I have heard that if you put a younger dog on pheasant, it will make the dog start to creep in on point. Is this true or an old wives tale?
It is absolutely so. I like a pup to have two seasons of wild Quail and Prairie Chicken hunting before putting them on Pheasant. I think this applies to any pointing breed, Brittanys are quick learners, but they can be a little slow to mature. I did something a little different this past week. I took two young dogs on a Kansas hunt. Partly for sale, partly to show them off, partly because there were a few quail there. Mostly because I have 11 and it's hard to get someone to care for half that many. We had plenty of dog power, so there was no temptation to use them to hunt.
A pup with no training at all can not have it's training undone. If you want a pup to learn that he can not catch birds, and teach "stop to flush", there is no better teacher than a Cock Pheasant. I would say that this is a bad idea for anyone who doesn't have a lot of experience with training. One bonus was my lovely 7 month old flushed a cock right behind us, in a sorghum field. I had been telling the guys all week that we were walking way too fast. This was the only Pheasant I got to shoot.
I would never do this with a pointing breed dog that had started training beyond obedience (Come, heal, whoa) and experience negotiating cover, and fences, unless he has also had at least one busy season on wild birds other than Pheasant. Also, if he already tends to crowd Quail, give him another year. Too often a hunter wants a bird dog so bad, he gets in a hurry. Of all the fancy equipment available these days, and much of it very effective, the most important possession for training is patience. That's right, even more important than birds. Pen raised hens are OK, generally, but can be caught in some circumstances.
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