I have a 4 yr old GSP that I primarily hunt pheasants with. She was not the biggest fan of swimming, even though I live on a lake and she wades in the water constantly. We took a trip to ND this fall, and with the dismal pheasant counts, we decided to chase ducks. She retrieved every duck we shot, in and out of the water. I have not trained her for hand signals, but I did have her force broken when she was younger, so if she sees a bird fall, she retrieves it. I would not plan on hunting a GSP in cold water though.