Gundog Nation
A show to bring together gundog enthusiasts, trainers, and handlers with discussion focused on all breeds and styles of gundogs.
Gundog Nation
Gundog Nation #027: Standing Stone Kennels - Breeding and Training GSP's
What happens when a Geek Squad technician with an obsessive personality meets a college-educated bird hunter? For Ethan and Kat of Standing Stone Kennels, this unlikely combination sparked a remarkable journey from amateur dog owners to renowned German Shorthair Pointer breeders and trainers.
Their story begins with pure passion. After acquiring their first GSP in 2009, Ethan's meticulous nature took over—watching videos, reading books, working with dogs at every opportunity, even staying unpaid hours at a training facility just to absorb more knowledge. What started as curiosity evolved into opportunity when they moved to Kansas, intending for Ethan to manage grocery stores while training dogs as a hobby. Within months, demand for their training skills transformed their side gig into a thriving full-time business.
What truly sets Standing Stone Kennels apart is their crystal-clear vision: producing "family-oriented versatile hunting companions." Unlike traditional approaches where hunting dogs might be viewed primarily as tools kept in outdoor kennels, Standing Stone prioritizes dogs that excel in both field performance and home life. This philosophy shapes everything from their breeding selections to training methods, creating GSPs that can seamlessly transition from pointing birds to relaxing with family.
The conversation dives deep into the technical aspects of versatile gun dog training, exploring the significant differences between American-bred GSPs and German imports (DKs), socialization practices that create mentally stable dogs, and the critical balance needed between consistency and variety in training. Their insights reveal how thoughtful breeding and proper training create dogs with ideal temperament—high drive in the field with an "off switch" at home.
Ready to apply Standing Stone's methods with your own dog? Visit their YouTube channel for free training videos, check out their comprehensive online courses, or browse their curated selection of training equipment at standingstonesupply.com. Better yet, consider attending one of their in-person seminars to experience their balanced training approach firsthand. Your bird dog—and your family—will thank you.
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Hello and welcome to Gun Dog Nation.
Speaker 1:This is Kenneth Witt, coming to you from Texas, and I want you to know that Gun Dog Nation is much more than a podcast. It's a movement to unite those who love to watch a well-trained dog do what it was bred to do. We are also here to encourage youth to get involved in the sport of gundogs, whether it's hunting, sport or competition. I want to build a community of people united to preserve our heritage of gundogs, whether it's hunting, sport or competition. I want to build a community of people united to preserve our heritage of gundog ownership and to be better gundog owners. Stay tuned to each episode to learn more about training, dog health, wellness and nutrition from expert trainers, breeders and veterinarians. Be sure to go on our website, wwwgundognationnet, and join our email email list. You'll receive newsletters from trainers and vets and breeders. That will also help you being a better gundog owner. And be sure to listen to some of our supporters mo pitney, who is a very good country musician and bluegrass musician. He has a bluegrass project with called pitney myers and he's getting ready to come out with a new album on curb records, so stay tuned. Also, the music provided on our show is from Sean Brock, originally from Harlan, kentucky, just across the mountain from me. He did all the music that you hear on our introduction and our outro for the show. He played all the instruments except for Scott Vest on the banjo and Jerry Douglas on the dobro. Check them out. Thank you for listening. Hello, this is Kenneth Witt with Gun Dog Nation.
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Speaker 1:Hello and welcome back to Gun Dog Nation. I'm coming to you today from Midland Texas and I've been tracking these people for a while, following them on social media, and I'm really excited to have Ethan and Kat here from Standing Stone Kennels. I'm going to let them talk here and I'm going to get out of the way, but, you know, I just want everybody to know. What really attracted me to reaching out to them is I've been following them on social media for probably three or four years now and I just they have training videos, they have the best looking GSPs that I've seen, and I don't own GSPs, but I think they're a beautiful dog and I've actually reached out to them before about getting a pup, but I've just got too much. I've always not, you know, made that big step because I've got too many dogs to take care of at the present.
Speaker 2:So anyway, ethan and Kat, you introduce yourself and tell everybody who you are yeah, we're I'm Kat and this is Ethan from standing stone kennels and we breed German short hair pointers. We train all dogs not only, I guess, here on site training at our kennel, but also through the internet, because there's a great big following on YouTube as well, as we have online training courses that we help people train their own dogs from home. So that is a big driving factor for for our business as a whole.
Speaker 1:I like that. Now I know obviously you all train upland dogs. Do you do waterfowl too, Retrievers?
Speaker 3:We do, but pretty minimally. I mean, our primary focus is versatile dogs, so waterfowl specific, no, we don't train a lot of retrievers. We do train a handful, but, um, and you see that with the, the information we put online, the retriever side of things only goes through the basics. I mean, that's what I could honestly say that I can do, and outside of that, though, we do train all of our versatile dogs for waterfowl, but it's a it's a slightly different process.
Speaker 1:Ethan, I know it's self-explanatory, but we've got listeners from all the Gundog breeds. Explain to the listeners what a versatile dog means. What do you mean by that?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. There are some slight variations to this definition, but what a versatile dog means to us is a family-oriented, versatile hunting companion, and the hunting aspect of it would be both upland and waterfowl. Um, and we do very, very, very, very, very small amount of fur related anything. I do have a couple of dogs that can blood trail deer, but it's not a primary focus and it was more. They had a kind of knack, natural ability for it, so we just catered to that. We gave it to them like here, let's try this. And um, that's Nick's one of our older males. He's pretty good at it. I don't know what it is now, maybe 15 or 17 recovery, something like that. So it's um kind of a fun process to watch, but primarily family oriented versatile hunting companions. So dogs that can hunt upland, can hunt waterfowl, but all of that in that order. Um, we do hunt a lot and guide a lot, but ultimately, even with that large amount, they still are primarily family companions for us.
Speaker 2:First, and from a versatility standpoint we're also looking from the field side of things for pointing breed dogs. So short hares, bichlas, weimaraners, german Wirehair Pointers, griffons, just to name a few fairly well-known versatile breeds. Now just because a short hair can be a versatile breed doesn't mean it has been bred through the breeding program to be versatile. There are definitely some dogs that can point and have the potential to do the waterfall side of things that haven't necessarily been bred for those purposes. Maybe the breeder doesn't waterfall hunt so they haven't put a lot of emphasis on that. So they're more of a field dog and they might be able to get wet. So definitely there is variance even within the breed itself Shorthairs, for example from the level of versatility that they're able to do.
