Why does everyone push for a lab?

[cdnvizsla]

Barden If you are talking dry fields, then any of the larger Euro dogs will handle that with ease, and have more speed then a lab to run down those cripples.

[bardern]

yeah I know there are a few other breeds that might have been able to fit the bill. What I did with my lab was to look for a breeder that was producing the long bodied, long legged American type of lab. Guage is one of the quickest if not the quickest labs I have come across. A good friend of mine, Peter McCooyee, has the top ranked North America GSP from a few years back. Boots is an exceptional dog and might have fit the bill but it is a lot easier to find a good field lab for what I need than to find one of the versatile breeds. That being said Petes dog can blood trail, point, hound and retrieve amazingly well, then again he was North American Champion!

[crackerd]

Barden If you are talking dry fields, then any of the larger Euro dogs will handle that with ease, and have more speed then a lab to run down those cripples.

Say what, cdnv?!? Is that comment straight out of the Flat Earth Society playbook?

What Labs have you been watching lately, other than the one on Downton Abbey?...But regardless, performance Labs have a tendency to



push for themselves pretty well, too, and at speed -



- cripples included.

MG

[yellow dog]

yeah I know there are a few other breeds that might have been able to fit the bill. What I did with my lab was to look for a breeder that was producing the long bodied, long legged American type of lab. Guage is one of the quickest if not the quickest labs I have come across. A good friend of mine, Peter McCooyee, has the top ranked North America GSP from a few years back. Boots is an exceptional dog and might have fit the bill but it is a lot easier to find a good field lab for what I need than to find one of the versatile breeds. That being said Petes dog can blood trail, point, hound and retrieve amazingly well, then again he was North American Champion!

You mean the American long legged pointing lab?

[yellow dog]

Say what, cdnv?!? Is that comment straight out of the Flat Earth Society playbook?

What Labs have you been watching lately, other than the one on Downton Abbey?...But regardless, performance Labs have a tendency to



push for themselves pretty well, too, and at speed -



- cripples included.

MG

I see no Otter tail.

[thunderbelly]

You mean the American long legged pointing lab?

Is that the BlackALLPL, the ChocolateALLPL or the YellowALLPL? I feel the white, (or is it ghost?) ALLPL has been unrightfully neglected in the hunting world.

[krakadawn]

Nice pics there MG.

I can clearly see a well FF dog in action!

Can't imagine going much faster.......geez they're too fast already.

[Dythbringer]

I saw the post asking about what of his top 3 dogs to get for waterfowl and almost everyone said he should forget his top 3 and get a lab.

I understand the hunting that they have done, but there are a lot of different water dogs and really good retrievers out there.

My question is, why does everyone push for a lab?

I will be getting a gun dog once we get our house, and I will be training it for waterfowl and I am leaning heavily to the toller. One of the main reasons is the fact that the breed standards on labs is no massive now, these dogs are almost the weight of the owners, they eat you out of house and home and flatten kids. Labs are notorious for being rammy, not that they mean to hurt anyone but they get really excited and if they bump a child the child is down.

Tollers are about 45lbs, they were specifically developed for hunting and should be no problem if you work with them like you should any dog.

So again, why get a lab? Is it just because of ease of finding one? Is this what you had before? You know a guy? I love the dogs, I would love a chocolate one myself but with the size of them if would make no sense at all.

Hey Fox,

I think the majority of people "push" a lab simply because of the breed's popularity. In our country, there are more lab owners than any other dog and the hunting community is reflection of that. All versatile breeds can do a great job in the field (when I say field, I mean of course the outdoors, not literally simply fields), I don't think anyone would dispute this. However, labs would be at the top of this group due to trainability and attitude and the ability to preform no matter what weather you will encounter in the field. Labrador retrievers are a part of Canadiana as well. While Canada has produced other hunting dog breeds (NSDT) which will go out and do the job (I don't think anyone would doubt that), the lab is superior to most of his Canadian breed counterparts.

Most guys who regularly hunt with labs don't want big labs. They want fit labs. Big labs mean more weight and when you are in a canoe paddling out to the duck blind, weight is important. As for flattening kids, any good sized dog who doesn't know how to behave with children could flatten them (depending of course on the child's age and size of the dog).

Most people want a lab because the breed is easily available and meets their needs. If other breeds were more available (more breeders), I would have no doubt you would see more people suggesting the breed they have.

Tollers are great dogs and a good choice for hunting. If that is what makes you happy, go for it. A good friend of mine has a toller and he is extremely happy with the dog. However, it took him a lot of work to mould the dog as the dog wanted to do what his instincts told him to do. For example, early goose season this year, my buddy had a flock on the pond a few hundred meters away and was trying to get them to lift into the field he was in. He got them up, they started to swing over to the spread. The dog bolts from the dog blind and "dances" in the field (as his instincts told him to do) to attract the geese. Green field and fox-red dog equals birds gone.

Dyth

[bardern]

You mean the American long legged pointing lab?

I dunno? If you are referring to the 95 lb black lab that has hunted with me from Alberta to Quebec, I guess so . Can't say as he is much of a pointer but he has had to retrieve for groups of eight shooters with daily limits of 128 birds and more than a few seasons of 1000+ retrieves.

[cdnvizsla]

Boots is an exceptional dog, (don't tell Peter I said that HAHA)
He is one of many Versatile Champions from a number of different breeds.
They aren't as hard to find as you might think, but they are like finding a good dog in any breed you need to know who to ask and where to go.

As far as the flat earth goes, you need to take a reality check, the pointing breeds run circles around the retrievers when it comes to speed. It is after all what they were bred for. Labs are like the HUM V of the dog world, slow steady and will go through anything and they get the job done. The versatiles are more like the SUV's they can do it all but have their limitations, more fleet a foot then a lab, but lack the body composition for serious winter waterfowling. The Pointers and Setters are the Sports cars fast and nimble first on race day but not the ride you want in a snowstorm.
In the end you need to decide what route you want a specialist or a generalist, being aware that the purpose you have in mind will dictate what you really NEED and should overcome what your WANT