Area of camp for private lessons the blue ridge top push him toward the bird by applying slight forward pressure to his hindquarters. indecisive pup handled this manner either style up or allow you to verbally or physically push him into the bird, flushing it. Either outcome is beneficial, and ultimately the style and intensity desired a class gun dog. A pup learns from every bird contact, including those not handled perfectly. Rabidou, accomplished breeder, trainer, and handler of German Shorthairs, and member of the Field Trial Hall of Fame, wrote article over forty years ago entitled 't Ruin Your Pup By Making Him Point. This successful professional's position was that a pup should not be check-corded on planted birds and commanded to whoa, but rather allowed to encounter free roaming wild or released birds, and to begin pointing them when ready. This advice is as sound now, as when it was initially published. Respected versatile dog trainer observes, If you keep exposing your pup to fields, woods, and wild game, eventually- his own good time- he point unless you mess him up. Weaver, who has trained over a thousand companion gun dogs, similarly cautions, Do not handle your pup on birds before it is ready, and do not try to force the pup to point. Do not check cord your pup into a planted bird and whoa it on it's first outings. Do not over train, or over handle, the pup on birds. Your pup should be allowed to find, flush, and birds, developing the pointing instinct naturally and building enthusiasm for bird scent. If you allow sufficient time and birds before starting to staunch your pup, it develop sufficient boldness to handle training. If, due to a scarcity of local birds, or winter conditions that curtail fieldwork, you are unable to introduce your pup to birds by six to nine months of age, 't despair. A well-bred pup whose first exposure to game occurs at a year of age with appropriate experience commenced at this time, normally be just as proficient at eighteen months as a pup introduced to birds much earlier. The more mature pup has a greater capacity to learn, and develop game handling skills at a relatively accelerated rate. Respected grouse dog trainer, Strickland, deliberately avoided exposing pups to any birds until they were thoroughly yard trained usually at about a year of age. One of the most common mistakes made by enthusiastic, impatient novice trainers is exposing their pup to too liberated birds or to birds planted, or confined releasers at too age. Introduction to birds need not, and should not, be rushed. Trainer-author notes that New, inexperienced owners often make the mistake of pushing their animals too quickly, which causes developmental problems. If doubt how fast your pup should learn, remember that it is wiser to proceed too slowly rather than too fast. A check cord is a necessary tool when steadying a dog to wing and shot, a requirement of most field trial shooting dog and all age dog stakes. A check cord is not necessary, or even desirable, when introducing a puppy to birds. A free running pup worked on wild birds, or area properly seeded with liberated birds, learn to select likely objectives, decipher airborne scent trails, differentiate between a bird and a hot spot, and through trial and error to point birds at appropriate distance. A pup led to birds on a check cord doesn't have the same opportunity to develop these skills. Similarly, a bird releaser is a valuable tool when finishing a field trial dog particularly when teaching the dog to stop to flush. These devices are, however, unnecessary when introducing a puppy to birds. Your pup learn more from encountering alert, wary, free roaming birds than he