Episode #6
Reproducers Are Born, Not Made at the Hunts | Holt Outdoors Podcast #42
Send us Fan Mail A while back I asked you all to help me find somebody who really knows breeding — line breeding, outcrosses, the genetics behind it. One of you sent me Chad's name. This is that episode. Chad Showalter runs Simple Man's Kennel out of Grover Hill, in northwest Ohio, and he's been putting hounds on the ground since the early 90s. He judged the UKC World Championship finals last year. And he thinks about breeding differently than most people you'll hear talk about it: his whole program runs off the females, he won't keep a loose-barking hound at any price, and he'd rather have a blue-collar dog that trees three coons every night than a dog that scores 1,200 one night and minuses out the next. The line that'll stick with you is this one — reproducers aren't made at the hunts, they're born. He'll walk you through why a female that never left the yard can throw better pups than her litter mate sister that won everything, why he judges a stud dog by his pups and not by the stud, and why there's one oddball in every litter no matter what you breed to. We also spend a good while on layup dogs — what they are, why they show you coons you walked right past, and the patience most people won't give a young hound to learn it. If you've ever gone in and pulled a young dog off a tree because you figured it couldn't work it out, that part's worth your time. It made me think about a few nights of my own. Get the notebook out for this one. There's a lot in here. Thanks to Debbie Johnson at Johnson Telemetry for keeping my tracking gear right — good people, good products. CCS Season 2 is rolling out — episodes 1 and 2 are up right now for channel members in early access. Become a member on YouTube to watch them early, and find merch + everything CCS at holtoutdoors.com. ___ Everything Chad has going on is posted to the Simple Man's Kennel page on Facebook first — every litter. It's a private page, so you'll need to ask to join. He's asked that you not send personal friend requests; message the kennel page instead. Got a female you're trying to figure out a cross for, or a young dog you think might be trying to tree layups? Drop it in the comments — I read them, and this is the kind of thing worth talking through. Run with the dogs. Learn the work. Support the show
