What Is the Difference Between Sight Pointing and Pointing Based on Smell?
As you now know, there are two main types of pointing behaviors: pointing triggered by sight and pointing triggered by scent. Is there a difference between the two? The answer is yes and no, depending on whether you are answering from the perspective of the dog or from the perspective of the human hunter. Instinctually, dogs are much more likely to respond to their environments through scent rather than sight. But dogs will instinctively point to both sight and scent as puppies. With hunting dogs, pointing based on smell is prized over sight pointing. A dog that needs to see its prey in order to point will most likely be useless to the hunter. Birds are naturally camouflage and often hide in heavy cover, by the time the dog sees the bird, it’s likely the bird will be flushing (flying from their hiding place). It’s not very practical for a dog to only point flying birds, at that point the hunter knows where the bird is because he or she can see it too. For that reason, sight pointing is often discouraged, while sent pointing is nurtured and strengthened through training.
When the dog is 4 -6 months old, place a barrel on its side, and put your gun dog on the barrel. Hold him and give him support to get his balance. If he moves, the barrel will rock. If he holds still, the barrel remains still. Give the dog treats to reinforce this. Stroke the dog to get him used to being touched while holding still.
Have a partner flush the prey. Your dog should remain in point, if he does, reward him with praise. If he breaks for the flushed prey, pull him back, position him and repeat “whoa”. Make him stay in position. Practice often until your dog is responding to the whoa command. Then you are ready to remove the cord.
Pointing gun dogs were bred to locate game, usually birds, by scent and then freeze so as not to frighten and flush the bird. A pointer or setter then points at the location of the bird with his muzzle and sometimes by lifting a front leg and holding it suspended, pointing at the bird with its leg and nose.
To train a gun dog to point in the field, experience is necessary. There will be a lot of trial and error, so be prepared and patient. If your dog prematurely flushes game, you will have to stop and correct your dog if you want him to learn–you will not be able to pursue the hunting opportunity, retrieve a downed bird and train your dog all at the same time. Instead, be prepared to relinquish the opportunity for the sake of correcting your dog. Time will be involved. Be prepared, it will pay off in the long run as a well-trained pointer/setter is a valuable hunting companion. Training your dog to be familiar with the outdoors and follow off-leash commands is important so as to avoid losing your dog, or having your dog run wild scaring everything in sight!
Teaching your gun dog to point effectively means teaching him to obey off-leash commands, to keep your dog scenting within range, and teaching him to know what distance to freeze and hold position and point at so as not to frighten prey. Sometimes, if the wind is not cooperating, a pointing dog will accidentally bump prey, by getting too close before they pick up the scent and location of game, resulting in the bird taking flight. This may be unavoidable, but you want to train your pointer to search and be alert so as to minimize this happening, and not to be too aggressive or excited so that he gets too close to quarry and frightens it. The goal is to “set” the game, causing it to freeze, in order to avoid detection, so that hunters can get an accurate shot at a still target. Sometimes this means teaching your gun dog to overcome his natural inclination to catch the prey himself. Even once the prey breaks, you will want your gundog to hold position so as not to get in the way of a shot. Verbal commands such as “whoa” are often used to teach your gun dog to hold position and point at prey. While young gundogs can and should be exposed to outdoor environments where they can practice pointing, the discipline needed to hold point may need to wait until the dog is more mature.
Can a Dog Be a Hunting Dog and Not a Pointing Dog?
This is an important question to ask, especially if you are keen to acquire a pointing dog that you can hunt with.
Yes, you can have a hunting dog that is not a pointingdog. Pointing dogs belong to a largerclass of dogs known as hunting dogs. The other two sub-classes within thisclass include retrieving dogs and flushing dogs.
Typically dogs in the flushing and retrieving classes arenot pointing dogs.
Flushing Breeds: Examples of flushing dogs include many of the spaniels: Cocker spaniels, Boykin Spaniels, Clumber Spaniels. These dogs make great hunting dogs but were not bred to reinforce the pointing instinct. So instead of stopping when they smell a bird they charge in and flush or force the bird to fly. This works great but the hunter must stay close to the dog so that when the dog flushes the bird the hunter is within range to make the shot.
Retrieving Breeds: Examples of retrieving dogs include Labradors and Golden Retrievers. These dogs also make great hunting dogs. Typically, retrieving dogs are used by hunters for just that retrieving or finding and bringing back to the hunter game after it has been shot. Retrievers can be used to find game before the shot and function like flushing dogs. They pressure birds to fly vs pointers who stand still and let the hunter walk in and provide the pressure that causes that birds to fly.
Versatile Breeds: Versatile breeds are not acknowledged by AKC as such, but in the hunting dog world they demand their own category. Generally, these dogs can hunt anything. All breeds in this category naturally point. But they also retrieve and track. Examples of versatile breeds include German Shorthaired Pointer, German Wirehaired Pointer, and Pudelpointers.
Dog Training -Teach Pointer to Point
Aside from the dog breed so aptly named “the Pointer,” most people don’t readily understand what it means to say a hunting dog “points.”
Clearly, dogs can’t point like people do because they don’t have arms and hands and fingers! But make no mistake about it – dogs have figured out how to point and they use what they’ve got to make their point (pun intended) clear.
Why do hunting dogs point? Hunting dogs that point were bred to do so by selectively breeding dogs that showed a natural trait to freeze and hold still in response to smelling prey. Generations of dogs bred by giving priority to strengthening this pointing trait resulted in the modern pointing dog breeds. Dogs of these breeds have this pointing behavior hardwired into their genetics. To the non-hunting, hunting dog owner “pointing” is often quizzical. Leaving the dog owner wondering why their puppy had suddenly locked up staring at a leaf or why their dog is standing staunch with their face pointing into the breeze seeming to not see anything but fully concentrating with nostrils flaring, immune to any leash tugging to try to get them moving again. It’s literally in the dog’s DNA to exhibit this behavior. As any hunter will tell you a dog’s pointing is a very functional. A dog pointing tells a hunter where a bird is hiding and allows the hunter to approach within range of the bird before it flies. This increases the odds the hunter will be able to successfully harvest the bird.
Now you know the basics but let’s explore this topicdeeper. Do dogs point based on sight orsmell? Do all hunting dogs point? Can you train any dog to point?