Addison Edmonds - Gunner Founder

Addison is owner and founder of Gunner , formerly Gunner Kennels hopefully a product that you guys are aware of , definitely one that has changed the game when it comes to travel crates and some awesome other products . For us dog enthusiasts out there , this is a fun conversation .

We've been buddies for a long time , so kind of a trip down memory lane and some insight into how Gunner came to be . Hope you guys enjoy it . Hope you guys enjoy it . Welcome to the Lab , a Cornerstone Gundog Academy podcast focused on all things gundogs , good times and the great outdoors . I'm your host , barton Ramsey . What's up everyone .

Welcome back to a new episode of the Lab . As I said in the intro , super excited . It's been a long time coming . I've got my very good friend and fellow mustache guy , addison Edmond . What's up , dude .

Because I don't know about you , but when I , I mean I put like 45 , 50 000 miles on my truck every year and my kids all make fun of me because I just go from phone call to phone call to phone call because definitely , or a podcast , I'll listen to podcasts , but talking on the phone makes driving go by so much faster yeah yeah , we didn't do that ,

probably for the best um man I got . We there's no way we'll pack everything in . We'll probably have to do a couple of these over the next year or so . But would love to kind of go back to the start of the journey for Gunnar Kennel .

I know , or Gunnar , I know that's out there , but for our listeners I'd love for folks to hear it and then also kind of go back to how we met and that journey , because I don't think a lot of people really know that story , um , and then we'll just see where it goes from there .

So for those folks listening who don't know , um , addison is the founder of Gunner , formerly Gunner Kennel . It is just Gunner now , right ?

So the origin of Gunnar Kennel was very close to the origin of Southern Oak Kennel geographically and I think as far as the timing goes they were pretty , pretty close to one another . So I'd love for our folks to just hear from you the very early days where'd you get the idea ?

Tell us a little bit about Gunner and his involvement in that and uh , and where it went from there .

And then it gets to a point where life happens and you get busy and you get another dog , which we'll talk about Chevy , uh , to where it just hit me hearing y'all talk about Pete , which was Renard's main you know dog . That uh , I just kind of teared up for a moment of just like geez man , like where's my dog ? Like where's my dog ?

Like where's my buddy , where's my you know um ? But anyways , yeah , I mean I uh , to try to condense that's the origin story down , I went to old miss pretty much for the what I saw as like hunting opportunities . Um , I just visited there at a younger age to go to a cousin's wedding and I was like I'm going there and that was it .

Went there my sophomore year . I decided I wanted a uh , duck dog and um , kind of a crazy store and like . I went to my hunting closet and like decided I'm going to name it Gunnerner . And then I wanted it from like the southeast and found um .

Found a breeder in hartsville , alabama , that had a dog named gunner , um british chocolate lab , which I'd never heard of british or english labs and um always had chocolate labs but never had a hunting dog . And um got him and just like was my main man for 12 and a half years , started an advertising company .

My junior year in college Ran that like a year after college because I wanted to stay in Oxford and Emily , my wife we were dating at the time , I think she was a junior and wanted to stay there with her and just stay and hunt and fish .

And finally , one day I had this idea of like why doesn't somebody make the best of the best travel kennel and convince myself pretty quickly if I don't do it , somebody else is going to company , moved back to Nashville , got married in 2012 and started working on a business plan and designing the kennel , and we I think I started the LLC in 2014 .

We officially launched our website in March of 2015 , which was when our first daughter was born . Literally , I left the hospital the day she was born to go to a meeting about launching the website . 48 months later , we had our fourth child , three girls and a boy .

That was . He just turned six , um , in march . So we're it's easy to keep up with , because my oldest just turned 10 , so my gunner just turned 10 as a cop and yeah , I mean I think it was . It was 2015 . Was it the spring when , when we met in Memphis at that show ?

Um , we officially started in 2012 as well . That's when we named it and I had my first litter in , I think , 2013 , the very end of 13 , I think . And then I had two litters in 14 , but it was still in its infancy and I just had these banners made and I was like I need to go do like an outdoor expo somewhere or something like that .

And I got invited to do the Dixie Pickers one and I never . What was that guy's name ? Nick , nick . I love that guy . Nick was cool . Nick called me and he was like I'm going to put you next to the Gunner kennels and I was like why would you put me next to another kennel ?

Like the last thing I want is to have our dogs side by side , you know , separate us a little bit . I didn't say anything because I was new and young and I showed up and you were there in your green truck putting kennels together with a drill , like frantically , like trying to get .

I think you rolled up five minutes after the expo started and that's that's how I met you . I was like dang man , these things are slick .

You know we spent a lot of road time together and hunts together and like I don't think we've talked very much recently , in the last year or two , but it's really it's almost if I had to put it like you know , you got that buddy , that's like you don't have to talk to all the time because you just it's like that's your boy , you know , you know they're

good , you know they'll reach out if they did anything and life happens and you get busy . But I mean that's how I feel like it's .

I don't remember when . When were the first Gunner kennels ? Which they're ? They're different . There's a lot of similarity , but they're definitely different from what you guys have right now . When were the first ones , like , actually produced ?

But I always thought that our first show was NWTF , which would have been March of 15 , because I had two kennels that were rotomolded but the doors were 3D printed and I was basically taking pre-orders . I could be off on those dates .

Because , I mean , we met and I think the next week I had two kennels show up in my door and I don't think at that point you had more than 20 kennels made Like they were . They were .

At the time , I actually still worked at a church , I was a discipleship pastor and you were like I just want to say , which is hilarious , because if you look at the list of people who were my very best friends at the time , like like aaron hitchens and brady davis like you were very tame and how you talked and uh , yeah , I thought that was it .

Well , you were at least courteous , I appreciated it . But , um , yeah , I was definitely a bit of a cursing pastor , sorry for those kids that are listening , but uh , Like shortly after that I had a lease or a club .

