Just my opinions here.
Breeders who trail their dogs is a good thing. Why? Because they are breeding for birdie dogs, dogs that have the genes to produce the kind of dogs that will hunt and have prey drive. Forget the notion that trail dogs run to big. Big runners can be taught to hunt in the range you want much easier than a boot licker to range out. If you can, see the mother and dad work birds. If the breeder declines to do this, look else where. Pay attention to the mother, I'm a firm believer in the female and tail female in the bottom of the pedigree. A puppy pointing a wing on the end of a fishing is only sight pointing, doesn't mean much, kinda like pointing a butterfly.
Books and dvd's are great for telling you how to do things but not so good in telling you how to fix your screw ups. you can take that grain of salt from one who knows.
A couple things not to do.
Don't teach your pointing dog to sit. When your working with your dog and he/she sits it's a sign of confusion. Your dog is always trying to please you so if he gets confused he will sit down because he KNOWS that will make you happy.
No soft noise making toys, makes for a mouthy dog.
When he's a puppy, if you don't want something chewed up take it out of harm's way. Do you think he will take to retrieving if he recalls all the things he had in his mouth that you yelled at him for and yanked out of his mouth. Save yourself a lot of hassle here.
Teach him the concept of "whoa" at the food bowl, house door and truck door. Your not teaching him whoa, just that he is supposed to stand still till you release him. This will pay off in spades when you whoa break him.
Don't whoa break him until he is gun conditioned and collar conditioned.
Don't gun and collar condition until you have really brought the prey drive out of him.
NEVER set your dog up to fail. Always make sure you are in control of the situation. An example, when your teaching your dog he's name and to come, do it with a long check chord. call come, if he doesn't get the concept gently reel him into you with the check chord, he will catch on. and you will be the one in control.
Always a soft voice and use only the words you want him to recognize as being meaningful. Less is more.
It's a building block sort of thing. Don't move on until he understands what your currently working on.
A training collar is a tool not an instrument deal out punishment it gets their attention and helps to reinforce. The proper use of a training collar is a great help and will get you from point A to point B in a shorter amount of time. With my guy's the collar is used for correction with stimulation, check in with me on tone and come to my side with vibration. While in the field I have control of my dogs without the use of verbal commands.
While training watch your dogs eyes and body language, it will tell you all you need to know.
Yard work, yard work, yard work. If you can't handle him in the yard how can you expect to handle him in the field.
Remember, it's all about building confidence in your partner and more importantly in yourself as his handler.
By the way, I've seen a seven year old coach potato turn into a darn good bird finding machine.
It's a journey, one step at a time. Best wishes for you and your pup AND your 5 year old.
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