pointing

[shocker35]

I have a Brittany pup that is 16 weeks old on Wed. She is my first bird dog so this is my first go at training. When she was younger I was doing the wing on a stick thing and she kind of pointed but it was for maybe a second then went to grab the wing. I read that this can be detrimental to her development since it could cause her to crowd birds and cause birds to flush too early so I stopped with the wing on a stick. I have since switched to bumpers injected with scent and i hide them in the yard and have her find them. She finds them just fine but she does not point, she just dives right in after them. I know shes still young and I have two books I am reading and figuring out methods. I am reading the Delmar Smith book and the Larry Mueller book. Does anyone think I am going about it the wrong way? Does the pointing come over time? She is still young and I am just introducing her to new things every so often. Just looking for some help.

Thank you in advance.

[rinker]

I think you are going about it the wrong way. First of all the puppy is young and it would be fine to expose her to birds, but with no real expectations and with no formal training. Second of all, there is no substitute for birds. You can substitute pigeons for game birds, but you still need birds. A bumper is fine for retrieving drills but stop expecting the pup to point them.

[Nutmeg247]

I have a Brittany pup that is 16 weeks old on Wed. She is my first bird dog so this is my first go at training. When she was younger I was doing the wing on a stick thing and she kind of pointed but it was for maybe a second then went to grab the wing. I read that this can be detrimental to her development since it could cause her to crowd birds and cause birds to flush too early so I stopped with the wing on a stick. I have since switched to bumpers injected with scent and i hide them in the yard and have her find them. She finds them just fine but she does not point, she just dives right in after them. I know shes still young and I have two books I am reading and figuring out methods. I am reading the Delmar Smith book and the Larry Mueller book. Does anyone think I am going about it the wrong way? Does the pointing come over time? She is still young and I am just introducing her to new things every so often. Just looking for some help.

Thank you in advance.

I asked a similar question about 18 months ago re the bumpers, and still do this with my dog just as a game. Basically, they can tell the difference between the bumper and a bird. You can train the dog to point or otherwise "alert" to the bumper, just like other types of nosework, but it's different from the dog pointing a bird.

Whether playing these kinds of games with bumpers, or other type of nosework, hurts the dog's development is an interesting question.

I personally found the free pdf "Field Manual" from Mo LIndley that's available here, http://steadywithstyle.com/resources/ to be very helpful in developing my dog.

Enjoy the process!

[shocker35]

Thank you for the responses thus far. I have a bird launcher on order and just bought all the supplies to build a pigeon trap this past weekend so that'll be a project to build this week. I doubt my neighbors would appreciate me keeping pigeons in a pen but I live relatively close enough to areas that have pigeons I can trap, so I was going to begin exposing her to live birds come the new year. She has been exposed to dead pheasants and shes very interested in them, she tried to pick them up but she was like 8 pounds at that time. So the bumpers are essentially purely for throwing and retrieving huh? How does everyone practice pointing without live birds or do you not. I want to do this as correctly as I can.

[Winchey]

It is always nice to have a few homers. It is relatively easy to build a 4x4x4 coop and blend into a small suburban yard. You can get a lot done with 3-6 reliable homers if you only have a pup or two. Most neighbours shouldn't notice half a dozen pigeons flying around once in a while. I would suggest doing it if at all possible.

[shocker35]

Just for reference, my lot is about 70 feet by 100 feet and my neighbors called the town on me when I left privacy fencing out over night to dry on the side of my house.

[shocker35]

i found out I can have a pigeon coop but wont that interfere and mess things up if I have to have the coop in the same yard as the dog?

[hettmoe]

Why has she only been exposed to pheasants that are dead?

[shocker35]

I went bird hunting with a buddy and came home with a few when she was like 8 weeks old.

[Sharon]

i found out I can have a pigeon coop but wont that interfere and mess things up if I have to have the coop in the same yard as the dog?

No- hard to explain but - no.

[Sharon]

I have a Brittany pup that is 16 weeks old on Wed. She is my first bird dog so this is my first go at training. When she was younger I was doing the wing on a stick thing and she kind of pointed but it was for maybe a second then went to grab the wing. I read that this can be detrimental to her development since it could cause her to crowd birds and cause birds to flush too early so I stopped with the wing on a stick. I have since switched to bumpers injected with scent and i hide them in the yard and have her find them. She finds them just fine but she does not point, she just dives right in after them. I know shes still young and I have two books I am reading and figuring out methods. I am reading the Delmar Smith book and the Larry Mueller book. Does anyone think I am going about it the wrong way? Does the pointing come over time? She is still young and I am just introducing her to new things every so often. Just looking for some help.

Thank you in advance.

wing on a string , dead birds , bumpers injected with scent .............mercy , ... no harm done but let start over.

Takes live hard - flying birds to make a bird dog = pigeons to start with.
I can't have a coop in the yard either ( live in the city, and neighbors complained about homers landing on their roofs and gazebos) , but I've trained several birds dogs this way ... a crate in the garage. Pick up 6 birds a week/ used over 3 days. Use them THAT week or they won't fly. Only need to do this for a couple months hopefully , then can switch to quail which are easier to keep.
Follow a plan = "Training with Mo" book.

Being steady- pointing and not moving - definitely takes lots of time.. not uncommon to take more than a year to have a dog steady to flush and shot.
I let my pups chase hard flying pigeons they can't catch so they learn they can't catch them When they start to hesitate/creep , there is no more chasing and steadying gets serious. NOT everyone does it that way , but it has worked well that way for me. Pick a plan - like the book I suggested - and follow it.

At 4 months, old don't be too heavy on the control in the field. You want an independent pup that will find birds for you one day.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/training-with-mo.html