Vancouver Island Pointing Dog Club

Beeper:  Dog collar that emits a sound while the dog is hunting.  Used to locate the dog.

Birdiness: A dogs level of excitement when presented with birds.

Blinking: Dog smells bird, then shies away from it.  Afraid of the bird it smells.  Purposely avoids birds.

Bumping:  A dog that purposely causes a bird flush is 'bumping' birds.  See Busting.

Busting: Dog smells/sees  the bird/s then purposely runs in or crowds a bird causing it to flush.  Undesirable on a pointing dog.

Chain gang: a long chain, usually secured at each end with several tie outs evenly spaced over the length of the chain.  Used to tie out multiple dogs at once.

Chasing: Dog chases a bird not shot.

Check Cord: a length of cord, usually stiff in composition so as to not tangle easy in heavy cover, with a brass snap on one end.  Used to train bird dogs.  Usually 20 to 30 feet long.

Creeping: Dog finds the bird but instead of pointing, it slowly approaches the bird to get closer.

Deflated: Dog is not intensely pointing its birds.

Drop: Dog command to take the retrieved bird.  Also 'Give'.

E-collar: Dog training collars that may deliver an electrical stimulus, and/or a vibration, and/or an audible tone as a means of training.

Flagging: Dog on point or scenting birds/game is wagging or twitching its tail side to side like a windshield wiper.

Flush: A bird that takes flight either by intentional flush of a human/dog or self initiated as in a 'wild flush'.  See 'wild flush'.

Green Trained or Green Broke:  A dog that has been taught the fundamentals of field commands and pointing but lacks experience and skill acquired through many days afield and exposure to wild birds.

Gun Dog: A dog trained to hunt birds at close to medium ranges.  Many hunters prefer a dog with this style.  This dog hunts in a forward in a left / right pattern so as to cover the terrain thoroughly and hunt objectives found to the left and right of the hunter vs. an all-age dog that travels straight and far ahead.

Gun shyness: Dog inherently afraid of loud noises and has other abnormal fears including things like gun fire, thunder, etc. 

Hard Dog: Dog that does not shy easily.  Sometimes stubborn.  Accepts firm correction easily.

Intense: Dog is very solid on point, almost as if a carved statue on point.  Also, portrays a very strong desire to find/point birds.

Launcher: A mechanical device that, when triggered, catapults the bird straight upward into the air so that it may fly away from the dog in training.  They are available in manual and remote control. 

Locator:  A beeper collar with a separate control that causes the beeper to beep when activated by the push of the button by the handler.

Marked retrieve: Dog retrieves bird that it saw fall.

Marking or marking the bird: Dog watches shot bird fall.  Dog watches the bird fly away.

Natural: Dog performs the desired skill with no training.  Eg: Natural retriever, natural pointer, natural honoring, etc.

Objectives:  Places that potentially hold game birds

Quartering: A to and fro or back and forth movement of the dog as it hunts in front of the handler so as to find more birds. 

Relocation:  To relocate a dog is when the dog has pointed yet no bird can be found by the handler.  The field trial method of relocation is for the handler to touch or verbally order the dog to move so that it can find the bird again and reestablish point.  Many hunters allow their dog to move and reestablish point on its own, termed 'self-relocation'.

Seeking objectives:  The dog recognizes and hunts a place or places that could potentially holds birds such as brush, trees, plum thickets, hedge rows, etc.  These potential locations of birds are objectives.  A smart dog looks for objectives and 'seeks' them out by running on the downwind side of the objective to quickly and efficiently find birds.

Shooting Dog:  A shooting dog is one that hunts kindly to the foot or mounted hunter.  A shooting dog checks frequently but is usually farther out front of the hunter when working than the closer working 'Gun Dog'.  A shooting dog is medium to farther ranging than the gun dog's close to medium range given fairly open terrain.

Sight pointing: Dog that points a bird because it sees the bird, not because it smells it.

Snappy: Dog that moves quickly afield.  Is very quick in its quartering action to find birds and usually slams on point.

Soft: Dog that will not tolerate harsh training.  Dog that will shy easily with too much force.  NOT to be confused with being timid. 

Solid on point: Dogs does not move when on point. 

Standing:  Dog on point.

Started Pointing Dog:  There are varying degrees of 'started dogs'.  A started dog can be a 'green trained dog' - see 'green trained dog', or it can be a dog that has experience on wild birds but is not perfectly steady and/or a retriever.  A started dog may or may not know its field and obedience commands.  It may or may not honor.  It may or may not have had any wild bird experience.  It is less than 'finished',

Staunch: Dog stands intensely on point. 

Steady to flush or Steady to wing or Steady until shot: Dog stays on point even though the bird has taken flight.  Dog breaks point when the shot is fired or the handler commands the dog to move.

Steady to wing & shot: Dog initiates point and stays on point until released by the handler  If the bird was actually shot, the handler then commands the dog to retrieve bird.  The dog retrieves the bird absolutely to the hand of its owner/handler and only resumes hunting when commanded.*

Stop to flush:  Occurs when a bird dog stops running (whoa's) and points the sight/sound of a wild flushing bird not caused by the dog.  If the dog is bumping the bird then stopping, this is not a true stop to flush.

Stylish: Dog that presents itself in the best way a fine gun dog should.  Solid on point, high tail, head high, snappy afield, etc.

Tap: to touch the dog on the head.  Example: tapping the dogs head to release it.

Trailing: Dog that hunts with its nose to the ground tracking running game.

Whoa: Dog stands stationary with head held high.

Yard Work: Dog training system that is the foundation of bird dog training.  Dog learns heel, whoa, come, natural retrieving, quartering, etc. in the yard before proceeding to the field.