Pointing Dog
Foundation Training
as featured in the Quail Forever Magazine
Foundation Training
as featured in the Quail Forever Magazine
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By Dale Taylor
Owner of Premier Gundogs Training Kennel Hallam, Nebraska
Probably the most common question I am asked is on the subject of puppy training.
There is probably more disagreements and differences in training techniques
concerning this topic than any other. The reason I feel there is such a difference, is that
trainers tend to teach different styles to their dogs, on how to hunt and it varies from
region to region. An example of this would be a Georgia Field Trial trainer using the
same techniques in foundation work as a pheasant hunter would use in South Dakota.
The last thing the Field Trial trainer would want to see is there prize big running quail
dog quartering 30 yards out and checking in repeatably during a hunt. Hopefully, this
article will help you in understanding how to accomplish teaching a Midwest Style Upland
Dog.
Dogs are pack animals and puppies imprint at a very young age how to be a predator
and to hunt as a pack. When you take the pup from the litter it then “bonds” with you and
becomes part of your pack, with you becoming its new pack leader. It is during this time
period, what I call “Foundation Training”, that our new bird dog pup learns how to be a
hunter. While there are many ingredients in making a solid gundog, the proper
introduction to birds, retrieving and gun fire are the most important. The foundation for
other skills such as quartering, hunting in range, hunting in cover and tracking will also
be taught during this time period.
First, I can not emphasis enough the importance of getting your new pup “birdy”. For
Pointing breeds this means pointing a wing on a string at a young age then continuing
on to pointing quail, pigeons, and then pheasants. We always start small and work our
way up. The wing and a string accomplish several things. First, it develops pointing
ability and bird drive where the youngster is not intimidated by a big wing beat or the
actual sound of the flush. Second, it develops what is called “staunchness on point”.
Staunchness is best described as a dog that looks frozen solid while on point, with full
attention on the bird. It is achieved by making the pup think that if he moves toward the
bird, it will fly away. Staunchness should not be confused with “steadiness”. Steadiness
is a term used to describe an older dog that has been taught not to move by using a
command such as, “WHOA”. It is similar to using a command of “SIT” to achieve
steadiness in a retriever.
The wing and the string allow you to flush the bird (so to speak) if the pup moves in by
lifting the rod up. The pup then imprints that if he creeps or jumps in the bird will fly away
creating a strong desire to stay on point and creating staunchness on point. You can
continue this as junior gets older by using a fresh killed quail on the string, not only are
getting larger but now you are adding scent to the exercise. The pup now is learning
that what he is pointing has a certain smell to it. This new smell triggers a strong bird
drive response that is genetically hardwired into your dog. Next, you can start to drop
the fresh killed quail in cover and teach the pup to point off scent only, again flushing the
bird if the youngster jumps or creeps in.
Now we have a young pup pointing off scent alone and he is conditioned to the flush(
lifting the rod tip up) of the dead quail if he moves. As junior develops more and more
boldness toward the flush of the dead quail you can advance to a live quail. Use only
flight conditioned or liberated quail for this. Liberated quail can usually be found in
thickets next to the bird fields at your local hunt test or field trial grounds. Most states
allow dog training in these same areas giving you access to good flying birds. Flight
conditioned birds can be purchased at game farms but are not the same as just a pen
raised bird. Pen raised quail that are not in large flight pens generally do not work for
this. They are not wild enough, usually do not have good enough feathering and do not
fly good enough to use with your young dog. We do not want the pup to catch the quail
but to learn to point staunchly. If he repeatedly runs down or jumps in and catches the
quail you will take the point out of him and develop a pup that wants to flush it with the
imprinted thought off, “If I can get it in the air it will come down and I can catch it”. While
this is fine for a Retriever or Springer it is not what you want in a pointing dog.
During this stage you can plant the quail in somewhat heavier cover like a food plot,
taller CRP type grass or basically the same type of cover you will be hunting. If you want
a pheasant/quail dog you need to train in the same cover where these birds are found.
This imprints in the pup where to find birds. It can also be used to imprint in the pup the
range in which to hunt. This is accomplished by you, the pack leader, knowing where
the birds are. Your young pup will learn to hunt as a team thinking, “Dad always can find
birds, and I’m going to stick with him”. If you have to, walk in the heavy cover to help him
find the birds. Use suggestions like “find em”, as you get close to the planted birds. This
will imprint the suggestion means a bird is close. If junior is a run away, you can help
teach the pup to stay in range by carrying the birds with you in a game bag rather than
planting the birds ahead of time. Simply wait until he turns back and is headed in. As he
approaches start releasing a few quail from the bag, again using flight conditioned birds.
