Build From Here
Build From Here
From ‘This Dog Won’t Make It’ to 1,000 Retrieves | Michael & Marley
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He almost gave up on his dog…
Now they’ve crossed 1,000 retrieves together.
This is the story of what can happen when you stick with it—even when it’s not going how you planned.
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Welcome Back And The Milestone
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Build From Here podcast. On this episode, I am excited to be bringing back on Cornerstone member Michael Davis. This is going to be really an incredible story. I got a text from Michael not too long ago that he had just crossed a thousand retrieves with his dog. I was just blown away by that. And uh if you haven't, we'll link up his first episode so you can kind of go hear his story. It'll be in the description below, and you can go listen to that. But we we won't go through the whole story, but we'll dive back in. But Michael, I just want to say welcome aboard. Glad you're here, and I'm excited to talk about all that has happened over the past series of years. It's been uh it's been quite a journey. Thanks, Josh.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, glad, glad to be back on. It's been quite quite the journey, quite the gap between the first time we talked on here and now. Um a lot of a lot of life, a lot of hunting, a lot of dog stuff. So excited to share it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we were talking uh yesterday, and uh first of all, I see some pictures and see some mounts back there. That is a cool room, and uh that's a nice trophy room. It's it's a lot of memories that have been sacked up over the years. Uh you can tell it, you've got them up there on the wall.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it has. I um I I went for a long time without anywhere to put all my stuff that I'd acquired for all our hunting. So we moved to this house about four years ago. And uh, once we got all settled, I told my wife, I need I need a room, I need something. So we finally built this this summer for a home office, and I added this part. So yeah, finally got a lot of place to display all those memories that we created. And I mean, you're you're a part of several of them back here in the background. Some of those are from our hunt in Kansas, way back when, um, uh the CGA hunt, and then uh a lot of stuff in between. That's awesome, man.
Starting Over With Marley
SPEAKER_01We'll we'll get to the thousand retrieves in a second. Let's start back to let's go back and uh recount. I was, I mean, thinking of we talked about it yesterday on the phone, and I was like just remembering that hunt, and it was really a divining moment for all of us. Uh Violet's first year hunting, um Marley's first big, I guess, big hunt. If I had chicken. So let's talk, let's go back to tw was that 20, when was that, 2021?
SPEAKER_00That was the hunt of January 2021. Um our CGA journey started in basically the summer of 2019. Um, so we I got Marley to kind of go back back to the beginning. I got Marley from a breeder here, um, you know, great pedigree and all that. Um, but my first, I grew up with dogs, but my first kind of dog that I was like, I'm gonna train this uh dog to be a gun dog and we're gonna hunt together and all that stuff. So I started on my own trying to read some resources. I read Water Dog, all that kind of stuff. And um, frankly, we just weren't really getting anywhere positive. Um, a lot of that was user error on my part, which I never uh some of that was uh, you know, Marley, um, as all dogs are are different and I've learned and all have their strengths and weaknesses in corps. I made the mistake with her at a very early age of introducing her to birds because I thought that'd be great, you know, let her go pick up some ducks in the yard. Well, um, it was in a way, but it created a problem where she kind of from the get-go didn't really care for bumpers, um, which made it difficult to go out and train. I don't have access to dead ducks 365 days a year. And so we just really weren't making a lot of progress. Um, and it and to the point where before I stumbled across CGA, like as I as we had talked, I thought about, man, maybe I'll just make her a pet and I'll start over and I'll you know send the dog off and all that stuff. Um thankfully I didn't. Um so we came across CGA, you and I talked, and I thought, well, we'll give this a shot, and this is kind of be our last last shot. So at the at the time we started CGA, she was a little over two years old. Um so certainly we didn't have all the foundations and all the beginning behind us, but we kind of went back to the beginning. And um as we worked through, as we kind of introduced all the positive reinforcement, I mean I went way back to even puppy stuff as far as trying to get her you know bumper excited and and all that. And and slowly but surely, you know, we we started making some progress to the point where I felt like I could take her hunting. Uh that was a mistake. She was not. Um I have some pretty funny videos and pictures on my phone of our first times hunting together, and it was it was pretty messy. Um she loved being out there, there's no doubt about that, but not a lot of control, not a lot of um refined skills to be sure. Um so the the uh but eventually we we started making a ton of progress and and uh she kind of it all started to click. Um I think she finally put two and two together with the hunting as it relates to the training, and oh, this goes together and this equals fun stuff. So her excitement level really ramped up and we were able to make some progress training to the point where fast forward a little bit, um, she had some success hunting and and I felt was doing really well, certainly miles from where we had started. Um and then you invited us to come out on the CGA hunt out in Kansas, assault playing as outfitters um in January of 2021. So uh we made a long uh a long progress by then to the point where I felt okay with doing it. Um not changing.
SPEAKER_01That's kind of that's kind of crazy that you know you thought your dog wasn't gonna turn out, and then now here you are at this big fancy outfitter and you're about to really put it to the test.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was crazy to me too. Um and I definitely had a lot of I'm not a very anxious person, but I had a lot of anxiety uh going into that for sure. Um but you guys were great and and and uh Sault Plains was great, and so the the uh the environment was was a great one to have her in. But um yeah, that that first morning we had four dogs out there and uh everybody in different stages. You had Violet on her very first hunt. Obviously, I watched uh seen Violet on video, but it's like Violet in person now, so that was cool. And then I know you had some anxiety too about her first. I did.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say that. Yeah. I mean, here you are, you've been following along, and now it's time, well, she better turn out or else you know. I there was a lot of pressure on me too. I was feeling it. I was feeling it for sure.
