Gundog Nation
A show to bring together gundog enthusiasts, trainers, and handlers with discussion focused on all breeds and styles of gundogs.
Gundog Nation
Luke Cour - Cour's Retrievers, SRS Crown Champion, Field Trials
#33 What does it take to become one of retriever training's rising stars at just 30 years old? Luke Cour reveals the mindset and methods behind his remarkable success as we explore his journey from rodeo competitor to SRS Crown Champion.
Growing up as the son of a successful pointer trainer, Luke developed an appreciation for working dogs from an early age. His natural intensity and competitive spirit found an outlet first in rodeo, then in retriever training after purchasing his first Lab to help recover lost doves on hunting trips. Eight and a half years spent learning under renowned trainer Rody Best provided the foundation for what would become his own training philosophy.
Luke offers fascinating insights into what he looks for in promising puppies—with work ethic topping his list. "If they don't have work ethic, it probably automatically means they're not going to be a field champion," he explains. His assessment of a dog's water attitude provides a window into how he identifies potential, while his breeding philosophy emphasizes the importance of quality females over fashionable sires.
What separates this conversation from typical training discussions is Luke's refreshing humility despite his accomplishments. Having won the SRS Crown Championship at just 25 and secured SRS Team of the Year honors for three consecutive years, he still approaches training with a learner's mindset. "Don't be afraid to get educated," he advises aspiring trainers, revealing the character that underlies his success.
Whether you're interested in field trials, hunt tests, or simply developing a better hunting companion, Luke's practical wisdom applies across the spectrum of retriever training. His seasonal migration to North Dakota for summer training and insights into handling both retrievers and pointers round out this compelling look at what it takes to excel in the competitive dog world.
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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 Harley, 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, welcome to Gundog Nation. This is Kenneth Witt, and I'm here from Fort McAvett, texas, and I'm talking to another fellow Texan. Actually, I shouldn't say that I'm not a fellow Texan. I'm a Kentuckian who's lived in Texas for 13 years, so I guess I've kind of, you know, been adopted in. Who's lived in Texas for 13 years, so I guess I've kind of been adopted in. However, I'm with a true Texan here who has a really, really reputable name in this state as a dog trainer, and not just this state, in the world of SRS and the world of field trials of the US. I've been tracking this guy down for months. You know it, luke. I'm going to introduce Mr. I'm proud to have you on here, brother, mr Luke Coors. How's it going? I'm glad to be here. Thank you, luke. Tell everybody where you're from and where you are now.
Speaker 2:I'm from the Georgetown Texas area just north of Austin. Now I'm currently located.
Speaker 1:Our new facility is located in a little town of Leadbetter, texas which is out by Lake Somerville in between the Brenham and Giddings area. Now, luke, you're way too young to remember this, but there was a really hilarious comedian back from Mississippi back in my age in the 80s, named Jerry Clower. Yeah, I know Jerry Clower. So Jerry Clower, most of his skits is based around the Leadbetter family, marcel, anyway, we won't get into that, but at least you know that that proves you're from the South. Only a Southerner would know who Jerry Clower is. But he was hilarious. He was actually. What's cool, I won't digress too bad. He was a Christian man, so his jokes were all clean, right, no cuss words, no anything. Your kids could go listen to him, but he was hilarious anyway, all right.
Speaker 1:So, luke, you started out. You're a young man now. And what's impressive about you? First of all, your reputation, and I live in Texas, so I know who you are from many other people before I ever met you. But you've achieved a lot of success. You're only 30 yep, 30, I mean. I got a daughter that just turned 30 this week, so you're only 30 years old. You've achieved. Let's just start from the top. What titles do you have so far?
Speaker 2:don't, don't be bashful um, well, you know, I've titled a bunch of junior hunters and senior hunters and we've got quite a of junior hunters and senior hunters and I've got quite a few master hunters. I put a couple dogs in the Master National Hall of Fame. I put a Grand Hunger Trooper champion title on a dog. I don't know honestly, offhand off how many of what you know. I've won probably 20-plus or 30 maybe SRSs events. I've titled a handful of SRS champions. I've won SRS's events. I've titled a handful of SRS champions.
Speaker 2:I won SRS Team of the Year three years in a row, twice in a row with Indy in 2018 and 19,. And then I won Team of the Year in 2020, and that's the same year I won the Crown Championship with Bang, owned by Ernie D'Antoni, and then we've had a pretty good year this year. We've got nine dogs qualified for the Crown in the open division and I think three or four in the amateur division. Um, and we've got two amateur wins and four open wins on this season and we're about to head north to hit the summer circuit and see how we do try to keep it going how old were you when you, when you won the crown?
Speaker 2:I was 20 till five years ago, 25, 24, I think I was just about to turn 25.
Speaker 1:That's insane. Yeah, you make me feel like the worst trainer in the world.
Speaker 2:I've been blessed to have some good mentors and some good dogs and good people around me.
Speaker 1:All right, Luke, I got to know this man. How did you get started? Was your dad a trainer? Did you grow up in a hunting family, or were you one of those folks like me that just loved it and got into it?
Speaker 2:No, so I've been around dogs my whole life. My dad is an avid hunter, quail hunter, bird hunter, just a wing shooter, and we had pointers. My dad did field trials with English pointers and then we trained German short ears and he was like in our field trial world he was kind of a professional amateur. I mean he had 30 dogs that he was training, uh, for himself as an amateur and running them in trials and traveling around and we ran trials and I got to do some of the puppy trial derbies with them when I was a kid, Um, and he was. He got runner up national champion in one of the trials. I don't know what sanction he ran, it wasn't the horseback trials, it was on foot, Um. But he had a dog named Doc that he was real competitive with. We traveled around the country, went quite a bit with him and so I've been in the competitive side and been in the dogs and I did a rodeo for a while, so with the horses. And then when I got into college we decided to meet a buddy of mine, decided to go dove hunting and we lost a bunch of dove and I bought a, bought a lab to find my dove and found the hunt test game and you know, one thing led to another.
Speaker 2:Where did you go to college? I was at Blinn in College Station. I was Blinn team, so Blinn A&M, but Blinn and you were in rodeo. Yeah, I was rodeo. I team roped, calf roped. I rode bulls for a little bit, but my dad called that child abuse and made me set that down, hang the rope. So we messed up the team. I'm going to use that joke man.
Speaker 1:That's pretty funny. So I had no idea. So I have, even though I've never owned this I'm about to say this on air. I've never owned an English pointer man. I'm in the market and I absolutely love the dog. I appreciate the breed. I always have. I think they're the epitome of the upland gundog, you know.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little.
Speaker 1:I know we're on here about different reasons, but give me a little bit.
Speaker 2:I still train pointers nowadays. I still love it, wow, okay, yeah, I like to mess with a few. I like to have a couple of times, you know, just to keep to my roots and keep myself polished. And I, you know where we go in North Dakota is a lot of birds. Does your dad? Is he still active in it? Yeah, he's still active. So he's got two dogs that are running derbies right now with a guy. He actually put them with a guy named Mike Tracy for the summer in Pennsylvania. He does like the shooting dog. They're still horseback trials, but they're shooting dog trials. His dog won the derby, I think he got second and then he won one and then he won another derby a couple weeks ago. So he's qualified for the Shooting Dog Championship the all-age stuff, and he's got a female that's still putting some things together and going to hopefully get qualified and finish out some derbies this summer.
