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That's how Labs originated....

its not that poodle is a bad dog, its that when crossed IMO it produces a result that is less predictable. I think it creates a dog that is put together by committee, just look at the poodle crosses they aren't very predictable when they are crossed just by looks alone. same applies to temperament. the rage is these labradoddles I have never seen one that was worth a plug nickel. They all suck. My neighbor was into breeding them and she managed to convince a ton of people in the neighborhood to buy them based on their "cute" teddy bear look. ALL those dogs suck. An air headed dog that isn't even a warm companion. The argument was they don't shed. Even that many times is false, Often they do shed. had one bad Lab out of 4 crazy enough that was the one I paid the most for. The best of the hunting labs, my black pointing lab, my dad got for free. I would hunt over him over any dog I have ever hunted with, including dogs on the pheasant farms and ones buddies had, The rest have been dogs I want with me when I die.

All dogs retain some hunting instinct, no matter how much humans have messed with their breeding. They evolved as hunting animals, or would not have survived to the transition to human companions.

One example is our other dog, a male Shih-Tzu we adopted a decade ago. Willie's bigger than average, 22 pounds when lean and mean. Turned out he LOVED to hunt--not birds but cats. We have a fair-sized garden in the back yard, and local cats tend to climb the cedar-plank fence on the back of the garden, along the alley, to graze on stuff like raspberries, beans and peas--along with doing other damage.

We found early on that Willie liked to stalk along the downwind side of the taller plants, whether the rows of raspberries, or peas/beans, moving slowly along the rows until he smelled one of those darn cats. Then he'd rush up the row to flush the cat--which often ran over one of the woven-wire fences on the other side of the garden. Lena the Labrador soon learned to hang out around the outside of the woven wire, to "encourage" any cat that jumped the wire to leave our property....

Some mixed breed dogs have the best noses. We had, for many years a mixed breed boxer. That dog could "smell you think". Once I took my wife's car to the tire shop for a slow leak in the right front tire. I came home & parked her car on the carport & let the dog outside. She ran straight around to that right front tire & smelled the tire all over !!! I think she would have made a good "drug dog".

The hunting DNA is strong in our little Dachshunds even though they mostly dwell on the sofa, under blankets all day and in our bed at night!

IMO, you did the pudelpointer a disservice (yes I am biased as I have one) in your previous post lumping them in with modern -oodles. They have been a very well kept breed for a pretty darn long time. Their performance, as a breed, in NAVHDA shows that.

I suspect that Cummins believes that if you have a pudelpointer you personally took a Poodle and a Pointer and bred them for pups.
Some know what they know, and informed opinion be damned.

Occasionally guilty of such, myself, so not throwing stones.

I’m a generalist hunter and have always preferred labs. Doubly so for their short hair that doesn’t pick up many burrs. You have to find the right breeding though. It seems labs being so common, have also had a lot of bad breeding and the result is a lot of Biden level intelligent labs.

If I was a strict upland hunter I am sure I’d have some sort of pointing dog but I do just enough waterfowling that I want a retriever that can also hunt upland birds.

I have seen drahthaars, GSP and several pointing dogs retrieve waterfowl just fine, but they didn’t seem optimal. Labs aren’t optimal for all day running in chukar country. Pointers of any sort aren’t optimal in 10 foot tall cattails.

I am a one dog kind of person and like to have them as companions too, which labs excel at, if they’re not of the really, really dumb variety. I think they’re the best all around breed for the reasons I explained. Plus, they just look like what a dog should look like, to me.

The best dog is someone else’s, that way you don’t have to feed and train it all year for a couple weeks use in the fall…

My last dog was a chocolate lab GSP mix. I thought it was a great combo

Every breed has its stars and washouts. Amazing that someone can say I hunted over an xyz, it stunk so they all must stink. However, it's the campfire way more often than not.

Have had nothing but English Springers and English Cockers. Birds make the Dog, and today few give their choice enough of them. Hard to beat a smaller Lab for an all-round choice.

I'l stick with Springers and Cockers....they hunt hard and travel easy. However, if I lived in some place like the Dakotas most likely I would also have a Lab.







Toby....Was a Bull Cocker....There was nothing he wouldn't chase, and was a decent fair weather Duck Dog. Quit wasn't in his DNA.






Take Merlot into a Deer blind and he will give you a heads up before you see anything....

I'm really surprised that Tom, Paul, or Dan haven't brought in some Boykins.

Quoted for truth.

My dad had Springers and managed a few litters which were popular among local guys. His Gabby bitch was a little magician of a dog, and my pup from her, Gabe, was about as good

Seemed odd, the old man raising Springers. Him being so dry and humorless.
He did raise one male who's personalty matched his

Cool little Dogs that most don’t know about. They out hunt their weight class. Not much they can’t do.

Yep!

I have had two Standard Poodles from hunting stock. They did it all . Retrieved ,flushed and pointed . They did not point as well as a GSP but could hold a bird and flush on command .Super smart dogs and easy to train .Both of mine were about 85 pounds . I kept them trimmed short and you could see they were well muscled and had endurance . The bad thing about them was they never learned to leave Porkies alone .

My most productive bird dog was a Brittany. My least productive bird dog was a Brittany. Both were rehoming dogs.

The first was highly trained but not fond of toddlers. The owners had two kiddos in the toddler stage.

The second was a rescue/rehoming. No training and supposedly just a year old. I suspect she was closer to three. She came along just before our son fell ill with leukemia so I didn’t get to work with like I should have. She’d hunt. Some. Point, briefly, and she’d find the bird but wouldn’t retrieve. She was a wonderful pet though. A joy to have around.

My current bird dog is an English Setter. Another rehoming at five years old. Supposedly well trained. She’s had some training. Not a bad bird dog. Wonderful house dog and pet. She’s got got some big wheels. She’s 11 now so she’s finally not ranging so far though she can get out there. She’ll hold a point until I get there but I may have to stop for a nap or two and a sandwich before I get to her.

Not sure what my next dog will be. Probably a Brittany or a pointing Lab. The wire haired pointing Griffon is a contender as well.

Ignorant wretch 🙄. Some of the posters on this thread are dumb as dog 💩