Will Rogers said "If there are no dogs in heaven, when I die, I want to go where they went."
I have had the pleasure to be around some really fine hunting dogs, mostly Labrador retrievers. One friend I trained and hunted with had Labs but also, had Al, a GSP was special. His owner had a double wide on 200 acres of river bottom. After breakfast we would let Al out the door, finish our coffee, gather our hunting gear, then go out the door. We would find Al on point, walk up and flush the covey, hopeful to hit a few for Al to retrieve. As I said Al was special, not only would he point and retrieve upland, he would also retrieve waterfowl, and, he would also handle...meaning that he didn't have to see where the bird dropped, you could line him up by your side send him on his name. If he went off course, you could blow the whistle, he would sit and face you. You could then direct him with hand signals, left or right, over, angle back or straight back to the area of the downed bird.
Dutch, handles and will point, but if the bird moves he will go in and flush.