Speaker 1:Man, you've got a pedigree yourself, Luke.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. I got a good pedigree.
Speaker 1:Man, you got to do me a favor. If I have to pay you, that's fine. I've always wanted to horseback hunt Never done it. I leased a farm up in Kentucky. I was on a lease with some guys in northern Kentucky. There was a huge fox hunting lodge kind of thing next to this place we leased. I've never horseback hunted.
Speaker 2:I've never horseback hunted. I've never hunted off a horseback either. You haven't. No, no never You're running into trials of it. Yeah, we've always wanted to do it. It's kind of one of the things we've always wanted to backpack in the mountains and hunt off a horseback or go chase grouse in the mountains off a horseback, but we just never did it. I think that'd be so much fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, I've elk hunted. I actually had an episode last night with a guy who's horseback hunted. But I elk hunted on horseback in Colorado. But you know, you're not hunting on horseback, you're just getting to the location, right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. But these guys in those trials and I've never witnessed it, and I and those trials that I've never witnessed it, I want to do that they're actually hunting off horseback.
Speaker 2:I've never witnessed a shooting dog. I don't think so. I think they point. Once the dog points, they jump off the horse, they flush the, they flush the birds and shoot the blank pistol.
Speaker 2:You know, on the shooting dog, trials, the shooting dog and different between shooting dog and all age, I know this is just hearsay, I think it's just the distance, the distance the dog ranges. You know the all age that they do them. Dogs are miles away there. I mean, they're just gone and you're just, you're just trying to chase them on horseback. You know, um, and he's, he's done, he's.
Speaker 2:You know, that's probably eventual goal for my dad but the, the trials that he's running right now is called shooting dogs. I'm honestly not 100 educated on it, um, but they, I think it's still horseback trial. I think it's just a little bit shorter. On the distance that the dog runs, range-wise, it's kind of like I wouldn't quite compare it to hunt tests and field trials. You know, not a difference because it's still a win-lose. But I think it's more of a hunting style, hunt pattern than just to cover the country like a field trial all-age dog, horseback, all-age dog, like you see at the plantation in Tennessee. You know, know when they did dame's plantation. When they do that, that's a big run and wide open. You better get out of the country and you better be able to find some birds, you know so when they're hunting at distance?
Speaker 1:is that great? Are they allowed to use tracking systems?
Speaker 2:yes, yeah, they can use tracking, but from what I understand, I think like this, the judges have a tracking collar on them as well, um and like, and so they can make sure you're not. You know they have to inspect it, so it's not a shock collar. There can't be any prongs of any sort, anything like that, so it makes them feel like it's an electronic collar.
Speaker 1:It's supposed to be a pure GPS. Yeah, all right, I'll dial back to the reason I got you on here.
Speaker 2:You need to get Randy Anderson on here. I will, man. No, I want to learn this stuff. Randy Anderson's a big all-age guy at Oklahoma. He's like the Danny Farmer of our game. For his game, you know, he's won a bunch.
Speaker 1:Well, you definitely hook us together, because I'd love to have a guy like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right Now, luke, I'm going to get you Now. We're going to talk about the reason I got you here. Man, I don't really know anybody that I've ever had on this show, and this is like we've only got 27 episodes released, but I've probably got 40 in the bank right now. I've never had anybody as young as you with your success, and I'm a member of the Alamo Retriever Club. I was there this weekend training those guys, man, to sing your praises. What makes you so successful? Tell us how you got to where you are.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of it's just blessings. You know I've been blessed to be in the right place. You know I've been blessed to have great parents that have raised me to be coachable and be able to learn. I've been in the animal world working with animals, so I've got that kind of knack for working with animals and got some great mentors to mentor me along the way and show me the ropes and coach me to be successful. You know, and so you know I've always, everywhere I go, I'm looking for an opportunity to learn and I think you know that's you just got to stay that way. There's never it's a never ending learning thing in this game, and you know. So I think you've got to just keep that open mind and just go out there and every time you meet somebody, you just meet somebody that they're. We're all dog people, so we all like each other. We all have the same things in common. If we can learn a little bit from each other every time we meet each other, that's just a bonus, you know.
Speaker 1:Look, you know, I'm probably your dad's age, I'm 56. And what you said I learn every day and I I'm like you, a fool with dogs, since I was a kid and my dad wasn't a field track guy and stuff like your dad, but my grandpa trained horses and stuff in Kentucky and I just grew up around dogs and just fascinated with them, but I still wasn't at your level at 25. I'm not at your level now. So it's, what do you of all your successes? If you could point to one moment in your life that really changed and got you focused on making this your career, what was it?
Speaker 2:When I went to my first junior test I was in Tennessee Colony at Doc McFarland's place up there. I had no idea what a hunt test was. I went up there. I didn't know you could do this for a living or anything. I starched jeans, pearl snap shirt, like I was going to a rodeo, no idea what to expect. You know the field trials that were around with pointers. We know that's how we were. Everybody was starched jeans, pearl snaps were all horse guys. You know so you're. You know you're on horseback, so you're just that's how you go.
Speaker 2:So I get there, I show up. Everybody's wearing camo. I'm digging through my truck. I need to wear a camo jacket so I fit in. I don't have nothing. I guess I'm just going to go out there and be sticking out like a sore thumb.
Speaker 2:And I saw a guy with a big dog trailer with a load of dogs on it. It was Best Retrievers and I'm like what is Best Retrievers? So I Googled it real fast and I'm like man, this dude does this stuff for a living. I'm going to follow him around and see what he's doing. I heard him say something about master. I was like I'm going over to master. So I went over. It was roadie best. I went over and watched him run some dogs and master. And then he came over to me and invited he's like where are you from? Invited me to come train with them, and uh, when? So I went and left.
Speaker 2:After the hunt test I met up with him. The following got together and got a few training days in and I kind of learned what it was about. And then you know, me and him kind of had the talk on. I wanted to come work for him and he was. I was willing to learn and he taught me how to train my dog, colt, to the senior level while I was throwing birds for him. And then I kind of went to him one day and was like, hey, I'm ready to do this for a career, I can have a job. And he's like come on.
Speaker 1:Wow, he's a great guy. I've met him, had him on here and he's Roddy to my impression of Roddy Best. He's always willing to share what he knows. It's not like he's trying to keep it all to himself and I think that probably helps people be successful. Right, they want to share their knowledge because so many people you know want to be competitive and we're all competitive. Right, you said you're competitive, I'm competitive, but one thing I saw about him talking to him, getting to know him, had him on here and then getting to know him even more he seems really willing to share what he knows and help people. Right, and you worked for him. How long Eight and a half years, man that's a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a long time. You know. He's got a master's degree, so he's a very well-educated guy. And I was in my sophomore year. I started working for him my freshman year in college and he kind of sat me down one day and said I know you want to do this for a career, but you need to stay. If you want to stick with your education, stick with your education. I'm not telling you to leave school, but if you do, we'll support you in whatever you do. And I stuck with it for another year and I was like man, I can't think about nothing but training dogs. I'm ready to do this full time. And so then I signed on with him full time and I moved out there. I enjoyed every second of it.
