Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire adding poodle ruins the dog breed!!!

Actual hunting labs you say???😁

I agree

running a lab on water versus chukar up and down mountains where dogs will cover 15 miles a day in steep, really rough country is a big difference.



but we'll agree to disagree

cheers

I love seeing actual working dogs

Whatever. Last pheasant hunt we were on I rode a mountain bike in 7 miles with her running along side. Dropped camp and hunted til dark. Slept out in 13° and up before light.. hunted til dark. Miles hiked that day by ME ( not the dog)? 12. Dog ran all day. Pheasants quail and doves. Slept out again, hunt morning, run the whole way out.
But... Nice truck, dude.

I have two black labs left. Best breeding east of the Mississippi this year.

Pick a boy or girl.

Only two left.

Guys, simmer down. Different breeds for different hunters.

Think of a scale that goes from Chessie to English Pointer.

The Chessie is unmatched in swimming and retrieving. They can flush the heck out of upland birds too.

The English pointer is unrivaled in the upland fields, most will swim and retrieve as well.

There are a pile of breeds that cover a bunch of territory between. Individual dogs are indeed extraordinary.

Let us all just agree that mutts are mutts, regardless of bogus papers.

Lol

Backroads,
With you 100%.
But "Labs have no prey drive" is simply stupid. Are there couch Labs that haven't been bred for prey drive and haven't been hunted? Oh for certain. Are there posters in this thread from members who haven't hunted Western landscape? I bet anything on it. A guy steps out of his truck and shoots a rabbit for his dog? BFD.
The amount of closed-mindedness re dog breeds from fellow hunters is disappointing.

Everyone has their own experience in the field with dogs.

Most generalize.

I run shorthairs, never met a lab that could run with them. Doesn’t mean that lab doesn’t exist, just never seen one come close, nor do I hope to ever hunt over a 300yd flusher.

That said, wire hairs cover the most territory between Chessies and English pointers, in my experience.

Backroads,

The Kurzhaar and Drahthaar are of particular interest to me and I entered this conversation stating, I believe, my appreciation of two whiskery breeds in this thread. Perhaps that was too subtle for some..

I have an affinity for capable hunting dogs ( *not breed specific*) much more than I do for the majority of humanity.

Apparently what I have been able to produce after 20 years of working on this particular line of Labs is a dog which German breed owners find incredulous.
I'm ok with that.

Yeah, the wirehair guys are kinda funny, those dogs are expensive!

I'm guessing the dogs are totally worth it!

So to sum it up for me: I have been through what I feel the gamut of dogs over the last 35 or so years. I’ve had setters, labs, shorthairs, and one springer. I’ve hunted behind a GWP, jagdterriers, Boykin, Münsterlander mountain cur, walker, blue tick and Black and Tan hounds. I’ve seen an Airedale run with the hounds. But now I’ve found my niche with the Drahthaar. I like most all gun dogs (except maybe a Brittany, but that’s me, they’re very capable dogs, just not my favorite). As I said earlier in the thread, not once have I thought “wish I had my lab”. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and it comes down to preference. I have had a hunting dog since I was nine years old and always will. I wish everyone luck in their dog life no matter the breed. There’s only two things to do when you lose one. Either get a pup or quit them all together. I don’t think I can quit them. And I for one will be happy when my pack meets me at the other end of the rainbow bridge.

Amen to that!

Have a female golden doodle. 75% poodle. Solid black, 65#.
Not the smartest dog I've owned, nor the most personable but a good dog as dogs go.
Currently working out a pecking order with the 7 month old , 55# male boxer.

Pointers will excel overs a wired hair hunting out on the praires. That just they way they are bred. Personally for me I take my dogs fishing out on boat, hiking off leash and sometimes to dog parks to socialize when young. Hunt water fowl in sub freezing temps, hunt a lot of late season when the snow can be deep. Be tough to do that with a pointer.

Owned 3 GSP's din my life . All great dogs and more and a bit more high strung than my wired hairs. I have a one year old wired hair now that is driving me crazy because it is hard to tire him out. But that is typical . He's 75 lbs my female is 50 lbs




Id agree. I just have a personal preference for griffs . I never said labs dont have a prey drive. Problem is labs have been way over bred and very difficult to find a good lab with prey drive and good genetics and no health issues.

You're new here, so you don't know that he's consistently wrong about 99% of what he posts... This thread is no exception.

still waiting for his super dog hunting pics.....

Waiting for Alamosa to show up and show you guys what a cow dog can do on birds in the field, which makes the point its more about the individual dog than just the breed.

Don't see any cattle dogs out in E Montana, Idaho, E Oregon , Nevada and North Dakota upland hunting. Wonder why that is? Are they a flushing or pointing breed?