I grew up on this farm; this is where I learned to both love and respect animals. Most family time was spent around work, and I spent most of my younger years playing in the shadows of laboring family members. I watched my grandfather, old and feeble from years of labor, turn away a charging cow with the flick of his straw hat. He just grinned when he saw my amazement, but I slowly began to realize that one of his greatest gifts was his ability to know how an animal would react to an upcoming situation. He applied this knowledge to everything from cows to dogs to grandchildren.

In college I fell in love with retrievers. I saw a retriever demonstration at the state fair grounds in Perry, GA and knew I had to have one. When Kendra and I purchased our first black lab, Allie, I could not wait to start training and I began reading every book and watching every movie I could find. It was not long, however, before I realized the greatest lesson I would ever learn about dog training would not come from a book or a movie. The greatest lesson I ever learned came from my childhood on this farm. From family members like my grandfather, I learned the art of reading animals, and this understanding has served me well in retriever training.

My love and respect for my grandfather, led me to name the facility after him. Odis Taylor spent years shaping animals on this land; now Kendra and I spend our time doing the same.