BKinSD’s thread got me to wondering. What do folks expect in a “good” gundog? Retrievers specifically, in this case. I fairly well know what behaviors are important to me, but I’d expect others to have different priorities.
For me, I want a healthy dog, specifically in terms of hips and eyes. I expect good manners on and off lead. In the field, I expect steadiness until released, with decent marking skills and reliable delivery to hand. I expect good handling on blinds out to 75 yards, more or less, depending on the cover. Good hunting and tracking skills in the pheasant field are important to me, though others may not need this. My dogs live in the house, so a calm demeanor is pretty important. The more of these traits I can get through breeding, the less I have to instill through training.
Yes, steadiness, ability to heel on either side, marking and blind handling 150 yards +. I need go too. It can make for a bit of a wilder dog, but that's acceptable as long as they will flat go.
Once we got all these figured out, usually the pheasant hunting skills come natural, with response to whistle and hand signals. My latest yellow figured out pheasants after two drives with pointers. He's actually a way better pheasant dog than he should be.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/kUBqoxq.jpg)