Speaker 1:Nice. You know something though, luke I think it takes a lot of guts to do what you did. I was one of these people, went to school and went all through that stuff and went to law school. You know, I just I. I almost wish that I even practiced law and then ended up doing something different. Now I'm a layman Right, so I don't need my degree. So I admire what you did because it takes guts to do that right. I was always by the book, do everything by the book, by the rules, and I wish sometimes I'd really just done what I loved and you did. I admire you for that. So if you could tell a young person that's wanting to get out and has a really good desire in dogs and wants to try, maybe they want to train their own dogs. I know you're a pro trainer. That's what you do for a living. You're and you're daggone good at it. But if somebody wanted to train a dog, luke, what's your number one piece of advice that you would give them?
Speaker 2:don't be afraid to get educated. You know, and when we're we're in a dog training, people can get pretty egotistical and they think, you know, they've got the best way to do it, or they want to do it their way, or they want to follow this, only this path. They want to stick to this only regimen. You know, can't be afraid to get educated. You know, you gotta, if you, if you want to do it for a living, go work for somebody. Go work for somebody for one year. Well, one year training dogs is, you know, maybe one group of dogs. Eight years of training dogs is lots and lots of groups of dogs.
Speaker 2:It's just like teaching kids. You know, you've got to learn all the different personality traits of the dog. There's not a training program, there's a training approach, because it's the practice of dog training, like the practice of medicine, it's always changing. It's changing with every dog. So you're trying to educate yourself on all these different approaches. So when you come across different personalities, even if you're an amateur and you want to have multiple dogs, if you own five dogs, probably not all five of them are going to have the same personality and be taught the same way. So if you're only willing to learn one way and it works. It may work for your first dog, but if you get stuck on that way, your second dog may not work out and you think you got a bunch of bad dogs because they're not following working with your training program. But you've got to just be able to adjust on the fly. So I think you've got to be able to be educated and be open to being coachable and educate yourself and be willing to ask questions is my number one.
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Speaker 1: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. Luke, that says a lot about your character, young man. You're a 25-year-old that won an SRS crown, but you're yet sitting here at 30 telling young people don't be afraid to be coached, because you still have that mentality. Oh yeah, that's what makes you great man. I'm old enough to know that. I'm old enough to know you're exactly right in what you said, and I approach everything that way. I never am a know-it-all and I learn every day. I like that. So, luke, I know that now you've done it all. You've done hunt tests, you've done the grand and, as we talked before, we got on the air. Now you only run field trials and SRS. Is there a reason why you do that, is it just?
Speaker 2:yes, I haven't. You know, a big reason is just the competitive edge, the desire to want to win and do that and continue to push and be better. You know, but for me I'm always looking to just like, I'm always looking to better myself, I'm always looking to better the dogs. And you know, at dogs I love hunt tests. A master hunter is still really hard to obtain. A master hunter. I don't care what anybody says, a master hunter is a hard dog, especially these dogs that are doing it at a young age and doing all that stuff. It's tough. But as they get older, the master hunter generally it's a guideline.
Speaker 2:You're going to see a lot of the same test over and over and over In a field trial in the SRS. You're constantly trying to get better. You're, you're, you have a seven year old that you're trying to make better. You're trying to teach two new things to every day. No-transcript, two years old or they're seven years old. We're trying to be the best dog we can be every day and it's not just to go get that blue ribbon, but you know, it's to have that relationship with that dog and bond with that dog to build those. You know I it amazes me every day that these dogs can do the things that we ask them to do. You watch it. You know 16 month old dogs swim 250 yards across a pond. You're like that's crazy.
Speaker 2:You know it's just insane that these dogs can do all this stuff. You know, take those hand signals at a long distance. You know, and I think if I was training, even if I'm training gun dogs we train our gun dogs the same way that we would train a trial dog, because we've all been hunting and you get that long sailor across the pond and we want our dogs to have that ability to make that big swim and not be afraid of it and go get that duck. You know, if you're out in the bay and you got that cripple that's starting to swim away you don't want your dog to.
Speaker 1:I know well that you have. So your advice to me is, say, someone had a dog and it was field trial capable, like it potentially could win a field trial and earn a title, but that person also wanted to hunt. Yeah, what's your advice to a client who has a dog? They want to hunt, they want to take it with them, but yet they want to achieve that field trial level. Can you do both? And if so, how.
Speaker 2:I think you can do both. I think you just got to be smart about your hunts. You can't take a young dog and go put them with 10 guys in a flood of timber blind and shoot 36 ducks and 10 guns going off and expect them to be perfect, and then come back and go understand when we know we're going to a field trough training. You can't just go do that for four months straight with a young dog and then come back and go okay, now go win a Derby. You know, I think you've got to be smart about your hunting. You know we have a lot of our dogs that do run trials. They do hunt. So if they're doing when they're going to take them on a pothole hunt with their kids, where they're going to sit there and they're just going to work, the dog and the birds are going to be landing the decoys. You're only going to be shooting a couple at a time and teaching the dog how to hunt and then they're coming back into they're getting their training regimen, you know, during the week. So I think as long as you're smart about just like we teach basics with a dog and training, we have to teach basics when we hunt. So we simplify all these little drills to teach them to take a right back and a left back and know the difference between left over and a left angle and a left back and a right back and a right over and a coming whistle and a stop whistle and all that stuff. And so same thing goes for hunting.
Speaker 2:We can't just take a dog just because it's been well-trained, it can do all this cool stuff in a training scenario. We can't just go throw it into the hunting environment and start shooting guns over it and knocking birds all down and expect it to be perfect. Our hunting has to start black and white, just like our training does. And as the dog gets better it's called a started, a seasoned and a finished dog. For a reason that doesn't mean it's a only can run singles, only can run doubles and then can run triples. Started means inexperienced. Seasoned means okay, we've started to get some experience under our belt and we can start to do some more complicated things. Finished means all right. We've had a handful of seasons under our belt. We've seen quite a bit. Now let's go Every bird across this country, let's go get it.
Speaker 1:I like that. That's a great explanation. I have to stop here. A second Luke. It blows me away. I'm sitting here talking to a 30 year old man. I'm 56 and I've been to dog training schools. I've done protection dogs, schutzen. Uh, I'm working trying to get a dog to psa at this time. I'm doing hunting dogs, man it. It impresses me. What you know at your age, I I can't get over it. You have. So I say all that because I see a high level of intensity in your personality. Like, you're intense, aren't you? Yeah, yeah, and I like that. Hey, that's not a criticism, man. That shows you're competitive, you're intense. I don't know if that's rodeo background or if it's just your personality, but I like it. So I'm starting to understand why you're good at what you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's probably part of genetics. My dad's an intense guy. We like to get. We know we're. We're 100 kind of people. When we go into something we go in full bore. You know whole hog. That's what we call it right every time we go fishing we're going to win a bass master class we're not just going fishing, you know I like that.
Speaker 1:you probably don't know how to relax, that's right.
Speaker 2:I love that man.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's so. You wouldn't know that about me talking on here, but when I get up from 9 to 5, I'm self-employed. That's how I roll too, yeah just a grind. Yeah, this podcast, luke, is to have guys like you on here to educate. I know it sounds selfish, but I'm educating myself.
