Our English Pointer pup is now 9 months.  We are seeing changes in her personality.  I just thought things were improving and becoming more manageable.  I need some words of encouragement.  And, just what should I expect from this "stage"?  Goodness, does this breed every chill out.  

At 9 months I would expect her to be coming into season soon. Could this be the changes you are noticing or is she going through the adolescent stage? This can come in different ways. What changes are you noticing?

8 - 9 months is the traditional "apron string pulling" time and previously "obedient" pups reveal themselves to be nothing of the kind :D  You are now entering the "kevin" stage and the next year will try your patience somewhat but, like human teenagers, the vast majority turn out ok as long as you are consistent :D

Snap, our pointer is 9 months old.  She had settled down a bit and we thought we were getting through to her but she has these bloomin awful weeks where she won't do a thing.  We're just getting through it and doing fairly straightforward training with her.  Her worst problem is running off and not coming back.  She's a lovely dog and everything is worth it when we take her on the moor for proper training, it seems everything comes together.

You will get through it and as someone has suggeted, it could be that she may soon be coming into season. 

Helen

The best trained English Pointer I know is 6 and he still has his moments, but when Morse was driving me nuts his owner used to cheer me up with tales of his hooligan days. He was an explorer too - vanishes over the horizon to pastures new:D Its a comfort to us new owners when experienced people share their pain !

We have a 2 year old English Pointer, Rowan, who we 'rescued' last january.  He is lovely - fairly calm and responsive.  prior to giving him a home we were told that if we let him off the lead he would probably never come back.  He does! - in fact he is usually only out of our sight for 2 or 3 minutes at a time.  perhaps its because he spent 8 months of his first year in kennels.  We take him out to Ashurst occasionally where he loves to race the trains, once the train overtakes him he lopes back with a big smile on his face He also loves to retrieve - which is quite funny as our Flat coat never got the hang of bringing anythin back!
His main downfall is the scrounging although he is beginning to learn that it drives us mad - when we first had him we got though about 10lbs of butter before we learnt to put it away - now he leaves it alone! 
We occasionally see his brother,Sam (previously called Rufus)who lives with a German Pointer,(the kennels wouldn't home Rowan & rufus together but I think it was a good thing)  When the 3 of them get together they are a sight to behold
Rowan is currently lying on the sofa with his head in his 'dad's' lap - he's a lovely boy - gentle, patient, funny and energetic - he has a fan club of children who if he's not at school in the morning complain!
I am sure your pup will improve with age