This will entice junior to come back in range. Also, have a few birds planted close by for
him to find, continuing to imprint that birds are by dad. He will quickly learn from this drill
that you found birds and he did not.
Next, after the pup is used to pointing and hearing the flush of a quail we go on to
pigeons. While pigeons are not a game bird you are going to be hunting, pigeons are
usually easy to find, very hardy and are strong flyers. Continue to plant in heavy cover
by dizzying them up. This continues to let pup get used to a larger wing beat while the
pup is still imprinting to hunt heavier cover. Once pup is hunting for, finding, pointing
and then chasing pigeons you then go onto hen pheasants. The reason we use hens is
that they do not have the loud cackle like a rooster does with the flush, do not run as
bad as a rooster and are cheaper to purchase. You can purchase hen pheasants from
local game farms and they are easy to plant by tucking the head under a wing and
putting the hen to sleep. She will only stay asleep for a little while then begin to move
around creating a large area off scent like a bird out feeding. Make sure to check your
states regulations before training with both quail and pheasants so you do not violate
any game laws.
The time line between an 8 week old puppy pointing a wing to a young gundog pointing
a hen is dependent on the dog but generally is accomplished in about 4 months, or by 6
months of age. If I had to set a time table it would be as follows: Starting at about 8
weeks of age we work the pup on the wing once a week letting the pup have 3-5 points
in the session. The session should last no longer than 5 minutes or so. Then by 12
weeks of age we start the pup pointing the fresh killed quail on the string about once a
week and again the session should last no longer than about 5 minutes. We then are up
to the 16 week of age mark and are now pointing the liberated quail twice a week, and by
20 weeks of age pointing the pigeons. If you can get out to the field twice a week with
the pigeons in heavier cover that would be great, and generally by the 6 month of age
mark we are up to the hen pheasants, You will need to not overdue the wing and the
string as the pup may start to point the rod instead of the wing or quail. After that, the
more birds the better, again remembering we do not want pup to catch any birds.
Second, we need to develop the pup as a retriever. Bumpers are the standard tool used
to start the process of retrieving but failing to allow your pup to get a bird in its mouth at
a young age can cause the pup to not want to pick up a bird later on. We start both the
bumper and bird retrieves at about 8-9 weeks of age using a fresh killed quail for the
bird. A hallway works great to get the thing started as junior will try to run by you but
ends up in your lap. This starts the process of teaching him he has to come to us. We
then go outside we use a light checkcord on the pup so we can gently pull the pup in
with the bird. This will accomplish two things. First, it keeps the pup from running off with
the bird. Second, it continues to teach the pup that we as the pack leader get to eat first
and that you need to bring the bird to us. This will help to establish us as the dominate
pack leader in a gentle handed way. Retrieving a fresh killed quail also builds prey drive
which will be used later on in gun breaking. If he does not come with the bird, we gently
pull him in.
Let the pup hold the bird for 30 seconds or so as this will start the process of teaching
junior to hold with no command. Some pups will not hold the bird when they get to you
but will drop it in the hope the can play with it. If the pup drops the bird just pick it up.
This is not the time for any force hold or fetch so do not try and make the pup hold.
As pup gets older move onto fresh killed pigeons, fresh killed hen pheasants and then
clipped wing live pigeons. He should progress as he gets bigger and be used to the
wing beat of the live pigeons from the pointing drills. Once he will bring in the birds
without you having to pull him in take a chance to see if he will start to retrieve the birds
without the checkcord. We generally do this in a fenced alley way to guide the pup to us
like the hallway did. If pup gets away from you with the bird at anytime do not chase him
that is what he wants you to do. It is his way of trying to establish dominance over you.
Simply walk away from the pup and act like you do not care about the bird, he will come
running to you. We like to play fetch daily with the bumpers building retrieving skills but
only use birds about once a week. Make sure not to overdue the drills, just two or three
retrieves at a time is needed. Always end with junior wanting more. In all my years of
training, I have seen only a limited amount of pups that would not pick up a fresh killed
quail or pigeon. Even in breeds not known for great retrieving skills I have seen very few
that did not want to retrieve a bird at this young age. Remember our pup is a canine
and in nature it would carry the dead game back to the den or run with it to try and keep
it away from the pack leader.