You know , know , I don't , I don't partake in that , I'm just letting you know . Do you remember what you said ? I don't , I don't remember . You said like why do people always tell me this ?

Yeah , where the gunner logo is just printed on the top . Um , before we go into any like any further the path , how did you design the kennel and how did you figure out you wanted to do double-sided roto mold ?

I didn't do like great in school because I was just wanting to hunt and fish every day and figured I'd figured out designing the kennel . I was , um , you know , I saw a yeti cooler and I was like well , that that's pretty strong . Like I was the one going through three or four coleman coolers a year , so that product was like absolutely made for me .

When I saw it .

I looked into roto molding and all that and um contracted a roto molding manufacturer to design the kennel with me , where I kind of like listed out like I could see it in my head but I couldn't explain it and of like all the features , all the general dimensions and aesthetics and like the kind of for lack of better word like the theme or the motif , like

of how I wanted it to look , and then they would just present like drawings , drawings , drawings , drawings .

And I'd be like yes , to that top half , like let's keep trying to change it , and and then finally , like it kind of all clicked where it's like that's what I've been picturing in my head that can't describe and I've got on my phone it's just a really , really crude 3d drawing of like the general design .

Yeah , originally we had a wire door that was going to open all the way , like where it fold flat up against the kennel . Did a crash test with that door and the dummy dog blew right through it . So I had to go into like overdrive of .

I remember telling my engineer like what if we had our own door frame , like our whole system , our own door frame and door ? Tried that tooled up , like spent way more money than we planned , did crash testing didn't pass and I thought , all right , well , we need some like extra backup .

So I put these backup latches on and you know , at this point we were like starting to run out of money Cause I raised some money to get started and and raise some buffer , because I learned like everything costs more and takes longer than you plan , but was getting close to the like the edge of it and I was , I remember , calling my cousin before the crash

test like I'm not throw up if this doesn't work , I'm out of idea , like I don't know what else to do . And , lo and behold , it worked and held the door , stayed shut when the dummy dog , you know , hit the kennel and um , it was . It's such a blur it's hard to explain .

I mean , it was right when our first was born and then trying to get this , everybody looks at it , you know . You know , when a dog , when a , when you say something that confuses a dog and it gives you that turn your head sideways . No , like it didn't pick up on that . Everybody would do that .

When I'm like , yeah , I'm starting this company called Gunner Kennels and we're going to make the safest dog kennels , everybody just give me that turn head and it's almost inspiring of like that's fine , I'll show them one day , like what I'm talking about . I'm terrible at describing it , but I'm going to do it and just keep working and make it work .

And then , you know , caught a lot of good breaks and got lucky and worked hard and , um , I just I can't believe , like Emily who my wife Emily , stepped in . She saw , saw how exhausted I was . I ended up in the hospital shingles and you're probably 18 months in trying to do everything customer service , accounting , everything .

She stepped in and did customer service and marketing without being paid . I look back and I'm like I remember leaving her . She had the flu and our two children under two had the flu , and I'm like I got to go to Kansas to hunt . We're going to film it . It's like for business and she's just like okay , have fun . Now , like I've .

Literally I wouldn't do that nowadays , just thinking through the implications you know , um , but yeah , long story short , it's all a blur and I can't really describe .

I mean , you have a vision and I do think for anyone listening that has ideas , there's a difference between being a visionary person and being able to creatively design things or being a detailed person who can lay it all out . I'm not at all a detailed guy .

I forget details all the time and if it weren't for my wife , I wouldn't even have remembered I was doing this podcast today or you or you texted me , but it's it's . It's inspiring to know that you had an idea of , really just like a vision of something that would be great and is needed . What made you pursue crash testing ?

And had they ever crash tested dog kennels before ? Was that like a thing ?

We're going to , we're going to make a name off of this kennel , we're going to start in the hunting dog world Cause that's who I am , you know authentically and then we're going to . I made a big list of goals in 2015 of , like , different products and different ideas .

I want to do so like we're going to start there , we're going to build a reputation , we're going to go on to the next thing and next thing , and I think I've got like 30 of those goals checked off and the last five or six are pretty lofty , but it was . That was kind of the plan .

And then I remember thinking like , okay , so the main function of a dog kennel , a travel dog kennel , is safety when traveling , so I'm going to need to prove to myself and others that it's safe . And so I started looking online for crash testing . I just wanted to crash test it . I didn't know how that worked . Line for crash testing .

I just wanted to crash test it . I didn't know how that worked . And I found a ? Uh , nonprofit . And um shoot , I think I guess they're in the testing facilities in Manassas , virginia , if that's right , but the nonprofit I

think it's in North Carolina . Anyways , I found this lady that has the center for Pet Safety , lindsay Wolko , and I emailed her and I said , hey , I want to crash test these . She had dummy dogs . I said I want to do this , can you give me the cost ?

And she said , well , just not to pop your balloon , but like there's no dog kennels that will hold up to these crash tests , there's no dog kennels that'll hold up to these crash tests . We've already started working on a pilot program to see if they're crash test worthy . And I said , well , you've never met a redneck from Tennessee .

And she laughed and she just didn't believe me and I was like I don't care what the obstacle is , I'm going to figure it out and do it . And looking back , she would always bring that up .

That's the only reason why I remember it's because she would always say , like I remember telling you basically like sorry , there's , there's nothing you can make that's going to pass .

These crash tests ended up passing and it uh , I think they had funding from subaru and like did a pilot study for crash tests and it kind of it really helped validate the safety of it .

From the start , while I wanted to be like the safest , I also wanted to have the most utility like utilitarian features for myself with like a drain plug and like a lockable latch and tie down straps to keep it from wobbling around and just keep it secure . And so I don't know , I'm just kind of like never satisfied with anything .

