorial Day. Yeah, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_01I love those stories, man. It's uh and and school is good, but those moments right there, like you you created a defining moment as a father in your daughter's life saying, hey, like this is important to you, like we're gonna go take care of something. And when you think about life, like that's so that's so awesome, man. What a model, what a model, man. That's so cool. That is so cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was a lot of fun. And we got to, you know, it was a eight, I think it was an eight-hour ride, so we kind of made a road trip out of it, stopped at a bunch of places, and ultimately that's how we came up with our name. We stopped in a town in Pennsylvania, Holly, Pennsylvania, and they had this big sparkly sign, and my daughter fell in love with it and decided that was the dog's name.
SPEAKER_01So oh man. Girl dads, girl dad life. You uh things change when you have girls.
SPEAKER_02That is for sure. Yeah. A lot of pinks and a lot of sparkles.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So that was this, was that spring of 25? That was spring of 25.
SPEAKER_02Um, she's gonna 24. She's gonna be two uh in a couple weeks. So um 24. It would have been the spring of 24.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you got her, got her then. And how were you feeling going into this with uh the previous experience? So obviously this decision wasn't just about hunting dog. This is about, I mean, it seems I could be putting these words in your mouth, but I'm assuming this, the number one goal first is we want a family dog here. This is for my family, this is for my daughter. But obviously, we all know they have capabilities. We want them to be a hunting dog to you. How are you feeling going into it this time with the previous experience you had?
SPEAKER_02Yeah,
Finding Cornerstone And Its Community
SPEAKER_02so I I always told my buddies I want a uh family dog that'll go hunting. That was kind of like my my goal. Starting out was like, if this dog will just go with me and not be afraid, then that's really all I'm kind of looking for. Um I started doing some YouTube videos and quickly learned that I'm getting into my old routine again, and like I think I should look into something else. And of course, you go on the Facebook groups and you'll get a thousand recommendations. Uh, but one day I was sitting at the station at work, going through Instagram mindlessly, and uh video pops up, and I go, Oh, this guy looks good. And it was um you were talking about uh it was a nice video of you introducing Cornerstone and how it's kind of built on faith and a community. And I thought, all right, that's a lot different than anything I've seen. So I watched the video, signed up for the emails, was shocked to get a Facebook message from you, the owner, because you just don't really see that all that much. Um, and we talked back and forth, and I was I remember I was still paying off my uh old dog's chemo pay uh chemo treatment, so I was like a little behind, and that's when you brought it to my attention. Oh, you can, you know, put it on the payments. So I did that, and um within I would say 24 hours of getting on there, seeing the videos, um, meeting the other members, it was kind of like it clicked like, okay, this is definitely the spot that I want to be at. You have an owner who reaches out to you, but you also have thousands of members who are, you know, post after post on the Facebook group at the time, and there was no negativity. Whereas you switch over to some of those other Facebook groups, and you know, people were getting their heads ripped off, which is kind of intimidating. You know, you ask a simple question and seem like they made it way worse, you know. And but then you go to this other group and your group, and there's just a thousand people offering tips and tricks, and um, you know, like I said, I talked to a bunch of the members probably hours on end just getting advice and how to fix certain things, and I owe a lot of the success to you and them just taking the time to talk to me and help me. Um, even when probably most of the people who know me were thinking, yeah, that's not gonna pan out. He's not gonna follow through with it. And you know, and here we are, um week 29, and she's doing amazing, you know.
SPEAKER_01Wow. That's so cool. Well, I want to give a special shout out to you. I know you mentioned Scott Marquis had been really helpful to you. So we're just gonna shout him out on this podcast. And one of many, you know, there's like you said, there's many people that'll but take the time. And I think the beauty of it too is that everybody's using the same playbook as well. So you're not getting conflicting advice. Uh one person's, oh, this method over here is better, and this method's and that. You know, it's all the same playbook. We're all going the same direction, we got the same goal. Uh but even with that in mind, it's nice to have that perspective that says, Yeah, look, I went through it with my dog. This is what happened to us, this is the the changes, this is how we adapted. Because that's dog training one-on-one. You gotta adapt, adopt or adapt. You're not gonna be successful. Even using our course, like you gotta take time to adapt because you're gonna have to. Every dog's different. And it's uh that's amazing to hear that. And uh, you know, that's it's just a testament, too, to how much you love love the dogs, right? Because I mean, uh clearly you were invested in your previous dog. So uh this seemed to have come at a pretty good time for you guys.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it couldn't have worked out any better. And um, another key selling point was watching the videos and seeing your dog at the same stage that I'm at. So Violet was, you know, as you we were watching those videos, Violet was basically in the same spot we were at. So you're you're not watching a finished dog go through and do basics, you know what I mean? You're watching you do it from the beginning, and it just instilled a lot more confidence. Like, hey, my dog's gonna make mistakes just like the dog I'm watching, so it's you know, you don't feel as bad. Whereas you watch a seasoned dog that's you know been finished for say three years doing place, and you're like, why isn't my dog doing that on YouTube, you know, and you kind of beat yourself up, but then you watch you and Violet, and you're like, okay, this is where I'm supposed to be. This is normal. My dog's not defective, I'm not doing something wrong, you know. It's just you see it as a more of a progression and it helps a lot.
