I rescued a 3 year old GSP from the shelter after her family dumped her for being 'too hyper.' I had planned on fostering her and just finding her a suitable home, but I fell in love. I've had Birdie since September.

I don't really know the first thing about GSP instincts but it looks to me like she's got lots of them. She'll freeze and point, do zig zag patterns to follow the scent and find the bird, and the one and only time she ever went and fetched a toy for me she cupped in her mouth like a fresh egg in your hand (it easily squeaked) and brought it straight to me and gently spit it out. She also has an affectionate relationship with water. She'll go in it to splash around and play and roll when she's hot, but she hasn't really shown any signs of wanting to go for a swim in anything that makes her float.

So my questions are - How do I find a local bird dog club for more hands on help in possibly training my dog to hunt with me? I live in New Orleans, La.

How do I teach her to fetch? How do I teach her to go pick something up I didn't throw?

How can I get her to start swimming? Even if GSP's are upland game dogs, there are a ton of small lakes in my area for a good swimming work out, and I'm sure it'd take the edge off of her energy without being so hard on her joints like running is. She shows no signs of lameless, but I want to prevent future problems by giving her alternatives.

I've already been working on basic obedience, and will be getting her fixed so that we can do AKC dog sports like rally obedience and agility (she loves to jump).

 Congratulations again on Birdie!  You are starting her out right. So let me tackle your questions.

So my questions are - How do I find a local bird dog club for more hands on help in possibly training my dog to hunt with me? I live in New Orleans, La.

>>I would look for a local GSP club or NAVDHA club and start with those.  The link for the GSPCA is www.gspca.org/ and if you go to the GSP Regional Clubs on the left bar you can look for a club close to you.  The link for NAVDHA is www.navhda.org/. Under Members & Chapters you can search for a Chapter near you.  

How do I teach her to fetch? How do I teach her to go pick something up I didn't throw?

>> I start teaching this with having them hold my fingers in their mouth.  Depending on the dog, you might was to wear some leather gloves.  But put your fingers in their mouth and tell her hold.  After just a few seconds, wiggle your finger and use your drop command.  Build up the time to where she will hold your fingers for a good thirty seconds. I then move on to a wooden dowel, but you could use a bumper of just about any object you want to use.  If you plan on doing obedience, then you might want to use a dumb bell.  In any case, I ask them to take the object just like I was doing with my fingers.  Again you might have to start out helping her to take it.  Then tell her hold and again build up the time. This time however you will begin to teach her to reach for the object and eventually go and retrieve it whether thrown or not.  At first, hold the object in front of her and ask her to take it. She should reach for the object.  If she doesn't you need to back up a bit in your training.  Get further away and move the object to the ground.  Once on the ground you can put the object in various places and ask her to retrieve it.  I also switch objects to whatever it may be I will want  her to retrieve.  You can also add in the force fetch to this routine if you want an absolute reliable retrieve.  I personally use a force fetch with my dogs because it builds a much more reliable retrieve. There are allot of good books and videos out there you can get and if you are taking obedience you might ask them how they teach the retrieve on flat for the Open exercise as they could probably help you as well. It is usually better to have someone who has been teaching a while help with how to teach things like the retrieve. 

How can I get her to start swimming? Even if GSP's are upland game dogs, there are a ton of small lakes in my area for a good swimming work out, and I'm sure it'd take the edge off of her energy without being so hard on her joints like running is. She shows no signs of lameless, but I want to prevent future problems by giving her alternatives.

>> Shorthairs are normally born swimmers (that even have the webbing in there feet for better swimming), but if she was not introduced to water at an early age Birdie might be a bit nervous when the water gets deeper.  If she has a favorite retrieve toy use it and start tossing it in deeper and deeper for her to go and get it.  She may balk at a certain depth so it will help if you have another dog that can go along that loves swimming or you could go in with her too.  Don't force her, she will figure it out soon enough.  You may also need to help her get started swimming by gently holding her butt up as she swims.  Some dogs will drop their butt and try to bounce off the bottom.  It makes them work allot harder swimming if they are not butt aware.  If you are planning on doing agility or obedience having that butt awareness will help you there too.

Hope this helps.  I am sure others will have suggestions as well.  Good luck and keep up the training.

 Send me a PM with your email and I will forward to some folks in the Gulf Coast club.

Getting her to stand still for a picture is a challenge, since I never think about getting help with someone's around. Here's a few that I snapped while she was tied out to supervise me working on the truck.

At last another GSP person who wants to train that lives in this area!  I am in Mandeville.  This is "Labrador Retriever" country.  Lots of duck hunters here.  There are a few people that hunt quail here on the northshore, but really no trainers for pointing breeds.  I have a friend (a local Judge) who has given me some quail that I have worked with my older GSP and want to do this again soon.  He has a Brittany.  I was working on the water retrieve for the Nationals.  There is a very nice club in the panhandle of Florida and I will go there sometime between now and before the May Nationals.  If you want info on that club, as it is closer than going to Houston, please pm me.  If you find someone or somewhere closer than Florida, please let me know.  As I would certainly be interested.

If you are looking for some agility training, there is K9 field located there in Metairie, here is their website:  www.k-9klub.com

Also, on the northsore, it is www.fidofinishingschool.com.  She does agility and obedience training.

I train for agility and obedience with my Maple and I have recently acquired another GSP who is almost now 4 months old (because sometimes you find you cannot just have one GSP!).  Will also do the agility and competition obedience with her.

Your pup is a cutie and lucky that she has found a perfect home.

There is a group of individuals that train for search and rescue in this area.  Typically if you do search and rescue, that is all you do because it is intense training.  Of course, with that comes alot of obedience.  There is a couple on the northshore of New Orleans that have an awesome Belgian Malinois named Nola that is on the local search and rescue team.  If you go to the fidofinishingschool website I sent earlier, there is her contact information and she can give you the contact info for the people that do search and rescue training.  They are an awesome group.  In addition, Julie who is the trainer for fidofinishingschool has a Mal right now that she rescued.  This dog came from an owner who was training for search and rescue and suddenly passed away.  The dog was too much energy for this young mother left with 2 young children.  I cannot say enough about Julie's training techniques.  All positive reinforcement.  She has trained one of the top Pointers in agility and obedience and currently is competing with a Belgian Tervuren.  Her Mal is still in training and not yet competing.

Good luck with your Mal puppy . . . they are awesome dogs.

Actually after posting, here is the website for the local search and rescue group:

http://www.lasardogs.org/members.html

Trublu . . . thanks for that contact info.  I really did not know anyone here that worked with the pointing breeds for field trials.  Loranger is only about 20 minutes from where I live.  I am excited!!  I have had some help with those that have trained their dogs for hunting, but not competing.  THANK YOU!!