excited and nervous

[dwallac3]

So I am thinking about buying a german shorthair. I have trained an English setter for pheasant hunting and I am confident in my ability there. But I am thinking about training the GSP for pheasant and waterfowl. Has anyone trained a versitile dog for both. Is it hard. What would be the best book or dvd I should buy for this?

[Local Angler]

I have a 4 yr old GSP that I primarily hunt pheasants with. She was not the biggest fan of swimming, even though I live on a lake and she wades in the water constantly. We took a trip to ND this fall, and with the dismal pheasant counts, we decided to chase ducks. She retrieved every duck we shot, in and out of the water. I have not trained her for hand signals, but I did have her force broken when she was younger, so if she sees a bird fall, she retrieves it. I would not plan on hunting a GSP in cold water though.

[Mite]

Training a versatile dog is slightly different then training a pure upland dog. I would suggest picking up a couple of books, 'How to Help Gun Dogs Train Themselves' by Joan Bailey and the North American Versatile Dog Association (NAVDA) Green book and accompanying DVD. Bailey's book is a pre-cursor to NAVDA's book as she is heavily into NAVDA. Most of the info on her book is from puppy to adolescent.

NAVDA also has local chapters and is a good place to meet people and information.