Austin,
I've always concentrated any dogs training on it's weakest aspect, be it working a pattern or retrieving. Yes, any dog given too much encouragement to retrieve will find it all too easy to "bring home" any bird it finds. The big dog goes on point when he finds a bird, and only goes in when requested. I'm hoping to be able to instill this trait in the pup - makes for a full bag when your on a walk-about days shooting
Right now I'm interested in the pup being able to mark a thrown dummy and make a bee line for it and not just rely on his nose to lead him to the dummy.
He already stops & returns on command, be it voice , whistle or hand signal. He quarters naturally and is starting to respond to direction change commands. Yesterdays outing was purely to introduce him to another environment - the shoot environment. I've had him wandering round the town with me, to get him used to lots of people being around and not being interested in him, as well as the increased road traffic.
I think my biggest job with this little fella will be water work - he walks round puddles for gawds sake
. He's been down to the river with the other dogs and he just stared in dis-belief as they jumped around and swam. Still having fun bringing him on, and the water work can wait till the warmer months.
This was him this morning, playing "three-in-a-bed"
Steve T