Warning: This post may be unsuitable for some who would like to see no bird run the risk of being harmed by a little red bird dog. We do all bird work in as best taste as we can to still get the job done.
One of my most favorite things to do with Luna is work her on birds. We haven’t had much time lately, and the work we have done has largely not involved birds lately. But from the time I got her (about 11 weeks) until she was just over a year she had a bird session a couple times a month. She LOVED them.. Luna has a HUGE prey drive, which started quite young. Here are a couple photos of her having some bird sessions at 9 weeks.. just to get her excited about them.
One proud puppy.. Quail.. no problem..
Pigeon?? No problem... I'll catch it
Quail chase
Many of those early sessions just involved getting her really excited about birds.. gradually we required more of her.. Such as finding the birds on her own, and holding a point until they were released… usually no problem, early on she would hold a really solid point, for minutes on end, if she had good scent.. Then came the firing of a blank pistol while she was in chase mode.. no problem. Then came learning to work with another dog, in that she must ignore after a while and find birds not play with her “brace mate” (the other dog that ran with her).. this took a little getting over, she was still a puppy afterall. But after a couple times, she learned what she was to do, and then there was no stopping her.
Here is a more recent pic of Luna on point while working with some pigeons.. she is about 9 months here. this is one of my favorite pictures to date…
On point.. pigeon is planted in the grass at least 10 feet away..
Normally I am the one handling her, so I can’t really manage her and a camera.. so I actually have very few images of her working on birds. Maybe one day that will change.
Tomorrow I shall share a little about how she got her AKC Junior Hunter title. For now I am going to go throw the cheesecake in the fridge and get some much needed sleep.
G’night and I hope you enjoyed. Check out my new Photo blog too if you want.
http://akgphoto.wordpress.com/
Vizsla Inspiration 
Hi again,
so how does this work then? Do you raise your own birds? As you probably know, we wouldn’t tie birds to cord here, but it seems to work by the looks of it.
Howard