Speaker 1:Well, let me ask you guys you know how in labs and golden retrievers you have show line, you have field bred or hunting lines. Do you have that in GSPs? Are there more show line dogs out these days because they're popular, or is it? Are they still pretty tightly hunting lines?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there's been a decent evolution in the breed, even just since we got into that, which would have been uh, when did we get Sammy? 2009, maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got her in 2009.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I got our, we got our first short hair together in 2009. And at that point in time, short hairs were still more seen as just hunting dogs and you were still in that, in that realm, kind of that transition period of bird dogs are what you find in the backyard, in a pen that somebody takes out and trains or works and hunts with, and then they go back there.
Speaker 2:The wild and crazy short hairs of the past.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, and that was mixed in with Pointers, pointers, britneys, some setters which setters are always kind of known for a little calmer personality but all of a sudden done, that's what. That's the way that I was raised. I've, I've, got an uncle he still is one of my biggest hunting buddies, you know and he had, he always had a quote, unquote mutts, mixed breeds, pointer Brittany crosses or short hair pointer cross, something I think something with a lime.
Speaker 3:at one time, too, that was my grandpa, yeah, yeah, Lime, lime, short hair, maybe just pure. Maybe that was the only purebred, I don't know, but when we went over to uncle Rich's house they were always just dogs. Back there she didn't mess with you know, and that's uh, that's kind of the way that I was shown as a young person. And then when we got into dogs, we enjoyed dogs as pets. Both Kat and I had pet um family dogs that didn't do anything but be family dogs, which non-hunting dogs, just pets, it's important, but still they didn't have real jobs, right.
Speaker 2:And for us, we, like yourself, mentioned having a lot of dogs, so for us we need dogs with dual purposes. I can't have a string of hunting dogs and then a pack of house dogs. I need ones that do both. So that's definitely what we have geared our breeding towards and have really honed what we're looking to produce out of our dogs.
Speaker 3:But that evolution we've seen just since then of short hairs moving out of that basically being viewed as quote unquote tools I mean, that's not a great way to say it, but it's kind of accurate and into a zone of family companion. And, yes, there are field lines, there are versatile lines, there are show lines, and then there are, you know, more of those German imports which are, though they're quote unquote the same, they're very much different and that's based off of. I mean, that's just a true um, a true depiction of how specific breeding can drastically change this quote-unquote same animal. Right, it's um. So you see a lot of variance there.
Speaker 3:But through the years there's been a a major shift, and I think even more just in the last probably five to six years, that short hairs have been viewed more as family companions or having the ability to do that. And I do think that there was a direct correlation with I think the dog's name was CJ, I don't know his registered name, but CJ was a Westminster best in show, so won the entire show, is the first short hair to ever do that, and I don't know about first sporting breed, but um, you know he won everything and that that put short hairs even more in the in the limelight on the map from a from a breeding standpoint and I will say the biggest thing that I've seen true also in that transition is when we got dogs in the 2010, 11, 12 range, it didn't matter where the short hair came from.
Speaker 3:It didn't matter how it was bred. It was mentally stable and had the ability to become a quality dog. There were some better than others, but they were pretty much it was. If a short hair came into the building for training, you could guarantee it was going to turn out well and as consistency. Consistency and that was it involved. It wasn't specific breeders or specific lines or anything, it was just short hairs. And now that they have become more popular, you see some of the problems that you see in all breeds that gain popularity. You see more health issues. You see less mental stability. You just see dogs that were bred for one purpose, which was either a looks or b money and um, not all of them, right, but you see some more of that, which adds there's a wider range of of dogs that come in. Now you know it's like what is this one gonna be? So, yeah, you kind of have to play that game.
Speaker 1:So, ethan, you said something that interests me. Uh, because I'm I'm learning. I've never owned the short hair, but you were saying that the the dogs you see. Now here let's talk about field bred stuff and what's coming in from overseas imports, that there's differences. Explain what are those differences that you see?
Speaker 3:yeah.
Speaker 3:So, um, personality, drive and hunting ability are different and that's based off of.
Speaker 3:If you look into the German testing system, um and I'm not going to try and recite it because I know some of the names but I don't know the exact order of all of it but it is not the same expectations of what you are looking at for even NAVDA events or AKC hunt tests or field trials here in the United States.
Speaker 3:So a dog that's bred for any of this walking field type event here I mean, that's not the primary focus there you do have more fur driven and more and more total versatility, and that pulls what it the best thing, the way that we can wrap our head around, or an explanation, is the level of prey, drive and desire is different, and for a dog to be able to have the toughness and grit to fight a coon or, have enough, a fox there's a I think it's called a fox in a box they have to be able to pick up a large furred animal and jump over and out with it. That takes a lot of bite strength and a lot of drive and determination and retrieve specific to do that. And what we have seen though there are exceptions and there are quality dogs in all aspects of things and whatever else. For our program, we're we're primary, primarily, excuse me bird hunters. So, um, when we get into some of that stuff, it's not exactly what we're looking for and we're we want to see more bird dog.
Speaker 1:So you know that's interesting because what you're describing to me and believe me, please don't think I'm an expert by any means but I've done a lot of research lately on the Drothar, the wire hair- and that sounds like what they're bred for.
Speaker 3:Well, and what you just said was two separate things there as well, so you said Drothar right.
Speaker 1:Explain that please.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so DKs. I mentioned that abbreviation, deutschkürzer. I hope I pronounced it close. That would be the German short hair and a Drothar would be the wire hair. So Deutsch Drothar would be German wire hair. So those are going to be your imports. They have independent breed clubs and they do have to have specific paper requirements and testing requirements in order to be able to stay in that breed club of DD or DK, order to be able to stay in that breed club of DD or DK. And it's different where a wire hair would be your American bred and there's going to be variances. Now, are there going to be similarities? Are there DKs behind our dogs? Yes, but we're breeding toward a different direction.
Speaker 2:Essentially, a little bit goes a long way with what we're looking for and those imports, or you know, general first generations out of imports. A lot of times those breeders are breeding for different things than we are. They are breeding for more. I don't want to say true versatility, but overall versatility, more prey drive, things like that. They are looking to perform well in more of the German testing system. That's not what we're looking for, but what happens, unfortunately, is when people look for a puppy, they may not know the questions to ask. You don't know what you don't know and it sounds like oh, these people have a litter of German shorthair puppies available. They look like German shorthairs. I'm going to get myself a German short hair.