SPEAKER_00I I I durt I definitely understand. I definitely understand. So we we all had, and I guess we had Marty Haynes with us too. He probably felt zero pressure because he had a finish gun dog and he had done it all. Um but but you had Matt, we had Matt too.
SPEAKER_01And uh what's crazy is I got a text from Matt about the same time uh that you sent me. Matt just crossed a thousand retrieves, uh, Matt Robinson with his with his dog.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Uh that was amazing too. Really within several weeks, I think, of when Marley got hers, I I reached out to Matt. We've we've kind of all those guys we keep in touch, so keep tabs on them. So I congratulated him and how cool of a great accomplishment that was. But um, yeah, man, for me that morning, I I remember it was uh after kind of the anxiety settled and we kind of agreed, all right, you know, we're gonna let the dogs take turns. And I was on the end, on one end, so I was the last dog to go. And uh, you know, the other dogs were doing well. And I remember we hit we kind of winged a pintail that sailed pretty far out in this uh um kind of flooded field we were hunting, probably about I don't know, 80 to 100 yards. And uh and I sent her and she she took off, and about halfway out there, you know, the duck was swimming the other way and started to dive. And I remember you, I remember your residing, you were like, uh-oh, oh gosh. And so I I just kind of was like, well, I hope, I hope she figures it out. So man, she got out there and chased that duck. It dove probably four or five times, and she stayed after it, and uh she she finally got it and came back um you know, straight back, brought into the blind. And and I remember you saying to me, You're like, Man, you were gonna make that dog a pet. And and that that comment, I was like, that makes it all worth it. You know, that wow. I was uh uh proud and relieved and excited to be out there. And then the rest of our three days were just phenomenal. And we picked up a bunch of birds and had some great hunts.
SPEAKER_01Man, I remember, you know, yeah, the bird definitely fell far out there. It ended up getting really far out there. Um that wasn't one of the most impressive retrieves because of the they were this difficult in like the terrain, like so it was like that flooded field, but it was pretty much lunge water, a little bit of swimming water, but there was a lot of like grass and stuff. So it was just that was a hard, that was a hard retrieve.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would not have picked that for her for her first, but it all worked out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I remember I was impressed. I was like, oh, he stepped up to the plate to do that one. It's it's one of those, it's like, oh man, this is my retrieve. You know, the other retrieves are like close, they were like 30 yards, and it's like, oh, it's my turn.
SPEAKER_00Here you go. Here's the big one. Well, your dog can definitely make you look bad. I've been there too, but that that time she made me look good. So wow.
SPEAKER_01What any other uh big moments for you on that the salt plains trip? Because that that was an amazing weekend. We ended up crushing I think, I think we crushed every single day. It was a good, good, solid hunt every single day.
Kansas Hunt That Proved It
SPEAKER_00It was, it was. I think uh one of the other kind of memorable times I think for both of us was that last day, I believe, we hunted that cattle pond that hadn't been hunted all season. I remember them saying, we're taking as many guys as we can because this is gonna get a little western. And I was like, oh, oh boy. And we had, gosh, I mean, how many guys? 15 guys out there and yeah, guides, people we didn't know.
SPEAKER_01We had every dog was out there, guide dog was out there. It was we were all stacked in in one spot to begin with. It was it was crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And I think at first light, that roost of geese got up right over the hill and came over, I don't know how many thousand of them, and they called a shot, and it was just like, I mean, the the definition of chaos is what that was geese falling everywhere, cripples, dogs picking them up. And um uh I think all our dogs were out and back and out and back, you know, some were passing each other, swimming, which really uh, you know, certainly as I realize now is a not an easy environment for even an experienced dog, that's a totally different ball game than just, hey, sit beside me and go pick up the duck I shoot. Um, so so they all did fantastic. But yeah, that I think what I remember most about that hunt too thing for me personally was uh we had who knows how many cripples that sailed across that water, and uh we pushed the dogs across several times and came back, and finally I thought, man, I'm just gonna walk over there because you know we could do this all day. And so I took Marley with me, and she's one of her skills uh is she has a knack for finding cripples. And so we went over there and and I started sending her, you know, giving her the hunt dead command, and she was in the grass, and every every single time would come back with a with a duck, or she'd come out chasing one down the bank. And I think when I walked back, I I had probably 60 pounds worth of ducks and geese in my hands. You did. I couldn't crack.
SPEAKER_01I remember seeing you walk around like the corner there, you were like loaded down. I think uh your dog was even carrying one hand out.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness, that was crazy. That was, and then simultaneously you were on that point with Violet, and uh man had an awesome, awesome retrieve where uh I guess it was a blind because I think you knew where it was, but she didn't see it fall, and you pushed her all the way across and then casted her across more water to get to that other bang.
SPEAKER_01Um It was yeah, because there was a retrieve off to the right, just an easy 30-yard retrieve. One bird fell and then the other one sailed over there, and then so she ended up where the wind and where she ended up, I ended up having to cast her from one point across water to another, you know, eight, eighty yards over there. So that was uh quite the retrieve. I was very happy that she pushed across the water. Once I got her across the water, I was like, we we're good, we're gonna get this bird, no, no issues there. And it was uh that was a fun retrieve.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. That was well, I was for a lot of reasons an incredibly memorable trip. I was certainly happy to and and lucky to be a part of it, but created some some lots of memories that are on the wall right now.
