From the Whelping Box to the Bird Field: How We Raise Future Hunting Dogs

From Whelping Box to Bird Field: How We Raise Future Hunting Dogs

A hunting dog doesn't suddenly become a hunting dog the first time you put it on birds.

Long before a German Shorthaired Pointer or Vizsla puppy sees its first field, we're laying a foundation that we hope will help it become a confident, independent, trainable dog.

Some things can't be trained into a dog. Genetics matter. Natural pointing instinct, prey drive, search, cooperation, retrieving desire, and temperament are all influenced by what came before that puppy.

But genetics aren't the entire story either.

How a puppy is raised matters.

At Nosam Kennels, raising future hunting dogs starts in the whelping box.

It Actually Starts Before the Puppies Are Born

Before we ever talk about puppy raising, we have to talk about the parents.

You cannot turn every puppy into an exceptional bird dog simply by exposing it to birds.

That's why we emphasize breeding dogs with the natural qualities we want to preserve.

We evaluate our German Shorthaired Pointers and Vizslas for hunting ability through venues such as AKC Hunt Tests and NAVHDA, while also assessing temperament, structure, health, and each dog's individual qualities.

We don't believe saying “our dogs hunt” should be the end of the conversation.

A breeder can say a dog hunts. But what evidence is available to the family buying the puppy?

We want families to see our dogs working through photos and videos and to see accomplishments earned through recognized testing programs.

Some phenomenal hunting dogs have never earned a title. A title doesn't make a bird dog.

But independent testing provides something that a breeder's own opinion cannot: an outside evaluation.

When one of our dogs passes an AKC Hunt Test or earns a NAVHDA prize, we aren't the ones deciding whether the performance was good enough. The dog has to demonstrate its ability under an established standard in front of judges.

That's valuable to us as breeders, and we believe it's valuable to the hunting families considering one of our puppies.

The First Weeks Aren't About Hunting

Newborn puppies obviously aren't learning to find birds.

Instead, they're beginning to experience the world.

During the earliest stages of development, our focus is appropriate handling, Early Neurological Stimulation, monitoring growth, nail care, and introducing small, age-appropriate experiences.

As puppies develop, their world gradually becomes bigger.

Different surfaces. Different sounds. New objects. New environments. People. Handling. Problem-solving. Time away from mom. Learning how to recover when something is unfamiliar.

These experiences might not look like bird-dog training.

But confidence matters tremendously when that puppy eventually enters the field.

We want a puppy that encounters something new and thinks:

“What is that? I'm going to check it out.”

Not one whose first response is always to shut down or avoid it.

We Want Puppies to Learn How to Figure Things Out

One of the biggest things we're trying to develop isn't obedience.

It's confidence.

We don't want puppies that believe a human has to solve every problem for them.

A future hunting dog will eventually be expected to leave its handler, search cover, use its nose, make decisions, and work independently while still remaining cooperative.

That independence has to be allowed to develop.

Puppies get opportunities to explore and investigate rather than having every experience completely controlled for them.

That doesn't mean we want dogs that ignore their handlers.

The goal is independence with cooperation.

That's a very different thing from creating a dog that's afraid to leave your feet.

Building Independence Without Losing the Handler

One quality we value in our hunting dogs is the willingness to go out and search while maintaining a relationship with the person carrying the gun.

We don't want to constantly call a young puppy back simply because it ventured farther than we're comfortable with.

Range can be managed later.

First, we want confidence.

We want puppies willing to leave us, investigate their environment, and discover that working away from the handler can be rewarding.

At the same time, we build engagement and recall so that the puppy learns that checking in and returning to its handler are rewarding too.

Eventually, those two concepts come together:

Go hunt but remember we're doing this together.

Then Come the Birds

When puppies are developmentally ready for bird exposure, our first goal isn't steadiness.

It isn't whoa.

It isn't a picture-perfect point for social media.

It's desire.

We want puppies excited about birds.

We want them using their noses, chasing, grabbing, carrying and figuring things out.

If a puppy naturally points, great.

We let the puppy point.

We aren't interested in physically putting a young puppy into a pointing position or constantly commanding “whoa” to make something look more advanced than it actually is.

We want to observe natural pointing instinct.

There will be plenty of time later for formal steadiness and manners around birds.

At this stage, we'd rather have a puppy that's absolutely crazy about getting to the bird than one worried about making a mistake.

We Don't Introduce Birds and Gunfire at the Same Time

Before we begin gunfire introduction, we want a puppy that is already confident around birds.

The puppy should be excited to chase and comfortable picking up and carrying birds.

We don't want a puppy experiencing a bird and a gunshot for the first time simultaneously.

Why?

Because if the puppy is unsure about either experience, you've just made it much harder to determine what caused the reaction.