And that driver of I wasn't satisfied with my sixty dollar Remington crate . The next level up was a twenty five hundred dollar aluminum box that took your whole truck up and I couldn't do that and didn't need to take up the whole bed space of my truck . So I figured that out and like you know there is some .

You need third party validation for some things , like you can make claims all you want . And then also we're lucky enough to have sold so many kennels that , like we get a safe story every week , just about .

We've had a couple instances where they've said the kennel has saved their life by holding up the roof when they flipped in a flood long enough to escape out of the back . I mean , just like crazy stuff . Yeah , you don't plan on . You know , you don't plan on getting a wreck . You don't plan on I want to make it safe .

But I didn't realize that meant like it's going to actually save dogs lives .

Lynn house fire and all the dogs were locked up and the dog that survived was the one in the gunner . You probably heard heard from her . I mean just stuff that was just insane , just wild . Um , and definitely makes a makes a big difference . So , anyway , um , I uh , I am uh thankful that you pursued it and that you went after it .

Uh , and I've seen some of the other . I've seen the I don't know . Was it on your wall ? Your list of ideas ? I can't remember where it was in your old basement . You can see that in my shop . Yeah , yeah , yeah , big list of ideas . Been there for a lot of those . My favorite is the food crate .

Food crate is a huge game changer for me on the road and I apologize if you're one of the people that sees my mug carrying that thing around in a Facebook ad every time you walk on , but it's , it's like the thing that made track . I mean I'll never forget pulling up to Michigan and I had driven up to film the grind and train with Don and Wally .

I had Noah with me . I know we killed a bunch of Canada geese was September , early season and we killed a banded goose and Noah they all gave Noah the band . First thing we did when we got there , I driven through the rain and a little bit of rain had gotten into my Ailey trailer and I had to get dog food and I grabbed a bag of Eukanuba .

This is before they switched to the plastic bags . But I grabbed a bag , I picked it up and as soon as it left the flooring of the trailer , the whole bottom fell out . It was the only food I had for the whole trip and it was in the grass and I was like , dude , this is for the birds .

Of course they made those soft sided things and they made the one that's the big white one that's got the round lid on it . But none , I mean , it's hard , it's impossible to pick that thing up when it had full dog food . So anyway , the food crate is my favorite .

I was like glad y'all could use my talents scooping food . And , uh , I had covid . That was fall of 2020 .

Yeah , I had covid , and I'll never forget driving home from from your house to my house is faster to go this , the southern route down to the nash's trace , and I was in between like franklin and the nash's trace , and I called my wife , I called bethany and I said I have to take a nap and I couldn't tell you any time that's ever happened .

I mean other than late night drives , but like middle of the day I never have to pull over and I pulled over and I slept for two hours . I drove the rest of the way home and then I went to church . The next morning I baptized my daughter , or no , noah . I baptized Noah at church , literally , and I was like I don't feel good at all . I sat down .

Everybody's wearing a mask , you know and I was like man , I can't breathe . We went to lunch . My in-laws were in town and I was sitting at lunch a place called pizza versus tacos , sharing guacamole with my father-in-law , who was the next day flying to Kenya , and I was like hold on , I can't breathe , I'm really tired , my nose is running .

I just got up and walked out . Bethany called me and said what are you doing ? I was like I think I have COVID , and so I went to the doctor and I , sure enough , had it . But after that I came back to Nashville , for I just happened to be up there for the release of the food crate and you guys had pushed it on social and it was .

It was awesome , it was a huge celebration and this I don't .

I don't want to get too deep into it , but some dude bro on facebook was commenting and was like way overpriced , no one's , no one's gonna buy this , remember , and I'll and y'all sold out the first day , yeah , and I sent him a picture of like sold out , knowing I screenshot the hey , you can't buy any more . Pre-order for the next time .

I was like sorry , sucker , and yeah , uh , good times , good times I think we launched that on gunner's birthday , october 27th .

Phenomenal dog trainer , awesome human being , probably one of the most intense people you'll ever meet in your life , but also super kind . And Addison was like you need to meet my friend Barton called me . It was like you got to meet my buddy Brady . He's driving down there . You need to meet my friend Barton called me .

It was like you got to meet my buddy Brady . He's driving down there . He lived in New Jersey . It was forever away , but he would . He had been coming . He would come to see you . However , I would love to know the background . I don't want to throw anyone under the bus .

Brady and I became good friends and he fell in love with uh red , my old dog , and he had Andor , who just passed away away , actually Kelsey's dog and that led to so many crazy things like Brady getting married in my yard . I officiated his wedding in my yard , which is bizarre , being there for the summit , all kinds of cool stuff .

All because you said you should meet this dude and also my absolute addiction to bang energy drinks . That started with Brady too , but you had this other dog , bullet , oh yeah , so he . He was like and this , this happens a lot when you buy a second dog and you already have the first dog , who's like the absolute legend hero .

The second dog is usually a bit of a struggle , but whatever happened to that dog ?

He did you know we always talk about this . He , he did . Gunner would fight other males and would whine when there's no ducks , and those are two things you really have trouble with getting breeding out . But I just want to do it .

Probably one thing is straight , because I think we're on kid number two or three and got bullet and he was a good little dog but right when I don't know how to say it on recording , right when he's going through puberty , uh , let's .

Uh , him and gunner started fighting and like it was around my kids and it was so violent that and you know they're one and two at the time that I was like I can't have them accidentally bite one of my kids .

So , uh , I started telling Emily like I don't think , like I tried everything , I figured I could fix it and I put them , I tried to put them both in a gunner kennel and be like y'all can figure it out in there and I think there's just a lot of blood . I don't remember if I got bit . I was like yep , this isn't going to work , bad idea .