Chaos Geese And Cripple Recoveries
SPEAKER_01So Yeah, man, it was uh I I just think it's crazy. You know, at that point, that defining moment, you now you left Kansas knowing that, okay, we're gonna we are this dog's not only you know, I thought the dog turned around, but like I've got a proven dog now. Like we're good. And that's been years, so since 2021, we're recording this in 2026. And so you've had a lot of retrieves uh since then. What's like man, tell me some more memorable hunts. I would love to know some more that stand out because y'all have had the opportunity to do some some pretty cool hunting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we have. I've been very lucky. Um, have a very uh understanding wife, thankfully. So we've gotten the opportunity to travel a bunch. You and I both talk, we're both in the stages of kind of early fatherhood. So since you know, when I got Marley, we had no kids. Now I got two. I have a six, six-year-old and a three-year-old. So um that definitely makes it a little harder to get out there and go, but we've done our best. Um, so yeah, you know, um you mentioned the thousandth retrieve, and we'll get into that. But really, this is our we just concluded our eighth season hunting together. Um, she's about to turn 10 years old, and which is hard to believe. And I was thinking the other day, we've we've hunted ducks together in eight states um uh from the southeast out to the Midwest. Um, you know, she's now obviously way up there in number of birds picked up. And I think back about, you know, she's hunted most every situation, hunted timber, hunted dry fields, hunted big water, small water, hunted geese, ducks, you know. Um we have we're lucky to have a pretty good little duck place here in South Carolina, uh, which has been great for uh, you know, just experience and training and and with the new dog I have, which we'll get into that I know too. So um she's made some some last year, in fact, the last last hunt of the season, last year here in South Carolina, we had a big group of geese come over, and um we were not prepared to shoot big geese, but we we uh we we did our best and we winged one and it fell. We were she was standing behind me, beside me in the trees, and it fell probably a hundred yards out in the impoundment and was very much alive. And wow. I sent her, and by the time she got to where the goose was, I saw it go over the dike. Um far dike down towards the river. There's probably about 80 yards between the dike and the river. And um and she she winded it though, and she disappeared over the dike, and she was gone for probably five, six minutes. Um I was about to go walk over there because I thought, well, she's just messing around, she lost it. And about five, six minutes later, I see the first thing I see is a goose pop over the dike, and then she's it's in her mouth, and she comes over and brought that thing all the way back. And um, some of my buddies were with me and my dad, and they were like, wow, that was awesome, and the goose was still very much alive when it got back to us, so um, but that was that was a very cool, memorable tree uh for around here, and gosh, you know, I think uh we we the first time you and I talked, um we went up to we go to North Dakota every year, and so that's kind of the first first trip of the year, and we've done that every year, and I love it up there, and it's it's great. We dry field hunt mostly. Um, and she's had some amazing retrieves up there. Um that one well two that come to mind, well one retrieve and then one day. Um I had uh parish major who you hooked me up with, who's become a great friend and mentor to me. I had his dog Ford with us um and had him and Marley and the same thing, a couple big geese came in and we knocked down several and they were several cripples, and I sent both of them separately and um the last thing I saw was Marley jumping in the air at a goose flying this far off the ground over the hill, and both the dogs disappeared, and same thing. They both came back a couple minutes later, side by side with geese in their mouth. Um, and uh the guys the guides were like, Man, get a picture of that. Um that was cool. And then yeah, we had a hunt this past year where we it was just uh a barn burn. We had 12 guys plus the guides. I think we killed um about 80 ducks, and uh and it was it was her and one other, and this was at this is at nine years old, and so I was a little worried. Um she's had some injury stuff, which which we may touch on. So I was a little worried about her stamina, but she picked up like 42 ducks that day um and and crushed it. So it was awesome. Wow.
SPEAKER_01I'll tell you what, Marley definitely is the crippled, like she gets after those. I mean, that's an she definitely had a knack for it, like she just crushes that. I mean, and the stories you just shared, like that's impressive. I mean, that's those are some big dog retrieves, and she's just got the job for it, man, and you've done a a great job with her. It's crazy to think that you at one point were thinking, man, this dog's not gonna turn out. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is. I I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit it now, but you know, it's just a uh a testament really to just perseverance and sticking with it and all the you know principles that CGA is about, and then also to to you know, having a plan, having a program that you can work through and that you can be confident that if you just stick with it, it's not always gonna be easy or smooth or fun, but but you can get to where you want to go. And um she's certainly a testament to that because there was a time where truthfully I was I was on the verge of saying, Yeah, forget it. We'll we'll try again later. Yeah.
