Related pages:
MSDA holds Bird Instinct Clinics, mostly as a part of the club’s annual “Spring Event”. For a bird dog with little or no field experience, this is a great way to get started.
This is a fun, relaxed, and encouraging activity. The clinic consists of trainers working individually with each dog and handler. Each dog gets 10-15 minutes in the field, including bird contact (e.g., flush or point, and maybe a retrieve). Trainers get the dogs excited about the birds, and then the dogs are able to scent and find a bird, triggering their basic hunting instincts. Live birds are used, but there is no gunfire and flushed birds fly away. Clinics are run by AKC hunt test judges and experienced handlers for flushing, pointing, and retrieving breeds.
Instinct Clinic is a lot of fun and can be a wonderful stepping stone for you and your dog to get involved with training for your parent club’s WD or WC program or for the AKC or other Hunt Tests, or to simply see how much fun you can have when your dog gets turned on to birds!!
All potential bird dogs are welcome, and the fee is typically about $20.
Bryan Sirotkin has taken many photos of MSDA Instinct Clinics. His work is available via https://bsphotography.net/, or access Spring 2024 Instinct Clinic photos directly at: https://bsphotography.zenfolio.com/p483417556. (You will need to enter an email address to view the gallery. All photos are available for purchase.)
Also, a few very short Instinct Clinic videos are on MSDA’s YouTube channel.
Please direct questions to the event chair, Steve Roth, via President@mdsportingdog.org.