But the female that we bred Gunner with , she had just got hit by a car in Clarksdale and my wife's best friend , mary Brock , was like hey , we'd love to take him . Like we're missing our dog Mabel , and I think she was our first or second customer of a Gunner kennel .

Like she right when we launched she bought one online and and she was like we'd love to take them . And and so he's still with with them in Clarksdale . He's just living his days out in Clarksdale .

Actually , one of my cousins bought one of the puppies and then another one of his friends bought a puppy and , like I saw one of the dogs that looked a lot like gunner two years ago down a mobile and it just gave me chills .

I saw this dog looking at me from the , from the glass window , because he was neighbors with my cousin and I was just like that's gunner right there and it sure enough was one of gunner's sons . How crazy is that ?

You know , the other ones that I've heard of have done great and I I remember we tried to sweeten the pot with everybody that buys one of those dogs gets a Gunner Kennel , I don't know .

I've said this from the first day I met you and visiting your kennel , like a lot of people ask me where you know I want a dog , where should I get a dog ? And I'm like , is it ? You know I want a dog , where should I get a dog ? And I'm like , is it a ? You know what ? Are you wanting ? A family dog , a hunting dog or whatever ? A lab specifically ?

And I've always said , like Barton's dogs are the only ones I've seen that you can show up to the kennel , they won't bark , they are like the best looking dogs , the best genetics , and like I've been such a proponent of that . But you didn't sell chocolates , Remember . I would text you like , hey , Barton , please just find me a chocolate .

I mean , chevy is a damn stud , like he has got , he checks off all the boxes . He's a little silly .

You know , aaron hitchens and his mom got one and had like one of the craziest , rarest genetic and it was a red pup uh , generic genetic disorders ever and had to be put down , of course . Now he has a second one and that one's perfect , great dog .

He's going to kill me for saying this , but I gave a puppy to reagan rimfro , who at the time was my favorite ever outdoor photographer and one of my best buddies . He's actually coming through here in a couple days and she is , without a doubt , the ugliest dog I've ever produced in my life .

I mean , it's just awful looking dog and Remy , she's bless her , she's sweet , but the older she gets , the uglier she gets , and it's like , of course , the dude that takes my favorite photos . You know , I gave him the ugliest dog and you just have this

fear like oh man , I don't know . And I do remember you had hunted enough with Red and been around Red enough that your comments were always like man . I really like chocolate dogs but if I ever got one that wasn't chocolate , I want to be like him and Scarlett .

We decided to do that last litter with Scarlett , who was my daughter's dog , who was one of my favorite all-time dogs we've ever had at this kennel and a sweetheart , and that was a big thing .

Red loved my kids but , like Scarlett , lives with a buddy of mine who's a sheriff and a part-time children's pastor and he has like a baby , baby and a toddler and like they they every picture I get they're like literally sitting on Scarlett's head , like pulling her ear , sticking their , sticking their hands in her mouth .

She is the dog that not just tolerates , she thrives in that environment . I was like man . Addison has a ton of children in the tiny age bracket . It's got to be a dog that's going to really love being around kids , going to really love being around kids .

So it took and it's , except I don't remember how long it's been since , how long the gap was between gunner passing away and you getting chevy .

Um , obviously , being addison of gunner kennels , you have to have some type of dog , because I'm almost like a mascot , you know you have to have a buddy , it doesn't make any sense not to , but there was a gap of time there for sure , but um it's about a year and a half yeah , I wasn't ready yeah , it's difficult to get that .

We talked about that a lot on the podcast . It's tough to get there , but , um , I was glad . I was glad chevy worked out and for those who haven't seen him , he's . He's on social and in some ads and aaron davis has taken some awesome photos of him . But , uh , he's kind of split custody . He's with miles right now , isn't he ?

It's just it's important and like the intelligence there , the drive is definitely there . It's he's kind of just a great combination of everything .

And just from moving back and forth from nashville , like I don't know I think the plan was for miles , to have them for like two or three months , some life stuff happened and uh , now I'm like all right , we're getting settled , we're finally unboxed , unpacked .

I gotta build a fence , um , because we're kind of near a a busy road , and , um , we're about ready to get them back . And the kids ask about them all the time and I'm starting to miss them and like it's time , it's just now .

I think you took him to nwtf like really soon after you got him um , if I remember that , and because he hurt his foot or something , he hurt his leg and I oh my gosh , if this dog has a bad elbow , I'm going to be so upset . Hey guys , thank you for choosing to spend your time listening to the lab .

This podcast has been a lot of fun for me and it would not be possible without Cornerstone Gund Dog Academy . I am a proud founder and part of Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy . It has been an amazing journey to see so many people learn how to become better dog trainers and better dog handlers .

This includes folks who have zero experience ever handling a dog and people who've been handling dogs their entire lives , but they just want to extend their knowledge and teaching their dogs the skills that will impress their buddies in the duck blind .

If you want to become a more efficient and proficient , a better , more skilled and talented dog trainer and dog handler , look no further than cornerstonegundogacademycom .

It's like well , at least we know each other so I can explain . Like this is not how we operate . Let me send you a third one . Yeah , yeah . Well , I know what you're saying .

But with Chevy , I think what's contributed to him being like such a , I would consider him one of the best well-rounded dogs that I've . I've been around and that's the dream , right ? You want the dog that's really fun to hunt with , but super chill , you know , when you're hanging out at the lodge and you're with the family .

But part of that is he spent puppyhood with you , around all your kids and Emily and your dogs and at the gunner office , which Luke and I talked about in the podcast . Being around dogs up there . His socialization was probably as good as it gets .

But then he's been passed back and forth in a good way between you and miles , and miles is a heck of a dog trainer . Um , I mean , he's been passed back and forth in a good way between you and miles and miles is a heck of a dog trainer . Um , I mean , he's so thorough in what he does and fair to the dog . And immediately he was like he called me .