Speaker 1:I hope that the listeners want to know what I want to know, but I'm actually here to learn and listen to people like you that's got more experience and knowledge than I do, and that's the reason I do this. It's a privilege to me. So what's the daily schedule like for Luke Coors?
Speaker 2:Man, we get up and we get up and you know shooting lights are starting light. You know, that's kind of how we say it. As soon as it starts to get light we're in the kennel, we're airing dogs when it's getting light, and getting them ready, loaded up, getting them cleaned, everything rocking and rolling. And then we head to the field and we trained, all we try to get two field setups in a day, you know, and whether that be two marking setups or a marking setup and a blind setup, and then our young dogs will also get a set of drills. You know, I have a really talented assistant trainer. I, you know I call him an assistant trainer, but he's really a young dog trainer. His name's Colin White, um, and he does really good job with the young dogs and so he he'll usually go and start and do some drills in the morning while we get the big dog started in the field. Then he'll come out and get the young dogs are two marking setups and if it's not a hundred degrees, you know, then we'll go back and get another drill session in or go do some kind of water water drill to get the dogs educated on the water, get them swimming and that kind of thing. So we're we're very blessed on how we're set up.
Speaker 2:We've got a pretty big team.
Speaker 2:You know it's me, my wife, taylor Cullen, white, matthew Lamb and then we have a guy named Anthony Lacey that helps throw birds and helps with property maintenance and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So we have the ability to all team up into one group and then as we finish, you know Cullen will split off and go do some dogs with him on some other things and kind of fine-tune them. My wife is focusing on the obedience and stuff at the back of the kennel and then we'll kind of all team up so we can hit every dog from different angles and we can all three put our different approaches on one dog to kind of figure out what's best approach for them and we can get a lot done in a day. So we know we kind of grind through it but we're again, we're not like we're not so pressed on time because we have such a big. You know we have the team that we can relax and we can get our two solid setups in a day and get our drill work done and not be pressed to get it done because we're all helping each other. Everybody's taking on their own workload, um, and we're spreading it out and getting stuff done nice.
Speaker 1:So when you go, when you go to these trials, luke how many dogs you usually take with you at a time an srs right now.
Speaker 2:Right now an SRS we're limited to eight so I can only run eight in the open division and then I usually will have three to six run in the amateur division. Ernie D'Antoni, he runs anywhere from three to five dogs in the amateur division and then I usually have a couple other customers that will run like a lot of the local trials. Rhodey has a double SRS and I'll have a lot of my owners because it's close and off the travel. They'll run a lot of their dogs and some in the amateur division. So it's like I think this year we had eight or nine dogs in the amateur division at Rhodey's event. So that was a good amateur showing we know we had. We had a good time and the field trial is anywhere from 12.
Speaker 1:That SRS is so hard. And how does it compare? To field trials? Actually I've never asked that question. And how does it compare to field trials that actually I've never asked that question? How does srs compare to?
Speaker 2:field trials. Is it the field trial plus? Um? No, I mean it's different, it's hard in its own way. You know, an open, an open, is hard. I mean an all-age open, all-age test is just hard. I mean it's big, hard, well-placed birds that we throw them the same in an srs. But you've got guys like danny farmer that are showing up with 20 dogs and all 20 of those dogs are capable of doing it perfect. And I don't mean just going out there and finding the birds, I mean going out there and putting their feet on all three of them, you know, or all four of them. And so the competition is super difficult at the all-age level.
Speaker 2:You're looking for the difference between first, and a jam can be just a hook to a bird. I mean it's very, very fine-tuned on what you're looking for. And an SRS it's difficult because with own plastic birds you don't have as much scent on the bird. They still do get wind saves. Sometimes I feel like a hen pheasant's harder to find than a plastic bumper. But it all depends on your conditions and all that, just like any trial. But the SRS is more about the mind blowing. You know they're kind of blowing the dog's mind. It's kind of like about every series is kind of about as crazy of a hunting scenario as you can get because you're going off the marks a lot and running a blind and then coming back and picking them up, simulating you going and getting that cripple bird and coming back in your marks.
Speaker 2:But you have a hard field trial test. You have a hard field trial test. You have a hard hunt test test. Then you can do some sort and a third series is is can be.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like the. There's no rules usually there. It can be a big, all age level water blind. It can be a hunt savvy. It can be a hybrid of a hunt test and a field trial. It can be a big field trial or it can just the hunting realism. Um, the crazy part. So the, the srs, isn't so black and white like a hunt test or a field trial, is a hunt test and a field trial. You pretty much know what to train for. You know what to expect, you know where you need to be and srs you just better be solid all the way around and whatever they throw in your face, you just got to be able to bear down and handle it and stay calm and not get yourself flustered, not not get the dog flustered. So the SRS is just more about the all-around whatever they can throw at you, we have no idea what to prepare for and just get there and get after it.
Speaker 1:So if you were, a hunter and you had no plans on competing, but you wanted the best dog you could buy. Would you want a dog that's SRS champion, field trial champion, grand? What would you recommend for a guy who wants the number one dog he can have, but he's just going to be a hunter, he's not going to compete.
Speaker 2:You know the titles aren't always the, you know it's always. You know the titles don't mean it all. You know, danny Farmer said to me one time he had a hunt test on his property and he said and he went and he was Marshall on the hunt test for this club and he was watching the dogs run and he said, man, a lot of those master hunters could be field champions. And it's not just because they have a master hunter in front of their name or behind their name doesn't mean they're not as good as a field champions. It's just the venue that that owner or that trainer decided to take that dog on, you know. And so I can't limit it to a title.
Speaker 2:You know, I think a grand is really hard, a grand. To me the grand is one of the hardest hunt tests and the most stressful hunt tests I ever ran. Um, srs is really hard, it's well-rounded, you know. But a lot of those grand dogs can do what the SRS dogs can do and a lot of the field trial. But a lot of the field trial dogs can't do what the grand dogs do because they haven't been trained for it. But I think when it comes to a really good quality, that really really good grand dog and that really really good SRS dog. If they would have been with a guy like Danny Farmer, that probably could have been a field champion. It's just that venue that they were in, you know.
Speaker 2:So to me the title doesn't necessarily mean as much as self, and so I've seen dogs that have run hunt tests that you look at them, you go, man, that dog needs to be in a field trial. And I've seen dogs that are in field trials. You're going. You know that dog was probably better off in a hunt test but they're still a good field trial dog, you know. So it's hard to say based on the title. I would say it's about the dog's demeanor and the temperament and kind of what your style is you're looking for. You know so I've heard from a couple guys.
Speaker 2:That's my politically correct answer.
Speaker 1:No, hey, I like that I like that.
Speaker 1:I knew you were dodging my question because I'm a lawyer and I'm the expert at that stuff. No, no, but I appreciate that it actually helps me. I've heard from a lot of experts that know way more than I do If you're looking for a pup that you want to be a rock star, find one that the sire is a field champion, an FC and the dam is a grand. It's a good balance, it's a good mix. I've heard a lot of guys like you, who I respect. I respect you and your opinion. I've heard a lot of guys say that Is that your advice too? For me?
Speaker 2:I'm all and your opinion. I've heard a lot of guys say that Is that your advice too? For me I'm all about the female. A lot of the really good dogs I own, including your dog Holland, we picked her based off the female, not necessarily based off the male. I like to get to know a female. We have a dog named Harley that I'm running on by Ernie D'Antoni and I have a dog named Maze. Well, when Ernie got Harley, I really liked Harley.