The Dogfight That Changed Everything
SPEAKER_01Man, well I'm so happy you didn't end up settling. Uh that's it was and now here we are talking about it, man. It's uh it's mind blowing to think and that we were able to play a small part in that for you and and just help you with with a system uh to be successful. I we've got to share another story that we talked about because this is something that you know we we talked about um yesterday, and that's uh I think there's I think you're you're getting out of the injuries. We could talk about that a little bit, but what led up to those injuries and the story of Marley and and the dog and and how she uh protected you guys. Because that was when you told me the story, I was like, man, that story hits home because it's like and we talked about it like these labs, like they're not really aggressive dogs. Uh maybe a little bit when there's a a crippled bird, but outside of that, like as far as you don't think of a lab being a protector at all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, certainly it's you know she uh we have had our fair share of injuries, a little bit of bad luck. She's missed parts of several seasons in the past. She had a torn rotator cuff one year. Um, so that's kind of but she's bounced back every time. But but this was a little bit different. We it was last December. I thought she was to take a thousandth retrieve, I thought she was gonna hit it last season based on um my the journal and her numbers and kind of what we had ahead of us. So I was confident last year was gonna be the year we hit it, or two seasons ago. And um, but the our farm that I was telling you about here in South Carolina, it was during the split, so it was early December, and my boys just loved to go out there and mess around and and walk around, see the ducks and all that stuff. So it was a Saturday morning. I took both boys, I didn't have Reb yet, so I took both boys and then Marley out there, and uh we were walking around the dike, which we've done a ton of times. We were probably 200 yards from my truck, and uh uh Marley starts, uh was probably 60 yards away from us, starts barking just constantly at towards the river. I thought, you know, it's a raccoon, it's a whatever, uh, you know, so I didn't really pay much attention to it, but she kept barking, kept barking, and I frankly got a little annoyed to the point where I told the boys, hold on, I'm gonna go get I'm gonna go get Marley. So I started walking down towards her, and uh I could see the hair in her back standing up. Well, about that time at the end of the dike, up on the dike, walk two massive Rottweilers. Oh man. No collars. Made her, I mean, she's 70 pounds, it made her look small. And you you know, you ran dogs enough to know have a sixth sense, and the way they were walking, the way they looked at us, I was like, this is not good. He ran with my two kids with me. I got no gun, um, you know, I got a uh a five-year-old and a three-year-old, and what do I do? And so I just started backing up and she stood her ground. I started backing up to where I got to the boys, and those dogs came walking. They weren't running at us, but it was an aggressive, purposeful walk straight at us. And they got probably I don't know, 30 yards from Marley, which was ahead of us. And uh about that time she just went after them. And wow, I was like, Wow, you know, and so next thing I know, you know, sweet Marley who never heard a fly, who my kids pull her ears and crawl all over, she's in a straight-up dogfight with two Rottweilers, which I did not like her chances. And so that was my my my opportunity. So I scooped up both boys and I just took off running through the woods trying to circle around in my truck. And the last thing I saw was her on the ground with them on top of her. So to be honest, I thought I thought they would kill her. Um and uh I thought that was it. But you know, she gave us the opportunity to get back to the truck. So we've we've run, run through the woods. I throw it, you know, they don't know what's going on, they're kind of crying. So I throw them in the truck, I grab my pistol and I turn around to go run back up there thinking maybe there's something I can do. And I get about 20, 30 yards from the truck, and here she comes running on the same path we took behind us, kind of limping, running through the woods, and she runs back. She's got you know her ears bloodied up, she's got some blood on her face, but nothing, you know, she's alive. And so I threw her in the truck, and we rode up to uh kind of where our shed is, and and the dogs they ran off and ended up chasing some neighborhood kids into a pond later on, which was a whole nother crazy story. But anyway, so she thank God was alive and uh she ended up having uh torn Achilles tendon from the fight, um, which required surgery and a long, long recovery. And um, but you know, it was the the that situation could have been a lot worse in a lot of ways. Um and if she hadn't been there, I don't know what we would have done. And to see her kind of, you know, she had to know that she Probably was not uh uh not have f not have favorable odds either, but she she went right after him, and that's the only time I've ever seen her, you know, be be aggressive like that. Um, but I think she sensed what I sensed was that this is this is not good. So yeah, she you know, you talk about the bond that you create, and I can't think of a better example than that. You know, she would lay her life on the line to to to protect us, and and she did. And thankfully she came out alive too. So um it definitely uh that's bad to the bone, man.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that is cool. And it's uh it's amazing that she did. You're right. Thank God, like that is a miracle to come out of that. But wow, I mean that that is a testament to the bond and the connection you have with those with these animals. That's and they also know like and I've noticed that with my dogs too. Like you can just tell, like they know that the kids are important to us, and they kind of know their place, they know they're below the kids, but they know that they're important too. But like it's amazing that they share that same value. Like, you know, Marley really ultimately is wanting to please you to protect what's valuable to you, and that's just that is so cool.
SPEAKER_00They do, and I mean, in in any other circumstance, had I not had my kids with me, I would have done whatever it took to protect her, but I didn't have that option because I had to divide it, you know, think about my kids first. So it was uh yeah, it was in hindsight, obviously the way it ended. Thankfully, it was a very uh uh kind of powerful memory to look back on. Unfortunately, it ended our season that year. Um she had the surgery, and probably it was uh gosh, four, four to five month recovery before she was able to get back doing stuff because Achilles tears, I mean, just like in humans, is is a difficult uh thing to come back from, especially in an older dog. So to be honest, I thought I think we were at that point, we were at like 965 retrieves. And so I thought I thought I thought she might not hunt again, frankly, because of how difficult the recovery was. And I was like, I'm not gonna. She loves it, but I'm not gonna do, you know, put her, I gotta protect her too from herself. Um, but by the time October rolled around, man, she seemed good. And and I we trained some and I felt good enough to take her up to North Dakota and and um it all worked out. So that's where she got her thousandth retrieve. Man.
The North Dakota Thousandth Retrieve
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's in that's incredible. I'm glad she recovered. Well, let's go into the story of the thousandth retrieve, man. Let's let's talk about that hunt.
