You don't train a dog to point, you bring the instinct to point out in it. The easiest way is to put the dog on wild birds that will flush every time the dog tries to bust them. One of the worst things you can do is use lousy birds and teach he dog they can catch them. If you don't have wild birds, a launcher is your best bet. When the dog smells the birds and tries to bust them, launch the birds. Won't take too many times before you have a solid point. Brits are pretty easy to train, and this is one of those things the dog will train itself on if you get it into birds.
I'm not disagreeing with any of this. I will say however that some dogs figure the game out faster than others. I have one who would point birds in launchers or planted birds all day long. But once we started going after the real thing it took him a while to catch on. Wild birds run, wild birds don't exist in primo scenting conditions, and wild birds are more apt to flush. It used to drive me nuts watching one of my Pointers stop in the middle of some cover, see his head whip back and forth with a wild look in his eyes, take two steps foward and see a woodcock (we were in the Midwest) fly up behind him with him none the wiser. Or worse watch him blow right by a bird only to have me bump it while following him. Then one day something magical happened, we were out in a light snow in late March, the woodies were flying north again, and the dog stopped in the middle of a nasty tangle of plant matter and started pointing them. The dog pointed his first brood of grouse that Fall and we never looked back.
Wish I could say the same for my shooting.
Keep getting the dog out. If the dog has any natural point it will start to come out, the dog just needs to learn from its mistakes. Worry when they turn two.
yep, just because your dog is trained does not mean it will point wild birds. But, give it a bit and it will connect the training with the wild birds. what will happen is that the wild bird is gonna change the rules a bit.
My Bodie pointed the first pigeon I ever put out for him. He also pointed the first wild birds he ever found. A friend's dog from the same bloodlines had no interest at all in birds till she was about 5 mos. Now she's a machine. Your dog will start pointing when its the right time.
