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.
