New guy with some questions:

[Wood Beak]

Hi everyone Im new to the form and have finally decided to get a bird dog, I have hunted with my cousins dog that was a french pointer. The dog has recently passed and i want to continue the tradition of hunting for woodcock and grouse with my own dog. I have been hunting over many different breeds recently and have come down to vizslas and french pointers, as dogs that would suit me best, i want to get a puppy so i could grow up with it.
Im just not sure of the process of training, i know bits and pieces of the process, such as teaching the dog basic commands "come,heel,and woa" but the time frame from when i start putting her on wild birds, and the dos and donts. any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
-David

[AZ Brittany Guy]

Welcome wood beak, Quite a few knowledge people here, you should get some good input. I would suggest that you just bond and socialize the pup for the first year. Run him in safe places and let him explore the wonderful world out their. Make it fun, no pressure.

[Trekmoor]

What breed do you mean by "French Pointer ?" I think there is more than one French pointing breed.

Bill T.

[mnaj_springer]

Welcome wood beak, Quite a few knowledge people here, you should get some good input. I would suggest that you just bond and socialize the pup for the first year. Run him in safe places and let him explore the wonderful world out their. Make it fun, no pressure.

+1

I would also suggest joining a club and/or finding an experienced mentor to train with.

[Mumpy]

When you say French Pointer I assume you're talking about the Braques français. Nice dogs and one that I've always wanted to hunt over but I've never had the opportunity. As far as training goes, I'm a firm believer in purchasing a program and following it. Recently I purchased the Huntsmith DVD series and I can't begin to explain the difference this has made in my way of thinking in terms of training. Just google Huntsmith DVD and you'll find them. It's like $150 for 4 DVD's and they will take you from Puppy to Steady to Wing, Shot and Fall.

Good Luck and if I can give you one more piece of advice. Before you get your pup, purchase the DVD's and watch them and also it won't hurt if you were to build a pigeon loft and raise you about 5-10 Pigeons.

[Wood Beak]

Thanks for commenting guys, and i will look into those DVDs and the Braques français is the breed and the Pyrenees was the one i was interested in. My family is good friends with a guide up in NH that i think i could use as a mentor, as i grow with the pup.

[High Voltage]

Best thing we ever did was to join the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, NAVHDA for short. Here is the website http://www.navhda.org/
There are chapters all over North America, great people!

[aulrich]

x2 on NAVHDA helped me a lot