Before the Shot
Through the retrieving drills your pup has learned to pick up dummies (and actual birds when you advance to that) and bring them back to you. He has had to use his nose to find dummies or birds thrown into some high grass, weeds or other cover that concealed them from his sight. He's learned that a wave of the arm means there's something out there for him to pick up. So it is a simple and logical extension of what he's learned to teach him to "hunt 'em out" when so directed.

Most pups are ready for this from about six months of age on—if you've done the job of properly introducing them to retrieving. Some will become proficient at this game quickly. Others may have trouble learning to locate what they smell.

This is a method that is best used with retrievers and spaniels. Teaching pointing dogs to hunt, to the extent that any dog can be "taught" to hunt in the sense of channeling and controlling natural responses, will be dealt with in a different manner as will the method for starting hounds.

As explained earlier, spaniels and retrievers that hunt before the gun are required to locate their game and then drive in and push it into flight. In actuality what they are trying to do is catch the bird . . . and occasionally when actually hunting an aggressive retriever or spaniel will catch a perfectly sound bird that was slow getting up, as well as collect crippled game.

So ...
For Spaniels and Retrievers
Dig out those wing-wrapped training dummies. Hide two or three in some kind of cover in the area you use for training. Then bring out your pup, pretend the dummies are birds and go hunting.

You can sprinkle a couple of drops of commercially manufactured bird scent on the dummy, or, if your dog has handled birds, you can use a freshly killed pigeon or a recently shot game bird in place of the dummy. But dummies are most convenient and can be used over and over to both introduce the dog to hunting, to brush up on what he's already learned and to provide good exercise and training. The dog should not see you toss or drop the dummy or dummies into the cover.
Bring up your pup, headed into the wind, to about ten yards from where the first of the dummies you've scattered is hidden. Wave your arm as you did when you encouraged him to fetch a dummy he didn't see fall and tell him in excited tones to "Hunt 'em out, Joe! Hunt 'em out!"

If your encouragement seems to distract him and he whirls and dances around rather than searching purposefully, just shut up, stand still and leave him to his own devices. As he moves around downwind from the dummy the air currents will bring the scent to him. He should investigate, pounce on, pick up and bring the dummy to you. Praise him to the heavens.

Then move on to the next hidden "bird" or, if you are using only one dummy, sneak it into some cover when he isn't looking and repeat this performance. When you can tell he has winded the dummy be sure to give him the "Hunt 'em out!" command. In a short time he will respond to this by searching even though he does not smell anything of interest just at the moment the command is given.

You may have to practically lead him on top of the dummy when you start, but usually in one session he'll start reaching out on his own, using his nose and zeroing in on his "game."

Keep working on this when you take your dog for walks until you can call him into you, cast him off and he'll work industriously, quartering the ground until he'll make his finds 20 to 30 yards from where he was cast. Always give him the benefit of the wind and as he gains proficiency walk in the manner you would if you were hunting which will condition your pup to working a quartering pattern within gun range to your front and sides.

Except for his introduction to the gun (and you may well have that behind you) your spaniel or retriever is now ready to take hunting. I haven't forgotten about guns. Proper introduction in order to avoid any chance of gunshyness will be detailed separately because it is so important. However, that does not mean that it cannot be integrated into your training program as soon as you have your pup retrieving. Any time after he indicates he loves to fetch, you can introduce the gun.
But to be truly sure your spaniel or retriever will hunt when the season opens and he is given the chance, you might want to take one further step. That is the use of barn pigeons or artificially propagated game birds. This will also introduce your dog to the job of catching cripples, a most important contribution by any hunting dog.

After your dog has retrieved actual birds—dead ones—you can start with a wing-clipped pigeon. Throw it out onto the lawn or mowed field where the dog can see it and send him for it. It will introduce him to running down moving game and retrieving it. Then progress to heavier cover. Pigeons can be used over and over. When dead they can be used instead of dummies for a retrieving session.

In the heavier cover use a shackled or wing-clipped game farm mallard, tossing it into a small marshy spot or a field with high cover. A duck can lead your pup on quite a chase and might even escape if you loose him in too big an area, therefore give consideration to your release site so the chances are good your dog can succeeed readily. Make it tough later on.

