I am new to the board and stumbled accross this topic. I presently own a yellow lab that is a great upland bird dog and does a mighty good job waterfowling also. My hunting buddy has a lab with a pointing background that is a go getter in the field. With all that said there is no doubt that if you are going to be stictly upland hunting a pointing dog is the best way to go. Before my lab I owned a German shorthair pointer for 13 years and you can not beat them in the field. My opinion is to go with a GSP, Visila, English pointer, ect. My lab is as good a companion one could ask for and is a very fine hunter but when it comes to field hunting a pointing dog is hard to beat.
Scott