Reuben as far as natural ranging goes, do you pretty much take em to the woods and walk with em, watchin who leaves out and who stays closer? I do this with my 3 pups quite a bit now, my female is startin alot stronger then my 2 knothead males but females have always picked up on things faster for me in both bird and hoghunting dogs.
"the sun is shining somewhere in texas" -Jason Boland
I take the pups straight from the pen to the dog box because I want them fresh and ready to go do something...then in some nice open woods I drop them out and watch them...I don't pet them or give them any attention...What I want to see is all the pups leaving out...once I see who is the leader I will leave that one at home and see who will step up...but at 4 months old and the followers follow then I am ok with that at that pups age...either way a stroll in the woods with the pups just to observe them in action is also a good training exercise...
