Lab question

wvparker · 02-09-2007, 07:07 AM

About a week ago while traveling I stopped at a Rest Area, a man & women were there letting their Lab do it's business. As I was walking back to my car I commented on what a good looking pup they had. ( It looked to be maybe 5 to 6 months old) They woman told me thanks & all that but that the dog was actually 2 years old. I didn't what to question if it was full blooded or not. My question is, is there a breed of Lab that is smaller than normal ?

Doc E · 02-09-2007, 07:40 AM

Labs vary a lot in size (even "pure" ones). I've seen them as small as 45# and as large as 120#.

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Reefdonkey · 02-09-2007, 07:43 AM

How big was the dog? My lab weighs around 75 lbs. and I have always felt that she was medium sized at best. My father-in-law has a chocolate that is just over a year old and she is well over 100 lbs.

When I got Kate (my lab) the breeder was telling me that a lot of serious duck hunters really focus on what the dog's size will be when grown. For example if you were going to mainly hunt Woodies in a small boat in the swamp you wouldn't want a 150 lbs. brute climbing in and out of the boat with you. On the flip side if the hunter is going to mainly focus on geese, swans or some other larger game a bigger dog can handle wounded birds better.

That breeder was a big time duck hunter and field trial trainer. I never really thought about it until he was telling me about it.

wvparker · 02-09-2007, 08:05 AM

I would say it weighed around 45 to 50 #.
I had also heard about the duck hunter thing with the smaller Labs. Makes sense.
Arethere any breeder that breed smaller for those purposes ?

Doc E · 02-09-2007, 08:32 AM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: wvparker
Arethere any breeder that breed smaller for those purposes ?

Stu West (Alma Bottoms Pointing Labs) breeds smaller (but not tiny) POINTING Labs -- He believes that smaller Upland dogs have better stamina.

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Ruddyduck · 02-09-2007, 09:57 AM

How small are you talking? Lab bitches are supposed to be between 21 1/2" -23 1/2" at the shoulders and between 55-70lbs. and males between 22 1/2"-24 1/2 and 60-75 lbs.
There are alot of breeders who these standards mean little of nothing. Although I believe that with the better nutrition available today the high end could be a bit higher (75 for mature females and 80 mature males)
Labs were always considered amedium dog but that seems to be going quicky by the wayside.

Don Fischer · 02-09-2007, 11:25 AM

Just a though. The Boykin Spaniel was bred just to reduce the size of the retriever, or so I've been reading (Boykin Spaniel Society). I have been thinking of a smaller dog when my old one dies, an e. pointer. Thinging about going back to retrievers becasue I don't get around well enough to follow pointer's anymore. Drawback seem's to be they don't have the range of a lab but a lot easier on things going out of a boat.

Saw one years ago and it's temperment stayed with me all these years. Love Labradors but at this point in life, maybe something that make's my blood boil a bit less would be a good thing.

Reefdonkey · 02-09-2007, 12:21 PM

Ruddy,

Are those the AKC showing requirements or did you get that from somewhere else? I only ask because it seems like most of the Labs that I see these days are larger than that on average. Like I said Kate is around 75 lbs. and I have never considered her a large lab.

Ruddyduck · 02-09-2007, 04:48 PM

They come from James Lamb's Free book Training Your Retriever. The book itself has been in print since 1949 and the standard writen was AKC standard in 1957 well before the Lab became popular. It's the only standard I've used for picking the 4 Labs I've had over the years. His book make some interesting observations. While alot of people dismiss Free I've found his common sense and wisdom invaluable over the last 30+ years when it came to picking and training my dogs.
Intresting to note that one never really heard of elbow trouble in Labs or dogs that "shouldn't be allowed to jump down out of a pickup" years back.
It's mentioned in the book about the breed's excellent nose , a trait overlooked in the bigger is better crowd.

x-mountie · 02-09-2007, 04:57 PM

Ruddy - Nice to see some one else has read his book! I found it invaluable in working with Lab. Great read and i recomend it to anyone!