So after 35 yrs of labs, I moved to a Griffon. He is currently 11 months old and was hunted (exposed) to woodcock, grouse, a few pheasants this past fall. Looking for thoughts on my plan for next steps: he understands here, down, sit, but still needs work (if it is ever complete) in high distraction scenarios like flushing birds or deer jumping up in his face. I have used whoa around the house, on walks, etc...heeling is a work in progress. He will NA testing at the end of April and after that test then my thoughts are :
Continue obedience work,
Improve whoa work to the point of using release and shooting birds.
Retrieving needs lots of work, so will work on that without much pressure until bird work is better. So far, while he has retrieved a couple of woodcock, and will work with a feathered covered bumper, he is not very interested in other bumpers. He does like tennis balls...
My goal is to have him prepared for fall woodcock and grouse. With enough bird contacts, I would expect him to gradually improve throughout the season to the point of being somewhat steady to flush by the end of the season.
Thoughts? I really like this dog, but he has challenged me to change how I train...