SPEAKER_01You know, 100%.
Training Dips Place Hold Mindset
SPEAKER_01It's um it's a tough place to be training a dog because you know, before you start, you don't realize it. And I know there's a like a lot, if you're out there thinking about getting a puppy right now, you're probably just excited. But pretty soon you get into what we call the dip. And that's where you know you you have this vision, you're going to you see, I want to be at the top of this mountain over here, and you don't think about the valley in between, but you're gonna go through that valley, and when you get in the valley, you're not gonna be able to see the mountain anymore. So you're gonna have to remember what that looked like to get through. So it's definitely intimidating and like overwhelming once you get into, especially when things don't go well. Uh and you know, and my goodness, some days are amazing and some days are like a total train wreck. I wanna and even even now, uh, I took one of my dogs out the other day. One one dog did great. Violet, she actually she did really good. We had a good session. Uh, but when we were training, there was a deer, uh, a deer leg out there. I guess uh a deer had died or or whatever, but it was basically to the bone. And so the wind was blowing, Violet went over there and got it, and I called her back and had her drop it, and then we continued on our session. Then I got um I kind of moved it out of the way, and then I got Bertie out, her daughter, and uh I noticed she was like working her way over where the leg was. I thought, oh no, this is not good. And so she got a hold of it, I got her back, I told her to drop it, and we were good. So then I go out and I do uh a retrieve and I send her and I went far away from where this deer leg was, and she ran right past the bumper, straight to the deer leg and brings it back. And I said, Okay, I'm done. I'm not even gonna force this. Uh, you know, in the past, typically I would be like, oh, you we're gonna work through this right now. I was like, I'm not even gonna worry about this. We'll come back another day, that deer leg will be gone and we will go about our life. But those types of things, when things don't go well, they can, depending on, you know, if your attitude drops right there, things can really feel like it's not gonna turn out. I'm sure was there any moments where uh along the way where you felt like that, where you're like, man, I don't know, this is gonna work out.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, I had a lot of dips. Um, I would say um place was place was a tough one. Um, or I shouldn't say place, place was good, it was the extended place. Um, I had a big dip there where she just she would go to place from like 10 yards away, I could send her to place. Um anytime I sent her there, but it was quick. She would sit down and then she'd get ants in her pants and she would start moving and then step off the placeboard almost immediately. If you got 30 seconds, you were lucky. And I was full on panicking, like, oh, this isn't good. Like, she's never gonna sit on a placebo. Uh, you know, she's gonna be embarrassing if we go to the duck line, she's gonna be jumping, or you know, whatever. So I, you know, first thing I did was went right to the Facebook group. Hey guys, I got this chocolate lab, she's you know, a little bit antsy, won't stay on the placeboard Grande, like two or three, whatever it was. And I got probably 20 messages saying, Hey, just take a deep breath, go back a few steps, don't worry about it. It's gonna work out. You just trust the process, just keep doing what you're doing. And you know, I got messages telling me tips and tricks. Um, one of the ones was to put her on the placeboard when you're feeding her and don't let her move until she is ready to eat and you're ready. Um, and that has worked out fantastic. And you know, but like you said, you're in that valley, you can't see the mountain. So I was you know, full panic. But thanks to probably about 25-30 people reaching out to me, I thought they're right, I can do this. All I have to do is just be patient, focus on what we're doing, and you know what? Some days you're gonna get wins, some days you're not. And then, you know, as we started moving forward, she got placed down great, and then we reached um fetch and hold, and the hold was I I thought at one point, like, it's just not gonna happen. She's just not that dog. I tried everything. I even tried like, I don't know if I would say forced fetch per se, but more like I would put her on her place stand and kind of force the bumper into her mouth and hold it. I didn't do like the table and the chain and pressure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I didn't do all of that. I didn't do the pressure, I just kind of put it in her mouth, and that was kind of when I realized that this dog is a little bit softer than that. She doesn't like the um the force being pushed into her mouth. So I one of the kids, um, Jason Bronstein, I want to say his name is, he's a New England chapter member. He reached out to me and we chatted for probably an hour about different things I could try. Um, and you know, getting the treat, giving her a treat as soon as she touches it, puts her nose on it. And now she, I mean, just night and day over the last couple of days, where she'll hold things and sit there and hold it till I'm ready to take it. And that was something I never thought I would reach with her after seeing how she would take the bumper and spin it out immediately.