Commentary: You can teach an old dog to hunt

The old saying is that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Yet bird hunters who’ve tried know better.
While few would argue that an 8-week-old puppy offers the greatest opportunity to shape a finished gun dog, age alone does not determine a dog’s potential. Every year, hunters adopt adult dogs from shelters, inherit family pets, or acquire started dogs that never received formal training. Many go on to become dependable hunting companions – not because they learned instinct, but because someone finally gave those instincts direction.