Yep , any dog that works with passion and with manners no matter what breed is fun and a pleasure to work with
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Yep , any dog that works with passion and with manners no matter what breed is fun and a pleasure to work with
If you told me the best dog in the world was a lab I'd believe you I just dont like them. Don't know what it is about them. Even the fit ones seem to end up fat pigs eventually though and I despise drooling slobering dogs that may have something to do with it haQuote:
Originally Posted by Ruff
http://www.buccleuchgundogs.com/labr...lery/flashpage
Good labs.... athletes.
Do you get yours through them ruff?
Yeh thats how i feel but a mate has a 6 month old and it just loves retrieving stuff. He chucked a gumboot one day and with no training it ran over quietly picked it up and brought it back and dropped it at his feet. you cant beat that. Its not what you are after but it gives me a dilemma. get the perfect dog that i really dont want or get a dog i want that thats a great natural pointer but cant be assed leaving the mai mai to jump into the pond with icebergs just to get a bloody duck because its retrieval instinct is week. Im 50/50 lab/brittany.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bavarian_Hunter
Please dont abuse me cos I havent chosen a lab yet.
If you are stoked with the dog, you will put way more effort and time into it than if you aren't. I'm kinda the same, username, and I'll admit its silly. But I see labs all the time: fat and slobbery like BH describes them - I don't see the side of them from good lines as good hunting dogs. So when I compare video/photos of a mean looking athletic HPR breed, I feel that even though a good lab from a good line would be as good (or maybe even better), it wouldn't have the same novelty and excitement as an HPR and therefore I probably wouldn't have the same motivation to put heaps of hours of training into it. I think I probably shouldn't get a dog until I don't have this fallacy. But surely, seeing a mint as lab at work would cure it, I just never see that.Quote:
Originally Posted by username
When it comes the time to look for an indicator dog, I'll mix with a few guys who have different breeds and ask if I can see them at work. I wouldn't be surprised if its the lab that comes out on top for me, but I'll have to see it with my own eyes before I really get stoked on one.
Am I making any sense?
Yep. Comes down to the simple question, do you have work for a pointing breed? I'm in the same boat in my view about labs but you can't deny their usefulness in NZ conditions. You need to see a top lab in action. Or a curly!
I just do not see how watching a Labrador working could ever send tingles up your spine like a HPR, Pointer or Setter can when they are hot and working their magic on birds...
however, the breed being the most popular breed cannot hold that title for no reason:D
it's more the handling and control rather than the hunting ability watching a good lab, for a dog bred to sit back and wait til needed they are a good choice for extended heel work.
She makes a point. Seeing an HPR on point has some magic. But if you can read your lab (for deer work) as well as you can read your pointer, then a dead deer is a dead deer.Quote:
Originally Posted by EeeBees
Curly? Im not going to get a dog untill it feels right. No breed feels 100% yet Even though im sure it wouldnt mater what dog i got after a week im sure id love it. My little purse dog Ivy proved that.
HPR?
Hunt point retrieveQuote:
Originally Posted by username
GSP, GWP, Viszla, Brittany, Weimaraner are all members of this family
another name for versatile, hunt-point-retrieve
What do you think of a pointer-lab cross?Quote:
Originally Posted by username
Any thoughts, boys?
Cheers
Yep far as labs sorry with Ruff on this and mine although I think it's brilliant he d probably say get rid of it. If it crosses four paddocks while yr mates are saying oops better go find your dog then comes back with the winger you told it to go and get it shuts all your mates up. Then just embarrass everyone next retrive turns a duck in the pond around so he can bring two back at once . I reckon there's the odd clever one out there still but do have no idea how he d go in the bush except to know if I said get it he d go then come then go again Dunno but awesome to watch Way cleverer than us. Could write a book on duck hunting with this bugger as he's that good and no. No one trained him prior to comin to me. Blood thing. I reckon.nThing I love this dog for if I say go get it he's off and with feedback of yes No he ll go till he finds it and I'm dick head as neutered him.
Shoulda said Lab Lab Getta Lab in my previous post sorry. Friendly. Loyal . Friendly easy going . Friendly. Smart . Friendly tries hard to please Friendly Loves to learn stuff and did I mention friendly? End of the day you buy it and you train it and it ll be as good as your efforts IMO cos I'm no trainer and I m sure there's cleverer dogs Out there
I'm pretty confident it won't bite me tussock. As Ive said I just don't like them, I've seen good ones and individuals that I like but the breed just does nothing for me.
Why not try something completely different to avoid the arguing and go a curly retriever ha my old man had one and she was pretty handy. Had a pretty inventive name too... Curly the curly retriever :)
and username that's about where the money is on having a good mate. Id love the best gun dog but would sacrifice a bit of that for a loyal friend. As you said though, whatever you choose you'll Love it. I think aesthetics are one of the biggest differences here. Labs are very friendly, brittanys in the USA are called the people dog and just about anything down to a shitzu cross will be a Friend. I was getting too cute up over analysing things and comparing breeds and in the end went for one I just liked
I agree B_H, thats why I mentioned a curly on the previous page. I'd have a curly before I'd have a lab. I will go out on a limb here (and get shot off it, just watch) that it is probably easier to find a good curly in NZ than a good lab
PhillipGR Pointer/lab crosses can be excellent
You'd better show my uncle some of these curly's Pointer, he's had a few now and quite frankly after seeing them in action I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole. And yes they get plenty of work and training.
