Bobwhite quail are one of my favorite birds to use with young Brittany puppies. Their small size make them a great choice for bird introduction. They also make a great bird noise and they prefer to run away from dogs. The chirping call and the running make bold puppies that want to chase. The idea with young Brittany puppies (8-12 weeks) is to build their confidence and encourage prey drive around live birds. This is something you just cannot accomplish with a wing on a string.
We typically introduce our young puppies to live birds around 7-8 weeks of old. We have tried it at 5-6 weeks but it seems a bit early and the results were not conclusive. We use the exercise as a way to assess the litter and which puppies have the most bird interest. Although this is not a cut and dry indication of birdiness, it can be a great early indicator of standouts in the litter. Getting the right puppy to the right home is crucial to the success of our kennel. We try to get bird dogs to hunting homes, and people dogs go pet homes.
