birddogger2 wrote:
The dog would be on point, locked up. The owner would get into the best possible position for a shot and command... "Inky...ADVANCE", whereupon Inky the dog would take precisely ONE step and resume point. If the bird did not flush he would repeat the command and the dog would once again, take precisely ONE step and lock back up.
For the single hunter, this is an incredibly useful technique. It certainly improves the odds when you are in a position to shoot, rather than tangled up in briars when the bird flushes.
My failure in this story is that I never asked the man how he did that. I had multiple opportunities to ask, but was too young... and too dumb. That gentleman is long dead and I still regret not asking "how".
RayG
Hi Ray, it is very likely that this man did not deliberately teach his dog the "one step then stop" technique. In Britain where all pointing dogs are supposed to flush on command that dog would probably have been knocked back a point or two for behaving that way during a trial. The judges would consider the dog to be a bit "sticky."
I have lost marks in trials when one of my dogs did exactly as you just described. I had done a bit too much fussing over the pup when she was on point. This happened because she was my first ever pointing dog and I had read only American books on the subject of pointing dogs. Too much praise or fussing, done too often can make some dogs what I'd now call "sticky" ….which is exactly what you lads over the pond want to see in a pointing dog because you usually walk in to kick up the birds yourself.
I had unintentionally taught my pup to be sticky and when I eventually did command the flush she'd only move forward one step at a time then stop after each step until I recommanded the flush. That seems to be what happened with the dog you mentioned ?
This behaviour does not happen with all pups or dogs but it does happen to some of them …..I see that in versatile dog trials here and at pointer setter trials. In general we like our dogs to flush to just one command so those dogs that are a bit sticky lose points and the dogs that are very sticky, which is what is wanted in the U.S.A., get eliminated here.
I have talked about "our way" v "your way" fairly often with other British pointing dog owners and we just don't understand why your lot insist on doing yourselves something that the dog could do so easily for you …..and probably do it better !
Bill T.
this month, a french brittany. 
