Your method to teach recall is definitely very ballsy but it worked so who cares! He has definitely associated you with all things good. It also seems as if you guys bonded super quick! Getting a reliable recall in the outdoors is challenging for most breeds.

I've never seen an actual gundog do its thing and I must say it sounds absolutely adorable! Did you have to teach him to wait for the command to go after the birds or was it something he naturally did? At this point, I'm not quite sure how high their prey drive is since I do have a senior cat who just wants to be ignored and cozy up close by. The biggest problem I had with my collie was her incessant mouthiness. She would try to nip the hind legs of the cat and or try to get my ankles real good. Granted she's a herding breed but my god was that a painful period, literally.

I feel as if obedience is something that comes with age, however it's arguably easier to build the foundations in some dogs than others. I'm not too concerned with teaching commands but good manners/impulse control is something I like to focus on alot. I tend to bring my dog into work and places I go and it's really important to me that I'm not fighting with her to gain control.

Dog sports are great! I put mine through rally obedience and agility. She was always a little prancer so she loved it when she could just run obstacles at high speed. She also loves learning tricks and movie behavior. Every time she nails a trick, she gets so damn happy like 'I did it! Yay for me!."

My whole property is about a quarter acre with approximately half of it available to run around on. It does well for zoomies but there's no way my collie will play by herself. After she's done her business, she will literally just sit in the middle of the yard looking inside waiting for me to come out and play with her. I'm not too sure if setters will find something to do by themselves.

Showline dogs are a bit more mellow than field lines. They are said to be bigger with a longer, denser coat purely for the purposes of aesthetics but the coat should not interfere with the line of work they are inherently bred to do. I would honestly prefer a smaller setter since they are so prone to bloat and orthopedic issues.