This last fall,in the first part of Kansas pheasant season, I got a call from

a man who was upset with how a young dog he had gotten from us as a pup

was coming along. He had recently gotten his dog back from a local trainer in

his area and was convinced of the following; the pup he had gotten from us

was not a good bird dog.

    I listened to all the story and told him that if he would bring me the dog I

would be more than happy to see what was going on.

    Here is what was going on. The dog ran in the training field with good ground

coverage but didn't seem to really be hunting. Just running. He handled fine and

responded to a whistle. He would "whoa" just fine. I put a quail down and said

"well lets see what he does when he smells a bird." He ran past the bird and

didn't even slow down. The guy said "see, I told you he isn't any good." So

I went and got a checkcord, brought him back to the bird

and checkcorded him. I kicked the bird up, shot it and the

dog ran over and picked it right up. Retrieved it right to me.

He didn't point the bird at all. Didn't act like he had ever even smelled a quail.

    I said "you just got this dog back from a trainer and he had him for three

months?" He said "yes". I said "well whoever the trainer is, he didn't shoot any birds for this dog because he doesn't even know what a quail is."

    This is what he told me....When he went to get the dog the trainer took him

out and the dog pointed a pigeon in a launcher. When he launched the pigeon

the dog stood his point steady. The trainer then threw a pigeon out of his

pocket and the dog stood it also. He then threw another pigeon and this time

shot it. The trainer sent the dog to retrieve the pigeon and the dog did. The

dog's owner was duped into thinking the dog was well trained. He told me "he

is steady to wing and shot." I told him "no, he is not steady to wing and shot.

He is trained to watch pigeons fly away without chaseing them." I also told

him the three months of training and the fees it cost were wasted unless he

had a desire to pursue some type of field trial or hunt test title that requires

a dog to be steady on point to wing and shot.

    When he had taken his dog hunting the dog ran up birds, ran by birds, didn't

point,didn't honor his friends dog on point and generally was a disappointment

to him.

    So I said "well lets throw down another bird and see what he does when he

smells it." He pointed it and I kicked it up and shot it. He retrieved it without

any hint of prior training in being steady to wing and shot.

    The dog showed a good nose, plenty of point and lots of desire to hunt. It

was like looking at any other untrained dog and evauluating his natural ability.

    I kept him a month and shot about thirty-five or forty birds for him. He

was a good pup that just needed to go hunting like them all. He needed

some birds shot for him.

    His owner picked him up on his way out to pheasant hunt. About a week

later he called and told me he did a super job and did it all. Pointed, backed,

retrieved, trailed running birds and generally put on a good show. He didn't

know what I did but his dog was a different dog. He is very happy now.

    What I did was shoot birds for his dog and that is nothing new. I made

a gundog out of him by shooting birds.

    What is a gundog? A gundog is a dog that understands that he catches

birds successfully with that boom involved. He doesn't know that a wad of

BB's flying through the air knocked the bird down. He thinks he is the one that

catches it. We think bird dogs do what they do for us. They don't, they do

what they do for themselves. They catch birds using what works. If they

could catch them by sneaking up on them they would. Or if they could catch

them by charging in at full speed ahead they would. When they learn they

catch birds using the boom method they are now a gundog. Start doing a whole lot of missing and see how quick they will revert to other methods.

    When you start a pup on birds initially they will generally all point right away (if well bred). The reason they point is to think over what to do next. Some decide to creep or stalk as close as they can in an attempt to get close enough to pounce. Some decide the best aproach is to get in there as fast  as they can and maybe catch the thing. As a trainer the idea you want to get

across is no boom, no bird. Shoot them some birds and they get the idea

pretty quick that this approach works. WA LA... A Gundog.

    A few years ago I went hunting with a guy who had this dog that was the

number three AKC derby dog in the nation for the year in total points. The

dog was not a good hunting dog in any way. Just like the earlier story this

dog ran by birds, didn't back and didn't have a clue about hunting wild birds.

Just like the dog in the other story this dog had probably had maybe five

pigeons shot for him in his whole bird dog career.

    The difference between a Gundog or Hunting dog kennel and a Field Trial

kennel is the shooting of birds. A field trial or hunt test trainer that teaches

a dog to stand steady on point to wing and shot does not shoot any birds

at all for the dog.They fire a blank pistol as the pigeon flies away. When

they have finished their training they will shoot a few pigeons for him. They

don't shoot birds for him because they don't want him to learn to retrieve.

They want him to only know to stand there and watch them fly away. If the dog

retrieves he won't want to stand steady and only after completing training do

they shoot him a bird. So my customer happened to take his pup to a trainer

of the steady to wing and shot persuasion. The trainer had him three months

and he learned nothing about hunting birds. When the dogs owner took him

hunting the training proved to be useless.

    So, I'll end this tale by saying...field trial dogs ain't hunting dogs and

field trial trainers ain't hunting dog trainers.

    Feathers in the mouth makes a bird dog....So they say.