Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Smaller Hunting Labs ???

Do you know of a breeder producing smaller hunting Labs? I'm interested in dogs weighing around 50-55 lbs. and bitches around 45-50 lbs. I'm looking for athletic, biddable, intelligent dogs that are full of hunt and retrieve but that would also be pleasant house dogs. Not interested in field trial strains.

Thanks, RS

Mine is about 85 pounds now, and is a wonderful house dog.
Size doesn't matter, temperament does.

If you plan to hunt your dog you should consider a Boykin. They are amazing dogs for their size. I miss mine terribly!

Good luck on the 50-55 lb Labs. I understand what your looking for but anything under 80 lbs will probably work for you and be a lot easier to find. Those gargantuan (100+) Labs were a passing fancy for field work, or so I hope.

Check out the "Royalty British Kennels" website. They are true British Labs and fit your size criteria. They have a long waiting list but are well worth the wait. I picked mine out 1.5 years ago and had them train my dog for a year and just picked him up two weeks ago. They are in central MN.

I know how some folks feel about Milner, but he's breeding a smaller strain of labs.

http://www.duckhillkennels.com/dogs/canoelabs.php



Some people don't want a big dog. I personally don't have any desire for another big dog once my lab is gone. Unless you are hunting big open water, there are lots of dogs that can do the same job just as well as an 85lb lab/Chessie at half the size. Half the size means less food, probably more healthy, less room in a boat/blind, less room in a truck, less chit(if you have to worry about cleaning it up), etc. Boykins, Springers, American Water Spaniels, little GWPs/Drahts, canoe labs, etc. will do everything that a big dog will do until you start talking about hunting big water divers or geese, and I've seen lots of the previously mentioned breeds handle average geese just fine.

For those of us who don't "know how some folks feel about Milner", could you expand on that thought?

Thanks, RS

Some folks just think that he is blowing smoke about his British dogs(and all other British breeders too) and just think that he's more of a salesman than anything(again, just like all the others). I wouldn't have any issues with owning a dog from Milner's kennel. Everyone that I have heard about that actually had one of his dogs has nothing but great things to say about them. Dog people can get really heated over the American vs. British lines really quick like.

Ripsnort, another option is just look for a small bitch from good stock and put your name on her runt pup. There are lots of little 55lb females out there, you just have to look a little bit.

Q.A.,

Thanks for answering. Having owned a British Lab previously, and finding Robert Milner's website, I am fairly certain that his Duck Hill Kennels is where my next Lab will come from. Probably one of his "canoe Labs" if I can find the right breeding. Just what I'm looking for.

Thanks, RS

67lbs of lab, comes from no hunting stock, and is great in the field and in the house.

I don't know Milner but I do know what the confirmation standard is. Deviating from the standard is changing the genetics of the breed PERIOD. Anyone that tells you different doesn't know much about dogs, breeding, and the importance of a confirmation standard. I would stay away from him and any other breeder that doesn't understand and respect a breeds confirmation standards.

A 35lb Lab is so far below standard that you have to play with the breeding to get to that. Anyone willing to do that to a breed should be hung. Anyone willing to support a breeder like that should be caned.

I'm not trying to win Westminster. I want a dog that has the qualities that I like in the size that I want. So I guess that's just a caning I'm going to have to take.

RS

Has nothing to do with Westminster at all. There are plenty of other breeds that fit your requirement without bastardized a breed to fit your desire.

So by breeding smaller framed dogs to smaller framed dogs, you are bastardizing the breed? I would say that breeding strictly for color(I.e. silver labs, chocolates, fox red) is bastardizing the breed, but not breeding smaller frames to smaller frames if they're still put together correctly.

Hope I get my smaller Lab before the Montana Pooch Posse rides to Tennessee, strings up Milner, burns his house and kennels and kills all of his dogs.

RS

Yes breeding out of confirmation standards is bastardizing a breed. I agree (Silver, chocolates, and red)are also bad breeding practices. For one thing just breeding smaller frame dogs doesn't guarantee you will get small frame dogs.

Finding a great breeder is like finding a needle in a haystack. Of course there are a handfull of good to very good breeders for a specific breed. Then there are people that have no business being in the business. Its your money buy what you want. Hell millions of people buy puppies everyday from pets stores that buy from puppie mills. If you can live with that guilt on you have at it. Me I can't.

Remember the Brittany Spanial? It is a prime example, if you want a big running dog get a EP or ES. Thank god there are a few really good to great breeders of Frence Brittany's so that a person wanting a true Brittany can still get one.

My dog is 69 pounds at his hunting weight, about 73 here. IMO perfect. Hes a bull in he weeds and just right in the house.