RE: confused bird dog
You have not trained your dog to hunt. All you did was obedience train here. She probably knows kennel, food, dish, and obedience but has no bird sense, and a wing on a string is good to see if a pup has point, but does very little for teaching her to handle birds. You cannot hunt this dog this year, she needs to learn to range, hit cover, point, hold, and handle.
Send her to a pro, or get Delmar Smith's book and a bunch of pigeons and start training her.