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So man, that's so cool. Taking the time to spin with you too. I mean, that's just that's what the community is about. I want to bring something out that you said there because I think this is so relatable. Uh you said like uh back on the place thing, you're like, yeah, in your mind, you're immediately thinking, oh, this dog's gonna be embarrassing. It's never gonna sit on place, like it's not gonna be able to duck hunt. And like whenever we face problems in dog training, it the problem is never the problem. The real problem is the future problem, right? Most of us have an idea, we want this duck dog, like what especially a hold. The reason that's such a detrimental problem is everybody's like, if my dog can't pick up a duck, like I can't hunt. So whenever you you face that problem training, I want to encourage people, if you're listening to this, like, don't borrow from the future trouble. Like that is a future trouble. Like just stay focused on like the here and now. Because if you have one one day or even a week of training where it's not going well, and now you're rehearsing in your mind the future that hasn't happened yet, thinking this will never work. Man, my dog's gonna do this one day on a hunt. That's so far like in the future, not even worth worrying about at this point, because all that matters is do you make the next best step today? And that's gonna lead you to where you need to go. And it sounds like that was a journey you ended up finding yourself on. That's what I love about the community. Everybody was able to rally around you and help you realize like, hey, it's gonna be okay. These are this is how we're gonna get, you know, how we're gonna get through that, which is, man, that's so powerful.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I honestly, without the community, um people reaching out and helping. I don't know if I I probably would have, at one point or another, I probably would have just said, maybe everybody was right. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing, and I maybe I can't train the dog, maybe she needs to go to like a month-long training or something. Um, but thankfully, you know, like I said, Scott and Jason and probably a hundred other members all reaching out, just giving me tips and tricks and just saying, yes, they're called weeks, but sometimes, you know, you might have to spend a week or two on one week. It's not all just cut and dry. You just may have to take extra time. And I was getting a little panicky, like, well, if week 29 is supposed to be one week and I'm taking two weeks, it's gonna put me behind. Um, but you know, between you and everybody else, they reminded me that this is a marathon, not a sprint. You know, it that you'll get to the end game. You just have to prepare and just look at what you're doing now and not look at the end. You just have to focus and keep moving forward. And I'm so glad I did because I mean we're just we're far we're farther now than I ever thought I could get training a dog. Um, if you had asked me before Cornerstone, I never thought I would get here with the dog. So I'm pretty excited about that.
SPEAKER_01And that's so amazing too. Even at week 29, you're feeling that way. And you know, we intentionally built, and uh, you know, I think a lot of people don't realize that 29, y'all are, you know, what y'all are doing right now is important stuff. But the thoroughness that you're gonna get in weeks one through 28 to get to that 29, there's very thorough. And there's a lot of repetition intentionally so that it's actually trained and not we're not just teaching skills, we're actually training. And what that means is when we're when we consider trained is when that is done, it it's done. You don't gotta worry about it anymore. Just maintain it and then you can move on. But you're at a place now with where you've gotten in the training that the heavy lifting is done. It's uh momentum will be on your side through the next weeks. And I think that's what uh you know, a lot of if you've never done it before, a lot of people don't realize, you know, it feels like a mountain, you're climbing a mountain to get to that 25, 28, 29. But once you you're there, you're kind of cresting the peak, and it's gonna be a lot easier. Those last 30 weeks are gonna be they're gonna be a lot easier.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
Family Training Daughter And 4-H
SPEAKER_02And the big thing for me too is I think that's a good thing. Yeah. And seeing the bond that you've built with your dog over these twenty nine weeks, just you know, I mean, she's she's great with the entire family, you know, but when it comes to like just going out in the backyard, she's right by my side. Um, she just wants to be near me and near the family and you could see that the these all this work has really paid off with the bond and the relationship we all have with the dog. Because I do drag my daughter into the training sessions. I make her help out.
SPEAKER_01That's wise. How does that how does that go? I would love to hear more about that. And and I want to hear too I know you said uh we could talk about your outings with the dog as well. It sounds like people are taking notice of your dog's training.
SPEAKER_02Yep. So the the training with my daughter is um she she really likes to do the fetch training with my dog, throw in the bumpers and then they the two of them, she's nine, so you know she's still in that fun age, but she'll chase down the dog to see who can get to the bumper first and uh yeah and she loves the place training and um she's actually uh in a club called 4-H where it's a dog well it's a uh huge organization but they have a dog training club so we go on Tuesday nights and she does um like a show ring and they're teaching them how to do that. And um I'm feeling really good we're both feeling really confident that my daughter and her can get through this and go do the competitions and do really well and a big part of that is both the dog and my daughter watching the your videos and learning how to work together and um that's gonna be a huge help because the the two of them just work really well together even if I'm sitting kind of like in the back, you know so that's been a huge help.
SPEAKER_01Wow that is so cool.
SPEAKER_04She must love it then that's gonna be cool.
SPEAKER_01That's got has she done any of those competitions or is it kind of more like uh what does all that look like?
SPEAKER_02Um so right now it's just training for it. Um I think there'll be a competition in August they'll have to do like figure eights and the dog has to sit right by your side um and kind of a lot of the stuff that you know you have to be able to back up from your dog. The dog can't move so a lot of the stuff we're learning in Cornerstone applies to that. The steadiness and staying by your side and sitting when you stop um so there's a big fair in I think August that I think she's gonna um go into the ring and compete and I have a feeling she's probably got a leaps and bounds head start over everybody else just having watched these videos and gone through this and you know that gives her an advantage so we're really excited about that.
