Open plains English Pointer
(Photo Credit - Jim Markovich)

A stylish point from a Braque du Bourbonnais.
(Photo Credit - Greg Baisden)

I attended a training seminar last June put on by Buddy Smith, hall of fame pointing dog trainer. The main focus was the use of an amazing tool called the Buddy Stick. Basically the Buddy Stick replaces the check cord in training pointing dogs.

The main premise of the Buddy Stick is “power steering” for the dog. The tool itself is so simple that it is a do-it-yourself product. All you need is an eight foot piece of pvc pipe with an end cap and a brass lead snap on one end.

The obvious benefit of the Buddy Stick is complete control of the dog from all sides. It is great for “whoa” training and steadying the dog. You can give the dog a slight push on the chest while standing in front of the dog to firm up the “whoa”, then give him a couple of taps under the chin to get his head up nice and high.

Have you ever been training your dog on planted or wild birds and your dog goes on point. Chances are you don’t have anything to tie the check cord to or you don’t have anyone to flush the bird as you control the dog. With the Buddy Stick, you can move around to the front, which is also a challenging endeavour with a check cord and not having a young dog break point, and once in front of the dog you can drop the stick to the ground (step on the end of it to embed it into the ground if you wish) and the dog cannot move forward as the Buddy Stick prevents forward movement.

The Buddy Stick is also great for styling up the dog on the bench or barrel.

As the buds begin to show and the ground is getting dryer, what better time is there to get some bird training in.

With younger dogs it’s good to create a controlled environment so that we can anticipate what’s going to happen and be prepared on how we can take advantage of the situation.

A good early season drill would be to run the dog in a fairly open area where you can see where the dog is and you can steer him a little better by taking different routes through the field.

Try to locate some light cover to plant a bird in a trap. Steer your dog upwind of the bird and anticipate when the dog will get there so you can be close by to control the action.

Walk up to the dog and steady him up all the while showering praise.

The older the dog the more you can try to recreate an actual trial or hunting situation with the release of the bird and the discharge of the starter pistol.