# New Brittany pup



## fowl killer (Feb 27, 2009)

Hey guys i just brought home a 7 week old Brittany, Was wondering at what ages you start introducing the dog to scents and dummies,cap gun noise, and what not, its funny cuz the sneeks up to her toy points for a second then pounces. 
I have a lab that i trained but that was easy i had him fetching at 6 weeks. I am very new to pointing dogs so ANY help or info you could share with me i would really appreciate it. 
Thanx in advance 
Jay


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## fowl killer (Feb 27, 2009)

No one hunts with a dog?


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

We almost all do....but not to many train their own pointer.Pointers are a whole different ballgame than retrievers.You really need to know what you are doing and have a supply of live birds.

My advise is to take him to a trainer for 6-8 weeks to get him started right.


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## Crazy Horse RVN (Aug 31, 2006)

It's not too soon to start with..."Come," "Sit," and "Stay." Just remember to keep your training sessions short and with a very young pup probably training sessions of not much more than 5 minutes.

Also, obtain a good training book or "Google" some hunting dog forums for tips.

And good luck with your Britt. (Don't forget to post some photos.)


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## brittanypoint (Feb 15, 2009)

I agree that its not too soon for the come sit stay rig. However, be careful not to crush the dogs independence. That is what they work off of in the field. A pup needs no firm lessons. Only games to encourage the working spirit of the dog. I learned the hard way that too many commands is a bad idea on a pointing dog. I start with whoa or stay. Those are the ones i use the most. I recommend the book "Bird Dog" by Ben O. Williams. The man knows his dogs well. Also on the birds, start slow and with wings, then slowly introduce live birds. I start mine at 9 weeks or so on the birds and wings. Go slow, the dogs have a strong mind to please you. Build your bond and don't use any hard force. A brittany will almost never need it. Good luck and post some pics


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## brittanypoint (Feb 15, 2009)

ps, there are some videos called " The Perfect Start" put out by perfection kennels. gundogsupply.com has them or google them


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## birdsforever (Oct 28, 2008)

Jay,

You can certainly train your own pointer with patience and time. There is nothing more rewarding then watching a great dog work that you have trained yourself. I too have a Brittany who I worked with for many hours. She is now three and is really starting to come into her own. As with most Britts, she works hard for her "master" and loves nothing more then to hunt. Last year was my first trip to ND and I brought her along. She was overwhelmed with the amount of scent and birds, but worked great.

If you are new to training pointers, I recommend this DVD: George Hickox Training Pointing Dogs: The DVD Collection of Volumes I through IV. It is a very thorough video and covers all of the bases to training your own pointer and some common problems you may encounter and how to correct them. I know it's available at Gundog and Bass Pro.

Good luck and be patient. It's never too early to start really, but the reward is well worth the time.

Scott


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Good advice above. A book I found easy to follow too is "SPEED TRAIN YOUR OWN BIRD DOG" by Larry Mueller.


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## fowl killer (Feb 27, 2009)

Hey thanx guy's. I am having a hard time gettin pics up on here. I can browse select the pic then it wont upload it


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## birdsforever (Oct 28, 2008)

Jay,

Here are a couple of pics from my Britts first season out training and grouse hunting back in '07. She had never hunted grouse before (trained her on quail and pheasant) but she was a very quick study and she learned really quick to look up in the apple trees for birds. Then again, she had never hunted Huns or Sharpies before this past fall and she did great on those too. She certainly saved our butts on a couple of poor shots that would have otherwise resulted in lost birds.

I had her out last weekend on a preserve with two of my friends quail hunting. My one fiend had his lab and she worked circles around him, pointing birds he walked right past, including two bonus pheasants. 29 quail out of 35 birds and she pointed almost every bird put up that day.

What color is your Brittany? Orange/White or Liver/White? Good luck with your pup and if other questions come up (and they will) don't hesitate to post. Love to see a fellow Brittany owner.


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## birdsforever (Oct 28, 2008)

Jay,

One more thing I wanted to mention to you in my last email. If you would like to watch an interesting history of the Brittany (while they're hunting for Huns) copy and paste the address below into your address bar. It's from the TV show, "A Dog's Life."

Pretty interesting stuff and I learned quite a bit too when I watched it.

Scott

http://www.myoutdoortv.com/video/video. ... 2NBP8hVTZv


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

I love those Britt's!!!


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## birdsforever (Oct 28, 2008)

Great looking Britt Maverick!!! A proud looking boy after a hard day's work and good shooting. It's a shame it is so long between seasons, huh?


