Wing & Shot by Bob Wehle

The late Bob Wehle's credentials as a dog trainer and breeder are impeccable. He raised and trained field trial champions numbering in the hundreds and his line of Elhew pointers is widely thought to be the most consistent, biddable, highly conformed strain of pointing dogs in existence today. When a man of these accomplishments speaks, any dog owner would do himself a favor to listen. Wing & Shot, first published in 1964, is Wehle's initial effort at sharing the methods he has found most effective at training pointing dogs.

The book is quite thorough- when Wehle discusses a training issue, he gives equal time to technique, reasoning behind the technique, and problems the reader is likely to encounter. The text does assume the reader has a certain fundamental knowledge of bird dogs and for this reason, I would not recommend it for someone who is considering getting a first dog unless he plans to read it in conjunction with some of the other, more basic books on the subject. I would recommend that every bird dog owner read it at some point. Reading it more than once is definitely not a waste of time, either.