Here is a video we took of Arlington’s bird introduction. (He’s available for adoption! Shameless plug!) I always do a bird intro, with showing the dog a bird in my hand before I put a bird on the ground. I do this for a couple reasons. You know the old saying “you only get one chance to make a first impression” well that holds true for dogs too! Even though they’re bird dogs that have been breed for finding birds, a bird flushing up in a dog’s face that has never been up close to a bird before can really startle a soft dog and turn them off to birds. Letting them see and smell a bird from my hand first, helps eliminate this. Another reason is these are rescue dogs. We have no idea what their past experience with birds has been. They may have had a horrible experience with birds before. I would rather find this out with a bird in my hand, than spooking them with one the ground. Also, later down the road, I use birds tossed from my hand for a gunfire introduction. Letting birds go from my hand now, paves the way for this. The first bird in this video goes very well. He’s very interested in it. The second bird in my hand I have a hard time getting him to take notice, even though it’s right in front of his face, because he’s so fired up about the one in flight until I toss it. By the third one he REALLY wants the one in my hand. After watching this I had to laugh at myself. I was whistling to get his attention. A bird in my hand couldn’t get his attention! And I’m thinking a whistle’s gonna! Stupid me!