Question: I spent all summer steadying my Brittany on point. Now when we are hunting grouse, she will stop and point the scent, but she is very slow to move on if I can't produce a bird. It seems the birds are running out from under her at this point. Do grouse run that much?

Dean H., Dearborn.

Answer: Read the book, saw the video, went to training classes. Dean thought he had covered all of his bases. Well, Dean, you are now seeing the difference between a hunting dog and a competition dog. You had the local expert telling you that if your dog is not rock-steady on birds, the grouse will flush wild and you will never get a shot.

That is all well and good in the artificial world of competition. In the real world of hunting, game birds will, in most cases, run rather than fly. A good dog needs to be able to make decisions on their own, needs to work running birds, and needs to have the confidence to do so. It takes three to four seasons of hunting to make a good grouse dog and a lot of wild bird contact.

While training on pen birds, allow the dog more movement when working birds. You need to have good control with the whoa command in all situations. Be able to stop the dog with the whoa command under any condition but do not be afraid to release the dog when birds are running. I use the command “okay,” then “easy” when birds are present and running. I personalize the “okay” command with the dog's name. The touch-on-the-head release will backfire is you hunt areas with water or ditches.

If the dog bumps a bird, I call it back in and remind it to “whoa those birds” with no punishment. Also, snatching a dog up and slamming it back on the spot it moved from will not be beneficial. Dog people are like sheep when it comes to following their appointed expert, while a lot of what's being said about dogs doesn't pertain to hunting dogs on wild game. You need to spend more time hunting and less time doing mindless drills. The average title-chaser today spends three times as much time training as they do hunting.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training