Speaker 3:Or they hear German import and think that because it's imported, it's better or something. And it's not necessarily not better, but it's different. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Different purposes, and so you really need to be clear on what you're looking for and if what is being bred is going to fit that purpose. Because then people get these DKs that they not necessarily were ready for and they're looking for more of an upland field dog that's supernatural, pointing steadiness, backing, and they're getting a dog that just wants to track and chase deer. Or maybe they had a family pet that was a little cat and I say that in a past tense because a lot of these dogs have a lot of fur drive, so that doesn't mean that they can't get along and that they can't coexist, but it's going to be harder than from a breeding that didn't specifically breed for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's always our recommendation when anybody is looking for a dog is you have to be honest with yourself and what you want that dog to be.
Speaker 3:And if you don't know how to answer that question, then you need to do more research before purchasing the dog.
Speaker 3:But if you know clearly, and you someone were to call us and say, hey, I live in I don't know Louisiana as an example I deer hunt a lot, I duck hunt a lot, I do bird hunt some, but we don't have as many quails, so I take a handful of trips. But I'm looking for a dog that has versatility, a dog that can run, can be a farm dog with me as well, or whatever you want to say, and help keep coons off of my deer feeders. Or, you know, I need these kinds of things and I really like German Shorthairs. Do you think this is the right thing? I would say, well, that DK is probably going to be a better option for what you're looking for, or a Wirehair or a Drawt Any of those things are going to be more geared toward that direction, not necessarily what we have. So it's, and if you can't have that honest conversation with the person you're trying to buy a dog from again.
Speaker 1:Maybe just look a little further, so you know until I started doing you know this and really got into different breeds that I didn't own. I was so I always assumed and I was wrong, but I assumed that a wire hair was nothing more than a variation in coat of a short hair. But they're two different dogs, correct?
Speaker 2:Yep and two different breeds, and and I don't honestly yeah, sorry, I don't know the true history behind how.
Speaker 3:I don't even know the true everything that was used to create short hairs, however many hundreds of years ago I don't I don't know those things for wire hairs or any of them, but I mean there's definitely similarities, but as far as in the last hundred years they're not. They're not related unless there was an accident now the.
Speaker 1:I assume from what you said, you all take in dogs of other breeds to train in your training program and I know that you train your own dogs. I've talked, I've inquired about that quite a few years ago. Do you all, when you all train a dog, that you raise a pup that you sell and take back to train what? And I'm going to peel back your all's training knowledge here because I want to pick your brains, but let's start at the puppy stage Do you all do a puppy development program before they go home? How do you do it?
Speaker 2:So all of our puppies go home at eight weeks old Very well socialized. We do a lot of things with them, from car rides to taking long walks through bigger cover, not just the mowed grass in the backyard. They are crate, trained with siblings, with litter mates, overnight and during nap time. They are very well socialized from a people standpoint another dog standpoint but they don't have any necessarily formal training. We work really hard on potty training hey, we just finished eating, let's go outside, because what goes in has to come out. So we try and start building those really good habits, but they don't have any what I would consider formal training, even from a puppy standpoint. We don't start clicker training, we don't start walking on leash. We don't start any of that. Then, when they go home, we recommend that all of our puppy buyers follow along with our online training course. It's literally the exact same way and steps that we raise a puppy that we kept. Let's say I'm keeping a puppy from this litter. This is how I'm raising my puppy from eight weeks to a year old.
Speaker 2:Now if they do plan to send their puppy to us, you might only get through the first six months of that training course and then they're coming to us because you don't necessarily have the time or the resources, the birds, to continue the training.
Speaker 2:But then anytime after that puppy turns six months old which is our, I guess, cutoff for when they can start training they can come back in for training.
Speaker 2:Six months might sound kind of like an arbitrary number, a number you know age, but it's really important because by six months most puppies are very well potty trained, house trained, crate trained, and we want to maintain those potty training habits that people have worked really hard on. I don't want to bring in a young puppy that's still on the verge of figuring out potty training but then reverts to old habits and gets messy. I want them to go home as clean, if not even more further along with their potty training than when they came in. So that's kind of why six months from a development standpoint as well, as puppies are usually more mentally mature and ready to take on more big ideas that you can't necessarily work on with young puppies. They don't have the focus, attention span, and so you're getting more if you will bang for your buck because your puppy can accomplish more in the time that they do come in for training.
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Speaker 2:Yeah. So we have two puppy training courses. One is geared towards retrievers and flushers and then the other is for versatile breeds, like we talked about pointers, short hairs, that sort of thing, and it takes you through lesson by lesson, eight weeks to a year old. It includes not only the important socialization things that you should be working on, because it's easy to get sidetracked on just oh, I need to get these obedience training goals done and I need to get these hunting training goals done, but we need to continue really well socializing our dog so that they can be mentally stable, mentally sound, when we get to more advanced things or if they have to go off for training or a hunting trip. So it includes all of those things in those really easy to follow lessons. It's got a course overview checklist so you can follow along and be like yep, check, I've completed that Check.
Speaker 2:Moving on, I don't necessarily say you need to spend exactly one week on this, though it is broke down like that, because you get out of it what you put into it and your puppy is different than anybody else's puppy. So if you're only able to train minimally, you're probably not going to advance through that course quite as quickly If you're only able to train minimally, you're probably not going to advance through that course quite as quickly. If you're able to put more time into it and your puppy's ready for it, very mentally mature and focused for your training sessions, you might go a little faster, but it gives a very specific guideline to follow along with and knowing when you're ready to move on, has links where you can set up video consults with us at a discounted rate to go over your training progressions and goals and make sure you're hitting those milestones. And that's set up for both the versatile dogs and the retrievers, because we've raised labs and English cockers and stuff before too.
Speaker 1:Now is it like a subscription.
Speaker 2:It is not. It's a one-time payment and you get access to it forever. So if you get it for this puppy and three years later you get a new puppy, just log back in and start over. Any of the things that we update you automatically get access to. So if I'm adding new videos to it or new content, you're going to automatically get access to that when you log in.
Speaker 1:Very nice. Okay, I have to check that out.
Speaker 3:Get access to that when you log in. Very nice, okay, I have to check that out. Yeah, and what we try and describe it as is essentially a guide to the YouTube videos. So majority of the content there is YouTube videos, but it's the best versions of everything that we've taught and shown in order all in one place where I know it's hard to kind of navigate through in any kind of direction that seems right on YouTube sometimes. So we ended up putting this together, plus I think there are roughly 35 additional videos that aren't actually on YouTube there, plus everything else Kat said.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, there's two things I want to get into with y'all. One let me just ask you this I always ask everybody this that's on here when I'm talking about a different breed why German Shorthair?
