Wow, another great looking pup. Good luck Phoneman.
1 trick I learned for very young pups to assist with pointing. I was told to do this and it worked for me. I did not discover this on my own.
Get a bird launcher or simply a wire basket with a string attached. Buy 3 pigeons at a time for around $5 each. Hide a pigeon in some tall grass in the launcher. Get the 9-12 week old pup on a check cord and lead him/her downwind. They'll lock up on the scent. As soon as they start creeping in, release the bird and let the dog just watch it fly away. The first time expect a 10-20 second point. Wait about 15 minutes and repeat. This time they'll hold 45 seconds to a minute. Wait again and repeat process. The last time, they'll most likely point for 2 minutes or so.
You are teaching them they can't catch these wonderful smelling creatures. And at this young age they truly can't. It has worked just amazingly well on Bane and very happy I did it. I went through about a dozen pigeons doing this with him. Its just a good starting point I think. Good luck if you try it!