SPEAKER_01That's so cool. I mean I can't wait to hear how that goes that's gonna be that's gonna be incredible. We'll be rooting for her along with you I know you'll be we'll be celebrating y'all success with that. That's gonna be uh that's gonna be incredible.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah that's gonna be a good journey so yeah that'll be coming up in August and um possibly one in September.
SPEAKER_01So I'll keep you posted on that um to see how that goes but I'm feeling pretty confident with all the skills we've learned that it should be a breeze when um what was kind of the deciding so you you watched the videos you enjoyed the preview that kind of made you go down the path of cornerstone what you know with all the options out there why did you end up choosing cornerstone like what what stood out to you other than just enjoying the videos and thinking the community what was kind of like the the deciding factor for you um I would say the biggest deciding factor was seeing how you talked about building a community of people who were helping each other and there was just something about watching your video I could tell that um you were very passionate about this and you were it wasn't just a sales gimmick.
SPEAKER_02You know you weren't just saying like yeah we're trying to build a community but really just trying to take our money like I could see the passion behind everything you were saying was there and it didn't feel like there was no pressure at all in the beginning or ever at all to buy but I could just see it that this was something that was more than just a a business so to say this was a life passion for you and that kind of inspired me like if you're that passionate about it it's at least worth checking out and um like I say I watched your videos and you talked about the community and faith and it was all stuff that kind of aligned with me and I really enjoyed that.
SPEAKER_01So oh man well thank you for those kind words that didn't that's wild man that's so cool.
Field Work Gunfire And Genetics
SPEAKER_01It's been a crazy journey thus far and it's uh and you're just getting started man I I can't wait to see where things go from here as as you move on into the next weeks because once you get past that week 36 you've got a you've got a hunter on your hands now have you guys had the opportunity to hunt yet or is that something you're kind of looking forward to this season?
SPEAKER_02Um so I haven't taken her on any official duck hunts I've been waiting to do that. I did take her on a bunch of pheasant hunts but it was more like let's go for a walk and get accustomed to the gun. But she did flush a pheasant uh late October she flushed a pheasant my buddy shot it she waited she didn't move I told her to go and she bolted right to it and then stopped at the bird and didn't know what to do but at at that point she well even still now she hasn't actually had a feather in her mouth yet. She's all been bumpers up to this point. So that's something I definitely got to work on but I was just impressed with her you know she stopped gunshot went off she watched the bird drop and it was you know we were coming through the woods and it dropped into real thick brush in a field and I'm like I looked at my buddy I go I hope you saw where that went because I don't know and she as soon as I said holly go she took off running and he goes that's exactly where the bird is and I walked over and sure enough right in front of her there was a nice rooster sitting there and uh I would have liked her to pick it up and bring it back but um it's a building step you know so and I kind of knew going into it that it's a little early so you know well yeah I mean that's incredible that steadiness at that young age and and just rolling through that and you're almost uh yeah usage between so you're pretty much at the bird stuff you're basically getting ready to be working on birds all the final gun dog stuff is needed.
SPEAKER_01Once you get to week 36 we consider you've got that huntable dog and those last we pack it full in those last six weeks of huntable like you're getting uh you're getting into some of the the nitty gritty of shotguns and everything you need for duck hunting and and any type of bird hunting really so you're right up on it. One let me ask you this I do I am curious because so from your previous dog in 2014 to this dog. Was gunfire a big concern for you or once you got into the process you kind of knew that it was going to work out because I mean I feel like if I were in your shoes I would still be a little apprehensive about the gunfire section especially considering the the past I was very nervous about it.
SPEAKER_02That was a huge thing for me and and I would text my buddy I got two friends who um they got uh one has a lab and the other one has two German short hairs and I would text them I'm so worried about the gunfire I don't want to do what I did with Gemma you know and and they both were like you know it'll be fine don't worry about it and then again I reached out to the cornerstone community um and I got a bunch of good tips on you know starting at a distance and working closer and um I I can't remember who it was but somebody told me to associate the shotgun with positivity. And so I would take the shotgun out of the safe she'd come up to it I'd give her a treat. And so now unfortunately I can't even leave the house in a camo sweatshirt without her being like hey where are we going you know or if I go to the range and she she sees that case she's like wait a second no no no that I'm supposed to go you know as soon as she sees a shotgun case it's like right by my side like where are we going? So that was um kind of a huge one to see her enthusiasm about the shotgun. That made it a little bit more comfortable and uh yeah so far she's done really well with the um I'd say probably a dozen or so um shotgun shots that she's heard and then probably another couple dozen from the dummy launcher that I bought on uh Facebook Marketplace for 20 bucks.