First big X against them is they love a scrap.
Yeah, I've seen two types. One harder than hard, don't leave the kids alone with it, and another, that borders on wet-sponge soft. I prefer soft in all my dogs so I'd go the latter. The softies I knew were still happy for hold a pig though, so take that as you will
Surprised to see so many with a hate on labs, there is a lot of crap ones out there I realize but there is some stunning ones out there working to.
The reason they just work is in large part the lack of training required to get them going, the britt and a few others can take a massive amount just to get them under control. The lab just does it.
My first dog was a curly , he was a softy . Big and strong as an ox , he got his arse kicked by a corgy one dayWTF ! . On the other side of things was an old pig hunter in north Canterbury who swore by them always had a curly and a foxy , he must have shot (bailed) 1000,s of pigs with them .Quote:
Originally Posted by Wirehunt
I see what you're saying there Tussock, anther little great Australian law is that dogs are not allowed to touch wounded or unwounded deer. There's been a hell of a lot of controversy over it but thats what banned majority on the list of hound dogs.
What I mean by aesthetics is that if you put in enough work on any dog (within reason) it has potential to do anything you want and at that point its a matter personal preference over anything more than that - my feeling anyway.
Pointer - Didnt see that post but they are good dogs hey! Old curls was a good mate, lived for 14 years too
Just about to head back up the hill to find the missing brit AGAIN......
Is that the 3 year old Pip that you go off some fella? hows the training coming along with her?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wirehunt
I can't argue with that at all I know our laws are ridiculous, the only thing keeping me here is the missus, could live without the coin for a couple of years to get the hunting!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tussock
We can't shoot deer with anything less than 270 so never get that issue here ha overkill as a minimum caliber though in my book
the trouble is alot of the stunning ones are few and far between, most come from long lines of pet breeding, very friendly with a half arse work ethic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wirehunt
the real hard line labs are not that common, but even a pet bred lab will fetch a duck so long as it wasn't dropped into too heavy cover or was a 100m diver.
dog's and breeds bred to actually hunt, by that i mean range and hunt at speed do require much more training than a retriever which is best only a flusher and limited to spaniel range.
When I think about it ,I've never seen a dud lab as in hunting drive . My mates love them And have had a great run over the years. There are no shortage of labs in Canterbury . They also are used on the upland game . And I'm great full of there presistance on downed quails , that give the gsp the slip . My bag would sometimes be a lot lighter .They flush there fair share as well .Quote:
Originally Posted by kawhia
Yeah I rate them. Still quite popular around hereQuote:
Originally Posted by Tussock
Amen. Left the best money I've ever earned when I came back to NZ for a hunting trip and never went back. Too easy to forget that we are truly blessed to live here, and the lifestyle that this place can affordQuote:
Originally Posted by Tussock
wont argue with that, you guys are truly luckyQuote:
Originally Posted by Pointer
I do miss hog deer though! One species we need here I reckon
I live here and I miss them! ha bloody tough to hunt or more tough to find. Only ever seen three and yet to sight a stag
Used to live not far from the Prom, used to see them quite often, funny wee buggers. Would do well in the wetter swampy and coastal areas around the Horowhenua/Foxton area here in NZ I reckon. If only!
i have had some handy labs over the years, would still be running them if i didn't find out i could shoot more over a dog that covered more ground and lasted more than a 1/2 km away from water, i came to hpr's and spaniels late in life, how i which i had one when the upland bird numbers were high like when i was running labs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munsey
It's all big cycle, bird numbers included. I hear old timers moan about it, but I reckon these things go in cycles. I recall CNI as a young kid, putting up coveys of quail every five minutes on my bike around home. Kaiangaroa was lousy with them, even cold old Taupo. Wouldn't happen today.. However as forestry cycles, I reckon I will see those bird numbers again in my time. Start a lab now in time for it! haha
i think the future for quail is at least is a trip south twice a year.
up here small keeperd land is the way forward.
A coulpe of Wirehunts comments are putting me off Brittany's for my first hunting dog. I want one that i can see results with quickly and one that is happy chillin out at home correct me if im wrong anyone but a brittany would be always "ON" if you know what i mean. where a Lab would go find a shady spot and have a kip.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tussock
Thanks for the offer Tussock i would like to see how your dog goes and have a chat about the area sometime.
Improving all the time, but she'd need to. I do blame the previous owners though, no dog should be that outta control as there is just no need for it. But they tried to make a pet out of a driven dog that needs a lot of work to keep happy, this one will never be a stunning dog I feel, but she does like to work and she is reining in better all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bavarian_Hunter
Everyone I talked with about the breed asks if she chases birds, seems to be a big thing with them. Driving home with the boy he told me he reckons she's got the dog version of ADD.....