The quality of your hunting dog is a result of three things in my humble opinion: (1) Their parents genes (this is where they learn to hunt from, its where they get their prey drive). (2) Birds! Birds! Birds! (This is what bring out what their parents have given them. (3) You ability to get them to want to share the hunt with you! (We don't teach them to hunt, we do teach them to work with us).
I personally believe that bonding with you dog makes you a better team when you hunt. I don't believe that making your dog a house dog will hurt their ability to hunt but will help you to bond with your dog. I have a Brittany who is just turning 6 this month and I don't think that anyone that has ever hunted with us has given her anything but high marks. Right now she's sleeping beside me on her bed. Want you dog to work there heart out for you? Then care about them and mean it!!!!