Speaker 2:But I knew Nike, the mom, before I knew Harley and I told Tracy White I said whenever I want to breed, I want a puppy out of her. Whenever you got one available, I don't care who you breed her to, I want, I want a puppy out of her. You know Ernie's got dog named Maddie. We picked that puppy from the female named Breeze four years before they even bred her. We just liked that female. So to me I generally pick the female and then I don't really care who they breed it to. Now, if they go breed it to somebody that's known for some genetic health issues or something, then I'm probably going to back off on that. But as long as they're breeding to a male that's healthy and is known for throwing healthy dogs for me. I put more weight on the female than I do the male.
Speaker 1:Generally, so, luke, percentage-wise, if you prove percentage of importance on the female, what would you put that at? 75?, 25?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's so hard to say, but I would say probably 60-40 realistically, because there's some of those males that really throw themselves. You know, like um, that Clooney dog seaside, gorgeous George, he's really been known. You could. You know they like the. You know you probably breed him to a fence post and make a field champion. You know there's, there's dogs like that that just really throw themselves. Um, but it's more often, you're not, um going to get quite exactly like the male, um, gonna get quite exactly like the male. And I think a lot comes from the mother um, but a lot of it comes from, you know, kristen. Kristen, best roadie's wife says close your eyes, pick a litter, not a puppy. You know, just find you a litter, find a female you like, pick the puppy and raise them the way you want them to be raised.
Speaker 1:And you know that's generally going to be your best bet you know I'll show this and I agree with you and your assessment too. There's two male dogs of all the podcasts I've done that I feel like can throw themselves, I think. The Floyd dogs yeah, I've hunted with other Floyd. I've got a Floyd dog. I've hunted with other Floyd dogs and I've talked to other Floyd dogs. You know he's got a lot of pups out there. Obviously, right, because of what he does? Yeah, because he's a baby.
Speaker 1:My dog looks just like Floyd. They look like clones Another one example of that. But I'm still like you. I'm still a female guy. The female is what's most important to me. But I've had the world champion coon dog on here who's from my hometown, casey Maggard, 2024 UKC world champion. The sire of that dog is Graze Rackham-Willie, from the next town over from me in Manchester, kentucky, just 20 miles down the road. That dog is a UKC AKC world champion and has thrown literally hundreds of champions and that dog seems to reproduce himself more than anything, no matter what he's bred to. I've never seen anything like it, but that's kind of the exception In my experience not the norm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you had Lane Mack back in the day. You know Floyd is one of the hot ones. And Fox some people are hit or miss on Fox. You know Lauren Hayes' dog Fox. Every Fox puppy I have had has been great, you know Really, and so I fox. Every fox puppy I have had has been great, you know really, and so I've. I've liked them all. I haven't had one that I haven't like. You know some of them. You know some people say that oh, they're noisy. I've only had one that had noise as a young dog, but he's doesn't make that noise as often anymore. You know you don't really see it unless you're shooting the gun over him like hrc style, um, but still, even then he's usually pretty quiet. What about?
Speaker 1:floyd dog experiences. What have you? What have you seen? I have a female I have a.
Speaker 2:I have a female right now. Her name's bb that. She's out of floyd and she's a super talented. She's a lot of dog, um, uh, she's out of a guy and a kid named michael cotton's breeding um, and she's I mean, she used her. It's hard to hide the birds from her. She's I think she's 17 months old, maybe 18 months old, something around there, and we've got about a letter make to my dog 17 months old, maybe 18 months old, something around there. She might be a litter mate to my dog. She's out of Glock, michael Cotton's dog, glock. I have to look. Black, female.
Speaker 1:Female on my side's not that strong, which kind of worried me. I got mine up in South Dakota. No, this one would have been.
Speaker 2:You would have got him from Rhodey, because Michael would work for Rhodey at the time when he bred the dog. Okay, for roadie at the time when he bred the dog. Okay, okay, different thing, um, and so she's. She's hard to hide the birds from her but she's got so much drive you got. We've got to push her harder than we've got to push the rest of the young dogs because we've got to hone her in and make her think a little bit more. Can you just go throw her doubles every day? She's going to go step on them every day, all day, you know. But you go to run her in a derby. She gets a little too excited, she gets a little noisy, she gets a little cheaty. So we kind of have to back off on the trials and increase the training to try to better her for the future.
Speaker 1:Now, my dog's not noisy and he's intelligent, like he's a thinker, yeah, but he's so amped up it's like you know I mean steadiness for him and it's the way I bought him. I bought him in eight months He'd been running pheasants in. South. Dakota Wow. That's right. Yeah so it's really the only issue. He's got steadiness, and that's something I've got to work on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we know the way we approach steadiness is train and get him thinking. You know a lot of guys get a crazy dog. They want to put pressure on the dog on put more work involved. If they're super, if they're, every day is a fun bumper, then it's going to be exciting, exciting every day. So we're going to try to make training harder, make it harder for them to find those birds, make it harder for them to get there, to put them more mentally thinking while they're on the line. They don't just get to sit there, see a bird and go get it. They've got to sit there and kind of think about okay, when he sends me, what am I going to do? How do I get that bird? The best you know.
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Speaker 1:Quinn, you said you go up north and train. Is it because of the heat? You try to get out of the Texas heat and train where it's a little easier and you've got more hours in the day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we go up to Velva, north Dakota. We go up there at the beginning of June and then we'll stay up there as late as we can stay. But it always falls around where it depends on the crown championship. The later the crown championship is, the longer we stay. This year the crown championship is at the beginning of October, so we'll probably come back early September to get the dogs reacclimated to some warmer weather, because it starts getting cold in North Dakota around September.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't say for us it's cold, for them it's still summertime, you know, but our, our, the weather's a lot better than it is down here. And then we've got some great grounds. We get to see. Our dogs get to see some new things and some. You know we've got hundreds of thousands of acres to train on up there, so our dogs get to see new stuff every day. We're very rarely trained in the same field every day. And then it gives our grounds in Texas a break. They don't get stale to our water they come back and it's a fresh look at all of our ponds. It's a fresh look at our place. So they kind of forget all the birds we've been throwing for the last few months and it's a fresh ground, so you get a fresh start. It's almost like a reset both times when you go north and when you go south so it's really refreshing for the dogs so when you're there, are you training on public lands, or or?
Speaker 2:no, we have. Um, you know I have a family member that's got some land up there. My uncle, my aunt and uncle have some land up there that we use our as our base grounds. And then I've just been blessed to meet some farmers. I've got a lot of hay fields and, and you know we get on that onyx app and they say if you see my name on there, you're welcome. You're welcome at Go, drive around and find your place.
Speaker 2:And then Ed Sin, up there with Minot Retriever Club. We train with him. We train on the Minot grounds a little bit Occasionally. They've got some tech water that we train on. And then him and Dory in Bristol they'll come and do some day training with us and they'll join us. We'll meet in a field together and help each other, train and get after it. But a lot of hay fields, rolling fields, we get some buck brush, some brushy stuff, some good water. We've got a little bit of mix of everything, but we've probably got, you know, land-wise, we've got endless amounts of land and then we have our base kind of you know, a handful of ponds that we hit on water. Cattails are a big problem up there, but we've got them cleared out pretty good.
