Feeding- I recommend feeding your pup three times per day until your puppy is 6 months of age (if possible). We start out with a full cup in the morning, 1/2 - 3/4 cup in the afternoon, and then full cup in the evening! We then adjust the amounts accordingly. If you can not feed three times adjust the feedings for two times.
Kennel Up- Each time you place your puppy in their kennel calmly say kennel up. Do not let the puppy out until you give a release word. Initially the puppy will try to come out the second you open the crate be quick about it by gently tapping the crate dog back into your pups face. Never let the puppy out of the crate unless you give the release word. You can use food to have puppy want to go into their crate.When you place you’re puppy in a car or when it walks inside from outside also give the kennel command. This teaches the pup you are telling it to go into something.When you open the inside door to let you’re puppy go out never let them just bolt thorough the door. Always make them wait until you give a release command. Doing so now will eliminate many problems as your puppy matures. NEVER let the pup out of the crate when they are howling , whining etc to get out. There is a difference in winning to get out of the crate or whining to go out and relieve themselves. You will have to figure out which it is.
Learning Pups Name: Feed ing time is a great time to teach the pups name as well as come to both a whistle and verbal command. At all feeding times have someone restrain the puppy while you are behind the food dish. Let the pup see you holding the dish and then placing it on the floor. You should be 5 to 10 feet or so away from the pup. Call the pups name and have your helper release the pup, which should run to the food dish. Soon you will see that pup anticipates this drill and knows their name. At that point add the word come after the pups name. Soon you will see the same results the pup anticipates what is about to happen at that point drop their name say the word come and whistle. After some time then you can interchange pups name or the word come or the whistle at feeding. Of course this is not formal training it is setting the behavior for when the pup gets older.
Introduction to birds and such Take your puppy out frequently. Let them explore. The more you can get your pup out the better off you will be. At first your puppy will have a tough time as everything around them is taller than they are. Do not worry as they mature they will get out more and more from you. When they do start to get out around 12 -14 weeks or so when your puppy is away from you and not paying attention to where you are hide on your puppy with you being able to see the pup, hiding behind a big tree is perfect!. As the pups lifeline they will get frantic often whining to locate you. Wait until you know they are frantic and whistle one time. Your puppy will come running to you with a sigh of relief! This will teach your puppy at a young age that he should look for you and NOT you for him. Do this once or twice on your outings DO NOT over due this.
Introduction to birds When you are introducing your puppies to birds I like to use wing clipped pigeons rendering them flightless. They are stronger birds that will run on your puppy hence having the puppy give chase. After they have chased once or twice building that desire then switch to planted pigeons that your puppy will have to search for. Try not to let them catch a bird, however if they do it is not the end of your pointing dog. If you can not find pigeons you can substitute with quail and or chukars.
Socialization It is fine and fact it is encouraged for you to take the puppy with you as many placed as you can. Let everyone hold the pup and play with the pup. If you want to have the pup around another dog as long as the puppy is inoculated and the dog you are having the pup introduced to is a well mannered under control dog than by all means do so. Introduction to the gun (two methods) While your puppy is giving chase to a bird or running with another older dog wait until the pup is out about 100 or so feet and shoot a blank one time. The puppy should just keep on going as if nothing happened. Do this three or so times per outing. If by some strange reason the pup comes back to you DO NOT PAY any attention to the puppy!I prefer to get a pup accustomed to the shot while they eat. After you whistle and the puppy is eating have someone out about 100’ firing off one shot. Your puppy should continue to eat. If they look up or move away from the dish do and say nothing to the pup. Do this for a week at each feeding if possible. Then move to 75’ repeating the process. Next to 50’ and so on. If at any time the pup seems to be startled then go back to the prior distance.Do not and I repeat do not bring your pup to a skeet or trap range!
House Breaking your puppy This may be a bit of a challenge however if you stick to it the process should not take very long. When pup wakes up from their nap try and get the pup out immediately. With a young pup who has very small bladders I do not leave water down for demand. At each feeding I always HAVE A FRESH BOWl OF WATER letting the pup drink as much as possible. After 10-15 minutes or so both the water dish and food dish are taken away. Soon afterwards we take pup out to relieve themselves. We bring the pup to the same spot each time and say "do your business". As the pup matures or after playing with the pup outside I will have water available. When pup is finished drinking out they go to the same spot to relieve themselves.
At night at bed time the pups are always kenneled in a crate.. We section off the crate giving pup just enough room to stand up turn around and lay down. As pups generally do not like to mess where they sleep we have found this very helpful when putting the pup away for the night. As your puppy grows increase the size of the section until you are confident that pup can make it through the night without messing their crate.
Release Command Just as there is a word for every command you want to teach your pup there is a release word that should be learned. The release word can be any word you like, that release command is the one word you use when releasing pup from every command. I integrate the release command first when teaching kennel up. The pup never come out of the crate until the release word is given.