SPEAKER_01That's a still man what a deal that's uh you gotta keep an eye out hey there's some good stuff out there it's uh Facebook can also be rough but there there's some good deals to be to be had here and there that is for sure yeah yeah every once in a while you strike gold but you know you gotta dig through some so on the day when you went through the gunfire intro what were you were you ready at that point like when you went through like the formal gunfire how how was that like what what was going through your mind how did you feel about it in that moment?
SPEAKER_02The entire time I was thinking I'm gonna ruin this dog. It's gonna be a repeat of my dog Gemma and she's never gonna want to do this again and when I finally got up the courage and we took the first shot and I saw her reaction I went well it's nothing to do with me but she has it you know because as soon as she heard that shot she looked to the sky right up there and was like waiting for something to fall and I'm like okay this dog I mean we talk about all the time genetics play a huge role in it which is good. So her parents are both titled hunters not that that necessarily means that she's gonna be a hunter but it definitely gives you the edge and as soon as that shot went off I went okay I see why people talk about genetics as much as they do because as much as I loved my last dog Gemma she I guess is what you would consider to be like a backyard bred labrador. It was a friend of mine's mother had puppies and um we had my wife and I had gone to shelters and met dogs and I showed her the picture on Facebook and I said oh my friend Megan her mother's dog had puppies and at this time I didn't really want a labrador I was kind of looking more into like a um some kind of hound and she my wife goes oh let's just go look at the puppies and I I didn't you know nobody had warned me at that point so I had brought her and I said okay and uh probably 10 minutes into that adventure I was like well we're lab people now and uh I would say about two days after I brought my lab home the first lab I was like yeah I don't think I'll ever own another dog these these dogs are awesome you know man they are and it's uh it is incredible I mean the apple doesn't fall far from the tree but the process too and when you combine all of that together that's a recipe for a good success.
SPEAKER_01It's uh I mean I I prefer well bred dogs myself. It's uh you can do train any dog but your experience can vary depending on the dog you have. On when I say that I mean it it just depends on like you said every uh you know you you had a dog having a challenge with place. Not every dog has a challenge with place. Some dogs do. Some dogs are gonna have a challenge with fetch. Some dogs don't every dog's different but when you when you start thinking about stacking the odds in your favor that's the easiest way to to put it might as well stack the odds in your favor. But that uh so as you went through that gunfire and that so after that first shot I guess that kind of took the the weight off your shoulder you're like okay we're we're looking good like we I feel I feel good about this.
SPEAKER_02That was I think the moment that it clicked that it was like okay this is going to be a gun dog. You know once that anxiety the shot went off I was like oh what's going to happen I look at her she's staring at the sky she's not moving it was like a weight lifted off my chest I'm like okay so that's a good sign. You know all the work that I've done leading up to this has obviously paid off because she didn't you know she didn't make a peep she didn't flinch nothing she just acted like it was another day in the park. Yep so I was that was extreme were you surprised that it was that simple I I was extremely worked up over gunfire.
SPEAKER_01You know they're like man it's gonna be hard but like that seems pretty simple.
SPEAKER_02Especially if you've had a gun shy dog before I think that definitely adds to the anxiety of you know and it and knowing what I know now that it was completely my fault. I took horrible advice you know so that falls on me.
SPEAKER_01So you're not the first to take some horrible advice and unfortunately there's a lot of people still going around giving that horrible advice. So we uh that's kind of why I get so passionate about it. We we don't want to see anyone failed unnecessarily right um I mean my goodness like that's just we want to make sure that we're providing clarity for people so that they can make good decisions because we believe no one should have to settle for less right and unfortunately for you for that first dog you ended up having to just settle for a family dog. And like you said there's nothing wrong with that but that wasn't your goal. And we believe if you're settling for something less than your goal that that's just not right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah and and like I said just doing this program has far exceeded my expectations by a long shot. Um
Hunt Tests Hunting Season And Land
SPEAKER_02so I it's you know I never knew about hunt tests or anything like that. And now I find myself like I mean I was hoping to get a dog that would just go hunting with me and now I have a dog that delivers the hand holds maybe it'd be maybe it'd be fun to try a hunt test you know and and looking at the program and the dogs that have completed it it there's no reason if I follow it I shouldn't be able to at least go and have a good time. And so I've I feel my expectations have kind of week by week they get a little bit uh bigger you know I get bigger goals because I see her following through and and performing like a rock star and it's like let's see how far we can push this you know so oh man I get it and it's uh a little secret for everybody out there you know we don't train for hunt tests and we've never we've made zero bones about that like that's not our goal our goal is to provide hunting dogs but we our goal is to provide elevated hunting dogs.