Speaker 1:Nice. So where do you heading out? Are you in?
Speaker 2:Texas. Still. We're in Texas now. We'll head out May 30th. So next Friday we'll roll out and make the trip up there and it'll probably be. The highs will probably be mid to low 60s. Lows will be in the 40s when we get there and then, you know, as we get through June and July it'll be. You know, we'll get some hot days. July, like the first two weeks in July, is kind of really summer. We'll get some 90 degree days, but it cools off down to 50 every night. So the dogs get that break from the heat. We start off, the water cools off. We've got cool water every morning, that kind of thing and then August comes around and starts cooling back off again. It's in the 60s pretty much the whole time. When it's horrible here, yeah, when it's 110, here we're wearing hoodies and pants.
Speaker 1:Nice man, I need to follow you around. That's right. I'm too fat for this hot weather. So now, when you're up there and you're training in the north to avoid the heat, I assume there's a lot of hunt, tests and trials and stuff going on all in the northern states.
Speaker 2:There is. It's a little bit more spread out than we are down here In Texas. We're in the northern states. There is.
Speaker 2:It's a little bit more spread out than than we are down here, you know, in texas, we're in the mecca there's like march and april there's on tests going on every single day, every weekend I mean, I mean, and in the midweek I mean it's just crazy, yeah. So we're a little bit more spread out. We run probably two trials a month for the three months that we're there. Um, so we run, you know we'll run three srs's while we're up there and we'll probably run five, six field trials. We're kind of at the two to three trials slash SRSs a month.
Speaker 2:We kind of try to go every other weekend we go weekend of trials, weekend off, weekend of trial weekend off. Because we're doing a lot of traveling. We've got to kind of chase the trials. Sometimes they're in Minnesota, sometimes they're in South Dakota, sometimes they're in North Dakota, sometimes they're in Minnesota, sometimes they're in South Dakota, sometimes they're in North Dakota, sometimes they're in Montana. So you have to do a lot of driving around to hit the trials that work for our schedule In Minnesota. You can stay in Minnesota and run trials every weekend, but when you're mixing in the SRSs sometimes that blocks a trial where you've got to skip one trial and the next one you have a weekend off is all the way over here so we've got to go run it to be able to run it.
Speaker 1:You know, look on, pick your brain. I won't dial back on another topic because I won't know this for my own well-being. And and you're the guy to ask, when you're assessing a young dog pup, you know eight, ten, maybe four months and I know I know enough to know that you, you know you don't know what a dog's going to be exactly at four months, but you got a good idea. What does Luke Coors look for in a young dog that age for potential? If you had a litter of pups and you want to keep a pup out of that litter, or you hold four or five dogs back to see which one, what do you look for?
Speaker 2:You know, when it comes to an eight week old puppy, I'm a pick, a litter, not a puppy kind of guy. I pick a litter and then raise the puppy how we want to raise it. Biggest thing I look for is work ethic. You got to have retrieve drive, obviously, because it's just what we do. If you don't have retrieve drive, you just it's not going to happen. So retrieve drive is always number one, but that's kind of a gimme in our game. But work ethic is my biggest deal.
Speaker 2:A dog that wants to please you know you start working with treats and a clicker and that dog will stare you into the soul because they want to work for a treat. They're willing to jump on and off place and do everything really quickly. You can kind of see which ones really really want to work and want to please you and want to be with you, versus the ones that would rather go taste the sticks and the grasshoppers and not want to be around you. We do a lot of our puppy training off leash because we want the dog to know that this is where you get paid. You work with me, you get rewarded, and so we're using treats and a clicker nonverbal cues to get that dog to learn to work for us and work with us.
Speaker 2:So you'll you can usually tell pretty quick at that four month old stage is which one really wants to work with you and which one doesn't. And if they go chase the sticks and the grasshoppers, it's not a deal breaker. But for me, you know, the ones you get really excited about is the ones that as soon as they come out of the kennel they're sitting in front of you and staring you into the eyes and saying what do you want me to do next? You know that's kind of the first clue for me on. We've got a chance here.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we'll call that phase one. And then, once you've been training, let's say four, five, six months down the road, you're starting to see and forgive my ignorance right marking stuff like that reaction to hand signals, hunting ability. In phase two, when do you start? What dog sticks out to where you weed the others out?
Speaker 2:you're like, all right man this dog's got something different water attitude generally is going to be, is going to be number one. Um, for me, a lot of dogs we can. We can teach them how to mark on land. We can teach them to run to an area of the fall using their eyes and then hunt for a bird to do it. You know, obviously some are better than others, some dogs just can, some dogs just can't mark and some dogs just can just really mark.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, but water is kind of where the rubber meets the road and you kind of separate them in from the boys and and you figure out which ones have got a good water attitude and at a young age you can tell which ones are looking for a place to get out and which ones are looking to get to the bird.
Speaker 2:Um, so, you know, I like to see a young dog before we've done swim by, that just naturally wants to swim all the way to the bird. If you have a dog that before swim by and they hit the water and the first thing they do is being land dominant, looking for land, seeking land, how to get out and run around. You know, sometimes that can be from improper exposure. Sometimes you can have somebody that's started the dog and they've let them run around the pond to get to the bird, so it's not their fault. But if the dog has been started with a good, solid foundation and they've been put in the water properly and their intent is to go to the bird and not worry about how to get around, it is what we like to see.
Speaker 1:I like that. You taught me something new. So you're looking for cheaters, right Dogs. That cheat is not your favorite. If they cheat naturally not because it's a training error, but they naturally want to cheat naturally right.
Speaker 2:If they've been exposed to the right foundation, that they've been introduced to the water properly and they still want to cheat, then you start to kind of okay, we need to back off these watermarks, we need to get through, swim by, we need to start putting some um, the ability to work on certain things and grasp a concept dogs see in pictures.
Speaker 2:So if I have a dog that's naturally wanting to be cheaty, when I can get in, swim by, they'll start to see that channel pond when we're doing swim by and they know to swim across it back and forth and they can see that picture. And then when they were that relates to a marker, a blind, they start to. If they can pick out that picture and go oh, okay, when I hit the water I've got to swim down this line to get the bird. That can still connect and still, a dog can still come around and end up being a good dog in the water after they've been through basics. But sometimes you've got to back off of your watermarking and focus on your basics a little bit more so you're not creating too many bad habits.
Speaker 1:Wow, man, I want to pause this and take notes. We're going to keep going forward. I like this. So that's what we call phase two. Now let's go six, eight months down the road. You're getting these dogs in more advanced training, whatever that may be, and you can educate me on that. And now you're starting to say, okay, now, man, I've seen what this dog can do. This dog's field trial potential, this dog's SRS crown potential. When does that and maybe that's it two years, I don't know that answer. When does that take place? When do you usually make that decision?
Speaker 2:it all depends on the dog. You know, just like everything, um. But you know, right around that three-year-old mark you can kind of start to see all the light bulbs starting to connect, everything, starting to click that dog, that auto swings into heel and auto locks in onto the next mark. That has the desire to show memory. Um, I think all dogs have some sort of memory, but some of them avoid it. Some of them come back and they go oh, I gotta go get that bird way out there. I'd rather not, you know. But then you have some of them that are swinging out five yards in front of you and backing in to see the next bird, because they know they got, they want to go get it.