Speaker 3:Yeah, kind of a funny story. So working through college, I actually worked for the Geek Squad Best Buy. I drove the Volkswagen bug around. Fixed computers for people, completely different lifestyle right 100%.
Speaker 3:Yes, 100%. And I sat down with a gentleman and he had a bunch of trophies sitting there in his office that had bird dogs on top of them and this was right around that 2009 period where we were looking at getting one. So I'm asking him about different breeds and we kind of had our eyes set on getting a Weimaraner Because my grandpa had had one or I'd heard that, and I looked at him. I thought they were cool, looking Right, and they're bird dogs. So, um, and he said, well, tell me about what you're you're kind of wanting to do. And I explained everything and he said you know, you really should look at a short hair. I looked it up, I fell in love with the way they looked, basically, and got one. And then, essentially, through the training program, we've worked with lots and lots and lots of breeds and what to? Working hard to find the magical one and some of these other obscure breeds.
Speaker 1:So we've been really happy with short hairs all the way around. Well, eric and Kat, I'll put you on the spot. Give me your all's opinion. The German short hair pointer versus the English pointer Differences.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're bred very differently for different purposes.
Speaker 2:So what I like about the German shorthairs typically that we work with is their water love and desire to hang out on the boat and swim around with us as well, as you know, go down to the pond and play retrieves, that sort of thing. And very few English pointers that I have worked with love the water. It takes a lot to get them to swim and usually they don't do it super well, so water love would be one thing that I really truly enjoy about short hairs versus most English pointers.
Speaker 3:I would say it's a tough one for me too, and this is a it's a prime example of my opinion in a majority of the different breeds out there is that there are really good dogs in every breed and, um, we actually looked at the potential of pointers being the primary focus for a little while and it was. We had a couple little pointers that in the beginning that I trained and worked with and I really liked them. But I feel like what it comes down to is, whether it's the chicken or the egg here, what we do. Short hairs are a really good fit for.
Speaker 3:If I was in warmer, wide, open country and didn't require quite as much retrieving desire or the versatility or these other pieces, you know, I would probably be looking more at pointers. If I needed dogs to stand and point and run, and that was it. If we needed dogs to be more durable and be able to take colder water or you, you know, if we did more fur based stuff, we would be looking at a different breed. So all of these things being, um, short hairs really fit well with with what we focus on.
Speaker 1:So well, actually that was an excellent. Y'all just educated me. That was a great explanation. So thank you for that, because, because I like both, if I could have one of each breed, I probably would. I love the look of a German Shorthair and I love the look of an English Pointer.
Speaker 2:English Pointers are pretty dang impressive.
Speaker 1:on point they're so athletic and they kind of look. I grew up in southeast Kentucky and I'm in Texas. I grew up in the mountains and everybody had hounds, right. So an English pointer, you kind of get that hound look. I don't know, it's just kind of an old, traditional look. But I love, I love both.
Speaker 1:And before we go on to the next thing, I just want to tell you guys, I think y'all have the best looking dogs. I mean I'm always just, you know, I check out every picture you've ever posted and just think all these these dogs I've never and I see, ever posted and just think, all these these dogs, I've never. And I see I notice stuff like that, right, I mean I'm kind of a dog nerd, so I just whatever you're all doing, you're doing a heck of a job and I'm a big fan and I talk, you know, if anybody mentions it to me and I I'm not trying to knock other gsp breeders, I just don't know any other ones because I don't, I don't own one, right, I don't really research that. I know labs and most of my labs are from overseas, but I just know you're all dogs. But anyway, okay, a segue, let's get into this.
Speaker 1:So you worked at the Geek Squad. You all, I assume, were married and purchased a GSP Yep. What brought you from there to here? Because you guys have a very successful business. You have a great name in the industry. You're well known. How did we get here?
Speaker 3:I have a unique personality. Let's go with that and anything that I am interested in. I kind of dive deeper than one should. Maybe it's a little bit addictive personality, something to that, to that sense.
Speaker 3:Um and I, you know, got a hundred percent focused. Every waking second of every day I spent watching videos, reading books, working with my dog, and I realized, hey, I didn't know that much and I needed to learn a lot. And so I started reaching out to people and was a poor college kid. So I traded my geek squad abilities to edit videos and take pictures and things of that nature, which ultimately became a job, a full-time job at a facility in Minnesota, and I was like we've got to make this move, honey. We're going to do that.
Speaker 2:That was back when we were living in North Dakota, which is where we went to college and got married. I'm from North Dakota originally, so that, and have hunted my whole life with my dad, and so Ethan has also hunted, and so we wanted to get that short hair as our initial first hunting dog, and that's kind of how that process started. So, yes, had to move from North Dakota to Minnesota now.
Speaker 3:And I trained there. I started as kennel attendant and took pictures and video and learned and and again spent every waking moment, you know. Got sent home and said, hey, we're not paying any more hours. And you, you, you've over, you already worked overtime this week and whatever. Like, that's fine, you don't have to pay me, I'm just going to be here.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter, I didn't even work for the kennel and I would come out to help train and watch him work dogs. And when there were litters being born, I wanted to sit with the mama and help whelp the puppies. So I wasn't even working there, but I wanted to be part of it.
Speaker 3:And then eventually small we just fell in love with it. Yeah, we just fell in love with it. Well, can?
Speaker 1:I find people like you to come up to my ranch and help me with all my stuff. That would be nice. So you also opened up a can that I was going to get into too, so you're both from North Dakota.
Speaker 2:I am.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I followed her up there to go to college.
Speaker 1:So I lived in Iowa for a little while.
Speaker 3:Are you from iowa? I'm midwest, upper midwest.
Speaker 1:I've lived in kansas uh, missouri, nebraska, iowa south dakota north dakota minnesota texas, but the cool thing is so both y'all were hunters before you ever met.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Um, she actually has been hunting longer than I have, so she grew up bird hunting with her dad and I kind of picked it up. At the tail end of my high school career I got to go out with a family friend and thought it was really cool. I actually shot my first pheasant with a 12 gauge double barrel muzzleloading shotgun a Navy arms reproduction and I had to wait for the smoke to clear to see if I had hit the pheasant.
Speaker 1:And I used to have the old muzzleloaders. Yeah, I'd shoot deer and you'd have to wait and see if you hit it about five minutes later. Yeah, that's his experience. Did it kick? Pretty bad.
