Article: Dog psychology 301: instinct gives him the desire to hunt, but only focused training will make him a bird dog.

Instinct gives him the desire to hunt, but only focused training will make him a bird dog

A pointer's "birdiness" is genetic, a quality sketched in over the course of predatory history and refined by selective breeding. But pointing genes aren't like those for physical features, such as coat color, which automatically switch on at a certain stage of development. Bird interest is caused by advanced behavior genes that kick in only when triggered by an event. We must be in charge of that event.

Dog Psychology 301, Lesson 1. As we learned earlier (Hunting Dogs, July and August), commands are best introduced during that wide-eyed, receptive period ...

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