First time owner of a german shorthair pointer

[stretch]

So the other night a friend of mine called me up saying she knew someone who needed to sell some german shorthair pointers quickly. So i was kinda interested in them untill she told me how much they were and that they had papers. So yesterday my girlfriend and i went and got the last female of the litter and she is such a sweetheart!

So here is where i need help. I have own a lab for the past 11 years that i trained on my own and she is awesome and i couldn't be any happier. But i have no idea how to train a pointer besides the basics like (sit, stay, come, heal, retreive and stuff like that) but i have no idea how to train her to point and stay steady on point? Do i need to train her with a veteran pointer or will it come natural?

Any help will be greatly apprieciated.

[Ryan_V]

That aspect of a pointer will come naturally. Start with the basics, work up to live birds

[setterguy]

Pups can start on live birds around 12 weeks. The sooner the better when it comes to this. Dogs that are exposed to live birds between 12-16 weeks seem to have a leg up on dogs that are started a little later.

You do want to put her in situations to succeed however without being overwhelmed. Quail, planted in short grass worked into the wind with her on a check cord to control the situation. I really really suggest doing a bird and gun intro with a pro if you have never had a pointer before. The investment will pay off ten fold throughout the dogs life and save a lot of frustration. They will also teach you the do's and don'ts of pointing dogs. Being put on dozens and dozens of birds in short period kick starts the association between bird = fun = scent = point = happy human. I see you are in Monticello, I've got a great contact up in Clearwater. Email me if you are interested. jnovatney at gmail dot com

Also, whoa (the most important command for pointers) can be introduced immediatley. Feel free to ask any questions here also, gspman is a great source of info on these dogs.

[iceman2010]

I got a GSP a year ago, be prepared to give her lots of exercise! I was doing very well training my gsp, as far as all the basic commands, but made a big mistake with starting her out on a pheasant farm and the first bird smacked her right in the face! After that she was quite scared of anything bird, therefore a trainer was called and now she's great, moral of the story, like setter guy said, start small, and start early. Good luck!

[gspman]

I agree with what Setterguy said. Depending on how far you want to go with the hunting training you may want to avoid teaching sit right away. Sometimes teaching sit makes finishing the dog a little more challenging as the dog will sit as a default behavior when pressure is applied.

Setterguy's training contact - I think I know who it is - is top notch if you elect to go that route. Working with a pro gives you a chance to ask a lot of questions and learn a lot. A good pro will have forgot more about birddogs than most of us will ever learn.

[stretch]

ok i am liking all this info! keep it coming. so what if she is already sitting when she gets her food and treats and also she is copying what my lab is doing? should i keep up with playing fetch at all?? i have a buddy with pheasants and said i could bring her over to introduce her to them. should i do that at all or just keep it breif and simple?

[Kyhl]

As others have stated, I'd start small and add, keep them separated when when birds are in the picture.

I'd go with a wing, homer, quail, then work up to chucker and pheasant. I've seen dogs get a hard mouth after being nicked early by a bigger bird. They may learn to make sure the bird is dead before retreiving so they don't get nicked again. To do that, they can crunch the bird.

I'd add to keep them separate when training with birds. Retreiving and obedience are fine to have them together. You don't want your pointer pup learning from the lab that he can bust in on a bird. I have a rescue that learned that early and it is taking me years to work it out of her. Then again, I'm slow and we do this for fun.

The down side is I can't hunt or train her with my other pointer.