Well, being flogged by a wounded Pheasant can cause problems. That depends a lot on the dog. The first wild bird my 5 y/o male retrieved was a young turkey. I shot it quickly, flying through tree tops, and broke a wing. Joe got whipped away from it three times (he was 7 Mo. old), before he got a good grip.
Other dogs may have just quite the game, and if I had time to think, I probably would have tried to stop him.
The biggest problem with wild Pheasant is that they move on the dog. Often, a young dog will start creeping, or even charge the bird, when it moves. That's bad enough on the Pheasant, but when you bring that dog back, and try to hunt Quail, or Grouse, the habit continues. Naturally, when a dog moves forward on a Ruffed Grouse, or covey of quail, the hunter shoots the dog, and starts over!
The ice, or ice water on a bath towel, is only for a dog that is really overheated, or starting to show signs of heat stroke. They often don't really recover from that, so keep them coming back in, so you can get a good look at them.
You might be interested in this site, and message board
http://my.brittanys.com/category-view.asp I am ljack, there, but don't get on much any more. Most of the guys there are pretty good. Take anythin Karen says with a grain of salt besides being a Yankee, she doesn't have nearly as much experience as she puts on. Dave is the owner of the board, and doesn't allow any crap. He owns the sire to my 5 year old, and knows as much as anyone (except maybe Delmar) about training dogs. Take a look at his training tips,
http://brittanys.com/Brittany_training.htm I use some different methods, but nothing that would contradict his basics. If nothing else, you will enjoy looking around.
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