Speaker 2:You know that what I really like to see, I like to see those dogs that are already doing that first look on their own. We don't have to make them have that first look. They swing around and they're looking in the right spot. They're telling you where they want to go next, and so that's where that work ethic comes in. Those dogs that have that work ethic as a puppy are generally those dogs that come around when we start throwing multiple marks and they whip around and they go. Okay, that's where eye contact turns into eye contact out in the field, when we get them focused on us at puppies. It teaches them to focus, teaches them to be locked on. So then when we throw a mark, they spin around, they lock on and they know how to stay locked on and then they usually those are the dogs that know how to go get them let me ask you this so does work ethic?
Speaker 1:let's say we, we got a pup like you said, that's got that. Does work ethic? Let's say we got a pup like you said, that's got that high work ethic, and it's carried on through a year old or two, does that high work ethic automatically mean hey, I got the next field champion?
Speaker 2:I don't think it automatically means it. But if they don't have it, it probably automatically means they're not going to be one. Don't have it, it probably automatically means they're not going to be one. You know, okay, okay, you know, I, I always, I always talk about you'll hear me say roadie best a lot because I've. I worked for him for eight and a half years, um, you know, and so he's my mentor. I've had him and danny farmer and a lot of other mentors that have taught me a lot. But when I was growing up and learning through the basics and learning how to tell what dog has what I had.
Speaker 2:We've had dogs that were, when we were running hunt tests, that I'm like man. That dog, that dog is not going to make it and really be like that dog's got the worst work ethic to learn. That dog wants to learn and, sure enough, really turned into a master hunter, master, national hall of fame. When you're looking at that six month old going there. Ain't no way that dog can is ever going to learn this. But the dog had the desire to learn and was able to work with him and create and get there. So because the dog's not that superstar right at the beginning. That work ethic and that relationship can usually exceed, you know, overcome that lack of talent at the beginning. You know they may not be the perfect dog right there at the beginning but if they have that work ethic and that desire to work with you, that can usually turn into talent through reps.
Speaker 1:You know that makes a lot of sense because you know my brother's in the country music business and I won't name names, but there's country music artists that I know actually from in the region where we're all from East Tennessee, east Kentucky and who wasn't maybe necessarily the most talented artist, but he's one of the most successful and it's because of work ethic so, and I think that that that trait falls over to humans, dogs, so that that makes a lot of sense. Man, you're really causing some light bulbs click on over here my eyes, but, uh, interesting, I like that. Um, so we've talked about what breedings you like to see. The female is important to you. I, I agree, I 100% agree with that. I always have. We don't want a deadbeat male, obviously, right, right, do you? And Luke, I know you have a huge business, and rightfully so. I'm a customer, do you? Are you all breeders too, or are you just trainers? You take pups from good breedings and train them? Do you all have a breeding program?
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say. We have a breeding program. I have a couple of females that I train that will put breedings together for some customers and do a whelping service. Then I have a female of my own that we'll probably breed eventually May, Did you hear me talk about her earlier? She's pretty strong. We'll probably breed her to a dog named Army in the fall, who is Holland's dad? Yeah, and so we'll probably breed her to Army this fall. We tried last fall but we didn't hit the timing right and it didn't take. It was on our fault. We were worried about getting ready for the crown and not worried about getting her bred and we missed it. I think we hit it a couple days late. But we'll try it again, probably this fall, if she doesn't come in the heat at the wrong time, because she's qualified for the crown championship again, and so we'll probably try to breed her this fall. And then we have some customers that do some breedings that will wilt.
Speaker 1:How old is she? You're female, she's five. She just turned five in february. Now I'm gonna ask you a politically incorrect question, do?
Speaker 2:you have a color preference in labs I'm. My first dog that got me started was a yellow dog named colt. Um, and so I'm. I tend to be leaning more towards the yellow dogs, but maze is a black dog. Um, I'll you know I say my favorite color is blue. So whichever ones can get to get you know, have the work ethic and desire. Doesn't matter to me what, really, what color they are, but, um, I tend to have tend to lean more towards yellow. If I see a really good yellow dog brightens my eye a little bit more than a really good black dog you know it's funny, man, it's funny.
Speaker 1:We all have our little quirks. I'm the opposite and I have more yellow dogs than black. But I love black and I'm glad I got holland right from you. Yeah, uh, but I love black dogs, I don't know why, but my floyd dog, you know, is yellow and I've got a yellow. So I have, honestly, I mostly except for the dog I have with you and floyd most my dogs are british right. So let's, let's, let's dive on that little topic real quick. We know, obviously you've trained different breeds, pointers and retrievers. Have you trained many British dogs?
Speaker 2:I've trained, I've worked with a few that are partially British, you know they're, you know they're maybe come from the other side of the pond and they've got mixed with some American lines, you know. And I've worked with a couple of dogs that were 100 british from I can't remember that.
Speaker 2:There's a big breeder in the united states that does um, so there's wild rose kennels, and so wild rose I worked with when, when I was with roadie, we trained a lot of dogs to like the junior senior level that were at a wild rose kennels. That you know, that's all. Their owners wanted to do nothing. The dogs couldn't do with that. It's just right there at all. The owner's end goal was a senior level dog to go hunting. So we trained quite a few of those but I haven't worked with them enough on the higher end level to really have a true opinion or evaluation of them. You know I haven't. I'm not experienced firsthand with them beyond the junior hunter level very much.
Speaker 1:Okay, fair enough. Yeah, you know, and I like both. I like my British dogs, I'm a big fan, but I obviously like some American dogs too, and I've got my opinion. I won't air that out here, but I like both. Right, it depends on what you want for a pet. I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, at your kennel right now, you get anything other than retrievers that you're working on.
Speaker 2:I do, we have to. We have a couple of pointers that we do. We have a, a breeder named Tom Bowman. He's got champion gun dogs. He's out of Texas and he's got some really nice short hairs that we work with that. That that excel at the retrieving side as well as pointing. We have some dogs that hit if a dog comes from his breeding. They have a pretty high percent chance of being able to complete our gundog program as a retriever, more so than some other ones that we've worked with. So we generally will have a handful of pointers from tom bowman's breeding facility that will come through. That we work with Any English.
Speaker 1:Pointers out there.
Speaker 2:I think he maybe has a couple, but I'm not 100% familiar with it. If he has an English Pointer, most of the dogs that we work with that come from him are Shorthairs, and then my dad's more of the English Pointer guy.
Speaker 1:I was going to say does your dad allow you to have German Shorthairs on the property?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had him growing up we hunt. His hunting dogs were short hairs and his field trial dogs were english pointers. Then he kind of started to hunt english pointers towards the end. Um, and then he's just kind of stuck with english pointers ever since you know, coming from east kentucky, you know you're a coon dog man.
Speaker 1:If you're a walker guy, you don't have a red bone, right? If you're a red bone man, you're not a blue tick man. You know it's serious business like that's right so yeah, so you guys are diverse. You have diversity out there. Yeah, we do, we do so, uh, but you don't do. You don't do you compete with your pointers or you just train?
