Here we go again. Red, I think I have conceded the point that "some" labs point. That said, some Teckel's point; some Blueticks point; some English Pointers don't point. There are always exceptions to any rule. There is always the chance that offspring won't hold the traits for which they were intended.

I just went out and watched another "pointing" lab do some birdwork this afternoon. I don't want to mention the breeder of the dog as it comes from an APLA affiliated kennel. The dog did outstanding bird work up until the point that it should have pointed. To say this dog pointed is frankly a joke; yet the owner was adamant that dog pointed. I am baffled by the insistence on this point (no pun intended). Y'all really need to get over yourselves. Statistically, if you took the total number of labs that exist today and calculated the percentage of those dogs that actually point as defined by any pointing dog organization; the percentage would probably be so low that to say labs don't point probably wouldn't be an erroneous comment. However, we live in a PC world today and if one lab in the universe shows an incling of pointing instinct; weak as it may be; by golly we better make sure we are calling it a pointing lab. Don't worry I get it. It's the same reason I have to call a stewardess a "flight attendant".

The interesting thing about this argument is I really don't have a problem with labs. I have owned and hunted over labs before. If I were just a duck hunter, I would own a lab (well actually a chessie); but I'm not. I also hunt ruffed grouse, wood****, spruce grouse, pheasants, chuckar, sharpies and huns as well as cottontails and snowshoe hare and prefer hunting over a pointing dog. I hunt in a variety of terrain ranging from the tight woods here in New England and Quebec; to the prairies of Montana and Saskatchewan to the mountains of Idaho as well as overseas; primarily in Germany. I also use my dogs to track down wounded deer, moose, wild boar and this year some New Foundlander Caribou if we're lucky enough.

So, maybe some labs point. Frankly though, I've never seen it and I've seen enough folks that say they have pointing labs and even after the lab takes the bird out, they insist there was a point there somewhere. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked or figure out how to use the freeze frame on my camera better. Until then, I would prefer having an actual pointing dog that has over a century of ancestry of dogs that have consistently pointed; but have and will concede to the fact that "some" labs "point" due to the impossibility that all labs don't.

I'd keep going, but the flight attendant just arrived with my rum and coke