Clay Owens was raised in the small town of Island, Kentucky, where most days were spent fishing and chasing wild game. But everything changed the morning a neighbor’s dad took him on his first duck hunt. After one season of muddy boots and downed birds, Clay bought his first retriever, Bo. With no fancy tools or formal schooling, he trained Bo the hard way: through perseverance, repetition and lessons learned in the field. Word got out, and buddies started dropping off their own dogs for Clay to work with. In his words, “It beat mowing grass all summer.” What started in his backyard turned into a full-blown business, Cypress Creek Retrievers. Today, he’s making duck dogs the right way—in the blind, in the mud, and still side-by-side with Bo. More Than a Dog isn’t just a story about retrievers. It’s about hard work, doing what you love, and building something that lasts. | 
