5 Tips For Training Pointing Dogs 

A Lot Goes Into Training A Pointing Dog, But The End Result Is 100% Worth It

For upland bird hunters, there’s nothing like topping a hill and seeing a pointing dog standing stock still, tail high, indicating the presence of game birds. It’s one of those things dreams are made of, and I still remember many of the literally thousands of times I’ve experienced that in my 50-plus years of hunting quail, pheasants and other game birds over pointing dogs. 

As most bird hunters know, however, while hunting dogs have lots of natural instincts, there is substantial training that goes into developing a gun dog that you can be proud of in the field. Today we’ll look at five tips for training pointing dogs. They’re probably not the types of training tips you would expect, since they deal mostly with attitude and not methodology. 

1. Make Training Fun  

I’m literally ashamed of the number of times I can remember driving home from a training session with both my head hanging and the dog’s tail drooping because things didn’t go well. Each time, that was a good indication that I hadn’t made training fun, and it’s likely all the dog learned was how little fun an outing in the field can actually be. 

One thing I’ve learned is that if the dog is having fun, I’m having fun. Be sure to keep having a good time in mind no matter what aspect of training you focus on in an individual session. A happy dog at the end of the day will definitely want to go back again next time. 

Even if a training session hasn’t gone well, there’s still a way to salvage it at the end, which we’ll discuss shortly. 

2. Don’t Push Your Dog Too Fast  

Another mistake that I’ve made frequently and (hopefully) learned from is trying to push a dog to learn a certain aspect too quickly. When starting out, remind yourself that it’s going to take time. Working a pointing dog on steady to wing and shot is a process, not a crash course. If you push a dog all day, every day, he’ll lose interest or, worse yet, decide he doesn’t like this bird-hunting deal at all and shut down. 

It’s better to work a dog on such lessons every other day for a brief time each session. Dogs, like people, learn through repetition and you can’t force that too quickly. Start without a timetable, and both you and your dog will be better off in the end. Instead of saying, “I’m going to have this dog steady in two months,” try saying, “We’re going to work at this process for however long it takes.”  

3. Remember That Dogs Are Individuals 

While it’s easy to accept that all people are different and learn in different ways, some dog owners have a hard time admitting that dogs are all completely different individuals. But because they are, a training method you used successfully for one dog might not work exactly the same—or within the same time frame—on a different dog. 

You can’t expect dogs to learn the same things in the same manner at the same pace, and if you do you’ll end up disappointed more often than not. Spend a lot of time with your dog and you’ll learn about his personality, how tough he is, how willing to please he is, and a variety of other factors. Then use all that information to tweak your already proven training plan for that individual dog, instead of making him and you miserable trying to make him fit in some cookie-cutter mold. 

4. Always End On A Good Note  

That ride home I mentioned earlier can be made with a smile on your face and a happy dog in the crate if you end each training session on a positive note. That means quitting after the dog did something right, not after he did something wrong and you had to correct him. 

Note that this isn’t always an easy thing to do. Sometimes it might mean working a dog on only one bird in a training session when you have lots of other things planned. But if he does it right, there’s little to gain by pushing him to failure, and then both of you go home frustrated. To put it another way: Stop while you’re ahead. It’s a lot more fun than stopping while you’re behind. 

5. Temper Your Expectations 

If it sounds like I know a lot about frustration where training pointing dogs is concerned, I do. To be sure, I’ve failed much more than I’ve succeeded at this game. And one of the biggest reasons is because I always tend to set my expectations too high. 

As amateur trainers, we don’t have the time, knowledge, or gear that professional trainers have at their disposal. Consequently, we can’t expect the same success on the same timetable when working with our pointing dogs. There’s a lot of satisfaction in seeing a dog you trained succeed at hunting, field trialing, or whatever you love to do with your pooch. Set your expectations lower than you think you should, and you’ll find your training sessions are far more successful than if you’re trying to keep up with the pro in the next county.