Most of us train our pointers to find game and then point it until we arrive to flush and shoot the birds. But in Finland, some pointing dogs are trained to something even cooler: They’re trained to point Capercaillie, and then on command return to their human companions and guide their two-legged friends back to the bird.

Learn the how’s and why’s of them doing it by checking out this post from Craig Koshyk’s Pointing Dog Blog. And be sure to check out the videos. The last one is amazing.
Versatility Part 1: Reporting From Finland…
“In the gundog world, the term ‘versatile’ is pretty versatile. In the UK, France, Italy and other European countries, it means a dog that hunts, points and retrieves. In North America, according to NAVHDA, it means a dog that hunts, points, retrieves and tracks on land and water. In Germany and countries to the east, it means a dog that hunts, points, tracks, drives, bays, flushes, kills vermin and protects the house and home.

But even as broad as those definitions are, they still don’t cover the full spectrum of how versatile dogs are actually used by hunters in each region. So in this next series of posts, I would like to explore some of the more interesting and unusual ways that versatile dogs are used in different parts of the world. Today’s post will look at something called “reporting” done by Finnish hunters, field trialers and their dogs in the vast forests of Finland…”

Read the entire piece now. Discover more about “reporting” and see a great video that shows how Finnish hunters this technique to their advantage.

BTW: be sure to check out Craig’s book Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals, the most thorough and authoritative work available on the history of continental Europe’s pointing breeds. If you love hunting dogs, it’s a book you must have.