Hey everyone. I'm new to all of this and just have a few questions and this place looks to be a gold mine for information and opinion. My puppy is about 5 1/2 months old and lately ive been thinking itd be fun to get her on some birds. I dont know of any places in my area where there is likely to be some wild birds for her to stumble upon (i'll be a rookie hunter this fall), but ive read a bit about people using pigeons with their dogs. So i did some more reading and i'm quite confident that i should be able to trap a few pigeons. Im just wondering everyones thought on using pigeons, and if she is an ok age for this? And if so, how do you recommend i start to introduce her to the birds? I feel like these are somewhat stupid questions to be asking, but hey, i got to start somewheres eh?!

Hi and welcome to the forum.
You aren't asking stupid questions.
Trapped pigeons are ideal for training and if you can get them to 'home',even better.

I do things a bit differently. I'm not overly concerned about pointing. As I've said in the past - it's really difficult to breed a GSP that won't search,point and retrieve.
I concern myself ith actual hunting. This consists of searching fields and woods whre I have not placed game. I encourage cooperation,nose,determine the dog's inbred drive and endurance in that drive, boldness and independence.
You may want to contact your local http://www.navhda.org/

Check out the Perfect Start video series from Perfection Kennels. Excellent, easy to understand approach for beginner trainers and yes, your pup is a great age to start.

Jean

A good idea! And do you know any good book about dog trainer?

Tks advance!