I got an invite by a good friend to run my bird dog on pen raised quail. He is a two year old PP and has never seen a pen raised bird. This year 168 wild birds were shot over his points. That was a combination of pheasant, sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge, quail, and Woodcock in 4 states. Training wise, I am pleased with where this dog is. He is bird savvy beyond his age. He relocates on his own on running birds till he pins them. Staunch on point. Will flush on command. To this point, I've put miles on the truck, to keep him on a steady diet of wild birds to educate him. The first bird shot over one of his points was a wild pheasant when he was 3 1/2 months old. When he finds where a game bird has been, he either tracks it, or expands his search, but most often he gets it pointed. The dog is wired hot and well on the way to what I consider a dialed in upland dog.

So what do you guys say? Would you run him on the pen raised birds or not?

This might be an interesting discussion.

Bad pen raised birds are bad for dogs. If you have total control of the dog, then it should be ok for a well trained 2 year old. If it starts to go bad, the birds don't fly, and your dog tries to catch them you need to quit immediately.

Every dog is different. Try it and let us know. Take some pictures.

My observation is that pen raised quail are lousy flushers and flyers. Chukars tend to do better, but they often need a toe assist, also. My two cents is that when training a dog, a bird launcher is important, so that your dog doesn't see anyone walk up to boot the bird up, every time.

Not if they are whoa broke. This is a pen raised quail.

I agree with Bill.....look close, the pen-raised bird walked right under her....didn't budge....just gave me a look like "Now what?"

That is what I want to avoid, and why I am hesitant. If he gets that close, I want the bird to go. I have trained dogs on pen raised birds in the past and have seen a tendency to crowd wild birds develop in some of them. I went the all wild bird route with this one and I like the outcome better. He will stand tall and point long range if that is where he first makes scent. Maybe it's just this dog, but I like one that will spot up on the three point line. Especially late season, when wild birds get squirrelly.

Understand what you mean....but in this case, she pointed when she picked up the scent....held on point until the bird walked about 20 feet right up under her. I think she did exactly what I would have wanted her to do in the situation. It wasn't a hunt but a training session. There's no substitute for wild birds, but in their absence....

I have seen many NSTRA dogs do well on wild bobwhite quail. I had a two time Champion by Honky Tonk Attitude that pointed well over 50 wild coveys her first year. She only bumped one and that was when the wind was to her back.

The great ones seem to instinctively get a lot of things right!!!