Developing a Bird Dog Puppy
Every Interaction Is Training
Every time we interact with a dog, we're training them—whether we are thinking about it or not. The Smith Method of Training puts a strong emphasis on how we interact with our dogs throughout their life. During every stage in a dog’s life we tailor their experience to build a foundation based on:
Core Bird Dog Mindsets
Confidence – The ability to face new challenges without hesitation or timidity.
Composure – The mental stability to stay calm, focused, and rational.
Compliance – Willing cooperation that comes from trust, willingness, and understanding, not fear.
Core Bird Dog Behaviors
Go With You – The dog chooses to move with the handler whether while heeling or hunting in the field, moving in conjunction with their handler at a distance.
Come to You – A reliable recall and the foundation for retrieve.
Stand Still – Especially vital for pointing dogs, this includes honoring a point and remaining steady.
It all begins as a puppy. A puppy begins learning the moment it’s born. Every experience helps shape how it sees the world and how it reacts to it. That’s why we begin intentional training with puppies almost right away, imprinting them with beneficial experiences. Every step is matched to where each individual pup is in their development. The goal is to introduce new experiences, build confidence, and never to overwhelm them.
Puppy Experiences Shape Adult Behavior
One of the early things we do is start short puppy walks—usually around 6 to 8 weeks old. These walks continue until the pup gains enough maturity and independence that they may not listen well and we need to build more handling proficiency. That’s typically an indicator that they are ready for formal training. On these early walks, we’re laying the foundation for what we want to see from our adult dog.
This is a perfect time to imprint a pup with what we refer to as a “go with you” mindset. Think of how a mother dog moves through the field with her pups. She doesn’t chase them. She moves steadily, and the pups, not mature enough to be completely on their own yet, loosely follow, forming a pack. We do the same thing. We walk in areas the pups can handle. They explore—chasing butterflies, chewing sticks, pouncing on grasshoppers—and that’s part of the learning process and development of natural prey chase. We keep walking and use a locator sound like “Hey Pup,” “Hup,” or a whistle to let them know where we are. They hear us, see where we’re headed, and make the decision to turn to go with us in the direction we are walking. That simple routine teaches them to hunt with us—something we reinforce throughout their life.
These puppy walks teach young dogs to handle new environments, work through obstacles, build problem solving skills, and gain confidence. At the same time, the dog is learning to hunt independently while still choosing work in partnership with the handler. That’s a huge piece of a well-trained bird dog. We want to develop dogs that are confident ranging away from us as they hunt terrain, but always keep us in mind and going with us in the field.
Early Learning Kickstart
Teaching a young puppy easy little things leads to them being able to be able to handle more challenging situations as an adult. We start with small asks and build as the pup learns.
Things we like to start early include:
Place Training
Response to a cue (as simple as taking a step toward you when you put slight pressure on the lead, releasing the tension of the cue as soon as the pup makes the decision to move toward us)
Recall (which is super easy to imprint puppies with by calling them to you at feeding time),
Crate training
Retrieve conditioning
Navigating small agility obstacles
Consistent Behavior & Goals Throughout Life
We always remind people: train with your long-term goals in mind. The behaviors you allow or encourage in your puppy will also be a part of your adult dog. If you don’t want your adult dog to jump up on you, start teaching them to stand still early on. Don’t love on your puppy when his feet are up on you, gently get all four feet on the ground and then interact with them. If you want a strong retriever, encourage your puppy to carry toys and bring them back to you. Don’t wait for hunting season and expect them to magically start retrieving birds. If you want a calm dog that listens to cues, be calm and intentional when interacting with your dog. Our behavior shapes their behavior. We want to be consistent in our goals from the very beginning. This is easier for the dog as they are not chasing a moving goal post and have consistent expectations throughout their life, making the creation of good habits easier. Don’t move the goal post once your dog grows up.
Routine Builds Habits, Variety Builds Confidence
Routine is great for building consistent behavior. But bird dogs also need to learn how to be resilient and adaptable. An adaptable dog is a confident dog—able to handle new places, challenging terrains, and unexpected situations. We recommend getting young puppies out of the quiet, secluded backyard and exposing them to new adventures because that is the end goal when you load your adult dog up to go on a hunting trip of a lifetime.
Small stressors stimulate a growth mindset. Eustress is a motivating type of stress, one that promotes change. This is the type of stress that a kid may feel in school, pushing them to problem solve and excel, and is the type of stressors that we want to present puppies with. Distress is an overwhelming stress that is not beneficial and is a barrier to success. We focus on preparing our puppies for the things they will experience in life by intentionally creating small challenges they can be successful with, so that they never fall in to that overwhelmed state of distress.
So while we build good routines, we also change them on purpose. We look for new experiences and environments to introduce to our puppies—safely and thoughtfully—to help them grow into confident, adaptable adults. This is where creativity comes in. Whether it's new sounds, different surfaces, or changing up the walk, we’re always looking for ways to stretch their comfort zone just a bit. This requires creativity in everybody’s routine, but it is part of the fun in shaping calm, confident, and composed hunting dogs. Every puppy is different, so the puppy development process and journey will be different with each individual.
*This text was a resource for the Upland Disciple Podcast Summer Shorts featuring The Smith Method of Bird Dog Training, Hickcox Method, The Method, and Perfection Kennels.