He was like , hey , this dog you sold out has been pretty nice . And I was like , all right , good , you know , that's good to hear . And he's he's kind of favored that dog . You know ever since hear , and he's he's kind of favored that dog , you know ever since .

So I've laughed really hard at the conversations back and forth of how miles is really chevy's dad and you're the fun uncle , yeah , the drunk uncle . You like pick him up and take him home and there's no rules . And oh , what was the conversation ? Um , oh , dove hunting . Dove hunting at palma blanco .

So for those of you who don't know addison , personally I don't know anyone who enjoys hunting more than addison and like the actual act of hunting . I don't mean this . I love the social nature of being together . I don't really care what we do .

Addison is like , hey , I'm gonna walk 300 meters down the woods and kill some more ducks because that's where they're going , like I'll see y y' all later . Uh , and even , like you go into Ole Miss .

I mean , I don't want to incriminate you , but if there ever were someone to bow hunt deer on campus , it would probably be the same type of person to launch a gutter and I mean that all the uh , the food crate testing with all the critters and stuff .

You know I'm I saw that video and the first thing I thought was how many of those animals did addison shoot with a bow ? But , um , we were dove hunting at paloma blanco , uh , with john dunaway and all the crew and , oh , I don't even remember what year this was , two years ago maybe . Yeah , because chevy . Chevy was a pup .

He was still actually kind of a very adolescent looking dog , you know , because we have a picture of him and scarlet together and , uh , she was bigger than him at the time , but he's , he's definitely bigger than her now .

And for those of you have seen any of the pictures of the palma blanco fields , it's like these sunflower fields that are massive and a lot of birds come to the edges and we , we shoot , we shoot a lot of them .

But on that particular day they were flying the middle and Addison was like well , see y'all later and took off with a handful of shells and came back with a pocket full of doves and a worn out Chevy and I don't remember how the conversation went , but it was something around him not breaking , like him being steady .

Because , like , I don't give a shit about that and I just want to get , I want to let him break so I can concentrate on more doves . I'm like is that a problem ? You're like no , he's got a hunt test in two weeks yeah .

And he was like no , steady as a rock , like didn't even he got back with miles . He was like did he try to break ? And he was like no , steady the rock , like didn't even he got back with miles . He was like , oh , back at school , rules apply . And anyway , I love that about the dog .

Most dogs can , like my kids go out every night to the kennel and throw tennis balls and bumpers with all the dogs out , and they just it's a free for all . And I used to get so uptight about it and be like you're gonna ruin the dogs .

And now I'm just like , no , they , they totally know if the kids come out here , it's messing around time , if barton's out here , we're working , and they just they figure that stuff out pretty quickly . But yeah , that was that one cracked me up .

That's yeah , it's fun for us to see him , it's good , good for us that he's , he's with y'all and yeah , I love seeing him , miles loves having him , and he passed all his health tests , hrch . I think . He's sired two litters now , which is pretty cool , um , or one and one on the way maybe , uh , something like that . So we'll use him a couple times .

He's got some , some good genetics and uh , yeah , I mean for us it's always good to say , hey , this is what , this is what the goal was , and it worked . We laid a plan out , uh , and it kind of came together . So it's fun when it happens . It happened with q-tip from migra . Uh , do you know q-tip ?

I don't know if you know him or not , but but Wade's buddy , we met at Wild Wings and he was like man , I want a dog just like Cedar . And I sold him a Cedar pup , a male , and literally the dog looks just like Cedar , like it's Cedar's twin . So love it when a plan comes together .

So on Gunner Kettles and like just the start and the game plan and all that . How did it without getting like way way too deep into it ?

I think there are people that listen to this and I get a ton of messages from people that are like they have an idea , they , they , they want to start something , they want to work in the outdoor industry , which we probably don't need to get started on that . But how did you go from having an idea to raising the funds to get it off the ground without ?

I mean , you don't have to share anything super personal , but , like I don't , I don't think a lot of people would even know where to begin with that .

And it only takes a couple of phone calls till I think they realize like if this dumbass figured it out then I can probably figure it out too . Because it's like it's so simple Of you just got to do it .

You just got to figure it out and go and know that like there's going to be giant roadblocks that are going to make you think , well , might as well hang it up .

This is done Like we're screwed , we're never going to be able to figure it out , but if you know that that's coming and it you know it might feel like every single day there's something like that and you just have the confidence of like I'm going to and you just have the confidence of like I'm going to overcome whatever's in my way , because my passion to get

this done and prove like what I see in my head can be a reality . I mean , there's , there's been a lot of companies that I've enjoyed kind of coaching along the way as much as I can , just from the mistakes I've made . But I knew nothing about like .

I said I think I graduated in like HR or something or another , because they said that's the easiest path to graduate in business . Like I didn't learn anything from it . I had one class about entrepreneurship that I enjoyed , but I just knew like whatever was going to come my way . You got to go raise money Great , let me figure that out . And that was before .

I mean I didn't know about YouTube or any like . You can just like get on and chat , gbt , like how do I do a business plan ? That was just like you just figure it out . You just got to make a list . You can prioritize it or not and just knock out every single checklist item .

And I still kind of operate that way where it's just like I mean the world's got so busy , my life's got so busy , but it's just like . I just got to make a list and focus , put my head down , you don't have to tell anybody about it . The hardest thing is like telling people what you're going to do .

There's some quote out there of like don't tell people , people your plans , and in a lot of ways , like yeah , I a hundred percent agree , because a they'll not understand it , they're not going to be able to see it , and and it'll just give you like negative energy to doing it , or it'll give you like inspiration to go out there and do it .

I remember this would have been 2012 like I was at my buddy's hunting camp and I told my I was talking my buddy about it and he , his dad , was there and he said , uh , yeah , did you hear about what addison's wanted to do ? Is like what he's like he wants to make a top-of-the-line dog kennel ?