SPEAKER_00And that was it. You said that was in North Dakota? That was North Dakota, which which uh ironically was was kind of where first place I really uh I really took her to hunt. And and the first time you and I talked was on the way home from North Dakota from our very first trip. So it kind of really came. Yeah. No way. Um, but yeah, it was the last day. Um it was a dry field hunt, you know, similar to the ones we had we had done before. Um it was a it was a good hunt. I think she had going into the day, I think she had like 17 to go. So we had two dogs. We were trying to rotate. So roughly we needed to kill 30 to 40 ducks to 30 to 40 waterfowl to um for her to get it. So um luckily it was a good hunt. Um, she and and my buddy's dog Nola, uh, they were both doing great on either side of the line. And once I kind of started to keep a mental note and I realized we were a couple away, and I thought, okay, like barring barring it just shutting off, like we're gonna get it. Um, which sentimental, I mean, any any duck any time would have been fine for a thousandth of tree, but sentimental value, I wanted it to be up there, um, you know, a mallard or something like that. And so uh we were sitting there, she had one to go, and uh this big group of geese comes up off this pond nearby and comes flying over. And you know, you've been out there a hundred times and you always think the geese are about to fly right over you, and they never do. They always, you know, they always veer off or or something or another. So, but they kept coming at us, and it was a mixed group of some some uh some small Canada geese and some snow geese, and uh they man, they came right over the blind, and the guide was like, Let's kill these, and so we shot up, you know, set up a shot. We dropped probably 10 or 12, and uh one kind of one kind of sailed a little bit and she had that one marked, and so I sent her and uh and I didn't know I couldn't tell exactly what it was. So she went flying out. It was a little bit of a cripple, so she chased it down just like she had a bunch before, and came came trotting back through the decoys, and there's this big beautiful uh Ross goose. Uh that was her thousandth retrieve. And so I I went out and got it from her, and and uh um my dad and my brother were sitting beside me, and they they kind of knew it was a thousand, so they were clapping, and so we stopped and I took took some cool a few pictures and and uh it was a special moment for sure. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Man, how did that feel? Just like I mean, once that thousandth retrieve was in your hand, I mean, thinking back, I'm sure that was kind of an emotional experience, just thinking back on like where y'all had come from to like realize, wow, what we have hit a thousand retrieves. This is you know, a lot of years of hunting. How did that feel?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's pretty surreal. Um, I mean, it's still a little surreal thinking, you know, how your you know, your goals change and and kind of as you as you progress through things, you know, uh training a dog and hunting is no different than other type goals. And so going from, I just want to have a dog that I can take hunting and and not be a total disaster, go from that to like, I'm gonna go on this trip with you know uh these CGA guys and with Josh Parvin who I'd never met before and just watch videos and I'm gonna hopefully demonstrate that my dog is at least, you know, serviceable. We go from that to that, to then realizing, man, I I think I have a good dog on my hands, and then everything in between all the, you know, all the trips, all the mornings, frankly, looking at an empty sky where we didn't pick up a single duck. Um, and and all that just to lead to 1,000. It was really a pie in the sky goal that I set in my head years back, and and I just picked a thousand because I was like, how, how cool, how unlikely, but how cool would it be if we could ever pick a thousand? And uh man, to to to get there, like you said, it's a lot of a lot of hunts. I mean, a lot of uh, you know, I I'm sure I'm like you. I'm uh to me, the dog is such a uh important part of the hunt for me and my enjoyment. I frankly, now I I don't care if I don't shoot the gun, if I can have my dog with me and and and watch her do what she loves, then that's all I need. And so to think about how many sunrises we'd shared together, how many sunsets we'd watch together, how many mornings we sat out in the cold, how many days we'd spent training, and all that wrapped in together to like number 1,000. It's just it's uh a surreal and extremely rewarding moment.
SPEAKER_01Man, yeah, that's inspiring, man. It makes me I've never I've never really kept track of the birds. I need to do that. I I know we're definitely not a thousand, um, but I definitely need to keep track of that, especially moving forward and on any future dogs. That's incredible. Man, what a and then you're still going a little bit. So how old is Marley now? Nine or ten?
SPEAKER_00She's about to turn 10. Yep, she's about to be 10.
SPEAKER_01So is she retired or do you think you're gonna try to do a couple easy hunts with her next year?
SPEAKER_00You know, I I think I'll I'll keep keep taking her as long as she wants to go and is in good health. I she she ended up, I think, with about a thousand uh sixty, I think was the number she ended up with for this year. So I I don't have any future goals of like 1,500 or anything like that. Now it's just my goal is for her to, you know, for us to enjoy together. So um uh I'll certainly take her around here. Um now I got the second second one who I'm trying to get him up and going. So um this was kind of her quote unquote retirement tour um this season. But I will say that that health-wise, um, I don't know if she's got a little bit of inspiration, uh, competitive fountain of youth from the new one that's come along. But she, I mean, at the end of the season, she seemed to be going as strong as she ever was. So I'll continue to take her um certainly whenever I can. Um uh it you know, I've I hunted them together a couple times towards the end of the season, and um that is certainly a little more challenging, especially with a young dog, but um I can do it around here because it's just it's just me and our family, and you know, I'm not worried about about interfering with anybody else's hunt. So uh, but yeah, man, as long as as long as she she still still wants to go, I'll I'll take her. It's it's uh she's she's earned that right for sure.
