I feel it is important to start early. I like to start introducing birds to puppies as early as 10 weeks old. This age is not a set in stone date that bird introduction must be instituted. However, the earlier in your pups life the better and should be the first thing you do with a pup before any formal training. When introducing birds, I will plant/ liberate bobwhite quail or other birds (2-3 birds per session) in a relatively close distance from each other. Puppies are hunted directly to the game on a check cord (rope) and encouraged to find and point the birds. Pointing is a natural reaction that occurs when a dog encounters prey and can only be encouraged, not trained (it has to be bred into the dog, and a good breeding program should put great emphasis on desire to point game staunchly).

There is no right or wrong regarding what strain of bird used to train a bird dog. All that really matters is that the bird gives off scent and will fly. Pigeons are the cheapest and easiest to keep around. Pigeons give off a lot of scent and their wings make a lot of noise when they flush which will excite a young dog and get his attention. One disadvantage to pigeons is they are not a bird that prefer to sit on the ground, which is where pup needs to find them. Pigeons need to either be “put to sleep” by placing their head under a wing or placed in a cage or other method to restrain them. Quail are my preferred bird to use for most bird work. They can be planted in many different manners and will hide in the cover. Quail can also be “put to sleep” or restrained but can also be “dizzied” or just simply flushed out of a callback pen or johnny house that they have been trained to covey back to.

Choose a field to run pup in that has sparse, short cover. Tall heavy cover can intimidate and discourage a young dog to go out and explore. Leave pup in a location whereas he can’t see where you plant the birds. Plant the birds in a location that you will remember where they are. Also pay attention to the wind. You want pup to be able to hunt towards the birds with the wind in his face. When you go into the field to plant the birds, try not to take the same path that you will be taking when you bring pup out. Pup will start to figure out that your scent leads to game if you do so be as sneaky as a human can be while doing this. Plant 2 or 3 birds per session in a relatively close distance from each other. (The distance the birds are planted can be extended with each session.) These first few sessions you want to bring pup directly to the birds you planted for him. After the first find bring him right to the next. Introducing pup in this manner will teach him that the birds are out front from you. He will also start to think you are pretty smart and be more cooperative about going your way because you always bring him to birds.

When pup makes bird contact it is important for the trainer to remain quiet, avoid distractions and let nature take it’s course. These moments will get pups blood flowing and the natural instincts bred into him will surface. Pup may point his first bird or he may not. His breeding will play a role in this. Most of our puppies will scent point after a handful of birds. When pup points, don’t do anything but let him point. If he points for 10 minutes, you quietly stand there for 10 minutes. We want pup to learn that as long as he is on point that scent keeps absorbing into his system and that bird stays put. When pup pounces for the bird, flush it if it does not fly on its own and move to the next bird.

In the early sessions of bird introduction, the birds are flushed and allowed to fly away without any gunfire. Young pups can be allowed to reasonably chase birds in flight which helps build prey drive. Once the pup has been through a handful of sessions finding birds and ideally chasing the game in flight, start firing low caliber gunfire. The first few shots heard in pups life should be administered while he is chasing, in eye contact of the game and a good distant from the firearm. When it is observed that pup gives no concerning reaction to the sound, the shots can be fired closer to him and so on. Once I feel the pup has a positive association with the gunfire, (shows no negative reaction when a gun is fired within 20 feet or so) I will restrain the pup from chasing with the check cord to prevent bad habits. We don’t want to allow pup to chase too long or catch birds if we can control it. What you allow, you train.