You should be doing this with your pup at somewhere between six months and a year of age. That presupposes that he has already been properly introduced to gunfire. Then you can also get in a little hunting practice yourself, and at the same time assure that Joe will do right, by shooting a few pigeons or game farm birds over him.

Pigeons will have to be dizzied and planted. You may be able to release pheasant or chukar, mark where they came down and then hunt your dog into this area, or into the area where you have planted the bird. When he winds a bird and flushes it, shoot it. He should retrieve it. Then he's put it all together and will continue to learn and improve as you hunt him.

Pointing Dogs
There is no short-cut, artificial means of developing a good hunting dog that points his game. Experience with actual birds in natural habitat is the answer. As a hunter you should know of some good open bird country or belong to a sportsman's club that features the hunting of released game.

If you don't, as a last resort, you will have to "plant" your own. Pre-season and off-season work on birds you plant, however, will be beneficial in reinforcing and refining the things your pointing dog should do in searching and contacting wild game.

While you can expect to get some pretty good hunting over a spaniel or retriever the first season, you must consider yourself lucky if that is your lot with a pointing dog. Accept the fact that the first season is definitely for the dog's edification, and your pride and pleasure are secondary.

You can teach a pointing dog all the obedience commands that are necessary for a spaniel or retriever to hunt properly. But I wouldn't put much emphasis on them until your young pointing dog has had a lot of freedom in the field, demonstrated interest in game scent and has locked up "flash pointing" (a brief stop in pointing posture upon hitting scent) before much formal disciplining takes place.

To a great extent the pointing breeds take you hunting. Finding birds and pointing them is the name of the game. Until a dog demonstrates an instinct and ability for this it seems a waste to urge mechanical responses on him.

So get your pointing dog pup afield 'as much as possible, give him his head and hope he bangs into some wild birds. To make sure he has some bird contacts, pay a fee at a commercial hunting area or buy some birds and put them out for the dog to work (be sure to obey various state regulations regarding training dogs in the off-season).

When your youngster does encounter game, chances are good he will flash point. If he does, get up to him as fast as you can, keeping your mouth shut. A lot of pups will hold point for as long as the bird stays put. If you are lucky you'll be able to get your hands on your dog. Stroke him and push against his hindquarters—if the bird holds—as though pushing him into it. He'll resist and his stanchness will increase. If the bird gets out during this activity, restrain the pup by his collar, stroke him, but let him go while the bird is still in sight so that he will chase it.

Even if the bird flies at your approach before you get your hands on the dog and Joe chases, that's not bad. You flushed the bird, Joe didn't. The idea is that he associates the flush with your presence. Expect that he will chase a flying bird. Only a most unusual pup will stand and watch it fly off. Some will run up and snuffle around where the bird has been. In either event wait until the dog has satisfied his curiosity or come back from his chase, then call him to you, stand him up in pointing posture, stroke and praise, then send him on.

Frequent contacts with game are required to get a dog to point stanchly by this gentle and "natural" method, but many good dogs catch on surprisingly quickly and it is well worth trying.

You may have to, or simply want to, use a surer mechanical method of assuring that your dog will hold point once he establishes it. In using this method, it is necessary to teach the command "Whoa!" Obedience to that command will also greatly facilitate instilling stanchness through the natural method.

While you cannot teach a pointing dog to hunt by rote, and his instinct to lock up on game scent should come naturally, you can drill a dog so he will stop moving when told to—to "Whoa!"

There are a number of ways this can be done. You can work it in with your retrieving drills on dummies, telling the dog to "Whoa!" as you toss the dummy and restraining him with a leash or check cord until you give the command to fetch. But this is better done after the dog has learned the command in another manner, lest he become confused and think the "Whoa!" means he shouldn't fetch.

When a dog does not stop on command, he is punished. He must know the punishment is the result of disobedience to a command he has learned, and has nothing to do with finding birds, retrieving or whatever else you want him to do.