SPEAKER_01We want to teach you to train your dog to be the best hunting dog that it can be. And what that means is your dog can go do a bunch of other stuff too. So I we kind of like even though we don't train for hunt tests we did consider hunt tests. We knew as you like just like you said as you get going through the process it's going to happen in the back of your mind you're gonna be like I think I want to go see what this dog can do. And so we intentionally made sure that we weaved in the skill set you needed to be successful at hunt test within the course. Now I wouldn't say we that just go through the course is going to make you be successful because hunt test is more than just a you know running these drills. Hunt test is also understanding how to communicate with the judges how to play all of those games as well. So we don't really prepare for that but as far as the skill set your dog needs, once you hit that week 36, you're pretty much at a season you're at that middle level the only thing that you're not really into at that point is the blinds and technically I think most people could probably scratch by on that although let me just say this like we also believe in like the concept of if you want to win don't sit there try to scratch by. You should train for the next level. So if you're at that 36 week and your dog's at a season level you could run all that stuff no problem and you've got an amazing hunting dog that's extremely steady. And that's one thing that I love about the cornerstone dogs they're just extremely steady. But when you start looking at that you could easily take the next tier down and you're not having any problem with there. And then when you complete that complete retriever you're pretty much in a place to where you could run anything you wanted. But that that's just a little uh just to kind of wet your appetite as you as you start thinking about okay am I thinking about running hunt tests when you hit that week 36 definitely go do starter. You're gonna have any problem there. And then uh you know you could technically do season you just want to prep prepare for some blinds and and all of that as well.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah it's those aren't super important. Are you planning to run any soon? Yeah I'm thinking about there's one coming up in August and September early August and then late September in Connecticut. So I may go down and compete in those um if we're being completely honest if she doesn't you know if she doesn't pass that's not the least of my concerns. It's more just something to do for fun before the season practice some skills that we've already learned and if she does great perfect but I'm more focused on um having a hunting dog not having a testing dog.
SPEAKER_01But it'd be fun to just go and see what it's like and you know stretch the legs so to say and get little preseason workout so well August and September is going to be pretty big for Holly it sounds like we've got the 4 H competition and we're gonna do a little hunt test and and getting ready for the first official hunting season for Holly so that's uh yeah this is going to be our duck hunting season is first season or are you gonna start out with a duck hunt goose hunt do y'all have an early like what does y'all season look like up there?
SPEAKER_02So we have an early goose season in September which um that'll probably be the first time she goes out on like a true waterfowl style hunt. I'll probably do a couple of those in September um and then October the pheasant season opens up again. I think it's the second week in October and then the week after duck opens so she'll probably bounce back um between the two depending on uh how much of the land that we hunt on for ducks gets developed and how much stays um open because it's a lot of public land here. But unfortunately with that a lot of that public land that you had last year when you show up in the middle of the season or the beginning of the season you find out it's closed, it's blocked off or um trespassed what our houses are being built. Yeah it's um it's just unfortunate but especially when you get near water in this state everybody wants to put houses as close as they can and so you lose a lot of hunting land that way unfortunately but we make do we find new spots. I have a beautiful WMA about 15 minutes from my house so I can join about a hundred thousand other hunters over there if I want you know it just gets crowded. Wow yeah maybe not that might be an exaggeration but you know what I mean it just it gets crowded like it I get it man yeah so but they're usually pretty good guys I haven't had any issues over there just finding parking and then finding an open spot can be a little bit difficult but you know you just gotta work a little harder to find somewhere you gotta do what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_01You gotta do what you gotta do.
App Chapters Meetups And Culture
SPEAKER_01Well you know one one question I have for you is um so community is so back in July we really totally changed not changed the community but we revamped how the community works. You know typically we've always had the Facebook group and that's what it was for years and it's still there but our everything has moved to the Cornerstone mobile app because now you've got the community and the courses all under one umbrella meaning you don't have to have more than one app you could literally have just Cornerstone app and then that's all you need. How what has your experience been like with the updates and changes and all that how have you enjoyed that and has it do you feel like there's anything notable that that's helped you with I am a huge fan of the app.
