Lab or golden retreiver

Hunter501 · 03-03-2003, 09:32 PM

Im really dont know which would suit me better: A choclate lab or yellow lab and golden retriever. I want this dog to be freindly and nice and well controlled. I also will be using the dog as a duck dog occusially. Which would suit my needs better?

caveman22 · 03-04-2003, 06:53 AM

Don' t know what will suit you the best but I have a pure bred Golden Retriever. My buddies all have labs. We all got them about the same time last year around the end of April. Out of the five labs and my one golden, two of the labs have turned out ok the other three worthless for duckhunting but great pets. My golden is the most advanced but is all due to the fact that I put in more training time the my buddies.

What it boils down to is labs are probably the most common for duckdogs but goldens make good duckdogs as well (don' t care what my know it all buddies say!!). Goldens are great pets as well. My seven year and two year old children go out in the back yard daily and play with all three of my goldens without supervision. They play wrestle all the time but my dogs have never gotten two rough for them. It is usually the other way around!! I have to protect my dogs from my children!!

Good luck in your choice and keep us informed.

drgildy · 03-04-2003, 03:20 PM

Cman, if that many labs are worthless I would guess that their owners did not spend any time on training them. I have had labs for many years and have had only one poor one. Goldens and other breeds can be ok but many Goldens are so timid that you put some pressure on them they show you their belly with their tail between their legs. Another negative for goldens is that they get within 10 feet of a cocklebur or stick tite etc you have to get out the brush and combs and scissors. Most labs that are not out of hot field trial stock are good. You should look at both sire and dam of whichever you choose and should be able to see them do some work also. By the way the poor one I had went to a home that just wanted him as a pet.

caveman22 · 03-05-2003, 07:13 AM

drgildy,

Did not mean to put down labs. Just my experience with these 5 labs and there worthless owners....ha ha. There' s lots more labs as waterdogs that goldens and they are darn good at it. I did say that my dog was farther advanced due to training time. No doubt in my mind that a good part of it was lack of training skills, although they did try. Another problem was one of by buddies trying to train two dogs at one time. That and he had no patience. He could not get one lab to fetch anything including ducks. He would smell of it but had no desire to put it in his mouth. Have had one incident with the burrs. Took about 15 minutes to cut them out but was not that big of a deal. My dog is softer that the average lab but that just made him that much easier to train. He needed very little neg reinforcement. My ecollar ranges from 1-15 and I train on 4. My buddies lab would not respond to a 4. Guess they are just tougher. Needed a little more juice to respond.

My buddies believe that if it is not a BLACK LAB then it is not a duck dog. I have just silently enjoyed proving them wrong.

drgildy · 03-05-2003, 10:37 AM

Cman, it shows that you have ppatience. That is probably the most important factor in training a dog of any breed. I think you are right about ls4abs being tougher than goldens but this is a general statement also as any dog can be tough. As I write this I look out the window at my dog kennel (it is 2 degrees below zero) and my little chessie is laying in front of his well insulated house on the cement slab and he is lying on his back sleeping. Now that is tough! He will swim ahead of me in a lake breaking ice come out covered with ice and he is still panting. He is not mean like you hear about chessies either but he does not like hunting upland birds in warm weather. General statements can be made about any breed but you have to look at individuals in each breed.

seattlesetters · 03-07-2003, 11:33 PM

I really don' t know a great deal about retrievers--I' ve only owned and trained birddogs. But I do hunt ducks three or four times per year, and have for the past 30 years. I' ve seen absolutely no difference between the two when it comes to their ability, and I' ve seen great pets from both breeds.

The Goldens just have a special way about them and seem to be incredible in the dual role you describe.

OhioDuckHunter · 03-08-2003, 10:05 PM

I think either would do fine for hunting. However, I would like to remind you that any dog that has a hunting background could be challenging in the home. This is not to say they all are good in the house or they all are unbearable. I just want to remind you that a hunting dog has a lot of energy. Good luck.

txbowjunkie · 04-07-2003, 01:29 PM

I' ve owned both but of the two my Goldens have made much better all around dogs.

My vote is for the Golden but you can' t go wrong with either.

Vapodog · 05-04-2003, 11:07 AM

toss a coin.....and remember that the golden will have a lot more vegetation in it' s fur.

You must do two things........buy good genetics and train train train!!

Red Hawk · 05-04-2003, 11:43 AM

I' d go with the Lab myself. I like ' Goldies' but i would never own one. And i agree with Vapo, the long hair could cause problems in the field. Sure you could give it a field cut but it' ll eventually grow back and you would just have to spend more money to cut it again (unless you plan to do it yourself, if so, it would be a tough choice between the breeds)