Food can be utilized as an effective way of teaching Whoa! At feeding time, set your dog's food in front of him. Tell him to Whoa! and restrain him with your hands. Then say "all right," "okay," "go ahead" or whatever permissive term you choose, pat his head and allow him to eat. You will later be able to follow an identical routine once he has established point, to hold it, to stop him from chasing a flying bird or a tossed dummy.

When your pup is out exercising and playing, put a food morsel in front of him when he's .close enough for you to catch and Whoa! him. Once he's stopping before moving in on the food, try the command without that stimulus. If he stops, praise him verbally as you go to him, stroke him along the back and then send him on. Through repetition he'll learn to stop on command.

When he's learned to do this, but disobeys, catch him, shake him up a little and stand him up on the spot where he should have halted. You may never have to use a check cord. But if you do resort to this rope and collar method, do it when the pup is between six and 18 months of age and is better able to absorb harsher discipline.

Attach a long rope (check cord) to his collar and when he starts to take off after something, or is moseying around, tell him to Whoa!. If he doesn't stop, jerk sharply and repeat Whoa!. Repeat and repeat, or even tip him over if he hits the end of the rope hard. When he'll stop before the rope and collar punish him, let him run without the cord and Whoa! him. Go to him to praise and stroke when he does stop. If he doesn't, back onto the cord until he does.

Of necessity or choice you may have to resort to artificiality in teaching your dog minimum or maximum manners around game. When he has shown you he will point and will obey the command Whoa!, you can start reinforcing or polishing by planting dizzied pigeons or game birds or by confining them to a release trap. You should have a helper to do this best.

Put your dizzied or trapped bird out in cover. Fasten a check cord to your dog's collar. It is more natural if you let him drag the cord. But if you are doubtful about his instinct to point or his alacrity at obeying Whoa!, you may hang onto this 50-foot rope. Either way steer or work him into the bird as best you can, utilizing the wind. It works best if you give him a bit of a run to loosen up and calm down before working him into the area that holds the bird.

When the dog winds the bird, caution and praise him as you work up the check cord toward him and when you reach him pet and assure him. By the time you've reached this stage your dog will already have been introduced to gunfire. So have your assistant flush the bird, shoot and kill it. Let the dog retrieve it. A few sessions of this and your dog will have put together all the essentials. Naturally, if he goes in and tries to catch or flush the bird, you tip him over with the check cord.

Most hunters allow their pointing dogs to start in to retrieve once the bird is up and away. But if you want to make your dog steady to wing and shot (remain in pointing posture until ordered to fetch) this check cord and planted bird method allows you to extend the pointing stanchness into steadiness.

It is a matter of teaching the dog to remain through flush and shot. But if the hunter decides he wants this he should not insist on it until the dog has had some birds shot over him and has retrieved them. Harsh breaking methods instigated too early can adversely affect a dog's retrieving or even lead to avoiding birds he knows are about.

The dog is taught to be steady to wing and shot by repeated insistance on his holding in place—in obedience to the Whoa! command—throughout the excitement of the bird's taking wing and being knocked down by a well-placed shot. Good manners like backing (honoring the find of another dog by halting and pointing, even though the "backing dog" does not smell birds) and stopping to flush (halting when a bird flushes wild or accidentally) are also instilled in the same manner. Thus the command Whoa! is the most important word in a pointing dog's lexicon.

Hounds
There is only one way to train a hound. Hunt him. A good trail or tree hound must be even more independent and sagacious than a good pointing dog. He learns only by doing.

Fortunately there is a relative abundance of game that provides hounds with a good chase—rabbits for Beagles, raccoon for tree hounds and fox for trail hounds, for example. More than any of the other hunting breeds, good hounds are born and reach their potential through experience, some correction and example setting.

Most hounds, registered or grade, have hunt bred into them. A few don't. So, there are hopeless hounds. But no trainer with a bit of common sense who offered his hound plenty of hunting opportunity has ever ruined a hound, and no man has ever built himself a hunter out of a hound that wasn't wellborn.

The time-honored way to get a hound started is to run a pup with older experienced dogs, let him learn and take his chances. This is an acceptable method and will quickly serve to cull all but the most promising pups. However, a modification of this method may result in salvaging some pups who might become discouraged by not being able to keep up with older trained hounds; it certainly will not adversely affect the development of the precocious pup.

