Avery Creek Retrievers

08/26/2024

This is a pretty emotional video for me. This weekend we ran Music City HRC (More to come about that). This morning we needed a by-dog to run so a dog could complete the requirement of honoring.

I decided to get Josey off the truck and let her do it. Some may remember she was diagnosed with a Grade 4 heart murmur and an echo confirmed she had a defective heart.

The orders from our vet and the cardiologist that did the echocardiogram were to limit her activities and to essentially stop training and running her.

I have followed those orders since the diagnosis, but today I decided her and I were going to have some fun. She hammered this land test, I couldn’t have asked her to run it any better. She was having a blast. On our way back to the truck she was so excited and giving me a look like “I sure do miss us doing this”.

It may not have been the wisest thing I’ve ever done, but I told myself as we were walking down, if her heart blows up then she goes out doing what she loves and enjoying every second of it. Who am I to take that away from her?

It was emotional for me, Josey and I doing what we have done so many times before. We had a really good weekend, but this was my favorite part of it. ACR’s The Last Outlaw- “Josey” thank you for today, it’s a memory I will cherish and who knows we may have one more run in us, but next time it will be for a ribbon.

08/14/2024

First day of 9th and 4th grade. We officially have one in high school and his mama isn’t liking it much.

07/30/2024

Late yesterday evening my phone blew up about a video that surfaced of a trainer doing things to a dog that trainer should never do. I will not share the video for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it’s difficult to watch. I will not share the person’s name or their kennel name, but anyone connected to retriever groups on social media has probably seen it posted hundreds of times.

What took place is awful, no doubt. However the mob mentality of social media is just as bad. People calling for others to write bad reviews on his wife’s social media and Google pages? People screaming from the rooftops to flood his wife’s messages since his page has been deleted? Not to mention all the threats of “if I find you” or “if I see you”. The guys wife, I am sure, is going through hell right now, why should she be mocked or punished for his actions. As far as I know she wasn’t a part of it. As for the keyboard cowboy vigilanties, when names, address and phone numbers are posted, someone ain’t hard to find, but it’s easy to be tough behind a screen and make threats.

I’m not defending what I saw because it indefensible, but the mob mentality of sitting behind a device is just as sickening as the video. I guess there are a lot more people than I thought that have never made a mistake or done something wrong.

Then you have other “trainers” using this to promote their own business. “Send me your dog, we don’t do that.” Have some professionalism. This is a bad look for all of us, don’t use it to try and market your kennel. Heck I saw one guy willing to give a discount to anyone who pulled their dog from this trainer and brought it to him, what a joke.

Obviously, what was shown is disturbing, sickening and wrong, but I’m not without sin so I can’t cast a stone by sharing the video and blasting the guy by name. I have to work hard everyday to keep my house in order and stay in my lane, I don’t have the time or energy to judge how everyone else keeps their house. The authorities are aware and I’ll let them sort it out. Meanwhile all I can do is pray that this man knows or finds Jesus and realizes some of the decisions he has made are not how a man should act.

There are are also some dog owners that had dogs there that are also having to deal with this fallout. My thoughts go out to them as I'm sure they are dealing with a mess of emotions.

It's an awful situation for a number of people but having a social media lynch mob is not going to correct it. Have your feelings about it, thats fair, but leave the guys wife, child and clients out of it, none of them were videoed doing anything wrong.

07/24/2024

A Regal Moth. Have never seen one before, but had this on the window screen this morning.

07/23/2024

I know it’s the heat of summer right now, but dove season and duck season will be here before we know it. If you need a hunting buddy, we have several dogs available. Call or message and let us know what you are looking for.

07/19/2024

The temperature might be a little cooler this morning but someone flipped the switch on the steam room last night. 92% humidity, cloudy and steamy.

07/10/2024

I’ve known Mr. Don for a good while, I guess from when I first started running HRC tests. Mr. Don is a great guy who has served the HRC with class and professionalism. Congratulation to Brett and Mark on their new positions. I know both of them as well, and am sure they will do a great job.

A HUGE thank you to Don Garrett for his many years of service to HRC and to Region 3. Don has decided to step down as Region 3 Field Rep. In the more than 20 years since joining HRC, Don has been an excellent mentor and role model for his fellow members.

