Training Pointing Dogs with Birds - Part 1

When SportDOG® asked me to write training articles on some of the aspects of training pointing dogs to handle birds, it seemed like a pretty easy task. As a full-time trainer and quail guide in Arizona, pointing dogs and birds are my passion. However, as I started to write about my training methods, I quickly realised things were going to get a bit complicated. That’s because there are a lot of topics within that one category of “pointing dogs and birds”: Teaching “Whoa”; introducing young dogs to birds; how to deal with creeping; best way to handle running birds … and on and on. All of these thing are related, and it’s nearly impossible to talk about one topic exclusive of the others. Therefore, I’m going to give you an overview of some of the most important aspects in the training methods I use with the goal of getting my pointing dogs to hunt upland birds with maximum success.

No yarn about training a pointer can kick off without getting your head around one dead-set certainty: It's all about 'Whoa.' If your doggo doesn't get this command, nothing else is gonna stack up for you. 'Whoa' is a control tool. Blokes are gobsmacked when I tell 'em 'Whoa' isn't about birds. It's not! 'Whoa' means pull up and stay put until told otherwise. That's all there is to it. It can be used to stop a dog from bolting onto a motorway. It might be used to keep him from going up to and getting snarky with another dog. And, for sure, 'Whoa' is what we reckon with a dog being on point. A dog that's trained up proper, though, doesn't need to cop a 'Whoa' to pull up and hold point. His sniffer, instincts, and training sort that out.

When I’m teaching a dog to hold point, I begin with the dog on a lead. We work in a place with no other dogs, no distractions and, most importantly, no birds. I’ll walk with the dog at my side and let him get a foot or two in front of me. Then, I simply say “Whoa” and give a sharp tug on the lead. I keep pressure on the lead and walk around the dog. The first time, and possibly the first several times, the dog will want to turn with me, which is just his natural tendency. When that happens, I set him back where he was and repeat “Whoa.” I repeat the process until he understands he is not to move no matter where I walk or what I do.

The dog is also learning that the tug and “Whoa,” whether together or separately, both mean stop and don’t move. When your dog is reliably staying put via the tug, the word “Whoa” or both, you’ll soon be ready to move into working with birds.

The biggest blunder folks make is rushing to the next steps before 'Whoa' is spot on. It takes a solid base to train a pointing dog. If your base isn't solid, the walls are gonna fall apart and the roof's gonna collapse. I've stuffed up by speeding through it. Reckoned I had a decent base and kicked off with the walls, but then realised the base wasn't sturdy enough to hold up those walls and I had to head back and start from scratch.

I'm not keen on constantly giving orders while hunting. If you sort out your 'Whoa' basics and then properly link it to the live-bird drills I'll be discussing in upcoming articles, you'll realise you hardly need to chat to your dog out in the field. Other than a command to get a dog to turn or maybe giving a dog a 'Whoa' to stop it from charging into another dog it can't see, there's no point in yakking all the time. Nor should you be hollering and shouting. It's just not helpful. If you catch yourself doing these things, you likely didn't lay down a solid foundation.

In my next article I’m gonna explain the methods I use to introduce young pointing dogs to birds, and future articles will explain how these steps all tie together.