During the point and chase stage of the quail work, or 14 to16 weeks of age we like to
start the gun breaking process. Now, assuming the pup likes to chase after and /or
retrieve a fresh killed quail/pigeon or bumper, we can use his desire to retrieve as a
distraction to the sound of the gun. We like to gun break by going to the field were we
normally work pup on retrieving bumpers and/or where we take the pup to run and play.
It always is a place where the pup feels safe and is familiar with. Have a helper take a
cap gun or small gauge shotgun out to the field with you. We get our helper about 75
yards downwind of us and when the pup is on hot pursuit after the bird/bumper thrown
into the wind we have our helper fire the cap gun. Noticed I said “hot pursuit”. I want
junior’s attention chasing after the bird/bumper and not the sound of the cap gun. Once
the pup is used to the gunfire at that distance have the helper move in closer. Be
careful not to overdue it the first several times out and always work in slowly. If your pup
has no desire to chase after and retrieve a fresh killed bird or bumper you will need to
develop that desire before gun breaking.
Once he is comfortable with the gun at a close range while chasing after the bumper or
dead quail you can do the same drill while chasing after a flight conditioned quail. If your
pup is not socialized to being in the area or in the field do not try and gun break this way
until the pup feels safe in that setting. Once the pup is chasing after flying quail with a
gunshot, you then can incorporate the gunfire while he is chasing after the pointed birds
when flushed.
You now have junior hunting heavy cover, pointing quail and hen pheasants, are able to
shoot the shotgun in the air while he is chasing birds and he is retrieving birds in the
yard and in the field on a dead bird command with a shot being fired. I think you know
what comes next.
Shooting the first bird your dog points will be one of the most rewarding times in all your
training. Start slow and only shoot a few. Do not shoot every bird he points, even during
the season. We do not want the pup to imprint the thought of, “IF I get it in the air I will
hear the bang and down it comes”. This will keep the pup guessing. If he jumps in and
flushes the bird do not shoot the bird. Let the wild birds flush staunch him up like the
drills from the wing and the string. If he points a covey do not shoot any but wait and
shoot a few singles to him. Also, he will point more hens than rooster’s making it easy to
help keep him staunch on pheasants.
Written by Dale Taylor, owner of Premier Gundogs Training Kennel
Hallam NE
No unauthorized reproduction of this article
Owner of Premier Gundogs Training Kennel Hallam, Nebraska
Probably the most common question I am asked is on the subject of puppy training.
There is probably more disagreements and differences in training techniques
concerning this topic than any other. The reason I feel there is such a difference, is that
trainers tend to teach different styles to their dogs, on how to hunt and it varies from
region to region. An example of this would be a Georgia Field Trial trainer using the
same techniques in foundation work as a pheasant hunter would use in South Dakota.
The last thing the Field Trial trainer would want to see is there prize big running quail
dog quartering 30 yards out and checking in repeatably during a hunt. Hopefully, this
article will help you in understanding how to accomplish teaching a Midwest Style Upland
Dog.
Dogs are pack animals and puppies imprint at a very young age how to be a predator
and to hunt as a pack. When you take the pup from the litter it then “bonds” with you and
becomes part of your pack, with you becoming its new pack leader. It is during this time
period, what I call “Foundation Training”, that our new bird dog pup learns how to be a
hunter. While there are many ingredients in making a solid gundog, the proper
introduction to birds, retrieving and gun fire are the most important. The foundation for
other skills such as quartering, hunting in range, hunting in cover and tracking will also
be taught during this time period.
First, I can not emphasis enough the importance of getting your new pup “birdy”. For
Pointing breeds this means pointing a wing on a string at a young age then continuing
on to pointing quail, pigeons, and then pheasants. We always start small and work our
way up. The wing and a string accomplish several things. First, it develops pointing
ability and bird drive where the youngster is not intimidated by a big wing beat or the
actual sound of the flush. Second, it develops what is called “staunchness on point”.
Staunchness is best described as a dog that looks frozen solid while on point, with full
attention on the bird. It is achieved by making the pup think that if he moves toward the
bird, it will fly away. Staunchness should not be confused with “steadiness”. Steadiness
is a term used to describe an older dog that has been taught not to move by using a
command such as, “WHOA”. It is similar to using a command of “SIT” to achieve
steadiness in a retriever.