Meaning Of The Number And Retirement
SPEAKER_01Wow, man. That's what it's all about, man. You've done it, you've accomplished it. Well done. And now you're doing it again. Let's talk about the the young pop.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. He is, you know, um uh talking about children, how different they can be. Dogs also fit that bill. He's about uh uh uh as different from Marley in a lot of ways as as he could be. Um, but I think that goes back to one thing that I've certainly learned through CGA and and us talking is how important it is to train the dog in front of you. Um and there was things that I had to do with Marley that I don't have to do with him. And there's things that Marley's great at that he's not as good at, but he has other strengths that we can focus on. So it's been a cool learning experience. Like I said, with Marley, I didn't start CGA until after she was two. So we kind of had to figure out, I know you were very helpful in like where do we even start here? Like, how do we how do we start with a two and change year old dog versus a puppy? With Reb, who I got from Southern Oak Kennels, uh from Southern Oak Kennels East for my buddy Parrish, um, his dog Ford, which is his stud dog, who I mentioned earlier in the story that I took hunting in North Dakota with us, he's the best dog I've ever been around. And wow from the get-go, I remember telling Parrish, man, I don't know if my wife's gonna uh be okay with me getting a second dog, but whenever I get another one, I want a dog from from from Ford. And so uh about two two Christmases ago, um, my wife could tell I was getting a little antsy because Marla's getting up there, and so I I was like, you know, I want to have another one coming along ready. And so uh my Christmas present from my wife and kids is was a box with a stuffed black lab puppy in it, in it, a little tag that said uh 2025. So that was my that was my my go-ahead to get one. So so I ended up getting rev from uh uh from Parrish, and it was probably probably Ford's last litter. He's 12 and uh was still going strong enough that he he's he bred him a couple times. So um so he's out of Ford and then his mom, I don't know if you know Caleb Phillips with Ruby Ridge Retrievers.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that rings a bell. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00He's uh he's here in South Carolina, and his dog um was uh out of red, uh Barton's dog red, um, that he had at SOK. So it was a combination of red and Ford, which I thought would be pretty good for a lot of reasons, and he has been. So um, but yeah, for Rev, I was able to start with day one, you know, when you bring your puppy home, day one. And uh that's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. So it's it's it's been a different journey, but a really cool one.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's awesome. How how has that journey contrasted for you starting from day one? And now Rev is uh how old is Rev now? Uh he's 15 months.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so you've made it through you you pretty much made it through the the course then. We're pretty much through. We took a couple months off of uh kind of when I I frankly I was not committed to hunting him this year because one mistake I I did make with Marley is I had her out there too young. Like she wasn't ready. Um thankfully we overcame that, but it took a lot of effort. So for him, given that I already had her, I was like, I'm not gonna hunt him until he's ready. And if it's this year or versus next year, so be it. If he's two years old, you know, who cares? And um, so starting from day one, um, you know, we went through all the puppy stuff. And man, this sucker, you talk about bumper crazy, he's bumper crazy to the point where you go throw a thousand and he'll go pick up number 1001 and is as fast as he picks up the first one, um, which makes a lot of it a lot easier as far as working through stuff. So we went through all the puppy and the foundation stuff, and he he really, I mean, he picked it up so fast and he breezed through it to the point where I was, you know, had to try to tell myself to pump the brakes and not get too eager to get her head because I wanted to make sure his foundation was solid. So um, so we we I didn't hunt him at all early in the season. And around about January, early January, we were on week like 38, I think. And um I uh I decided I'd take him out to our farm just for easy, like you know, it's wood ducks and some stuff like that. And um, and Parrish was with me actually, and so he was like, Yeah, man, like bring him, like it'll be we'll we'll get him out there. And I mean, he crushed it. I was I was blown away for his first time experiencing all that, despite all our training. I mean, we had done all the steps that we needed to do, but to have him out there the first time is a different deal, as you well know. And um, he picked up like four or five ducks that day and was steady and marked them well and and got after it. And and so I was uh I was really, really fired up and really pleased with him for that. So I ended up making the decision to to, as long as he continued to do well, to hunt him some. And actually even taking him, I had not planned to do this, but took him on a week-long trip out to Kansas at the end of January uh with Parrish and some guys out to wade schemes. And he uh I was taking him thinking like, well, he'll he'll hunt a couple days and just get a kind of experience of being on the road and doing all that. Well, as circumstances would have it, he hunted every day. And um great, yeah, did great. So so I'm I'm super excited about him.
Rev The Next Generation Starts
SPEAKER_01Oh man, that that's gonna be a sporty dog anyways. He's got he's got some fire, I believe, especially with that lineage you were mentioning. He uh He reminds me a lot of Violet, yeah. He has got plenty of plenty of good up and go. That's awesome. Was there any memorable retrieves uh for him this season?
SPEAKER_00There there was. Um uh well obviously the first retrieve was always memorable. Widow was pretty straightforward. It was probably about a 30-yard retrieve on a wood duck. So but it was it was cool uh you know just to just to get that first one on our belt. But yeah, when we um uh I would say the the two main ones that stick out from this year is we were out in Kansas at Ways and we were hunting on the Arkansas River, which we trained a lot of stuff, but I hadn't done that yet. We I don't have that option around here of you know hunting on a big river. So I was a little bit hesitant um to to get him out there. I just don't want to get him in a bad situation that he didn't really understand, you know, swimming with a current and stuff like that. Um so I kind of held him back a little bit, but um, some dogs picked up, you know, a couple few ducks early, and he was watching and he was locked in, and we had a volley come in and we knocked down four or five mallards, and um we had, I think that day we had three dogs. So the other two dogs um they sent them out, they picked up a couple, I held him back, and then there was a cripple that one of the dogs was chasing um a little bit downriver that I saw kind of swim up underneath a log, and the dog couldn't find it and came came back, and Reb was staring. I mean, he was he's gazed and break from where that duck went. I knew you saw it. So I told Ask Parrish, I'm like, Do you mind if I send Reb out there? I think he sees it and he was like, Go for it. So I sent him, and I mean, it was that morning, it was I think 12 degrees, and there was some some ice, and um, you know, his drive's high enough. I really wasn't worried about you know him having a problem with the cold water. He