0:31 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dog. Brought to you by George Hickox Bird Dogs.

0:45 Hi, I'm George Hickox. We're here in the prairies of North Dakota, my summer training grounds. Today we're going to talk about scent drills, point drills, getting your dog to hold point.

There's three different point drills that we use. The first is a fly-away drill. Then there's a restrained chase and then your finish point drill where we have the dog stay to wing and shot. This time, I'm going to talk to you about the fly-away drill.

1:08 In the fly-away drill, we're going to bring the dog in perpendicular to the scent cone. I've got a planted pigeon here. I'm going to bring the dog in perpendicular to the scent cone. The wind's blowing from me to you. When the dog goes on point, I'm going to walk in front. When I get in front, I've got a remote launcher out here and I'm going to launch a fly-away pigeon.

When I launch the bird, the dog's going to take off and start chasing it. I'm not stopping the dog from chasing it at this point. I'm simply trying to give the dog a picture that when I'm in front, you get to see a bird so the dog become motivated to let me get in front. My whoa's not in place yet. But if I've got a dog who will let me get in front, when we get our whoa worked on and assemble whoa with the fly-away drill, you'll have a dog who holds point with a minimal amount of pressure. And that's the trick. There's not dog that has more style because you use more pressure.

1:58 So when you're training, you want to come up with approaches so the dog thinks it's working for itself. And that's what's going to happen. The dog's going to come in and say, I got it, when you're in front of me, I get to see a bird. And when the dog is off and chasing, and the dog holds point, then we'd be ready to move to a restrained chase drill, which I will show you on another tip.

2:17 In the fly-away drill, it's also a great time to shoot a few birds, if your dog has been properly introduced to the gun. So we bring the dog in. We launch a flyer. The dog's chasing. We can shoot that bird. And we get the dog pointing and also a shot bird in there. So I'm going to grab a dog and we'll see how it goes.

2:36-2:56 [sound of dog and Hickox going through the grass]

2:57 [sound of launcher][sound of bird flying away] [sound of dog running through the grass]

3:11 [dog panting heavily] So in a fly-away drill remember, this is done before your whoa command is in place. We're simply trying to show the dog that when we're in front, we're gonna launch a bird and you get to chase. That way the dog will say I'm going to stand here, you get in front. We're not putting pressure on the dog. We're just giving it an understanding that when you're in front, you're going to launch a bird. Thatta girl. 

3:37 [Closing]

3:59 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dog. Brought to you by George Hickox's Bird Dog Training School.