Understanding and Flagging in a Bird Dog

The reverberation of a ruffed grouse drumming during early mornings in spring forests is one of the most magical sounds. When you hear it, it starkly contrasts against all other sounds found in the springtime. Its unique nature provokes human curiosity and admiration. No doubt, that very same feeling we get today is what sparked naturalist John Bartram to write a letter to his home in England in 1750, describing the unusual behavior of a bird he called the Ruffed Heath-Cock.

Our bird dog training routine has been completely uprooted, though my dogs are thoroughly enjoying all the extra training. Unfortunately for many people, what would have been the start of training season with friends and professional trainers has now become a stay-at-home DIY situation. Nevertheless, we can take this extra time to get some excellent training drills put together and maybe even include the family in the routines. For starters, we will look at building up one of the most important commands in the pointing dog world – “Whoa.”

So what if my dog has a wiggle butt and flags a bit on point? It’s kinda cute and still gets meat to the frying pan. If that’s the case and your dog will efficiently hunt, locate plenty of birds for you and stand point, I would happily agree with you. More often than not, however, it will affect your hunt in some aspect as it’s a symptom of underlying holes in your bird dog training. It could develop into, amongst other things, a restrictive search, blinked retrieves, self hunting, ripping birds, stealing points and retrieves—which not only limits productivity in the field, it guarantees relentless ribbing from your hunting buddies. In my last Project Upland article, we discussed some of the nuances of reading your bird dog’s body language and figuring out what they are trying to tell you. I referenced flagging as a specific undesirable action in a pointing dog. Let’s delve into that a little bit deeper to gain some understanding.

Being part of the hunting and shooting industry, I get to try the latest and greatest new guns every year. But when I’m not toting a gun for work, I’m usually carrying a vintage shotgun. My duck and pigeon gun turned 100 this year, and my grouse gun isn’t far behind it.  I have a safe full of old pumps, semi-autos, side-by-sides, and over-unders, and I’ll probably never get rid of them. Sure, I’m a sucker for patina, nice engraving, and all of the little things that make an old gun great. But what I love most about vintage shotguns is learning about where they came from, how they were made, and how they handle in the field. 

I’m sure you noticed that you can’t make a move your bird dog doesn’t notice. It’s kind of creepy at times finding your dog at the door staring at you the moment the thought crosses your mind to go out dog training or hunting, as if they are somehow reading your mind. It’s because they’ve been studying your every move since the day you brought them home. They know things about you that you don’t even realize. They have learned to become a bilingual behaviorist to be able to read you as well as their own doggy world. We owe it to them and it’s to our benefit to attempt to figure out how to read their language to become bilingual ourselves. It’s only then we learn to develop that harmonious hunting relationship we all dream to have with our dog. 

Some say the sweetest springtime sounds come from wild turkeys. As many turkey hunters have experienced, real turkeys aren’t always the ones producing that cacophony of yelps. Oftentimes, on crowded small parcels of land, one may be seduced by the sounds emanating from what turns out to be a hungry hunter, not a hen on the prowl. Hunters using turkey calls have tricked birds and humans alike for years.

Bird dog training at its core is behavior modification reliant upon catching your dog in the thought process and being able to read their emotions. Doing so allows us to predict behaviors before they occur, thereby maximizing the potential for learning. Also, the character of the dog at that moment and the behaviors they are exhibiting dictates the amount of pressure required to gain compliance. Pressure comes in various forms. Understanding pressure and how to use it is entirely another article in itself. Basically, pressure can be generated in a variety of ways. Food pressure is when the dog feels internal pressure to perform for treats. The leash and collar is an example of physical pressure. Standing in the proximity of your dog places spatial pressure on them and using corrective tones places verbal pressure on them. Social pressure can even come from the competition of using other dogs.

Have you ever hunted over a dog with a sixth sense for finding birds? Perhaps the dog had a higher-than-average drive to push out to find game. Or maybe it was highly intelligent and sought the most productive cover. Its exceptional nose could’ve been dialed in. Regardless of the attribute, it must have had a cooperative temperament, trusted its handler’s leadership, and would follow them to the ends of the world.  The culmination of all of these characteristics creates a legendary hunting dog. However, the dog knows how to search for a cover in a manner that leaves little opportunity for birds to be missed outperforms all other dogs.  Developing this level of teamwork starts with a dog willing to hunt for and with you. For me, this begins through teaching it to quarter with the long lead starting at a young age.

The Ojibwe, the indigenous people of the Great Lakes region, tell a story of how they were starving and aninaatig (sugar maple) fed the tribe with syrup (zhiiwaagamizigan) that gushed forth from its wood. Soon, the people took the gift of sugar from the Creator for granted. They lay under aninaatig all day and just let the syrup drip into their mouths.  One day, the trickster Nanabozho saw this and poured water into aninaatig, diluting the syrup into watered-down sap. He wanted the Ojibwe to work for the blessing of maple syrup and make them truly appreciate it. Today, this is why it takes about 40 gallons of sap and a lot of effort to make a gallon of syrup.  

The instant it takes to drop your car keys from your fingertips to the floor is all the time you have to relay a message to your dog that they are a good dog or a bad dog. This is all the time you have to tag a behavior. Anything after that simply leads to confusion and resentment. When you are reward-based bird dog training using food, toys or praise, you must be prepared to reward or correct the dog the very instant it presents either a desirable or undesirable behavior. This requires you to be very attuned to your animal. Being able to read and recognize when they are in the thought process of making a good or bad decision is key. For example, when we teach the sit command on a recall (the dog returning to you), we shape the sit through tagging then rewarding the dog the moment it begins to sit (doesn’t need to be perfectly aligned) and slowly building accuracy over time. It’s very common for handlers to over-command, and when the dog finally performs the action correctly, they are left scrambling for a treat and the reward is now too delayed to be of value towards learning.