Speaker 3:I mean really not, not terrible? I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Now do y'all and I know I interrupt your business story and I want to get back to that but do you all as busy as you are and I know you're busy Do you get? Do you get to hunt like you want? Do you get to hunt as much as you want to?
Speaker 2:It has definitely changed since having kids. We used to deer hunt a lot more, which is more of a hobby for us than incorporated with the business necessarily. So that has had to take a little bit of a back burner, just from a standpoint of having two children that are very young. But this year, which I think is the start of getting back into the swing of things, Ethan actually sat with our oldest who's six and they shot their first deer together. Aiden watched Ethan shoot the deer but he thought it was so cool, and Cade, our youngest who's three, was like so put out that he didn't get to go, which he couldn't sit still and quiet enough for.
Speaker 2:But eventually that's going to be, you know, the next path and they want to go turkey hunting. So it's, it's going to start ramping back up, but, yeah it, it slowed down for a little bit there from more of the, I guess, hobby side of things hunting, deer hunting, turkey hunting but the upland stuff, um, because it is so much a part of the business and getting the dogs experience and guiding Ethan guides hunts, Um, and and one of our employees, Charles, guides hunts, Uh, it's kind of like you got to hunt all the time.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. So yeah, I didn't know that, Ethan, you guide hunts too.
Speaker 3:Yes, uh, we guide in South Dakota both grouse and pheasant hunts and then we run a program for a South Texas ranch it's um South of San Antonio, it's called the El Tesoro ranch and that's a private operation. So there's no hunting opportunities there unless you get. You gotta know Papa, that's the thing.
Speaker 1:So um, so you come down to the South, to that ranch. Uh, yes.
Speaker 3:Charles uh, that works for us here. He spends the entire season down there, which would be November 1st, basically through the end of February, and then I probably make two to four or five trips throughout the season.
Speaker 1:Well, you got to keep. My ranch is only about two hours Northwest. I'm near junction about I'm in Fort McCabot, so I'm near junction, if you know where that's at on my 10.
Speaker 3:Okay, I would have to look.
Speaker 1:I don't know exactly you can't be too. I'm two hours from San Antonio, the other direction, so how far are you from San Antonio?
Speaker 3:South about an hour and 15 minutes or so. Okay, that's not bad.
Speaker 1:Actually I trained a retriever club down around that area. We're on Poteet.
Speaker 3:So Jordanton's probably the closest town, jordanton's where our club meets. Okay, so that'd be really close.
Speaker 1:Wow, I go there on Saturdays when I'm not. I'll be going this Saturday, but I've got a hunt test. But that is crazy, I didn't know. Well, I'll get your number and stuff We'll have to. I've get y'all. Y'all can come stay anytime. I've got a. I've got a high fence exotic ranch Very cool which y'all need met in college.
Speaker 3:Yep and.
Speaker 1:I'm a short hair and you're here. Tell me how you got here.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I got a call from uncle rich and we talked about he runs some grocery stores and he started throwing around uh, store manager numbers that I had never heard before and I thought that seemed like a great opportunity. So we actually moved to Northwest Kansas and thought, well, we'll train a couple of bird dogs and see how that goes.
Speaker 2:We had our own personal dogs. You know that we wanted to continue hunting behind and but I'm going to start a real career.
Speaker 3:I'm going to work at this grocery store, and that turned into an overwhelming number of people reached out and in a few short months we moved in full time to Bird Dogs, and that was 2012.
Speaker 2:And very shortly after that, we shot our first YouTube videos.
Speaker 3:They're bad.
Speaker 2:You can probably still find them out there somewhere on the train retrieve process, and that was back before we had our kennel built. That was the summer before we built our first kennel, and so our train retrieve table is out under the shade trees in the backyard and training dogs outside.
Speaker 1:Give me your story. You got out, you graduated. Was it North Dakota where you went?
Speaker 2:Yep, so I went to school at UND, the University of North Dakota, and I graduated from North Dakota and that was when Ethan was saying and we have to move to Minnesota. So I was like, okay, I hadn't applied for any jobs or anything. Right out of college I was working at Sam's Club in the business office and so I was able to transfer through the Walmart Corporation to a Walmart in Minnesota to get moved and started and approved for a house and all the hoops you have to jump through from a financial standpoint to move. It seems like and I just bided my time because I watched Ethan doing all these amazing things with the dogs. I am an animal lover, love dogs. Like I said, I would hang out with him on my off days when he was working and watch him do the dog stuff. I'd help whelp litters of puppies overnight.
Speaker 2:I was all in and waited until there was a position open at that kennel as well and then started with him position open at that kennel as well and then started with him just learning. And then when he got the opportunity for us to move to Kansas and work for his uncle, I said, well, since I've got a start in this, I'll just work with our dogs, and that was what I would do. I'd be the stay at home dog mom and so I just would take care of the dogs and train them. And then when we started getting other people reaching out, hey, you training dogs, could you train our dog? And so we started sure we can do that, and it just has grown From Northwest Kansas.
Speaker 2:We actually, as we grew with our business, found it very difficult to find people that we could consistently rely on from a work standpoint. Northwest Kansas is very sparsely populated and so, as well as it's not very close to airports and things like that, for people that want to come out and pick up a puppy, it's a four-hour drive from the nearest airport, typically for people one way. So that wasn't very conducive to continuing to grow the business. So we ended up moving to where we're at now in Pretty Prairie, which is much more centrally located in South, centrally located in the state of Kansas, right outside of a city with an airport which worked really well, and have had great luck with an amazing crew here at the kennel that have helped us continue to grow.
Speaker 1:So what did y'all get degrees in?
Speaker 2:I have a general studies degree. So I went to school to be a high school science teacher and did everything but my student teaching semester because I was doing some practicums in the classroom and realized I don't think that I could do this full time, um, and just had so many credits. I was like I'm just graduating and I'll figure it out. And uh, I have applied a lot of the things that I learned to be a teacher to dog training. Uh, the online courses that you and I were talking about earlier, that's all my teaching stuff coming out having lessons, basically lesson planning and having you know goals and checklists and things like that and all the curriculum material that goes with it. So I've definitely utilized my degree just differently than I had sought. You know, started out with it.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of in that boat. How about you, Ethan? What's your degree?
Speaker 3:I'm a college dropout, so I finished just shy of two full years and decided I didn't want to do it anymore.