certainly did not. And uh sent him, and man, he full-fledged, jumped into that river, swam straight to the log, out comes the duck. He chased it probably 30, 40 yards downriver, and it kept diving on him, which that's something else he had never really seen. Um, but once he kind of figured out what was going on, he was, you know, he was looking around, it would come up and he'd go straight there. And I think finally Doug got tired and he caught it on the opposite bank, which was probably 80 yards away. I mean, you know how that river sits. And so he caught her on the bank on the other side and came swimming back. And uh the guys on the blind were kind of everybody was getting said, doing other stuff, and he comes trotting up with it. And Paris looked at me, he was like, Was that Rev? And I said, Yeah, man. He got and he was like, No way, high fives me. He was like, that was incredible. And and I was like, it was incredible. I I can't I can't take credit for any of that. He figured it out. Um so that he had you know he had ice, icicles on his whiskers, and he was uh but man, he was fired up and and he he was proud to get that duck. So uh that was a cool retrieve and um definitely gave me a glimpse into kind of the future of of kind of what what I think he can be. And the other one uh is I took him after that trip, he did so well that I uh another thing I had not planned on doing is we had booked a snow goose hunt for February out in Arkansas, and I was gonna take Marley. And so I decided, well, I'll take them both, and I'll just um you know, maybe I'll get reb by there one day. And that's a different deal too when you talk about controlled environment. That is about as an uncontrolled environment as you can have, with you know, 10 guys in layout blinds with you know extension tubes that hold 11 shells each and thousands of geese pressing over your head, and then just total chaos. And so um I was a little bit hesitant again to take him out there. I don't want to create bad habits, but he had he had shown me enough that I thought he could probably handle it. And um, so the first I took Marley, hunted Marley the first day, and I took him the second day, and uh the first we had I mean the first volley was a big spin. I mean, the tornado, thousands of and I mean he's just sitting there wide-eyed, looking up, and uh we cut into him and uh and we had some that sailed. And anyway, I I sent him and man, he had never he had never really experienced a dry field hunt. I mean, there was hundreds of decoys out there, and and he he beelined it straight through the decoys, straight past a couple that were dead on the ground, and went and caught a cripple that was probably a hundred and twenty yards out there and came back and and that was uh that I was like I was like, all right, this dude's this dude's got some talent for sure. Um so that was That's impressive. Yeah. Yeah. So I think he's got, you know, uh you never want to get ahead of yourself, but I think he's got, you know, he could be that dog, so to speak. Um he's just got the drive, the drive, and uh, you know, he seems to pick up things incredibly quick. Um, so I'm really excited, really excited about him.
SPEAKER_01Man, we'll have to uh we're gonna have to document this journey. I this might be a 1500 bird dog right here, you know what I mean? And uh by the time you get there, your boys will be out there with you. It's uh Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00They actually have a little bit a little bit with me so far, which is really crazy. Really? Yeah, Bo, Bo, my six-year-old, he he loves it, man. He I mean, I he's not shooting a gun. He has a toy gun. He thinks he's shooting him, he's not shooting them. But uh, but it was really special as much as he's really invested in in the training and he wants to go with me. He wants to go in the backyard and throw the bumper. And so uh uh he you know, to to see him, to see his face, when I take him out there and we shoot a duck, and he sees one of our dogs tear out through there and bring it back, he just thinks it's the coolest thing in the world. So uh so I I think uh we'll we'll add to the memory bank for sure in many ways uh uh going forward.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's gonna uh man, that's incredible. He is sounds like an amazing dog, and it's uh how does it feel being able to include the kids in the training too, you know, because especially uh getting, you know, Bo's getting old enough there to get after it.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, yeah. It I love it. It makes it a little harder. Uh our our uh our efficiency has gone down a little bit uh in our session. However, however, my wife seems to be a lot more agreeable for me to go train the dog if I take both kids with her.
SPEAKER_01I bet, I bet, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a little bit of a trade-off, but uh, but it's great. And honestly, he he you know, I was a little bit worried about the distraction component of it, but um, I think we're far enough long now where where he's pre-locked in. All he wants to do is go get the bumper. So even with the kids running around and you know, maybe blowing the whistle when they're not blowing the whistle, um, he uh he does great. So we we get we get out there and and have a good time.
SPEAKER_01I think it's helped me having the kids out there because like you're not the distraction aspect. It's almost made the dogs better. Um because they they are really it's they've become more in tune with okay, I really do need to focus. It's easy when you're by yourself. I say it's easy, it's still it's still hard to train a dog, but um or it can be hard. Should it doesn't have to be hard, but when you're by yourself, like you had total focus. Now you're managing lots of I've got two girls that are running around and and the dog and trying to manage all that, it definitely becomes more chaotic, but I think it's helpful. Um makes it makes it work better.
SPEAKER_00I going back to like, you know, um obviously starting out you want to have a controlled environment, and certainly starting out hunting, you want to be a controlled environment. But the reality is, is you know, I mean, you get on hunts with groups of guys or uh and it can go from control to chaos in a hurry. And so I think in a weird way, just the dog being used to other stuff going on around them certainly helps in that situation, uh allowing them to kind of lock in on what they're what they want to do anyways. So Wow.
Training With Kids And Hunt Tests
SPEAKER_01Well, Michael, man, this has been incredible so far. I'd have a couple more questions for us. First one is like what where do you what do you see on the horizon moving forward? Like what what's your game plan for this coming spring and summer? So Revs kind of at a place trained already. Is there anything you're planning to do or more maintain and get ready for the upcoming season?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know, I I'm frankly I'm planning on kind of rewinding a little bit and maybe kind of going back through the last I I hadn't decided last at least five or six weeks um uh of the uh fifty two plus and just kind of resolidifying that stuff. Like I said, we probably got a little bit of loose with some stuff as we were hunting. Um and then honestly, given what he's shown so far, I really want to get into the hunt test world. Um uh you know, go through the hunt test guide and get him out there. I my kind of goal for him, um, aside from from just you know the the the bird numbers and stuff like that, which really was just a uh icing on the cake, but my goal for him is I I'd love to get him his hunting retriever champion title, which um I think would take a lot of that won't be a problem, man.