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## fowl killer (Feb 27, 2009)

Hey guy's, 
thanx for all the replies, went to buy some books but was outraged at the price....So i printed like 300 pages off the net and made a home made book, lol
was wonderin when should i introduce gunfire?
i cant get no wings here unless i buy from the state and they want 12.00 to ship 4 wings. Could i use a old goose wing and dump the pheasant scent to it?


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## brittanypoint (Feb 15, 2009)

I have some wings if your interested. Let me know. I'll work with ya. They are riduculously expensive


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## fowl killer (Feb 27, 2009)

well i forsure need them, and i greatly appreciate it.
what do ya need for them?


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## brittanypoint (Feb 15, 2009)

an address and thats about it. Keep us posted on your progress with your pup. Shouldnt cost me too much to ship them. the wings are just a start. Next youll be needing pigeons and a bird launcher. I know how pricey this can get. I'll see about mailing them asap. i have 4 of them left after my pup.


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## fowl killer (Feb 27, 2009)

pm sent


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

fk, when you expose the pup to gunfire be very careful as it difficult to undo a bad experience. (The Dog Forum needs a sticky on this one.)

There are other ways but I have had good luck with a retriever-trainer that uses a .22 blank to launch a dummy. Use the weakest blank as they come in 4 strengths, the weakest being the least loud. You may be able to borrow one at a retrieving club in your area. The pup needs an interest in retrieving though.

DO NOT fire the launcher close to the pup or over the pup. Take the pup for a walk out in a pasture so the dog is out ahead of you some distance, say his name to get his attention, and fire the launcher in a direction away from the pup. The dummy will bounce across the ground and get his interest. You can teach retrieving at that time too. DO NOT startle him. And you will want ear protection for yourself.


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## brittanypoint (Feb 15, 2009)

You make a good point about teaching retrieving, however for brittany's its all in the breeding. My pup is a gracious retriever, however, one of my other ones wont retrieve anything. If its not a natural retriever, have fun force breaking. I agree with you on exposing the dog to gunfire, its hard to erase a bad experience. The launcher works great cause the dog sees the toy hit the ground. It becomes a game


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## frog (Apr 15, 2009)

Hey Fowl Killer--
I also just got a new Brittany pup. She's 9 weeks old. I've heard different advice on introducing them to birds at this age. I sure want to get a couple live pigeons in front of her to see how she acts. I have a trainer lined out for August when she's six months old, to get her started good. They keep her for a month for "puppy development" then send her home for a while. It's kinda expensive but like you, I am brand new to pointer training and really want things to turn out well. This critter is the runt of the litter, but we picked her cause she seemed more alert and social than the other. Good luck and maybe we can learn from each other and folks on this board as we go! :beer:


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## frog (Apr 15, 2009)

By the way....here's a pic of her 
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h127/ ... cyadj2.jpg


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## birdsforever (Oct 28, 2008)

Hey frog, what a cute little girl. In the George Hickox series that I talked about earlier in the thread, the first thing he addresses is the exposing of pups to birds. He does it in a small fenced in area with the pigeon's wings folded back so it can't fly and just allows the pup to "play" with the bird for a little while without imposing damage to the bird. The dog he uses in the video is probably no older then 7-9 weeks.

As stated earlier, it's never really "too early" to start with the training and exposure to the birds. Keep it light, fun and in short sessions. Once you've worked with bird exposure and commands (kennel, whoa, here, heel) then you can start thinking about introducing gun exposure (6-8 months) at a far distance with visual stimulation and slowly decrease the distance until no visible signs of "shyness" are present.

Hope this helps some and good luck with the pup.


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## frog (Apr 15, 2009)

Thank you Birdsforever.
I found someone who has pigeons for $4.00 a head. I think I'll get a couple and prep them as you said and just give her some simple exposure. I'm pretty confident she'll want to play with em. That should do for now until the trainer gets temporary custody of her. I'm glad I found this forum.


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## rand_98201 (Jun 14, 2009)

I have had 4 different pointing dogs.2german shorthairs,1brittany and 1 wirehair.There is no cheap way to train a pointer.its cheaper doing it by yourself but if you are not confident in your training ability it will cost you more when you send it to the trainer and he has to undo what you did wrong and start over.


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## frog (Apr 15, 2009)

She's a little over 4 months old now. She does show promise. Retrieves her fuzzy squirell naturally. I took her by to meet the trainer (Tom Woods near Adair, Okla.) and he set out some birds for her for my benefit to kinda evaluate her birdiess. She did real well for 4 months old and the trainer seemed pretty confident about her. So off ashe'll go in August for some puppy foundation work and hopefully I'll hunt over her this fall.


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