Dog Training, Hunting Dogs & Building Covey Kennels | Episode 81 with Ethan VanDonkelaar

Ethan VanDonkelaar is the owner and head trainer at Covey Kennels in Upstate South Carolina, where he works with everything from family dogs and basic obedience to high-performing hunting and retrieving dogs.

In Episode 81 of Sunday Afternoon Smokes, Ethan joins Chris in the lounge to talk about the path that took him from corporate sales to guiding fly-fishing and upland bird hunts — and eventually into building Covey Kennels.

They get into what actually makes dog training work, why consistency from the owner matters just as much as the trainer, developing hunting dogs that can perform in the field and still live well at home, choosing the right breed for your lifestyle, gunfire conditioning, boarding philosophy, and just how much dogs are actually capable of learning.

The conversation also goes well beyond dogs, touching on entrepreneurship, family, fatherhood, faith, jiu-jitsu, and the value of narrowing your focus to the things you’re genuinely built to do.

An unhurried conversation about dogs, discipline, purpose, business, and building a life around the things that matter.

Covey Kennels: https://www.coveykennels.com/
https://www.instagram.com/coveykennels/

Sunday Afternoon Smokes: sundayafternoonsmokes.com
www.instagram.com/sundayafternoonsmokes/

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Rv2v8Pk3qMpbvrfnNIyTr?si=c2ad08afc7274e53
Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sunday-afternoon-smokes/id1781284736?i=1000785294529