Speaker 1:Ain't nothing wrong with that. Both my brothers went to college, dropped out, and they're musicians in Nashville. Absolutely, and they probably did. They're happy, that's all that matters, and you're definitely doing something that a lot of people would love to do, absolutely. But no, you're living a good life, both of you. So, gosh, I haven't checked our time, I'll talk you to death. I guess we're good. If y'all have to go, you just kind of give me a wave or something if you're in a hurry, because I know you've got chores to do and running that business. So, just so that I know everything that standing stone does, let's go through that list. You're breeders. Yep, you train.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Do you guys also have like, if I'm not mistaken, do you also have like a store, like supplies?
Speaker 2:Yep Standing stone supply so where do we find that? Standing stone supplycom.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:You can find it right from our standing stone kennels website as well. We've got, you know, links that point back and forth that sort of thing we offer there.
Speaker 2:We offer dog training supplies that we use and recommend. There's a lot of dog stuff out there and we at first didn't have an online store. We just got what we needed to train dogs whether that was DT systems, e-callers, bird launchers, bumpers and then we had our easy leads that we created, which are our healing tool. So we had those basic things that these are the things that we started with, that we use in training. And then we had our YouTube channel just kind of start blowing up and growing and growing, and so many people would reach out to us and say, where did you get that collar? What collar are you using? What's that leash? And we're like, well, they're just a leash that we make. And then we would point them to other places for the other training tools and things that we were using. And so we're like, well, if we're pushing business, towards other places.
Speaker 2:Let's rethink this and see if we can just point it back towards us. Oh, those are the collars that we sell on our website. Here's our website. So we figured out how to create an online store, with some guidance from Ethan's brother, who's in media as well, and so started the online store, which was in our garage for the longest time in my home office, and I went from a couple orders a day to I was spending half my workday four or five hours fulfilling orders, which was pulling me away from my other things too many hats and so we ended up deciding we need to hire somebody to run the store. So we ended up hiring my brother, logan, who runs our online store. Now he's our in-store manager online manager, I guess and we moved from the garage to we call it the warehouse. It's a three-st stall garage with shipping containers for overstock, and he runs everything there now, um, and it spends all day, every day, doing it, so it became definitely a full-time gig for him.
Speaker 1:Um, so yes, we have this store. You each have a brother-in-law in the business. Yeah, we do Kind of yes, absolutely, that's good. No, hey, so I didn't realize. I have to check that out. I didn't realize that. But yeah, heck, you're referring all these things with no referral fee, so why not right, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And we wanted it to just be a one-stop shop Ultimately. You know sure you can get on Amazon and you can add a bunch of lot of maybe not as highest reviewed things as well, so we wanted to only offer things that we truly use, recommend and stand behind. So you're not going to find a whole assortment of different brands of bumpers and different brands of this and that it's going to be what we found that works and that's what you're going to use. So we wanted it to also continue to resonate with our brand, which we feel like people really trust us. So I don't want to be selling junk on the store that's going to break or not work as it's supposed to. We just want to continue representing our brand the same way that we represent. Everything is with integrity and that people can trust that we're recommending these things because they work integrity and that people can trust that we're recommending these things because they work.
Speaker 1:Hello, this is Kenneth Witt, and Gun Dog Nation is proud to have one of their sponsors as Retriever Training Supply. Based in Alabama, retriever Training Supply offers fast shipping on quality gear. Your dog will love it. Visit RetrieverTrainingSupplycom to purchase gear to help you train your retriever. Listen, they have some of the best leashes I've ever found. It's stuff's made in America. Their leashes are, and they source them locally. They have anything you want fast, friendly service, fast shipping, just good people. Retriever training supply Now due to you know, because you all have such good dogs and I'm sure you have good products. I haven't checked those out, but I can tell by talking to y'all that you do. Do you have a pretty big waiting list on on your pups?
Speaker 2:Typically we're out like a year, year and a half on puppies. So I definitely know of breeders that have longer than that waitlist and then I know of other breeders that have shorter waitlists. But that's about where we try and stay is about a year out. That way it allows us to really plan our breedings and make sure that we have full waitlists. I'm not going to just be breeding puppies to breed puppies. They need to have a purpose for our breeding program as well as, basically, homes already selected.
Speaker 1:I'd love to hear both your opinions on this. What do you all look for when you breed? Do you all agree on the same thing, or do you have different opinions? And that's okay.
Speaker 2:Of what we're trying to produce.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, you all agree on the same thing. Do you have different opinions?
Speaker 3:and that's okay, of what we're trying to produce, yes, yeah, no, it's, it's the same unified, uniformed, uh, unified front. We, we are one um, and it's the way that we operate the, the kennel building to communication handle. All of the employees understand the same thing so that when dogs interacted with, it's very consistent. So as far as the breeding aspects of things go, the best way that we describe it would be family oriented, versatile hunting companions, and we shade that hunting companion side of things toward the bird dog side just a little bit more than the versatile. And outside of that we do own quite a few dogs and they are part of our family in the house. So they have to be able to do that first, and then they can't slack in the field department either.
Speaker 1:So Do you try to produce a dog with high drive in the field and with an off switch at home? I know that's hard to do and we all want that, but it's so hard to achieve sometimes, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's. We call it a sliding scale and it's a balance act all the time. You know, we want we want the true steadiness and natural pointing ability, with enough retrieving desire that they're going to retrieve their own birds. People always think that's funny. They're like, oh, your short hair is retrieved, or oh, I didn't know that the you know GSP is retrieved. Yep, ours definitely do. So that sliding scale that way. And then we also have the sliding scale from a livability standpoint.
Speaker 2:You know, though, ethan and I are probably different than a lot of people in the sense that he guides and we have a guiding program in South Texas for four months out of the year. So our dogs are working and hunting more than probably most people. The remaining time they're part of the family, they're living in the house. Even when they're down in Texas they come in the house in shifts. You know they can't all be in the house at once, but they all are still part of the family and house dogs. So we understand that that's true.
Speaker 2:For most people they may only get to hunt a few times a year, have a couple big trips planned, get out a few weekends a year, but that dog is part of the family the rest of the time. So that livability, that off switch, like you said, is really important and I feel like a lot of the times that livability goes hand in hand with mental stability. Dogs that are able to just settle down and relax. They're not constantly on alert where they're looking for something to hunt, look for, entertain themselves. They can just relax and decompress so that they can come in, lay down on dog beds, hang out in the house and not add or cause chaos.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think there's a lot of different opinions on how to breed and how to breed in a direction, not even just looking at characteristics, but I'm a big believer that there is no such thing as a perfect dog.