Speaker 2:no, I don't we just train them for hunting, for hunting dogs, you know, and I only work with, like what I'm light on, um, you know, retrievers. You know, and I only work with, like when I'm light on, you know, retrievers. You know I'll kind of always reserve one or two spots for pointers that I just for and like we like to take them up north because after July 15th I believe, in North Dakota you can put them on wild birds and so we can road them. A lot of guys do it on horseback or we do it on four-wheeler or we'll do it on foot and you can put a dog on covey after covey after covey of sharp tail and huns and pheasants and you can get a dog about as bird-finding machine as they can get in North Dakota towards the end of the summer when you can start putting them on the prairie and chasing wild birds.
Speaker 2:It's an incredible experience for the dogs and it's a lot of fun. We'll go out and we'll take the two or three dogs that we take with us. We'll go out every evening and um, and put the dogs on some birds every evening and get them going and running. We do their drill work and stuff in their yard work in the morning, and in the evening, when it starts to cool off again, the birds are starting to kind of move around. We'll go put them on some birds, um, and just flush and point and let them just find birds. It's a lot of Hungarian partridges mostly what we're putting them on.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 2:We got to talk after the show about that. Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1:That's my new passion. It's going to be anyway. Do you ever run your if you ever run your retrievers upland hunting? I know you're a pro trainer. I know you probably love to hunt deep down. Do you get to hunt any?
Speaker 2:I do some, you know, not as much as I used to. I've never upland hunted with a retriever, I've only. You know, I grew up with a dad that had pointers that we quail hunted. We had, you know, back when there was quail in Texas, we quail hunted a lot behind a pointer and so we didn't ever even think to use a lab for upland hunting. I didn't start getting into retrievers until I was in high school and college, and it was just when I started to get the waterfowl bug.
Speaker 1:You know, the only thing I've upland hunted with my labs is pheasant Right In South Dakota and they seem to work perfect for that situation. You know, just because you're running cornfields and they run, hunt close and when they flush they flush, they're not that far away to shoot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of guys like flushing dogs, pointers or flushing dogs like a Spaniel or a Lab for pheasant hunting up in North Dakota as well. Some guys use pointers but a lot of guys use Labs to get in those cattails and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just opened the door before I was going to ask you have you ever trained any cockers?
Speaker 2:I've worked with a few field cockers not a whole lot, but they're fun. They're a fun dog, they're cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. I think that might be my next venture. You know, funny, Luke, I've had so many people on here. Actually, Rhodey was on here, right? Yeah, you ask you about his cocker and he lights up. I had a big old dude here from North Carolina. He trains dogs up. I had a big old dude here from North Carolina, he trains dogs. He's tucking a drot to the grand and he got a pass. I think it's the only time it's ever happened.
Speaker 1:He's a big old dude, landon Poplin. He's a guy out at the plantation in North Carolina, good guy, he's got labs, he's got the drot and then he's got a cocker. It's funny, this big old dude, when he talks about his cocker he just lights up and smiles, you know, and he's like, yeah, he's like. He said on the podcast man, I could be having the worst day, be in the worst mood, throw that cocker out and take off. And he said it just changes my outlook. So it's funny. Everybody that I talk to smiles and they say the word that they, or if they, if they, own one. Do you see that a lot?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know Cocker's a lot of times with the definition of work ethic. They're a little bitty fireballs that they want to work. You know they just want to go do something. They don't care what it is, they'll go flush, they'll go retrieve is they'll go flush, they'll go retrieve. They'll go jump in the water, they'll go run through some cover. You know they're the definition of work ethic. They're just a little ball of fire. They got a lot of heart and so everybody that likes a dog, if you got a cocker, that's got some drive.
Speaker 1:They're just fun, you know man, I've got to show you. When I get off here I gotta send you some videos. So I had ben randall on here from england. Super trainer has his own. He's a rugby player and kind of took some of his rugby skills or training skills. I won't bore you with all that, but it's worth listening to. The guy has a really neat method Sends me some videos of his cockers, and I mean these. You know how Malin Walsh can go jump a fence like eight-foot fence or something Right. His cockers will run and jump a fence like a six foot fence. They'll climb the. They'll hit like three posts and keep going up it, go over it, go over another one he showed me this today actually and then retrieve a bird, come back with it in its mouth. It's been shot, not not no. Throw bird, a live shot bird, come over two fences with that bird in its mouth and the bird's big as the dog is.
Speaker 2:I mean it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1:I was just like man. That's just insane. So you got to love it, right? I mean yeah, oh yeah, but no, especially a guy like you that appreciates your work ethic and that's what you look for those dogs. It's kind of like Luke. I spend a little time in the blood tracking world. I train blood tracking dogs, labs and, uh, blue laces, yeah, and man, um, you know, I had, I've had hunt terriers and stuff, just had drive off the charts, kind of like a cocker, but anyway, it's neat. I just I'm like you, I love it, I love to see that drive in any kind of hunt dog. It's that, that's the thing you can't train, right, right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:The best trainer in the world you know, just like people to people at the same you got. You know you find somebody with a good work ethics hard to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can't. That's DNA right there. Right, you can't train work ethic. And that's the Luke man. I know you've got a hectic schedule and I'm always trying to track you down and a lot of times we've not been able to get on, because it's my fault too, because I'm self-employed.
Speaker 1:But I don't want this to be our last podcast, you know, and I don't want to enter into a conversation because you and I have a business relationship with a dog and I'm very pleased about that and I appreciate you giving me that opportunity. But if people want to find Luke Coors, if they want to get a dog trained, if they want an SRS dog, if they want a field trial dog, if they want just a really good lab hunting dog, how do they find you?
Speaker 2:You know we have a website, coorsretrieverscom. We're on Facebook, we have an Instagram, but I'm not a. We don't do a whole lot on instagram, we just kind of forget about it, um, but facebook is facebook. And then our website and you can find our phone number or email, um, on our website. It's going to be the easiest way to contact us okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Luke coors, been a pleasure having you on here, man. I've I've been a fan from a distance for a long time. We still haven't got to meet in person. We've been close. I was actually some hunt tests up there in your back door, uh, but we'll, we're gonna fix that soon, that's right, actually I probably need to get back north dakota, but uh, man come up north dakota.
Speaker 2:Enjoy the weather. Yeah, yeah, well, I'll be in south dakota.
Speaker 1:I run up there in september and take a dog, buddy, who's a hunting guide pheasant guide, he runs some dogs, he runs my dogs until I go up and hunt, and but I'll, I'll go up there twice, uh, but you'll be in North Dakota, which is a little further up. But anyway, man, thank you so much, luke. It's been here. I thank you for taking the time to be on here and I hope this isn't our last podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah me too. I've enjoyed it. Glad to have, glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me all right, you have a good one and I'll be talking to you later. Yes, sir, when you're getting ready to go on your next hunting trip, make sure you pack the most efficient and reliable ammunition on the market. Migra ammunition brings you the most efficient and reliable ammunition on the market. Migra ammunition brings you the most diverse loads on the market. Migra's patented stacked load technology is the epitome of efficiency Two shot sizes stacked together to create the most diverse and efficient line of shot shells in the industry. It doesn't matter what flyway, what state or what the weather. The standard remains the same At Migra reliable loads that perform in any condition, every single time. We're proud to have Migra Ammunition as a sponsor for Gun Dog Nation.