my cousin  and i are both no to gsps they arnt our first bird dogs but the first pointers, we went out sunday to do alittle bit of a training session now i have a bit of an advatage with my dog being almost 3 she was a rescue but  i dont think shes had much training but seems to be comeing along well. on the other hand is boomer hes 5 months old and is already biger than my dutchess he seems real intrested in birds in the cages but when we get him out he dosnent seem to want to point at all is this just a puppy thing or something that could be worked past we didnt expect him to lock and hold a point but he would walk right past the bird look at it and keep on going.  i keept saying its just because hes a pup but i could tell my cousin was geting frustrated. we tried all kinds of things puting him on lead and walking him up to the bird leting him work with my dog she would be and point and he would keep right on agoing so just thought id ask if this is something normal to be expected or dose he have a pointer that doesnt point?

I have yet to see a dog that only sight pointed.  Once the pointing instinct is brought out in the pup I've never seen one not learn pretty quickly to make the connection between their nose and pointing.  In fact since there's nothing that teases a dog as much as a bird they can see as well as smell working them on sight pointing first without putting any pressure on them is a good way to accomplish somethign you'll likely have to do under a lot of pressure later if it's not already ingrained.

Remember the key no matter how you approach it is that the dog has to learn he can't catch the bird, that's what brings out the pointing instinct.  If you are working the dogs on birds that are caged and cannot fly it's going to likely be a long road to getting the dog to point with style and intensity and to be staunch.

If you don't have access to wild birds then you really need good flying pigeons.  Either way be patient and count on lots of repetitions to get where you want to be.  At five months I'd keep it light and have a lot of patience.  Puppies need to have fun. CR