The wing and the string allow you to flush the bird (so to speak) if the pup moves in by
lifting the rod up. The pup then imprints that if he creeps or jumps in the bird will fly away
creating a strong desire to stay on point and creating staunchness on point. You can
continue this as junior gets older by using a fresh killed quail on the string, not only are
getting larger but now you are adding scent to the exercise. The pup now is learning
that what he is pointing has a certain smell to it. This new smell triggers a strong bird
drive response that is genetically hardwired into your dog. Next, you can start to drop
the fresh killed quail in cover and teach the pup to point off scent only, again flushing the
bird if the youngster jumps or creeps in.
Now we have a young pup pointing off scent alone and he is conditioned to the flush(
lifting the rod tip up) of the dead quail if he moves. As junior develops more and more
boldness toward the flush of the dead quail you can advance to a live quail. Use only
flight conditioned or liberated quail for this. Liberated quail can usually be found in
thickets next to the bird fields at your local hunt test or field trial grounds. Most states
allow dog training in these same areas giving you access to good flying birds. Flight
conditioned birds can be purchased at game farms but are not the same as just a pen
raised bird. Pen raised quail that are not in large flight pens generally do not work for
this. They are not wild enough, usually do not have good enough feathering and do not
fly good enough to use with your young dog. We do not want the pup to catch the quail
but to learn to point staunchly. If he repeatedly runs down or jumps in and catches the
quail you will take the point out of him and develop a pup that wants to flush it with the
imprinted thought off, “If I can get it in the air it will come down and I can catch it”. While
this is fine for a Retriever or Springer it is not what you want in a pointing dog.
During this stage you can plant the quail in somewhat heavier cover like a food plot,
taller CRP type grass or basically the same type of cover you will be hunting. If you want
a pheasant/quail dog you need to train in the same cover where these birds are found.
This imprints in the pup where to find birds. It can also be used to imprint in the pup the
range in which to hunt. This is accomplished by you, the pack leader, knowing where
the birds are. Your young pup will learn to hunt as a team thinking, “Dad always can find
birds, and I’m going to stick with him”. If you have to, walk in the heavy cover to help him
find the birds. Use suggestions like “find em”, as you get close to the planted birds. This
will imprint the suggestion means a bird is close. If junior is a run away, you can help
teach the pup to stay in range by carrying the birds with you in a game bag rather than
planting the birds ahead of time. Simply wait until he turns back and is headed in. As he
approaches start releasing a few quail from the bag, again using flight conditioned birds.
This will entice junior to come back in range. Also, have a few birds planted close by for
him to find, continuing to imprint that birds are by dad. He will quickly learn from this drill
that you found birds and he did not.
Next, after the pup is used to pointing and hearing the flush of a quail we go on to
pigeons. While pigeons are not a game bird you are going to be hunting, pigeons are
usually easy to find, very hardy and are strong flyers. Continue to plant in heavy cover
by dizzying them up. This continues to let pup get used to a larger wing beat while the
pup is still imprinting to hunt heavier cover. Once pup is hunting for, finding, pointing
and then chasing pigeons you then go onto hen pheasants. The reason we use hens is
that they do not have the loud cackle like a rooster does with the flush, do not run as
bad as a rooster and are cheaper to purchase. You can purchase hen pheasants from
local game farms and they are easy to plant by tucking the head under a wing and
putting the hen to sleep. She will only stay asleep for a little while then begin to move
around creating a large area off scent like a bird out feeding. Make sure to check your
states regulations before training with both quail and pheasants so you do not violate
any game laws.
The time line between an 8 week old puppy pointing a wing to a young gundog pointing
a hen is dependent on the dog but generally is accomplished in about 4 months, or by 6
months of age. If I had to set a time table it would be as follows: Starting at about 8
weeks of age we work the pup on the wing once a week letting the pup have 3-5 points
in the session. The session should last no longer than 5 minutes or so. Then by 12
weeks of age we start the pup pointing the fresh killed quail on the string about once a
week and again the session should last no longer than about 5 minutes. We then are up
to the 16 week of age mark and are now pointing the liberated quail twice a week, and by
20 weeks of age pointing the pigeons. If you can get out to the field twice a week with
the pigeons in heavier cover that would be great, and generally by the 6 month of age
mark we are up to the hen pheasants, You will need to not overdue the wing and the
string as the pup may start to point the rod instead of the wing or quail. After that, the
more birds the better, again remembering we do not want pup to catch any birds.
