ORIGINAL: Snooky
Teaching a dog to stop and remain motionless IS NOT teaching a dog to point! Whoa is, or should be taught in the yard without birds and then when the dog points, whoa can be introduced to keep the dog from moving. You try to teach whoa in the presense of birds and you will likely end up with a blinking dog that is going to shun the birds when he smells them instead of pointing and unless they flush wild, you want even know they were there.
Snooky,
I hope you have not misunderstood me, as what I said is actually in complete agreement with you. I said that a pointer may need "guidance" to learn what you want. For example, a pointer needs to have the natural ability to point, but he must generally be taught "whoa." A dog that does not naturally point really actually only learns "whoa," instead of naturally pointing, just like you pointed out. I also stated that if a dog does not have the "drive" to look for something and then naturally point it out, then it's not the real deal. Like I said, ability and drive are not mutually exclusive, in my opinion. I hope you did not misread my post. I could not tell from your reply if you are "putting me in my place,"
. If so, you might take another look. Nice post. You, too, Doc E