Current Running Rules Rep, Brett Abernathy has agreed to fill the Field Rep position for Region 3 and Mark Parsons will be filling the Running Rules rep position. Please join us in wishing these gentlemen well as Don has left big shoes for them to fill!

07/10/2024

Already steamy and it’s not even 5:00am yet.

07/07/2024

18 for 19 on the weekend, running all three stakes and we earned 5 new HR titles. Ready to get back home, been a long hot weekend. More to come…

07/04/2024

Happy Birthday America and big thanks to a bunch of farmers with pitch forks and muskets in the 1770’s, for having the courage to stand up to the crown.

07/03/2024

Happy Birthday Mom. I sure do miss you. I hate I can’t call you and say it, but we will celebrate you today and I hope when you look down on us, you can look down and be proud.

06/26/2024

The building is done, so we have a shell. Next step is rough in electrical and water lines; then we can get power to it. Forgive the extra metal laying in the foreground, it was too dang hot to move after sitting in the sun all day.

06/25/2024

06/18/2024

Awning is out, canopy is up, the Allman Brothers on the radio, and a delayed land/water triple with a 186 yard blind. It’s hot, but it sure beats sitting in an office in front of a computer.

06/13/2024

One of these things is not like the others.

06/12/2024

So they will have a pretty cool “what I did this summer” the first day of school next fall. Raising baby mallards.

06/11/2024

Kind of a chilly start for mid June. I hope this trend sticks around.

06/07/2024

This morning view just never gets old.

05/24/2024

When you are taking 12 dogs to an OFA Eye Clinic for clearances on Saturday morning, you take the trailer to Tractor Supply on Friday evening and give baths.
One more reason I can’t wait for our kennel to be completed and we will have our own wash station.

05/24/2024

We have a slab.

05/23/2024

Progress being made, individual
kennel drain lines and clean outs installed; finished that up last night. This morning the concrete guys were back and put the rebar in the footings, laid a v***r barrier and got the wire set. Inspector was good with everything so now we are ready to put concrete down.

05/22/2024

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Everyone always speculates in discussions about how long or how old a dog should be to certsin levels depending on the dog. So I asked UKC for the information and thought I would share. I was surprised by some more than others. Looking at the AKC info on Retriever Results web page shows I believe most of the corresponding levels to a little later age on average.

05/21/2024

Man it has been a bumpy road to get to this point. I won’t go into all the details, but it was finally dry enough to dig footings and start forming for our new kennel. Hopefully the pad for the building will be poured Friday and then we will get the parking area done. For a time it felt like this day wasn’t meant to be, but it is exciting to see things finally starting to move.

05/12/2024

I’ve seen this making the rounds the last few days. It’s a valid for dog as it is horses.

The problem with horse training is that society is set up to believe that you can buy a service and have things the way you want in a certain time frame. People look at horse training as if they're spending their money on a product. And yet even the best horse trainers will tell you the horse takes its own time, and no one can guarantee a horse will be doing what you want from it when you want from it.

The other problem is that even if your trainer can get it done with your horse, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to. Getting a horse right takes an amount of commitment on the owners part to develop the same type of relationship that the trainer has, otherwise how can you expect from your horse for yourself what your trainer gets, when it's they who have put in the hours, the and sweat, the patience and the desire to get along with that horse? You aren't spending money on a tune up for your car that you can take home and drive.

The fact that money is involved leads people to believe they deserve something for what they paid, and they do, but, it happens in the animals time, not the humans. I think any good trainer would say they would do this for free if they could, just to help horses and people. And yet, we all have to eat...

Ty Cornelius
870.291.0962

05/09/2024

I don’t get to spend near as much time with these three as I’d like; being on the road most weekends, hauling dogs around and chasing ribbons, I miss a lot of stuff with them. With school be cancelled today due to the widespread power outages from the storms yesterday evening and overnight, I headed out this morning to start the day. As I was getting rained on I decided I needed to take the kids to shop for Mother’s Day. We went and picked up a couple things for Nicole and then decided we would go eat lunch. I can’t begin to say how much fun I had spending part of the day just hanging out and having lunch. We laughed, we talked and we enjoyed some time together. Yeah, I probably should have been throwing marks in the rain, but I don’t get the chance often to have these three with me all at the same time, so we took a nasty, rainy morning and made it into a great time together.