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Jul 28th, 2025
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19 |
I heard a local shooter mention that using a retriever on dove is bad for their lungs. Something about the down being very fine or some such stuff. Any truth to this rumor? I was going to try my retriever on dove this Sept, but didn't want to do anything bad to her.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 720
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 720 |
I have never heard this before. Most dogs don't LIKE to retrieve dove because the feathers are fine and they come out easily. I would be surprised if that was true.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 198
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 198 |
Chuck- I have Chesapeake Bay Retreivers that will retreive many, many doves every season. Normally, we are north of 1000 birds per season. I have never seen nor heard of any type of problem with dove feathers for any dogs. 
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 416
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 416 |
Grade A Oscar Mayer bologna.
Always looking for small bore Francotte SxS shotguns.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,723 Likes: 126
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,723 Likes: 126 |
My yellow lab, Suwannee regularly eats entire doves without noticeable problems...Geo
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,190 Likes: 15
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,190 Likes: 15 |
My old Lab, Tom's Redneck Lady (she is truly missed, may she forever rest in peace), retreived hundreds and hundreds of dove here in GA and absolutely lived to hunt those little speedsters. If only I had known then what I have just learned, that dove feathers represent a health hazard to dogs; then maybe I would have been blessed to enjoy her company a little longer than the 15 years and 3 months she was on this earth.
Seriously, to me this sounds like a bunch of BS; as I have personally witnessed dogs (no matter how well groomed) eat some pretty disgusting things; so can't believe there is much out there, besides anti-freeze and various poisons, that will cause a dog's digestive tract much grief (let me state my qualifications, I am not a veterian; but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night). One sick/funny story about my old dog Lady; got up one morning to adjust my water level and looked out the bathroom window to see Lady burying something by a tree near the creek. After getting dressed and puttering around the house awhile, I went to the shed; grabbed a rake, and walked down to the creek to investigate. Carefully buried by the tree was a half-eaten black cat. Now I have no idea if Lady actually ate that cat, or if perhaps she was just doing the neighborhood a favor by disposing of the hideous carcass; but I can tell you that, had Lady indeed feasted on a little cat meat, she suffered no ill effects from swallowing any cat hair, and that in spite of the fact that such hair would result in fur balls if swallowed by any cat.
Chuck, I encourage you to dove hunt with your lab; they are the best dove blind company you will ever have. Lady loved to dove hunt so much that she became my extra pair of eyes. Most dove hunting here is in hot weather. In the field Lady would be at heel on my left side and panting so loudly the noise she made was about all I could hear; but if she ever stopped panting, she had spotted a dove and that was my clue to look in whatever direction her muzzle was pointed. Lady was the first "dove retreiver" with which I was ever priviledged to hunt; and many are the "classic American" sides by sides we field tested together. I learned many things hunting with this dog; but one thing that stands out was how much my shooting (shells per bird) improved. If a feathered bird went down; and I don't care how far it flew in those last moments, nor how thick the cover was in which it fell, she brought the bird back and laid it in my hand. And if I was having a really bad day shooting, the compassion she felt for her disappointed master was incredible, she would quietly slip away to visit other blinds; and when she saw the shooter therein distracted, grab a mouthful of birds and deliver them to me to lift my spirits! She was also versatile, Lady would work close to a covey of quail; then when she knew I was in position, flush them on command (and then retrieve our prizes). She also tracked down and allowed my son to recover two bow shot deer that did not leave a blood trail; and retrieved the morning paper on command every day. She was literally a four-legged member of the family, and I hope your lab will bring you as much pleasure.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 720
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 720 |
My old Lab, Tom's Redneck Lady (she is truly missed, may she forever rest in peace), retreived hundreds and hundreds of dove here in GA and absolutely lived to hunt those little speedsters. If only I had known then what I have just learned, that dove feathers represent a health hazard to dogs; then maybe I would have been blessed to enjoy her company a little longer than the 15 years and 3 months she was on this earth.