SPEAKER_01Uh based on everything I've heard, that's definitely uh gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know Parish said the same thing, um, but you still gotta go do it. And um That's true. I still have to uh have to educate the uh uh the trainer sitting right here to to let him get through it. But so we're uh we're signed up for a test here in a couple weeks, and so we're gonna start that journey and uh uh do as much as we can this summer, and then we'll uh once the fall rolls out, we'll we'll see where we are and we'll get ready for uh for next honey season. So we got a couple couple trips on the books for next year um that you'll be kind of rev. I I think like North Dakota, I'll I'll uh as much as it'll break my heart to do it, I'll probably leave Marley here and take Reb and let him kind of have that trip solo. So Wow, wow. So and and we'll get get him out there and and and kind of start start over, but in uh in an exciting way.
SPEAKER_01Man, I'm I'm fired up for you. I can't wait to hear how the test goes. And uh really that you you should make a lot of progress on that, I would think, this spring and fall as y'all as y'all really uh w are you starting with started or are you doing HRC or uh AKC? A HRC. HRC. HRC.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. You know, I yeah, I think I mean frankly, I think skill-wise, I think he certainly could pass a season test. Um definitely 100%. But I don't want I don't want to put him in a position to fail given that it's another kind of new thing. So I'm kind of tempted just to do started and just just to to go from there. And obviously I think he'll breeze through that no problem, but at least he'll be exposed to the environment and then we can progress through. Um I I remember back I so I got uh Marley's got her season title. Um we but we stopped there because um we just kind of started hunting more and and and and life got in the way. Um and frankly, there was some stuff that I'm not sure we probably could have got there, but it probably would have taken a while for her to get her HRCH. Um just just working through some of the difficulties and the handling stuff that we had to overcome as we were training. But with him, I certainly have no no uh worries about that. But I remember Parrish telling me, he's like, yeah, it's like you never your dog's gonna always do something during a hot test that you're gonna swear they've never done before. They're gonna they're gonna make you look bad. And I never forget the first time I uh our first ever, it was just a started test. I took Marley and she had, I mean, she had plenty capable of passing it, but I was I was nervous, not as nervous as I was with you in Kansas, but I was still pretty nervous. And um, and the first the first bird that that uh well we were up the line and so they launched, it was the water, it was the uh they did the water first, and she marked it and she was all raring to go, and I sent her and she I sent her and she ran down to the edge of the water and just stopped and laid down in the water and started drinking water. Oh my goodness. Oh, what are we doing here? Like this is not how it's supposed to go. I never seen her do that. I don't know why she did that. Um, and they let me recall her and resend her, and she got the bird. They they said you're gonna get one, I guess they call it one resend. And uh so I recalled her and I sent her again. For whatever reason, then she decided she was gonna get it. And then we ended up passing. But I was just like, I was like, what was that? What was that? What was that? That's hilarious, man. Yeah, yeah. And you know, people, you got a whole crowd of people probably laughing behind you, and you're like, oh that's not good. So hopefully, hopefully, knock on wood. I don't uh we don't run into any of those snacks, but I'll be prepared for anything.
SPEAKER_01I don't think Reb's gonna be stopping to drink some water. He he seems like he's got a little different gear in him there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he he does, he does. It's um it again, like I said, it's funny working through obviously the same, the same program, the same drills, but approaching it differently with Reb than I did Marley. Marley was more of uh, we had to get her enthusiasm level up, specifically for training. She always was enthusiastic about picking up birds, but she just never had that drive to like, let's go train for an hour and a half. I would have to, you know, uh, you and I talked about it a lot back when I was going through it. Really short sessions, end on a high note, you know, be positive, think outside the box. We did a lot of drills that were more not a structured training session, but more of let's go for a walk in the woods, and while we do it, we're gonna do some, you know, some dropbacks, we're gonna do some lining memories, we're gonna do some stuff like that. Him, it's like, nah, man, let's go. However long you want to go, I'm ready. So so it's it's a different approach, but uh it it all it all works the same.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's awesome. I'll tell you what, every time I get on these podcasts, it just makes me want to go train. I mean, it just gets me fired up.
SPEAKER_00I know. I was supposed to train this morning, actually. That's why we're talking a little earlier now, and then we got rained out here. So uh so it rained like crazy here too.
SPEAKER_01It's uh I'm still thinking about going out though. It's uh it's gonna be wet, but uh oh well.
SPEAKER_00It is, it is. I I uh I I'm definitely gonna have to have to uh have the the dog bath ready when I get back because my wife will not be happy when they come in the house covered in mud. So but it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's always worth it. It's always worth it. Well man, I appreciate you for hopping on again. We'll have to have you on yet again. I would love to maybe do another follow-up episode with this. I guess this would be the first officially full season for Rev, kind of being the main dog. So let's uh let's do a follow-up there and we'd love to you know hear how these hunt tests go and share that with uh the cornerstone family and the world. I think uh I just but I do have to say congratulations, man. I mean, that's a thousand retrieves, and you've got another dog coming up in the ranks that's showing tremendous promise. You've done well, man. You've done well.
SPEAKER_00Well, thanks, man. I I I I can't uh I can't take too much credit. So I had a lot of help along the way from from you, from uh Parish, from CGA in general, and I mean from the you know uh the the members forum is so great for asking questions and uh you know stuff that you think I'm sure nobody else has this problem. Somebody else definitely has that problem. So uh that was very, very helpful for us um in working through things. And yeah, man, I'm fired up. Uh uh we need to get out and hunt hunt together again sometime and uh I'll bring Reb along and and and get some more pictures on the wall.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well let's do it. Let's uh I know we talked about that. We'll plan. Maybe we'll have to film and get some pictures up there and maybe even some mounts, mounts on the wall, man. I can't wait.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I got room. I got plenty of room, so uh we can add to it. Let's fill it up, man. Let's fill it up.