Train a labrador to point

I have trained my labrador to flush game and he is very good. He is now at the point where he will actually stand motionless for a few seconds when he finds a bird just before he flushes. Would it be possible to turn this into a point? How do I go about it?

Being a labrador rather than an HPR breed, the actual point action isn’t necessarily going to be easy to teach. The fact that he is already stopping is encouraging (if this is what you want). The best way to approach this is to mould what he is already doing. So when he stands motionless, put a word or command in, so he starts to associate remaining still with a certain command.

As he flushes again, put another command in. These are actions he is doing already, so to add in a command so he makes the association shouldn’t actually be too difficult.

If you are dead set on getting the pointing action, it is possibly best to go for an HPR breed, but by the sounds of it he is already doing the action so does not need the leg lift. ES

Some extra verbal commands could add to a labrador’s skill set