Instead, we build the bird association first.

Once that desire is established, we can use the bird as the reward during a carefully controlled gun introduction.

Gunfire Is Introduced With a Purpose

We don't introduce a hunting puppy to gunfire by taking it to a shooting range.

We also don't fire a gun beside a puppy just to see whether it reacts.

The goal isn't simply:

“My puppy heard a gunshot and wasn't scared.”

We want the puppy to develop a positive association between gunfire and something it desperately wants.

Gun = bird.

We typically begin with a puppy highly engaged with a bird while another person fires a starter pistol from a significant distance.

If the puppy doesn't react negatively, we can gradually decrease that distance.

This isn't something we rush.

A puppy doesn't earn extra points for being shot over earlier.

We would much rather spend additional time building prey drive and confidence than create a gun sensitivity problem that now has to be repaired.

Retrieving Starts With Wanting to Carry

Formal retrieving comes later.

With young puppies, we want to encourage the natural desire to pick something up and carry it.

That includes birds.

We're not worried about creating a perfectly polished retrieve in a baby puppy. We're paying attention to what the puppy naturally wants to do.

Does it chase?

Does it pick the bird up?

Does it carry?

Does it want possession of it?

Will it move toward us with it?

Those little behaviors give us information about the puppy in front of us.

Training can shape those behaviors later.

First, we want the desire.

We Don't Try to Create a Finished Hunting Dog in Eight Weeks

This is important.

Our puppies aren't leaving Nosam at eight weeks as trained hunting dogs.

And we don't believe they should.

Our job is to give them a strong foundation and avoid creating problems that their future owners or trainers have to undo.

We want them to leave curious, confident, interested in the world around them, and prepared to keep learning.

There is a huge difference between developing a puppy and finishing a bird dog.

There will be time for formal obedience.

There will be time for steadiness.

There will be time for trained retrieve.

There will be time for more advanced handling.

There will be time to polish everything.

You only get one opportunity to let a puppy discover how much fun birds can be without a long list of rules attached.

Every Puppy Is Different

Even within the same litter, puppies aren't carbon copies.

One may immediately grab a bird and run off proudly.

Another may spend more time investigating before deciding what to do.

One may naturally search farther away.

Another may be more handler-oriented.

One may be incredibly bold.

Another may be thoughtful and take a little more time before committing.

That information matters.

It doesn't necessarily mean one puppy is better than another.

It can mean they're suited for different homes.

This Is Why Hunting Families Don't Simply Pick Their Puppy

When we're placing puppies with hunting homes, we're not just looking at which puppy someone thinks is the prettiest at six weeks old.

We want to know what you plan to do with the dog.

Are you primarily a weekend upland hunter?

Do you want to pursue NAVHDA?

AKC Hunt Tests?

Are you interested in hunting several species eventually?

How much experience do you have training pointing dogs?

Do you want a dog with more independence and range, or would a naturally more cooperative puppy better fit your experience and hunting style?

And what does life look like when hunting season ends?

Because those answers matter when we're evaluating which puppy makes sense for your family.

The boldest, hardest-driving puppy isn't automatically the best hunting puppy for you.

Our goal isn't to give hunting families the puppy they would have picked based on a photo at five weeks old.

It's to give them the puppy we believe gives them the best opportunity to become the hunting partner they're actually looking for.

From Bird Field Back to the Couch

Another part of our breeding philosophy is especially important to us.

Our dogs don't stop existing when hunting season ends.

Most Nosam dogs won't spend their lives exclusively in a kennel waiting for the next hunting trip.

They're family dogs.

They're riding in the truck, sleeping in the house, traveling with their families, and spending far more days being companions than they will spend behind a shotgun.

So we're not trying to produce hunting ability at the expense of everything else.

We want prey drive.

We want natural ability.

We want confidence and independence.

But we also value trainability, cooperation, temperament, structure, and an off-switch.

The dog that gives you everything it has in the field should still be a dog you enjoy living with when you get home.

Raising the Next Generation of Nosam Hunting Dogs

No single exercise creates a bird dog.

It's genetics.

It's breeding decisions.

It's health and structure.

It's temperament.

It's early development.

It's allowing independence.

It's building confidence.

It's introducing birds correctly.

It's taking your time with gunfire.

It's evaluating the individual puppy.

And then it's placing that puppy in a home willing to continue developing what started here.

At Nosam Kennels in Central Kentucky, we raise German Shorthaired Pointer and Vizsla puppies to produce versatile dogs capable of succeeding in the field and fitting into family life.

We can't promise that every puppy will become someone's once-in-a-lifetime bird dog.

But we can stack the deck.

Breed for it. Raise for it. Prove it. Then put the right puppy in the right hands.

That's how we hope to get them from the whelping box to the bird field.