English setter. 10 Months old now. Been working with him a lot to stay close, come to me on command, walk on a lead without pulling, sit and of course fetch and drop. No quail or pheasants here. No prairie chickens, I have to drive west a couple hours to find decent numbers. So I bought 10 pen raised quail. Set out three of them and waited an hour. Then took the the dog out. He had been exposed to gun fire and never paid it no mind. He knew what a shotgun was just not what it did. He flushed the first bird. I shot it and dog ran up to it all excited. Ran around it in circles stead of fetching it on the dead bird command I gave him when fetching a ball. Two birds had flushed. So I headed toward where the second bird landed. He flushed it too but did fetch it when I said dead bird then bring it here. No chewing. He found the third bird and locked up in a point. I flushed it and shot it. Bird locked his wings or I didnt hit it hard. It went about 30 yards I guess before crashing. Took the dog a few minutes to find it but he did and brought it right to me when I told him too. I figured that was a good time to quit and praise the dog lavishly. I pulled the heads off the remaining quail and are we eating them today. Time to put him on wild birds. I believe he is going to be a dandy.

I train my Beagles to come to a ref's whistle, carry's a lot farther than voice, and I run them with a bell on the collar, helps me keep track of them in heavy cover. Got that from a bird dogger, said it also helps keep the birds settled.

Sounds like you've got a good one, Danny!
As for bells keeping birds settled, I've found the opposite to be true. Pheasants that have been hunted will vacate the section at the first hint of noise. The quieter you can be the better.

I have no personal experience with training and English Setter But a close friend that I have know for many years has owned about 8 or 10 during the time I know him . He says they can be a little hard headed at times And some do not get the turn on the light experience until they are going on 3 .But he has trained them all to come to command ,fetch ,hunt within range . They are wonderful pheasant dogs .And fun to hunt with /They are not the kind of dog the owner spends the whole day yelling at . Good luck

This dog can be hard headed but I have trained my share of hounds. I can deal with hard headed. Compared to hounds this dog trains easy.

Sounds like you have a good one going. That's going to be some fun you set the grandkids up behind him.

Mac

Lordy that does sound good ! If you can continue he will be a joy .

I miss hunting over a good bird dog. If u need a place to hunt give me a shout. Seen good numbers of quail this year. But u never know what's really out there till u hunt them.

Setters and short hairs were always my favorite. Nothing prettier than a English setter on point. Nothing easier than geting burs off a short hair pointer.