Seattle .. you are obviously a very knowledgable dog man, hunt with dogs more than most, and give great advice when asked on this board, but you are 1 helluva " Dog Snob" .

Waterfowl = Bird

You have to at least admit that labs and retrievers are used to hunt birds ... doesn' t that make them " bird dogs" ?

If you total all the pheasants shot last year over dogs .. how many do you think were shot over the labs and retrievers? I' d bet it was the largest percentage of any dog. That doesn' t make them the best .. but it does qualify them as " bird dogs" .