Seriously, to me this sounds like a bunch of BS; as I have personally witnessed dogs (no matter how well groomed) eat some pretty disgusting things; so can't believe there is much out there, besides anti-freeze and various poisons, that will cause a dog's digestive tract much grief (let me state my qualifications, I am not a veterian; but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night). One sick/funny story about my old dog Lady; got up one morning to adjust my water level and looked out the bathroom window to see Lady burying something by a tree near the creek. After getting dressed and puttering around the house awhile, I went to the shed; grabbed a rake, and walked down to the creek to investigate. Carefully buried by the tree was a half-eaten black cat. Now I have no idea if Lady actually ate that cat, or if perhaps she was just doing the neighborhood a favor by disposing of the hideous carcass; but I can tell you that, had Lady indeed feasted on a little cat meat, she suffered no ill effects from swallowing any cat hair, and that in spite of the fact that such hair would result in fur balls if swallowed by any cat.
Chuck, I encourage you to dove hunt with your lab; they are the best dove blind company you will ever have. Lady loved to dove hunt so much that she became my extra pair of eyes. Most dove hunting here is in hot weather. In the field Lady would be at heel on my left side and panting so loudly the noise she made was about all I could hear; but if she ever stopped panting, she had spotted a dove and that was my clue to look in whatever direction her muzzle was pointed. Lady was the first "dove retreiver" with which I was ever priviledged to hunt; and many are the "classic American" sides by sides we field tested together. I learned many things hunting with this dog; but one thing that stands out was how much my shooting (shells per bird) improved. If a feathered bird went down; and I don't care how far it flew in those last moments, nor how thick the cover was in which it fell, she brought the bird back and laid it in my hand. And if I was having a really bad day shooting, the compassion she felt for her disappointed master was incredible, she would quietly slip away to visit other blinds; and when she saw the shooter therein distracted, grab a mouthful of birds and deliver them to me to lift my spirits! She was also versatile, Lady would work close to a covey of quail; then when she knew I was in position, flush them on command (and then retrieve our prizes). She also tracked down and allowed my son to recover two bow shot deer that did not leave a blood trail; and retrieved the morning paper on command every day. She was literally a four-legged member of the family, and I hope your lab will bring you as much pleasure. Topgun thats one hilarious and great tribute to a good dog. Why dont you attach a picture of the old girl. Sounds like one helluva dog.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19 |
Thanks guys. I figured it was BS, but then I'm just figuring out which end the bark comes from.
topgun,
My lab would have a lot of ground to cover to catch your Lady. But, she may make it. I don't think I'd give her up if she couldn't hunt another day. She's become part of the family. But then, she can hunt and does so very well. She's learned to use her nose very well for finding live single quail while ignoring other birds, and she's come a long way on finding downed birds since that first day in a SoDak cornfield where she couldn't find a wounded phez that a setter had to find for her. To be fair, she was only 11 mos old on her first hunt with 25 hunters and 7-9 other dogs and I'd only had her for 3 weeks. So, I cut her some slack.
Thanks again.
Last edited by Chuck H; 06/18/07 06:37 PM.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 221
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 221 |
I heard a local shooter mention that using a retriever on dove is bad for their lungs. Something about the down being very fine or some such stuff. Any truth to this rumor? I was going to try my retriever on dove this Sept, but didn't want to do anything bad to her. Chuck: What you will see the first time you give your dog a dove to smell, is the head will pull back and the lips will currell. They do not like the smell, but get used to it in a big hurry. I believe in rather than getting a refusal, to give them a live bird with clipped wings, in the yard before you take them on that first outing for dove. Funny when I think about how they will happily roll in the worst smelling crap on this earth and turn up there lips at the first smell of a dove.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 194
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 194 |
I have had some trouble with my young (but very hard working and enthusiastic) Lab not wanting to retrieve chukars and quail. The breeder told me that some Labs don't want to retrieve some upland birds because of the of fine feathers that stick in their mouth. For certain, my Lab (Parker) does have a mouth full of feathers after a retrieve and doesn't particularly like it, but he's getting better.
LCSMITH
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