Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Starting your Pointing Pup

At the suggestion of another poster, I thought I would take a whack at this. I don't want to take the credit, though. It was something that Tonk said that started me thinking. One of my first pups, I expected way too much, way too soon and pressured her too much. I loved her dearly, but she wasn't as good as she could have been. I let my youthful inexperience and my inpatience (which meant screaming) really hurt the development of my first dog.

So, I've learned that you really need to be patient with a pup. Some pups start much sooner than others, but, if you pay attention, your dog will let you know when to take the next step. Anyway, here's a tip that I think really helps. Its nothing new, and I know a variety of trainers and writers have mentioned this.

Take your pups for daily walks. Begin walking them at 8 weeks. Keep it short and make it fun. Love them up and rough house a bit. Call them to you if they get out a bit too far. Little pups are like little kids: they don't want to get too far anyway, so use this as a teaching moment.

When the pup reaches 12 weeks, hopefully, they will be a bit bolder on your walks. Disappear and call once. Most of the time, the pup will try to find you. If you can see the pup panic, don't hesitate to let him know you're there.

At 16 to 20 weeks, you might want to dizzy a quail or pigeon and plant it. Walk your dog to the vicnity. If they find it and chase it, great. If not, don't press it. In fact, regardless of the outcome the first time, don't say a word other than words of encouragement. Continue to introduce birds very slowly. You want to build desire and trust. This will be the foundation of the finish work to come.

As I've said before, there are certainly exceptions. I have a dog that pointed her first bird at 12 weeks. She pointed it so hard, that I had to try another, then another. She was finished before her first year. On the other hand, I've had setters that were really only pointing birds hard when they were a year old and were nearly 3 before I considered them finished.

It has been my experience with setters in general that they come on later than the German breeds. That said, I have five setters and love their need to please.

You gave everyone valuable training on training their dogs. I can't find a flaw of any kind in what you said.

My opinion of the first thing new dogs need to know is Whoa! If this settled, all else is much easier. This will make a pointer out of a blinker, too, IMO.

GREAT POST!!!

Thank you! I was wondering how folks thought we ought to do this. Should WHOA, be a separate topic? Anyway, you're right about WHOA. Its at least as important as COME.

You also bring up another topic for discussion. How to make a blinker into a pointer? I've found this one of the hardest things to do, and frankly I've not been too successful at it.

Huntaria _ Setters.......Well stated post! I would hope all those that read this thread, would take all this very good information to heart and use it when the time comes for them to have a puppy etc.

I used wait as opposed to whoa,thought it confused mine because it kept thinking I was telling him no.Anyone else ever run into this?

Yes, I have seen this. I've learned to say WHOA in a gutteral tone, and NO in a sharp tone. I don't think it matters if you say WAIT.

You could tell a dog S**T for WHOA and so long as it worked, OK. On the other hand, with some of my dogs, if they stopped every time I said S**T, then we would never get out of the yard!

We always used BAH! for no...

A well ingrained Whoa and reward when next to a planted bird was the only way I was able to turn blinkers into pointers...It worked much of the time, but not always. It is worth trying if your dog blinks.

I used clipped wing chuckar to get the dog excited about birds, then I used the same birds as plants for the whoa/point drills and hand treats as rewards. As I say, it works sometimes.

I had a pup starting to answer to g-dammit

I like the idea of the clipped wing pigeons. I think you're right, it depends on how bird shy a dog is. I've seen some dogs so bird shy that you could see that they had winded a bird, then turn to avoid it. That is a pitiful sight. I generally make a dog like this a pet or provide it to a friend that works with therapy dogs.

With a soft dog, I generally won't use the whoa command on point. I'll only use it to make them steady to wing.

At 4 months old my LM retrieved his first bird to me, a dove opening day of the season.After that he would not and still to this day won't pickup a dove and I went to clipped pidgeons and he will point but will not out one in his mouth.The dog will retrieve phez,chuckers,huns,quail and all waterfowl but never doves or pidgeons.A breeder told me that these two species are the dirtiest of the birds and that could be why.Thoughts?

Most dogs hate doves, because the feathers are loose, and the dog gets a mouth full of small soft feathers. I have seen several gag badly on dove feathers.

I've worked with a few bird shy pointers, young dogs made that way by knot head owners.

This may sound strange, but I found an easy way to cure it! This wont be a possibility for most guys, but I raise pheasants and chukars. I have a flight net that covers about a half acre, and had about 1500 birds in it. well, a light bulb went on in my head to take the dog into the flight pen..he was scared [bleep] at first, but i just ignored him while filling feeders and water troughs. he'd found a corner to crawl into, the erupting birds were scaring the hell out of him, wondering if i was making the problem worse, i just sat down and started petting him, trying to play fetch inside the flight pen, after bout 30 minutes, those birds started to interest him! He started to do some sight pointing. after a while and much playful encouragement he was chasing them all over hell!

Now a lot of guys would look down thier nose at me getting excited cuz a pointer was chasing birds, but that is exactly what I wanted! Stedying the point up with WHOA fell right into place smoothly and that dog was a huntin fool the rest of his life. of course its easier not to start the bird shy problem in the first place. books like the one you posted, and knot head owners that discipline dogs while they are on birds,that have just been introduced to birds is a recipe for disaster..it happens a lot.

I've done that routine on two other dogs, with the same results.I know most guys dont have the luxury of a few thousand birds in a flight pen, but the same thing could be duplicated in a smaller encloser with fewer birds.

I have no problem with a young dog chasing birds. Its really sort of natural.

I like the idea of using the flight pen. I think it depends on the dog, and its desire.

Rosco, I had my trainer do the same thing; put my female into the quail pen. She was just not that interested in birds.

She was pretty interested, and completely at easy amidst the birds, but no "fire". The real fire did not come until that Fall (1.5 years old), and I winged a ruffed grouse.

You could just about HEAR the nickel drop. Off she went like a shot, and after that, she turned into the best "dead hunter" I've ever seen or even heard about. She and I went an entire season without losing a bird (about 50 days worth, including three days in NoDak).

Give them time. They'll figure it out. JMO, Dutch.