Speaker 3:So you are constantly, you have, to be honest about what the dog is and realistic about what their strengths and weaknesses are, and then find something that complements them. And if you we've heard a lot, or I've heard a lot, about breeding like type to like type, but, and then you'll get more of being the same, like you can, if you find two of the same and you breathe them together, you get more of the same. And the way that I've always seen it is it tends to trend one direction or the other. So, because there's no such thing as a perfect dog, you have slightly higher powered or slightly lower key and you put them together, you get some of mom and some of dad and some of the mix. That's our goal. If you take the two like type of higher powered, you don't get just the same level of higher powered, you get more high powered and the same way on the opposite end it's like higher powered squared.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is compounded the way that I see it most of the time. So it's, we do try and balance and then it gives a. This is it's most of the time it's splitting hairs because they are very similar, but at the same time you do get some level of variety in a litter to be able to say, hey, this is the higher powered pup, hey, this is the lower powered pup, and then these are the ones that have a really good balance.
Speaker 2:So and hey, this is the lower powered pup and then these are the ones that have a really good balance and, depending on what we're looking for for our breeding program, maybe we do need out of this litter the puppy that's a little more lower powered, and then maybe out of this litter, knowing what mom and dad are, we need the higher powered puppy out of that litter to add to our program to continue that balance.
Speaker 2:Like I said, it's this needle that it can shade this way if you're not careful in this way. So you got to try and keep it balanced and we also are very honest with what we're producing. So if we end up keeping a puppy for our breeding program, hoping that it's going to turn out like we planned the next best generation, the next best thing and it falls short or it doesn't quite meet what we're looking for, we're not just going to add that puppy to the breeding program and breed it. Because we kept it and we've invested all this time. We will find it a great home, you know, as a trained dog. But I'm not going to add it to the breeding program if it's not going to continue improving our breed in the direction that we're looking to do that.
Speaker 1:And how do y'all I assume that you maybe not every litter, but you keep back pups that you think we can't do it from every litter?
Speaker 2:Ethan would kill me I would probably also be insane, because one puppy a year is kind of our max. Sometimes I shade that to one puppy every like eight months, just so that because we never plan these breedings going, uh, they're just puppies Every litter we plan, I'm like oh, I really want to keep a puppy from this litter.
Speaker 3:I just want to.
Speaker 2:I just want to keep one.
Speaker 2:So it's one of those things that, um, we do have to, you know, be selective of which litter we're going to keep a puppy from. We also are very lucky that we have an awesome training team here at the kennel. So sometimes, if there's more than one litter that are happening too close together, we'll work with one of our trainers to raise and develop that puppy so that it's raised and developed like we've talked about, with that consistency, the exact same way that we'd raise a puppy. They even follow along with our course, right so, and raise a puppy for us until they get to a certain age where the puppy stuff is the hard stuff, you know, the crate training, the up at night, going potty in the middle of the night, and all of the basics and stuff. And then, once they get to the point where we can throw them into you know, the mix with more advanced stuff, then they come what we like to call come back home. So they'll come back here and then become part of the family and evaluate for the breeding program.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to test you both again. I'm going to see if you have the same answer. What's the number one most important thing that you would and this is regarding training philosophy that you would tell your pro trainer or an amateur who's buying a puff from you that's going to train it himself, and I want to know this myself. I learn too. I'm learning every day. So what's the number one most important thing that you would tell a trainer?
Speaker 3:Being consistent.
Speaker 2:I was going to say socialization.
Speaker 1:Both important right Sure Very important. Yeah, elaborate on that Very important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that a dog is well socialized is going to be, like I mentioned before, more mentally stable and ready to take on all of the challenges that we're going to throw at it throughout its life, whether that's road trips for hunting, meeting new people, new environments, things like that. They're going to be ready to tackle those things and not get weirded out, not shut down. And when we get into training, everything we're training our puppies is new. They've never done these things before. So a dog that can handle new with mental fortitude is going to train easier, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:And I think, kat, do you agree that to me that that also just breeds confidence in the dog, right? I mean, what are things that you all do to socialize a pup that maybe not everybody else does? It's kind of different, it's like your thing.
Speaker 2:Our puppies go everywhere with us, so they, when I have to run to town to pick up groceries, um, or for an appointment in town, cause we live not in town, um, so it's usually like a hour round trip drive plus the time in town. That puppy loads up in a crate. I bring a leash with. They hang out in the car with air conditioning running or the heat running, depending on time of the year. When we get to wherever we're going, quick, hop them out potty, break on leash, put them back in the vehicle in their crate and then they come home with me. Did we really do anything with them other than make sure they went potty? No, but they're learning so many great things. They're learning how to ride in a car, so no car sickness. They are learning to go potty on leash.
Speaker 2:I'm stopping at Walmart for groceries or the grocery store for groceries or this appointment. So new environments. They're walking across the road or the parking lot to get to a grassy area, so just lots of different things that they're experiencing. And then they're learning a lot of patience. They're being crated in the time that we're driving, so they're working on crate time and they have to be calm and quiet in there and they just learn to relax and say I can just wait about 30 minutes before my next thing or an hour before they get to do the next thing. And I think that so many people with puppies feel like that puppy has to be constantly out of their crate, constantly worked with, played with, entertained. And then we develop puppies that that is what they then need to feel satisfied, and if they don't get constant attention and they have to be crated, they are not comfortable with that because that's not been their life, you know, up until that point.
Speaker 1:I love that Ethan talk about your consistency.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that consistency is the most important part of dog training all the way around. So the two things that we talk about a lot are consistency and timing, and if your timing is consistently off, you're still not going to move in the right direction, so you've got to be there. Well, there's a lot of things that are important. Consistency, meaning that you're staying on top of training on a regular basis and that may be an introduction to something. It may be this trip to town. You're consistently working with the dog in a direction opened up even more. So a better answer than and what I should have come up with to begin with is that balance is probably just as important in that zone of being able to do what the dog needs without overdoing things.
Speaker 3:It gets very easy to take them out in the backyard and throw 20 bumpers every night and they don't need that anymore. They need something different. So what we often caution people is too much of anything is bad, but not enough of anything is also bad. So that is the way that the program needs to look. You need to be developing the dog and when you see good things, move on to something new and continue that, to challenge them while seeing a level of understanding and not missing pieces.
Speaker 3:So people talk about, like with pointers specifically, that don't ever teach your pointer to sit because that'll ruin them as a bird dog. Well, it's not really that learning how to sit ruins them, but it's overdoing sit and it becoming a default to everything and not holding them accountable for what you're truly asking. That's where the problem lies. We have dogs that know how to sit and they know how to woe and they know how to lay down. They know how to do all of these things, but they don't feel like any given thing is the answer to every question, and that's because we ask clear questions and expect clear answers. Basically.
