My new neighbor got a good looking Brittany pup. Looks as if he'll be a natural retriever. He was retrieving a piece of junk to hand when I took my afternoon walk. I asked if he had seen the pup point. He had not. I took the whatever he was retrieving and tied it to his lead. The pup chased several times then stopped. It then stepped up and pointed solidly. The neighbor said that he had some pheasant wings at home, and asked about using them as a training tool? My reply was that I was not sure about the value in training, but that it was fun, and an indicator of pointing instinct. What say you?

Here's a picture of Cracker in my back yard as a pup. Do you have any puppy pick ting pictures?

Might be fun for a bit but I don't want my dog sight pointing.

The Smith's use wing on a string briefly in their training. They say however, that too much of it leads to a dog that only sight points.

^^^^^^^^^^

Started this female on the wing and string. And now She's finding and holding coveys like a seasoned professional.

Always take a fishing pole with me to pick out a pup just to check drive and alertness, and use one occasionally in whoa training phase. Getting in deeper, just sent in a deposit check on a pup yesterday.

My thoughts exactly. It's been my experience that pups with a lot of point break easier. Also, they sight point in the back yard a lot more than they will ever do pointing the WOS.

Why would you not want your dog to sight point? What do you want it to do if came in upwind but could see the birds, run through them?

if you ever had a dog that site points you will understand. They will quite using their nose and just start looking.
It cant hurt to see if they will when they are pups but I would not do that every day. Just my opinion.

Here's the neighbors pup. Meet Riggin.

Good tool for selling pups only and for ruining them when used too much. IMHO

Where are yall getting these dogs that ruin so easily? I don't use wing on string for a training aid either but to say it will ruin a dog? Sorry, if that will ruin the dog, it was ruined from the start. IMO.

Bad choice of words Kevin. Sorry. I knew I was getting into deep waters living off my past experiences. Y'all carry on. I'll sit back and watch and learn.

We weren't training, but here's Jenny pointing a mockingbird in the hedges as a pup.

It is fun to play with. I am not sure that it does as much good for the puppy as it does to get the hopes of the owner up. I have never seen it ruin a dog as long as you don't use it as part of your training. I will not play WOS after about the 5-6 month point in age for a pup. I would rather be working on a pigeon or quail after that. The sooner you can get them chasing the better to enhance their focus. You can start the whoa/hold process pretty quickly after that. I would rather see a young pup chase first before I would want to play point on a string.