Second, we need to develop the pup as a retriever. Bumpers are the standard tool used
to start the process of retrieving but failing to allow your pup to get a bird in its mouth at
a young age can cause the pup to not want to pick up a bird later on. We start both the
bumper and bird retrieves at about 8-9 weeks of age using a fresh killed quail for the
bird. A hallway works great to get the thing started as junior will try to run by you but
ends up in your lap. This starts the process of teaching him he has to come to us. We
then go outside we use a light checkcord on the pup so we can gently pull the pup in
with the bird. This will accomplish two things. First, it keeps the pup from running off with
the bird. Second, it continues to teach the pup that we as the pack leader get to eat first
and that you need to bring the bird to us. This will help to establish us as the dominate
pack leader in a gentle handed way. Retrieving a fresh killed quail also builds prey drive
which will be used later on in gun breaking. If he does not come with the bird, we gently
pull him in.
Let the pup hold the bird for 30 seconds or so as this will start the process of teaching
junior to hold with no command. Some pups will not hold the bird when they get to you
but will drop it in the hope the can play with it. If the pup drops the bird just pick it up.
This is not the time for any force hold or fetch so do not try and make the pup hold.
As pup gets older move onto fresh killed pigeons, fresh killed hen pheasants and then
clipped wing live pigeons. He should progress as he gets bigger and be used to the
wing beat of the live pigeons from the pointing drills. Once he will bring in the birds
without you having to pull him in take a chance to see if he will start to retrieve the birds
without the checkcord. We generally do this in a fenced alley way to guide the pup to us
like the hallway did. If pup gets away from you with the bird at anytime do not chase him
that is what he wants you to do. It is his way of trying to establish dominance over you.
Simply walk away from the pup and act like you do not care about the bird, he will come
running to you. We like to play fetch daily with the bumpers building retrieving skills but
only use birds about once a week. Make sure not to overdue the drills, just two or three
retrieves at a time is needed. Always end with junior wanting more. In all my years of
training, I have seen only a limited amount of pups that would not pick up a fresh killed
quail or pigeon. Even in breeds not known for great retrieving skills I have seen very few
that did not want to retrieve a bird at this young age. Remember our pup is a canine
and in nature it would carry the dead game back to the den or run with it to try and keep
it away from the pack leader.
During the point and chase stage of the quail work, or 14 to16 weeks of age we like to
start the gun breaking process. Now, assuming the pup likes to chase after and /or
retrieve a fresh killed quail/pigeon or bumper, we can use his desire to retrieve as a
distraction to the sound of the gun. We like to gun break by going to the field were we
normally work pup on retrieving bumpers and/or where we take the pup to run and play.
It always is a place where the pup feels safe and is familiar with. Have a helper take a
cap gun or small gauge shotgun out to the field with you. We get our helper about 75
yards downwind of us and when the pup is on hot pursuit after the bird/bumper thrown
into the wind we have our helper fire the cap gun. Noticed I said “hot pursuit”. I want
junior’s attention chasing after the bird/bumper and not the sound of the cap gun. Once
the pup is used to the gunfire at that distance have the helper move in closer. Be
careful not to overdue it the first several times out and always work in slowly. If your pup
has no desire to chase after and retrieve a fresh killed bird or bumper you will need to
develop that desire before gun breaking.
Once he is comfortable with the gun at a close range while chasing after the bumper or
dead quail you can do the same drill while chasing after a flight conditioned quail. If your
pup is not socialized to being in the area or in the field do not try and gun break this way
until the pup feels safe in that setting. Once the pup is chasing after flying quail with a
gunshot, you then can incorporate the gunfire while he is chasing after the pointed birds
when flushed.
You now have junior hunting heavy cover, pointing quail and hen pheasants, are able to
shoot the shotgun in the air while he is chasing birds and he is retrieving birds in the
yard and in the field on a dead bird command with a shot being fired. I think you know
what comes next.
Shooting the first bird your dog points will be one of the most rewarding times in all your
training. Start slow and only shoot a few. Do not shoot every bird he points, even during
the season. We do not want the pup to imprint the thought of, “IF I get it in the air I will
hear the bang and down it comes”. This will keep the pup guessing. If he jumps in and
flushes the bird do not shoot the bird. Let the wild birds flush staunch him up like the
drills from the wing and the string. If he points a covey do not shoot any but wait and
shoot a few singles to him. Also, he will point more hens than rooster’s making it easy to
help keep him staunch on pheasants.
Written by Dale Taylor, owner of Premier Gundogs Training Kennel
Hallam NE
No unauthorized reproduction of this article
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