And my buddy's dad was like , yeah , that's because that's what we need . Is just , is a is a real expensive dog kennel ? And it's like , yeah , I don't get mad at that because I'm like they just don't see it , they don't know what my vision is on that

, and so I can't be mad . And I mean , when raising money , I hate asking for money , so I would just be like , hey , so and so I want to meet with you , I want to tell you what I'm doing .

I'm not to ask you for money , but if you know anybody that might be interested , I'd love for you to connect me or just tell me their name and I'll connect myself and a lot of them didn't get it . Like a lot of them would look at me with that confused dog look and I didn't . I didn't take that as like a negative .

I had a original list of like 33 people to call , ended up calling about a hundred , and I raised the money that I needed to raise in about three months and I , from our lawyer and like accountants view they're like that's the fastest we've ever seen that done from an idea on a napkin . I didn't know any better .

I just was like I just want to get this done . I was lucky to have the experience of starting and selling a smaller company and like I had lunch with our first investor yesterday and he said I remember when you were telling me about this , I said hell , if anybody can do it , addison's going to do it .

Like most people probably thought like like this is probably not going to work , but if it does , it'll work really well . And I don't know why that was the saying of like if anybody can do this , addison can do it . But it's just because I don't mean to say like pat myself on the back .

It's just like you just got to make a list and knock it out and that's . It's so simple that it's like doesn't feel right , because the all the real answers in life sometimes feel like they're so simple . Yeah , that's like hard to actually agree with it , if that makes sense .

Uh , you've had four kids within is it 48 months . Yeah , four kids within four years , which is wild . Um , like if you , if you've ever lived that , even two kids under the age of four , if you ever lived that and thought let me also start a company and design products and go raise capital and get investors and like that's a massive undertaking .

Man , it's hard to remember to brush your teeth when you have kids in the house like that . And so , in fact , I think I'm 38 or how old are you ?

It's like I think for the past six months you know , finding nemo , the fish that can't remember anything story just keep swimming , just keep swimming . That's what I've been seeing in the back of my head for the last six months , like yeah , it is all so busy and so wild , but it's like I mean , you just got to keep swimming , yeah .

It was so all right , selfishly speaking , it was so easy , so much easier to be friends with a company like that , because I could just be like yo , let's do a social media post , hey guys , you want to like . Hey guys , here's some photos . And like we , we aligned on a lot from a brand perspective .

Like you , guys only wanted to post high quality images and we only wanted to produce high quality images . And you got and I'll never forget , like I used to do these Facebook Q and A's .

And I remember you guys sending pictures of watching that q a . Uh , because I what's funny about that is I was drinking wine and smoking a cigar . Oh , different times , uh screenshot of it somewhere . Yeah , golly . Anyway , all that , like those days and it is great to see , like number one , you've stayed married , which is awesome .

That's a feat in and of itself . In the midst of all that , you know , building a business and going through the amount of stress , amount of stress , um , you've . You know , your wife is still a part of the company . And I would consider emily and macy they're the ogs shout out to those two girls uh , the gunner kennel , most valuable players , for sure .

But like we had a group text , the four of us , uh , they had some hilarious ideas . Uh , we still need to probably do some of those . And that was like the connection to gunner kennel was it was texting and it was so casual that I mean I don't think you can get in any more trouble for this still .

But like , remember you had all the throwaways , like the people you talked about who got a kennel and something was wrong with it . That kennel , if it made it back to gunner , got put in a pile of , or if it just came off the line and had any blemish at all , like stuff that you couldn't even really tell .

He got put in this pile and Addison texted me to just come get them If I could use them . I was going to use them in my kennel as a dog houses .

You found doors and I borrowed a buddy's trailer and drove home from Nashville with I don't even know how many busted up gunner kennels I mean a lot , a lot , a lot Like I hate to even say most of them were largest when and I remember you texting and saying , hey , do you have any idea how many Kindles you took the other day and I was like , do I need

to bring them back ? You're like no , no , they're not going to fire me , but I did get in a little bit of trouble for sending those out and inventory all screwed up . Yeah , and that was the first time that I was like , oh , addison can get in trouble . Like it's not what it used to be , you know . Like it's not what it used to be .

It used to just be cowboys in the Wild West . It's your company , you do what you want . Well , I talked to Luke about this on the podcast . Now you guys are a legitimate big business . I mean , look , you're not Nike , but you guys sell a lot of products . You guys are crushing it .

My son and I we do road trips all over the country , and it used to be I would be driving down the road and see a gunner kennel in a truck and I would immediately try to snap a photo and send it to you and be like dude , how cool is this ? I'm in Kansas and there's a gunner .

Now I get so sick of my son telling me every time he sees a gunner kennel , like everywhere we go , he's like look at gunner . I'm like dude , I know , I get it . It's duck season . You're gonna see a lot of those . You know like it's . It's so cool , it's awesome , it's annoying the details he freaks out like we're .

I think we're about to get in a wreck , dad , we're gunner , but you , I mean in all that growth going from a handful of employees , you driving from nashville to north carolina to assemble kennels . You go into every trade show and putting everything together like literally showing up with that big trailer coming to the summit .

You came to the first ever summit and brought your trailer Remember that parked it and we gave away a gunner . None of that happened without you to now . I mean I'm sure you could leave the office for an extended period of time and Gunner's going to keep on rocking .

How , number one , how has that journey been for you , like letting go of some of those things . And then number two follow on to that . How have you made sure that Gunner , as a company , kept the same culture and I don't want to say brand , but it is that like the voice , yeah , yeah . How have you made sure that stayed intact ?

I was doing everything and then onceily came on and macy came on and I saw how much better they ran with their lane and I was so ready at the point to like let go of that responsibility . And then and we were really lucky getting some like just all star employees or I don't ever call them employees , it's like we're family .

