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.