SPEAKER_02I love that I can switch between videos and then chats or um following the communities and um I mean it's no secret I love the chapter ideas. I love meeting you know me and uh another kid Jason have done a couple lives um you know zooms whatever you want to call them um for Boston area but just in general having like even more so of a community and even closer community to home where we could meet up and train and uh meet other members that's amazing. So um really looking forward to some of those events. Scott up in Maine I think is going to do a couple so I'm gonna try to get up there and then we're looking into doing something um down this way as well so um that's a huge thing. Even just having people you could talk to on the app that are from your area is just a huge help you know so I give I would say the app get the app gets five stars for me for sure.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's uh I love it too and even like our own chapter it's made getting connected easier uh like before it's just hard to pull that off and I think that the system allows you just to do that easy. So we the even the Birmingham chapters had lots of great meetups and it's just been really easy to pull off but I love the idea and the and the idea of connection and and it's been amazing to see the chapters just the leaders have taken and run with it. They're taking off and like making things happen like you guys up there, like y'all are doing that yourself and it's just amazing to see like how that's unfolding and it's uh and it's so crazy to think that as good as it is now it's still in its infancy. So it's gonna be I I can't imagine what it's gonna look like in the years to come. I'm really excited to just see people connecting and having that better experience with their dog because it's it's just like like you said, not only is the community amazing on on the app, right, and and encouraging but in person like to me it is literally it transfers over perfectly When I'm in person with people, it's literally the same as if we're if we're just messaging on the app. Like we have the same can it's really the culture is the right word to say. It's just an amazing culture of people because they they really do care about each other. Right? You guys care about each other and we care about you. It's just so cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's an amazing thing to see so many people come together and their true goal is everybody succeed. It doesn't feel like it's a competition, it doesn't feel like I'm being judged. It's all just feels like everybody wants the next guy to succeed, and it's all about building each other up and making sure we all do that, you know? So that's been great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's amazing. And I'm blown away just like even at week 29, like you're saying your dog's already exceeding your expectations. And that's uh how does that feel being able to do that yourself? Uh you said something earlier. You said like you had some people around you that were not like they were like, Oh, you probably should send that dog off or something like that. But how does that feel like knowing that you proved proved all that wrong?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it it feels good, you know, and it and it's nothing against like my wife or my family or friends that didn't think I could do it because I have a backyard full of I started this project and never got to it. So there's a lot of reason for them to believe that this would be the same, you know what I mean? So it it didn't come from a place of hate, but it did, it feels good to um you know go to Lowe's the other day and people stop me and go, Oh my goodness, your dog's so well behaved. Who was the trainer that did it? And I can say it was me, you know, and oh, who do you work for? And it's like, uh I don't, I'm not a dog, I'm not a professional dog trainer. I just joined this program, watched some videos, and I just mimicked what I was being taught, you know, and then you know, of course, all the other stuff that goes into it. But I tell people I didn't really train this dog, I'm just the messenger. It was you and your guys that really did most of the work, you know.
SPEAKER_01So well, we just we put the videos together, we put the process together, the system, but you're the one that went out there day by day and did the training. So we got to put that credit right back on you, man. You've crushed it so far. It's been incredible to see.
SPEAKER_02It's true. I mean, you're right. As an individual, we have to go out and actually do the training, but I can say um it doesn't feel like work, if that makes sense. The way you structure the videos and the lessons, it's like I'm excited to get out and do it. It's more fun than it is like uh, oh, here we're going to work to train a dog. It's more like, hey, me and my dog are going to have a ton of fun, and in the process, she's gonna learn some things, and I'm gonna learn some things, and it's gonna be good. Um yeah, I look forward every day, you know. I look forward to like, okay, what are we doing next? What's next? We're gonna be doing straight lines, throw the bumper, come straight back. Um, after one of the big snowstorms, I saw you had a big fence that you did with Violet. Well, couldn't really use any fencing because there was so much snow, so I snowblowed a huge path that basically just forced her to run down, grab it, and come back because it was too high to really go one way or the other. And, you know, and I shared that, and uh, a bunch of people from the area were like, well, that's a great idea, you know, with all this snow, you know, I thought I wasn't gonna be in a train, but that's a good idea. So we shoot you share a lot of knowledge, and people think of things that, you know, maybe I might be newer, but this crazy idea that I had actually works, and now some other people who've been doing it for a while are gonna use that, you know. So it's uh it's great to bounce stuff off each other, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, I love it. It's uh I'm excited for your future, man. I'm excited for you and Holly as y'all go forth. This will be a big year. 2026 is gonna be a big year for you guys as y'all advance forward, continuing the training. We've got 4-H coming up, hunting season, all of these different things coming up. So it's gonna be a big year. So I'm beyond excited for you. What um let me ask this: what are you most excited about personally moving forward? Like as far as I don't know if you've looked ahead in the videos or if you're just thinking about hunting season or all of it as a whole, but is there anything that you're just like really looking forward to in the coming months?
