Once the dog is pointing and the handler has been able to get close to it, the bird must be forced to wing to be able to shoot it.
For this phase two ways are accepted by the FCI:
-In Latin countries (France, Italy, Spain), we want the dog to do a "coulé", a word which has no exact translation in english, but could be "creeping" or "roading in". It is the action of carefully getting closer to the game, frightening it more and more, until he takes flight. At this moment, the dog should be motionless.
-In the Anglo-Saxon countries, one wants the dog to "flush", which is almost the same thing, except that the dog runs without reserve on the bird until it takes flight (and the dog is also motionless at this moment).
Coulé and flushing must always be executed upon order and not spontaneously.
This leaves more time for the handler to position himself and shoot, even if the game runs on feet.
However, some games, not impressed enough by the sight of the dog, will refuse to take flight, creating some embarrassing situations.
In this case, (which occurs almost only with stocked game), the judge or the handler will have to kick the game himself to put it to flight, but some will find it more fair to penalize the dog, judging that his "coulé" was not energetic enough.
We don't have this problem with the flush which is the most energetic coulé that can be, not many birds will refuse to take flight in front of a dog running at them at maximum speed.
However, if the game was far away when the flush begun, or if it runs on feet, the handler is not well positioned to shoot.