Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs How "tough" is your Gun Dog?

My lab is definitely not as tough as she once was...old age is taking it's toll on her joints in the cold. I recall this hunt in ND back in '07 when she was 4 years old on our last day of a 7 day trip. The air temp was in the mid 20's with 25 mph sustained winds. The dog on the right shut down and would not enter the water and my lab on the left had to make every retrieve. Needless to say she did me proud that day. I've been blessed to have her as a part of my life and will miss her dearly when she passes.



Over the years she has made some extremely long retrieves that have had me worried, but I've always tried to give her a chance to show her potential. These days any hunts she goes on are easy ones with no blind retrieves. Her hearing is just about gone but she still has the drive...it's just that her body can no longer keep up.