SPEAKER_02Um, I would say I'm looking I'm really looking forward to hunting season coming around. Um just having a dog that I can be proud of when I'm out there, you know. People, you know, you you're out there, you see people, and everybody's got a dog, right? But when you look around, you hear the whine and you see the jumping, uh, you see dogs out there that just and it it's nothing, it's no fault to the dog, you know. It's just people either train them themselves and didn't have a program or whatever the case may be. Um, but you see that and you're gonna be able to walk in with a dog that doesn't do any of that, and that's gonna be huge. Um, I'm also hoping, fingers crossed, 2027, um trying to make it down for members weekend. It's not gonna work out this year, unfortunately, but my goal would be to try to make it down at least for a couple of days the following year.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we're excited about that, man. That'll be awesome. I'm excited for your hunting. It's gonna be an amazing uh season. And the thing you the way you just described it is is amazing, right? We're not just getting dogs that go any you can get most hunting dogs that go out there and retrieve stuff, but like the the whining, the the pulling, and all those terrible just behavioral problems that you get when you're just piecemealing stuff together or you're following an incomplete system, is a pain in the rear. And we don't want to see anybody deal with that. And so I'm excited about that for you because we're confident if you follow the videos and you implement what's in the course, you're gonna have that dog, like you said, that you could be proud of. And there's a difference between a dog you can take hunting with you and a dog that you can be proud of deck hunting with you. That's the goal. But uh man, member weekend too. We yeah, we're so excited about it this year. It's gonna be amazing. We'll miss you on this one, but uh, we'll try to get those dates out uh pretty quick. We might even have them at this next member weekend. You know, we I think last year we had them out about a year in advance. So uh member weekend is incredible. It is a very unique experience, and I'm goodness, I can hardly wait. And I'm excited for to see what 2027's will be as well. I mean, we we haven't even done 26 yet, and we're about to here in the next uh probably like three weeks. It's coming right up. But we're beyond excited to uh to have that as well. And it's I know that's the cool thing about the chapters too, is I know like as that has grown like it's almost gonna be like a big chapter migration down to Jasper, Alabama.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um so yeah, that's something I talked about with um uh Jason over in the Boston chapter was hey man, like if you're gonna do it, um he just got a new puppy, so probably he'll probably be on the same boat as me, like 2027. Like, hey man, we can just pile into my truck or we can take my wife's SUV, we can fit three dogs in there, and instead of one person driving, you know what I mean? We'll split the driving up and you know, we'll figure something out that way. But yeah, it it would be really cool to be able to make it down there and meet a bunch of other members. And um, I can honestly I don't even know if I would say members, I would say more just friends. These are people, yeah, even though we've never met, they're just very friendly, everybody's welcoming, you know, so it'd just be like meeting up with an old friend, I feel like is what it's gonna be like. So pretty pretty excited. I'm hoping I can should be able to make 2027. Um I just yeah, it was my daughter's birthday for this year, so that's the that was kind of the the thing. She didn't want me to go.
SPEAKER_01And oh, understandable. That's that is the most important. Yeah, yeah. Family is most important. Although bring her, bring her, bring her next time, you know.
SPEAKER_02So that was I tried to convince her. I'm like, hey, how would you like to spend your your birthday down training Doug's? And then, you know, with it being there in the week, I kind of got uh she can't miss that much school. And I'm like, well, I mean, you know, I didn't go to a lot of high school, you know.
SPEAKER_00You've got a you've got a track record with playing hooky there, it sounds like yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I think I made a counterpoint though. I think that was a good reason for her to stay in school.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, that one backfrought you uh backfired a little bit. Yeah. Oh, I understand. Well, we'll uh hopefully yeah, next year maybe that'll work out pretty well. And oh man, we're excited about it. I would love to have you again on another uh maybe after the fall here, once you get rolling and you get some of those things that we talked about, it'd be cool to do a follow-up episode and and to celebrate your success on what's coming up. I think that would be kind of cool. Um but man, as I know we're we're coming up on time. I can't even believe it. It feels like we just started. Uh I know, right? I can't even believe it. Let me
Advice For Anyone Ready To Quit
SPEAKER_01I I I let's just uh typically what we ask is that you know, what would you say if you were starting over? Um you know, if you could talk to yourself to begin with. But I I want to do something different this time. What would you just say to someone that's been doing it that maybe have given up? Whether they're using corn any pro program, anything, they're just training a dog. What yeah, at this stage with where you're at, you you have found success and you've overcome some pretty stiff challenges. I think you're in a really good spot to speak with some real authority on that. Like, hey, what would you say to someone that is in that place where they just feel like they're giving up on this training? What what would be your your advice to them?
SPEAKER_02Uh my biggest advice would be don't give up. Stop, maybe take a break, um, get your head in the right place and start, you know, maybe move back a few weeks or a few skills, depending on what program you're following. But let's use cornerstone, for example. If you're following cornerstone and you're feeling maybe like you can't do it, take a break, back up a few weeks if you need to. But the big thing is just remember that you're building. It's you know, you don't walk into a construction site and build a house in one day, right? You gotta start somewhere, and every little block adds up until the house is done, right? So just because you're struggling with this one, take a step back. Go back, do you know, go get some wins, maybe something that the dog has already mastered, and then try moving forward again. And I promise you, if I can do it, anybody can, you know, and I have probably a hundred friends that will guarantee you that if I can do this, almost anybody out there can. You know, so um you just you gotta get yourself because if you're not in the right headspace, your dog's never gonna be, right? So you just gotta get focused, believe in yourself, and and just trust the process because when when you finally do get past that valley and you start going up the mountain again, you're gonna see that that whole valley that was just another path you had to walk, and you'll be glad you did. So um if anybody's good if anybody out there is watching this and hasn't joined Cornerstone and is wondering about it, please join it because you will not regret it. Um if they can get me to train a dog to be this good, believe me, you can do it too. So that's my biggest uh piece of advice to anybody watching this.
SPEAKER_01Well, Terrence, man, that's uh I appreciate that. And what a what what a great word of encouragement for everyone and we appreciate you, man. I'm excited and proud of you for all that you've accomplished so far. It's been amazing and I'm excited for the future. It's gonna be wonderful. So thank you for taking the time to jump on and share. I know everyone appreciates it on on behalf of Cornerstone and and the listeners of Build from Here, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to share with us. Thank you for having me, man.
SPEAKER_02I really appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01It's been great.