At this point it's like I want to just let you run with it , probably to the detriment to where I'm like . You know , I hate firing people , I hate Like managing people , because you know , I spent a lot of road time going to hunts with with these guys and girls and like it .

I just I got to the point where , like I couldn't I knew I couldn't do it all and I would see how Basie and Emily , like , would take their lane and run with it . So I go focus on what I'm decent at , which was like the product side of things or just the overall company vision , and then , um , in terms of , uh , being able to step away .

Like you know , life happens and and I have been a little bit less involved for the last six months , but I've been so thankful that , like everybody here , I just realized the other day we , I think we have like 39 or 40 employees , when I remember thinking like at 30 , that we're big time , you know , and that was just probably 18 months ago , but it's .

It's an interesting tightrope to walk of . Like I want to be as involved as I'm needed , but I want to let people run with their creativity and just kind of help put some guidelines out of .

Like this is what my vision is in terms of the brand and the voice , and let let our people like go full speed while trying to keep them within what we're thinking , how the customer's perceiving it , how how the world's perceiving it , and it's like it's still a work in progress of knowing where I'm needed , where I'm not needed , where I need to be involved ,

where I don't need to be involved , cause I I hate getting in there and being like hey , I see that y'all have designed this product that I told you all about six months ago and , like now I think we need to reel it back just a touch and go this other direction , cause it's like I don't ever , I'm not ever the one to say like I'm right , this is how it

has to be , because I'm open to hearing opinions . I'm like , how am I wrong , you know ? And it's just like it's always hard to describe your vision .

It's always hard to like I'm not saying like hurt feelings , but like yeah , but let's , let's do it kind of this way , and I can't even describe why I want it this way , but like I've got to have it this way . It's just it's , I don't know , that's probably clear as mud .

But like it is an interesting period where things are definitely running on their own . There's so much work and stuff that happens without I mean , I couldn't tell you how our operating systems work . Like I don't even know what it's called anymore , and like people spend hours and hours and hours every day in it and just very fortunate .

Like that we've got a family of people that are handling things and happy to be back in the office . And like we had a crawfish party . Uh , two weeks ago the kids came and like my kids , they they've got this knack to get a sharpie and and write all over the office . So on the men's bathroom door it says like a big heart , I love daddy , love roan .

And then I just walked in this room uh , to where I don't know if you can see it , but we love gunner kennels .

Like it's just , they come in here and I think it just adds a level of like this is a real family that cares about everybody and like we're just you know , we're just doing everybody's doing the best we can and , and I don't know , we've just been extremely fortunate .

I remember telling emily like I want to set up an environment where it's fun to go to work . You don't like dread going to work , because you spend most of your life at work , if you really think about it and like but we get stuff done , but we celebrate the wins and we like understand the losses , like because we're all people .

But , um , I think we've done a really good job and that's a lot of credit to Emily of like creating a good culture here .

I found him like early , early on , and I was like so thrilled that I could tell people about Stephen Wilson jr and how good he was . And he just sang the national anthem at the draft and I kind of want to be like , yeah , I listened to this guy way before all y'all you know .

But the main thing I feel is like , oh man , please just still be you like he's , yeah , he's involved with some stuff I'm involved in , uh , for this fall , and I'm like dude , I just want him to still be the guy that he was when I first found him .

You guys have managed to grow uh like tremendously and when you stop by the office , it's still a family environment , you know , and when you're there , it's not like , oh , everybody behaved Dad's here , it's like you're , you're one of the dudes which I yeah the fun uncle which I can really appreciate . I think that that's .

I mean that's much , much credit to you and Emily and probably even Macy , for the work y'all , the groundwork you laid at the beginning to set up a culture that is you can replicate and probably even though I'm sure you've made mistakes in this realm but like being careful with who you hire and hiring like Luke .

Luke's a great example , cause he's very much of such a great representation of Gunner , the brand , and having those folks you know even in customer service . It's been fun , been fun journey for me to watch , for sure .

I was like look kids , gunner Kennel , or they're always looking , looking for turkeys , every morning on the way to school , but like that's kind of a dad thing of like wanting to be show them what you know , what you do , or whatever .

But um , it's uh , it's crazy how fast it goes by , that's for sure now , as I wrap it up , do you still have your green truck ? uh yeah , and I've gotten more compliments on it in the last three days that it's like I love that truck did you get the side fix ? I got the side fix .

Uh , it's got 210 000 miles which , like I don't , I feel like I hadn't been driving

that much anywhere lately . But , um , you know , that's my third truck , I'm 38 . That's the third truck , I'm 38 . That's the third truck I've ever owned .

I can't believe you still have that thing 10 years . I mean , everybody's got noticed the one that's parked on top of Gunner products . I don't know if you've ever used your truck . I used an old Chevy Trailblazer at one point . What ? When you parked it on the kennels ?

First thing in the morning I wake up and Tyler says hey man , you seen Addison ? This is a great story actually .

Well , we got a big problem and I was like what morgan backed into his truck and I will go outside and connor's entire tail , tail light and back corner is smashed and the whole side next to the bed of the bed and where the gas cap is of your truck is completely smashed in Thanks to Morgan Wallen deciding at apparently three in the morning he wanted to go

shoot raccoons and possums with with 22 . And we all I thought that I thought that Addison had left , so I was like , well , I'm going to wait until he gets back from goose hunting and then I'll let him know . And we go out to the woods and we were absolutely smoking ducks in the timber and my phone or something yeah , yeah and yeah , yeah .

Late in the morning we're done . I think we were literally out there drinking mimosas and smoking cigars like we were done hunting , and I get a call from addison and you were like where are you ? I was like , um , I'm in the woods . How was the goose hunt you ? And he said I just woke up and I was like , dude , I went to find you .

