Interesting. I have never seen a dog with a bad nose. I have seen dogs that have not been taught how to hunt and find birds. I train PL's and pointing dogs for clients. I also own both flavors. Some dogs, individuals not breed specific, have what appears to be a higher sensitivity to scent. It could also be simply their response to the scent. Some need 100 PPM another 1000 PPM of bird scent in the cone before they are convinced what they think is there is actaully there. It could also be effected by training?

Back towards the original question? I have a few questions to ask who ever would want to answer them. I am going to make an couple of assumptions here. Everyone hunts their dog and that is the primary purpose of having a dog? I will also assume some of you run hunt test with your dogs on the off season to have something to do with your dogs?

When your training doing marks what is your expectation for the work performed? When training and your running blinds what do you expect from your dog while performing that task? How about any any drills you do? After your dog understands the concepts you have completely taught what do you ultimately expect from your dog. Now tell me when you do the real deal, hunting, what are your expectations as far as marks and blinds go?

Trout Bum looks like you had a good day at the pond. I will answer your question from my perspective when I get some more time. Off to feed the dogs.

Gary

Well- here is another way to look at this- In my male PL's 6 gen pedigree which is 126 possible dogs 50 instances have FT type titles (FC,AFC,NFC,NAFC) and another 15 have CH,Dual CH Can CH type titles which I think are similar in meaning/testing. So 65/126 are highly titled. If you look at most of the other ones that are not titled themselves they are also out of FT stock. So I must place "true value" in that FT training/testing and it's ultimate role in the breeding selection process....

I was looking for that. Several said the same thing. However, in the retriever world, as far as how FC dogs are perceived, I'm not so sure that is the norm (the available package "thing").

Gary as for your question on training....my expectations on drills, marks and blinds are that the dog will eventually be able to deal with them......correctly in a manner which will 1) satisfy my expectations, 2)approach excellence and 2) impress judges.

When I go hunting I expect my dog to 1) do as well as we can with those circumstances which appear to be a bit different, 2) feel like I'm am just as strict (which I am not), 3) reveal areas we need to work on and 4) not have to impress a single judge.