Gun Dog Forum

Hello all,
I have been reading the GDF for about 8 months and you guys have greatly enhanced my relationship with my dog. My girl (GSP) Pepper is almost two and I knew nothing about Upland Hunting before finding this site. I have know been working her and hope to have my first hunt this year. She knows all basic commands and for the last two months or so has been understanding Whoa off the check chord. My question is this: Have I been developing bad habits by letting her sight point Junk birds (such as Robins etc). Where I live there is an open field which attracts many birds that hang out in open areas. At first I was using the area to associate the whoa command with pointing and it worked quite well but now I am wondering if I am developing bad habits as she seems to be pointing off sight only. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
PS Thanks to all the fellow Oregonians I love reading your advice!!

Pointing "bleep" birds is not all that bad but once you are after game birds you need to ignore the "bleep"'s so the dog doesn't keep getting rewarded for them and begins to learn what you're really after.

Here's one of the old threads you should review:

http://www.gundogforum.com/forum/viewto ... ds#p144072

Thanks BigShooter
Just read the thread you recommended and it had some great insights. I guess I should have searched "bleep" Birds to save you the trouble. I have found a spot to trap some pigeons and plan to do so this weekend so hopefully I can continue my dogs progression.

For more thoughts, here's another more recent thread: http://www.gundogforum.com/forum/viewto ... 11#p172111

dont worry about your dog pointing robins and such. its a phase all pointing dogs go through and any discouragement may translate into blinking the birds you want him to point. over time your dog will forget about robins and focus on game birds but that will only come with hunting experience so the more you can get the dog out and shoot birds for him, the more he will forget about the tweety birds. sounds like you have done a good job working with him so keep it up.