Speaker 1:I like that. So, yeah, I want you to expand on this a little bit, just for my own benefit. Benefit, do you? Do you want your? How do you find the balance in having your pointer stand all the time or sit all the time? And I'm just saying, cause I've never trained a pointer, I don't have a clue, so I'm coming at this as a pure green horn.
Speaker 3:Yeah go ahead.
Speaker 2:I was going to say anything your dog is doing, they're conditioning themselves to so. Anything they're doing consistently, they're conditioning themselves to so if you don't ask for a sit, but that's one of the behaviors they know, and then they offer a sit anytime. They want to be rewarded and you say oh good, dog.
Speaker 2:And then they get rewarded. Now they are being conditioned to I sit for everything. So when you you need to be honest with yourself and recognize those patterns. Whether it's a sit, whether it's every time your puppy greets you at the door, they spin three times. Well, that's not something that I'm going to want to condition in my dogs, because that spinning three times there in excitement is going to transition to spinning three times before you throw them a bumper. Then they're not marking that bumper, it's going to condition them to spin three times before you go for a walk and they're on a leash and then they get you all tangled up. So you see where some of those patterns can become big problems and you have to be really aware of them and honest with what's happening. So be honest with the sit behavior becoming a default for everything. Oh, I didn't even ask for a sit and all this puppy wants to do is sit. Well, that's your cue to ask for something else, yep.
Speaker 2:Start working on woe, start working on some other behavior and then reinforce them variably for what you're asking. And then you just you want to make sure that what you're asking for is what they're giving you. So if you do ask for a sit and they woe, well don't reward them for that. Wait until the sit. Same, if you ask for a woe and they sit, get them to move their feet, stand back up for a woe, then reward them, because that confusion also can muddy the waters where they're like well, they asked for a woe and I sat and I got rewarded this time. But now they don't want me to sit, but I did before, and they just get really confused. So being really clear with what your expectations are will help them as well.
Speaker 1:See, you guys are the reason I love doing this podcast. I'm an amateur trainer and I've, you know, dabbled in protection dogs. I've done protection dog work and stuff and trained, but I learn every day and I love doing this because I learn. I've learned so much from you guys today. It's refreshing, but that's why I love the podcast. Right, and I get people like you on here that know more than I do and I like to learn from you. So before we part, let's tell everybody again where can they find you guys, Tell them what all services that you offer, and let's plug standing stone kennels.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, uh, we do breed German short airs. We are a full-time board and train facility, so we take dogs in for training, whether they're from our program or not, and help to reach family hunting companion goals. Um, we do have online training resources. So we have YouTube, uh channels all of our social media. You can find us at Standing Stone Kennels and we have the YouTube channel. We do have a podcast. We have social media on Instagram and Facebook, and then we have an online store, standingstonesupplycom. We also have the online training course, which is available at Standing Stone Kennels, and then, coupled with that, we have a handful of different in-person setups where we can do live video chats, where I watch training sessions or we just have a conversation to discuss training goals, and you can either sign up through that, through the course, or via Patreon, that's patreoncom slash, standingstonekennels, so I miss anything?
Speaker 2:Nope, he got them.
Speaker 1:Well, one question Do you all? Do you all ever do seminars?
Speaker 2:Well, we do that as well. I guess we did miss something Good one. We actually have a seminar coming up May 2nd, 3rd and 4th this year here. It's our Lone Stone Seminar, and we combine with Bob Owens from Lone Duck out in New York, and it's kind of a cool thing. This is our fourth annual, I believe, and so every year it rotates. So this year it'll be in Kansas, next year it'll be back in New York, last year it was in New York. So we go back and forth every year and we work on both you know, pointing versatile dog stuff and and retriever things and how you can apply some of the retriever training to a versatile dog.
Speaker 1:Now is that open to everyone?
Speaker 2:Yep, you can find that on our online store to sign up, and so we try and announce our seminars, especially the Lone Stone Seminar, about a year out, maybe like eight, nine months out, because we have a lot of planning to do to coordinate, you know, bob's schedule and our schedule together so, and we try and give people as much time as possible to make their plans as well.
Speaker 1:How many days is the seminar?
Speaker 2:Friday, Saturday, Sunday and it's Friday afternoon, just as like a meet and greet and get acquainted with everyone and then training hard. Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1:Okay, I might check that out. I just went to the Ronnie Smith one the Smith Kennels, oh, two weeks ago and I eat that stuff up. Anytime I have the time to do that, I'll go to a seminar.
Speaker 2:This would be a great one, too, because of the lab side of things, with you and Bob being out here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Bob's going to come on. I think he wants to wait until May. He wanted to wait a couple weeks. We talked early last week, so I'm going to have him on here in a couple weeks Awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, great guy.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great. I'll check that out because I'd love to do that. Plus, I've done retriever training. I don't consider myself an expert, but I haven't really done upland training and I want to get exposed to that Absolutely All right. Well, hey, it's been a pleasure. I really have enjoyed this. I'm glad I got to meet you all, even though it was virtually. Maybe I'll get to go in person. I think I had a friend that I had on the podcast here that visited you guys Shane Kendrick. Maybe Somebody I had on here has been to your house kennel and really liked it.
Speaker 1:But it'll hit me in a minute, but anyway. So yes, so you're in Kansas.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And well, anyway, we'll log off. I didn't realize that I would enjoy this as much as I have, but it's been a great podcast, it's one of my favorites, and I've never said that before, so I'm not just saying that to you. I don't think I've ever said that on here.
Speaker 3:We appreciate you having us on.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. All right, we'll stay in touch.
Speaker 2:Sounds great.
Speaker 1:Purina ProPlan. Here at Gun Dog Nation, we use Purine ProPlan for our dogs. We actually use the Sport Performance Edition, which is 30% protein and 20% fat the beef and bison. It contains glucosamine, omega-3s for their joints. It also contains amino acids for muscles and antioxidants. It also has probiotics. It's guaranteed to have live probiotics in each serving. There's no artificial colors or flavors. We see the difference in our dogs. We see the difference in their coat, their performance, their endurance and also in recovery. Be sure to use Purina ProPlan dog food. The reputation speaks for itself. There's a reason that Purina has been around for such a long time. We suggest that you use it and we are so proud to be sponsored by Purina dog food.