Beagles, for example, may be started on rabbits at anywhere from less than half a year to a year old. If a Beagle hasn't run a line or started a rabbit by the time he is two years old, it is unlikely he ever will amount to much.

A pup should be taken afield at a very early age. Then, depending upon his actions when afield, he hopefully will show some interest in looking for, rooting out and sniffing rabbit tracks. If he does, utilize an older hound or hounds to start game for your pup.

Instead of just tossing your pup in to join the pack, try stationing yourself where the rabbit is likely to circle, and hold the pup up where he can see. He should be interested in the baying of the hounds, and when the rabbit comes 'round and the pup sees it, set him down quietly without any distracting shouts or urging and let his instinct to chase take over.

He should sight-chase and eventually he will connect the scent left with what he's seen. He'll start trailing for at least short distances until he loses sight of the rabbit. Once he's keen about this, turn him loose with the older hounds for short chases. Also take him out by himself so he doesn't become overly dependent on the older hounds—he has to learn to strike out on his own.

If no other hounds are available to help start your pup (or when you begin to take him out on his own), walk along and let your pup investigate what he will. Try to kick or beat a bunny out of a form or brush pile where the pup can see it take off. If you jump one that he doesn't see, call him over, point out the hot line and encourage him to follow it. In a short time he should be taking straight lines very well. When he hits his first check (the point at which the rabbit changes direction, makes some maneuver that confuses a dog, or where the scent becomes faint or the line is lost) allow him to work it out by himself if he can. If he's stymied or works too wide off the check, point out the line to him.

Tree Hounds
There is no such thing as "instant hound." Many runs and many mistakes are required before a hound can approach top form on game that trees, such as raccoon. But the more a hound is hunted in good company the quicker he will develop. If you develop a hound that is better than just passable before he reaches two to three years of age, consider yourself fortunate.

Utilizing a proven old hound is the best way to start a tree hound. The old-timer will show the youngster how to do right, but keep it at a pace that allows the pup to absorb what's going on, perhaps do some cogitating on his own and eventually take charge himself.

Few tree hound pups will learn hunting on their own. The most feasible alternative to starting with a veteran "pup trainer" is to simply turn the eight-month to one-year-old youngster loose with a good hound or hounds and hope for the best. It usually will be forthcoming. But again some judgement must be exercised. The pup needs good examples to follow.

Hunting with hounds is usually a convivial sport and it's important to get your pup started only with honest, straight hounds. Let a trash runner or a chiseling hound set the scene and that is the pattern the pup will follow, no matter how well-bred or what his native ability. Keep the pup in the woods and don't become discouraged because someone else's youngster gets off to a faster start. Hounds, like people, don't all develop at the same rate. Give yours the chance to come through.

Trail Hounds
Again, giving a pup a good example to follow is the basis for developing a hound that will trail and give chase to game that runs but seldom is treed or brought to bay (like the fox or the coyote). It is the only way when hounds are run in packs, as in the southern-style, night-time hunts.

The northern predator hunter, however, will probably have snow to aid him. He can take some steps to introducing his hound to his work that tie in with the practice of hunting with a lone hound or perhaps two or three at a time.

Find a fresh fox track early in the morning. With leashed hound follow this track—the cold trail—to the fox's bed. Here the scent should be almost overpowering with a hot line leaving it. Every encouragement should be given the young hound to exercise his instincts and track. This is not a one-shot deal. Foxes must be walked up until the hound starts settling in to his work. If and when a jumped fox can be killed and the youngster—either by his own efforts or by encouragement and guidance— can be brought to the kill and allowed to worry it, the hound will be well on his way.

Lest the beginner become discouraged, young hounds should be put on a cold trail only in the company of an experienced hound who can turn that cold track into a hot chase. Hounds can, upon occasion, be turned loose to rout their own fox— but training will be quicker and better if the game is walked up or a cold trailer is put on the track to work it right. This technique will produce the effluvia and excitement that will stimulate the youngster to do his thing.