I keep a number of dogs. Ten at the moment, but it fluctuates.
All are expected to be or become working gun dogs.
I have a 10 month old shorthair..supected pointer cross with lots of run, tons of retrieve, but shows not a whole lot of natural point. She does respond well to the whoa command.

Up until a few days ago, I was ready to get rid of a beautiful male pointer. No run to him. Wanted to please, but wanted to be by my side. I think he simply thought I was going to run off and leave him somewhere. (I know the dog's history, and that never happened to him...just had a lack of self confidence.)
Gradually, he is coming around. Altho I am confident he will never be a wide ranging dog, is certainly going to be an asset while foot hunting.
How long are you willing to wait for a dog to "come around"?

I think most well bred dogs will make it at some point, altho I am talking hunting here, not necessarily field trial contenders. I also admit to having seen some cases that were hopeless in my book.

They're home to stay once I bring a pup into my home. I've never had one that didn't make a better than average bird dog. I've had them take up to 3 years to be above average.

I with you Bill.

I have two male Brits out of our kennel that we kept around because we were never satisfied with the potential buyers.

They are both very sensitive.

They just turned four and have been in the field going on their third season. Just yesterday, they figured out they have "wheels". They tore up the ground making big casts and quartering in text book fashion. They worked the brush and fence lines like pros.

I literally thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest when I turned them loose...they had never worked a field like they did yesterday.

It's a crap shoot with any puppy, but I won't buy a puppy without some number on the pedigree. I'm down to the two pointers which you see on my avatar. The one on the right is Cookie. She's the best bred bird dog of any breed, that I know of, if you go strictly by the numbers. She didn't disappoint. She was said to be the best bird god several people had ever seen. Including a guy who has two dog trucks and 26 dogs.

The other pointer is Cracker. She came from the same bloodlines as Cookie, but she's not Cookie. The first thing I commented on when she came out of the dog box was her tail. I didn't like it. I had planned to have it tipped when I had her spayed, but I just couldn't do it. She fit right in around the house, and became part of the family. Last year someone wrote, "Cracker really sucks low tail and all." That really upset me. No one complained about her tail yesterday when she pointed all the coveys, on a very tough hunting day.

They become part of my family.

Bill,

As long as that dog is locating coveys of quail and working hard for you, I would be extremely proud to call her family. I have been around lots of bird dogs and I agree that even though pedigrees are an important tool in predicting how good a bird dog should be, it again is only a predictor. I do think you have a better shot at getting the type of bird dog that you are after by studying the pedigree.
Elhew

I been married for over 15 years..... does that answer your question

No expert on pointers, but with our retrievers, we've had some 'flip a switch' as late as 21-34 months. Not that they didn't show some sort of potential from the go, but it sometimes takes a while for it to all come together. There are some wound so tight and wired so hot, that I just let 'em be pups and keep 'em retrieving into their 2nd year, then I put brakes on 'em. My little red English bred dog has an awesome pedigree and super high drive, but he's so wired, I figure I'll let him mature so I don't get frustrated with him - he'll be one y-o this month. He'll start training in the spring when he's about 16 months old - but he's a retrieving fool and I'm looking forward to hunting with him! Meanwhile, Rascal was the same way last year, like to knock her in the head, sometimes - she was so wired! Now she is doing GREAT this year (she retrieves and flushes when we hunt quail) and she won't be two years til December 11. It all just came together over the summer for her. I know she'll just keep gettin better each year.