I went in your room to find you and you were gone and what you had done was gotten up in the middle of the night , left your room , went to Connor's granddad's room and got in the recliner and you were asleep in the recliner .

There was like famous people and like Gunnar was just kicking and like I remember enjoying everything so much . And then I think I sleep off once every 10 years . I must have slept walk , because I woke up , not in my bed and very well rested , but definitely missed that morning .

Um , and I remember something , tyler connor , somebody was like freaking out addison's going to be so upset . They're like hey , man , I've got to tell you we packed in your truck . I was like man , it's a truck who cares ? I think it took me six months or a year to get that actually fixed .

I remember busting out my window that year , the back window , and I just covered it up with some cardboard . By the end of duck season . It was like it had been hammered on pretty hard .

They're probably going to be more upset that he didn't shoot ducks this morning , but I guess he needed some sleep . Good times , yeah . Um well , we'll have to hop back on here and keep going and hopefully there'll be even more stuff . Uh , maybe more products that come out , who knows ?

Um , we've got a lot of exciting things and now , like you know , we're trying to get back in at as full speed as we can . So hopefully you'll notice some changes with the brand and all in a good way and and all that yeah .

I don't know about new products , but there's definitely some cool stuff posted in there and cool content and questions and stuff from some of you guys as users . Addison , I don't think , even plays on social media at all , so I want to ask you where to find him

.

You think I should start getting involved with that stuff more .

Nobody wants to listen to me talk like no one wants . Even today , when I you asked me if it was , if it was audio or video , I was like well , we don't ever use the video but we might if it's good . And your response was nobody wants to see me , it won't be good if I'm on there .

But I do think I really like when you guys do the , the videos in house , and they're always hilarious , right , and those are always like comedy , genius level stuff . And I think the reason that I like that and that most people like that is it shows the behind the scenes like humanity of of a company .

And I know with me like I run most of the southern oak stuff on social . So when I do the , the night , nighttime at the kennel or the go play with my daughter running with the dogs , I think I get a lot of feedback on those things and it's funny because in my head I'm like no one wants to see one more go play video .

Everyone knows about me telling dogs to go play , but every time I do it , people are like these are my favorite , I love these and I live in it , so I'm , I'm . I get sick of it myself .

However , I think people like to see a behind the scenes look at something that they don't get to see very often maybe , and so for you , being the guy that founded the company and still being like present , I think it is good and I think you're a great representation of the brand .

I just think it has to be like not too late on a Friday night , you know , middle of the middle of a weekday . Um yeah , but I do think it's . I think it's always good when you can put like the founders at the forefront of social .

I don't , I wouldn't tell you to have your own because it's such a time suck Like the death scroll is such a real thing .

Like I took one of my girls turkey on the other day and something happened that I thought this would be hilarious if we posted this and I tried to video it and I thought what am I doing on my phone while I'm sitting here hunting with my daughter ?

And like my internal conflict is like I don't want to sacrifice the time with these kids to be on my phone whatever I'm doing , because it's always work , or whatever to be on my phone whatever I'm doing , because it's always work or whatever , and like it's it's it's like I I don't know it's hard to explain and it's like it's not bad if you're doing it .

I just like I catch myself so quickly being like I would rather be present , but I know that it's like probably a good thing to to open the veils a little bit more and , you know , I think we'll try try to find a happy medium somewhere .

That's the real problem is , you were supposed to , you were supposed to live in a time before this one , um , but I think that should be inspirational and I do think there's something to be said about seeing someone . That's obviously not just they don't want to be on social media , but it's too good not to put it on there . I agree with that .

And miles is usually I mean , look , I already . I don't want to blow too much smoke because I already called him a good dog trainer , so he's already gotten this compliment for the podcast . But man , he is in a lot of ways like a barometer for me . Yeah , like he's very wise and he's one of the best friends you could ever ask for .

I know he feels that way about you , but like , when , when , when miles says something , I hang up the phone . I'm like man , there's a lot of insight in that Like he , and he's a peacemaker . You know he's always trying to . He called it . My daughter had surgery today on her knees . She's fine . I texted you about it Like it was super casual .

She had two plates in her knees to help her legs grow properly and so they played . They literally like stapled her growth plate shut on the inside , so the outsides she was knock kneed and uh , it worked . It worked perfectly . Like within a year her legs were back completely straight .

So they went in today and they took the plates out and they put some screws in a different growth plate to like make sure anyway , miles is um , you know he works in an orthopedic surgery surgery office clinic in kentucky and so all day he's like send me pictures of the x-rays , like how's it going ? Blah , blah .

Like just , yeah , you can't ask for a better friend . So if he says that I'd probably take it to the bank and uh , I would , I would still avoid having having all that stuff on your phone . Just such a , such a time suck . Uh for sure .

I remember we we just went to a hockey game you and I did uh with ford , another phenomenal friend , and if you've ever seen the videos of the gunners getting thrown off the cliffs , that's at ford's place , which is awesome . Uh , that's it . That's the redneck crash safety testing .

I love that aspect , like , hey , we did do the uh studio crash safety , but let's go throw this off a cliff and see what happens . Shoot it with a birdshot . You guys shot one with a birdshot , yeah .

I think we took one picture and the next day Bethany was like send me the videos you got from the hockey game . And I was like I don't have any . I didn't get my phone out and even she was like you , serious right now . I was like , yeah , I didn't get my phone out and even she was like you , serious right now .

I was like , yeah , I'm , I'm trying to be present , I'm trying to be in the moment . What's better than eating in the Lexus lounge and chatting with you and Ford Like I , if I pick my phone up , I'm essentially saying , well , whatever's on , this is going to be better , and I'm trying . I'm trying to say that a lot less . It's easy to do .

We have been using them for 10 years now , which is pretty awesome , pretty rad . Yeah , you guys have a good one . Thanks again for joining me , dude .