When to introduce birds..?

Canine behavior expert and regular Gun Dog Magazine contributor Dr. Ed Bailey cautions: "I think both playing with a live bird and the flipping-the-wing thing at seven weeks - or any puppy age - are mythical nonsense. They both have the potential for setting a pup up for a bunch of future problems. At seven weeks, or even at four or five months old, a pup's orientation is play. Tossing a live bird to a pup is teaching that the bird is a play toy, out of the same box as a squeaky toy. Things that a pup learns at this age are indelible, etched in stone, so it will be hard to unlearn and get past."