Ok, guys, I'll have to recommend against Wolters' Gun Dog. That book is ancient and most of the methods have been debunked (Some by Wolters himself).
Wolters' Game Dog and Water Dog have some good info for training retrievers, though. But I would steer clear of Gun Dog for pointing breeds. The joke is that Gun Dog has kept professional trainers in business since it was published in the early 60s.
Even though I was warned, I had to read it just to see what it was all about. My instincts tell me that Wolters focuses too much on THE EXACT DAY that all of this development should occur, and you'll find yourself discouraged if, on the 113th day, your dog doesn't suddenly start doing x or y. Also, I found Wolters a bit too heavy handed for my taste. My gsp could probably handle it, but there are some more sensitive dogs that would suddenly pack it up and go to the house before hunting for a guy that beat up on them that much.
I'll second the recommendation for Perfect Start/Perfect Finish from Perfection Kennels. Be warned that the techniques they use require that you have access to A LOT of pigeons. Time to make friends with someone who raises homers.
I've read speed train your own bird dog, and really thought the first half of the book was very helpful. It was fun to introduce "whoa" to my dog when he was just 7 weeks old by making him wait for his food. I found a lot of comfort in that book as a new puppy owner. But all of the pigeons on a pole and the whoa course and hitches just didn't fit into my style. I wanted the birds to train my dog, not an obstacle course of chutes and ladders.
But keep in mind the nature of book publishing. It's not really marketable to write a book that outlines good training techniques that are currently common knowledge. You have to come up with a gimmick to differentiate your product. Even the words "speed train" in the title plays into our desires to have things done quickly and easily. But as you'll soon find out with that pretty little gsp x lab, dogs learn "quickly" with slow and methodical repetition and training. Some gimmicks work and stick around, others just look like a veiled attempt to sell a book.
That takes me back to the Perfection folks. They have the chops to back up their claims: Real AFC/FC titles on some of the dogs they've trained. The field trial world requires a degree of steadiness and style that the meat hunters don't really require. I dare say that Larry Mueller and Delmar Smith don't have the ribbons to show for their work. Same goes for Bill Gibbons. (Google "Gibbons/West method.") He's trained some recent National Champions and judges AKC field trials around the country. He's definitely a "shut up and let the bird train the dog" kind of guy.
I attended a seminar of his on the west side last May, and he let me video it. I'd be happy to share a copy if someone wants to pay for postage.
I thought the Perfection crew demonstrated the most straight-forward "whoa" training of any book or video currently on the market. No posts, no barrels, no places, no tables. They just teach heel, and then transition directly into whoa. It's what I used, and my dog picked it up quickly.
