Bird Dog to Avi Dog

I have heard training an avi dog takes a lot of work and practice, and I believe it.  I have put a LOT of time and effort getting my Wirehaired Pointing Griffon ready for his first hunting season this fall, but now that fall is over we have started taking Shred into the backcountry.  While watching a recent news report on TV I saw a ski patroller send an avi dog on a search and the light clicked on!  The way they gave the command was almost the same way I send Shred my 1 ½ old pointer/retrieve on a “blind retrieve”, (a command every good duck dog should know).  When practicing “blind retrieves” I usually take a fetching dummy, hide it in a field without him seeing me, and then bring him over, have him heal, sit, and then run my hand in a strait line from his nose on to where I want him to search and tell him “fetch”.  I expect him to search about the area of a football field, and can redirect him with hand signals if I need to but prefer that he figures it out on his own, which he typically does.  He can find a rubber fetching dummy in waist high grass, and head high cattails, so why not a backpack in the snow?

I’d love to hear from someone with experience training avi dogs and get their input and some training ideas; I’m guessing there are a lot of similarities between training a bird dog and an avi dog. 

No experience here with avi training, but moderate amount with bird dogs. And funny you posted your question: I am looking to get a Brittany (another breed of versatile hunting dog) and I was wondering the same thing: would a bird dog with his wonderful nose and good training make a good avi dog?  One point however -- most avi dogs I have seen on the mountain are retrievers (goldens and lots of labs).  Maybe this has less to do with their nose and more with their tolerance for cold and generally friendly disposition?

Anyhow, I am curious as well!

I have little experience with Avy dogs, but learned a bunch from taking an Avy course from a Patroller with one at Whistler a few years back. He had traveled to Europe on an exchange and had his dog trained very well (I think he said a 200 word/hand signal vocab).
He said that in Europe, they reward with food. In Canada, it is with praise. Totally different responses in the dog. His advice, which I used on the Haute Route was to ski with the rankest sausage you can find in your pocket.
I know the Canadians do a good job of training the dog and master, not an easy program to get into though. My friend carefully selected his breed of dog based on stature, coat and temperment, then spent 40 hours a week training for 18 months, then 20 hours a week for maintainance thereafter.
I would think a pointer might have issues with a short coat, but what do I know.
There are also reports of a totally untrained dog digging their master out of a slide.

www.nwac.us/text_version/Gold_creek_01_27_02.htm

That's one amazing dog. Thanks snoqpass for sharing.

Here is a pretty good informational video on the avy dog program in Canada.
www.carda.bc.ca/video/