HELP needed in selection

[yogi]

Am looking to get a dog for hunting for myself and for a pet for wife
but not keeped in house. looking at a Brittany or a Lab.Will be used
for all around hunting.duck and upland birds in N. Wisconsin.

[drgildy]

Personally I would lean more toward the lab. Brits are good dogs too but retrieving especially in cold water or breaking ice is what good labs are bred for. Also labs usually have very sweet dispositions and I have used mine for retrieving everything from 19 lb swans to little Soras and doves. They come home from a hard and long day of hunting upland birds and or waterfowl and my grandkids pile on them and he loves it. I have a young Chessie also that is about as mild mannered as any lab I have had in the last 40 years. Good luck in your pick and even though your lab can take a lot of cold please build a really good house for it. My dogs have houses with triple floors, double walls, and insulated roofs. The entrance will be in one corner and the dog goes around behind a partition so no wind can blow directly on them. I drilled a small hole in one house a few years ago and stuck a thermometer in the hole. Outside temp was 25 degrees below and the inside with dog inside was at 52 degrees.

[Doc E]

I'm a 'Lab Man' - so that's my final answer Regis.

Actually, for both waterfowl and uplland, you should look into Pointing Labs. Currently the best PLs are coming from Black Forest Kennels ( www.pointinglabrador.com ) .

If you want to take a look at my PL, click here www.pointinglabcasey.itgo.com

Edited by - Doc E on 10/11/2002 21:53:56

[nulle]

Labs are great retrievers but sorry fellas if I wanted a pointer I would get a pointer and it would not be a lab pointer.

curt nulle

[seattlesetters]

When you add both Northern Wisconsin and ducks to the mix, you pretty much eliminate all upland bird dogs. It would appear that you need a retriever.

If you could find a way to get two dogs, then an English Setter and one of the various retrievers would make sense.

Or, if ducks are a very seldom thing, consider a Springer Spaniel.

Good Dogwork and Good Hunting