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This AM I took my 12 year old GWP hunting. He as always been an excellent retriever. His age is telling on him as his hips are bothersome in spite of medication. I shot 4 mallard across an Oxbow and he retrieved 2 but the other two he refused. They were dead so it was not devastating from a waste point. He made two more nice retrieves on bird 5 & 6, when I shot the 7th bird he went to the water but did not retrieve but rather took the short course to the opposite shore. He refused to fetch that bird. A most dicouraging event as he has never done that since he was a puppy. Anyway time to look for the next dog I suppose. I would stay with the GWP but the gene pool is pretty shallow locally. The family are leaning towards a Golden while I think that I would prefer a Lab as I used to have and train those. I hunt waterfowl 30 days plus per year and work my dog in all seasons. Any comments re breed? It can be tough here in late October and then through to the end of the waterfowl season in mid Dec.. You may ask why I chose a GWP 12 years ago - lots of upland hunting as well. He has performed very very well and the day of his demise will be a sad one indeed.

I know how you feel, Slate. My yellow Lab, Suwannee is 13 this year and I'm afraid it may be his last hurrah. At 11 he got to where he couldn't jump into the dog-box in the back of the truck, and about the same time I got to where I couldn't pick his ole fat self up to put him there. Last year we built him a ramp/ladder arrangement and that still works pretty well.

Suwannee has been out twice this year to pick up doves (he walks to them), but isn't any good for anything else afterward for 3 or 4 days. His understudy, Willy, is a German Wirehair puppy and 10mo. old now.

Willy is pretty well yard-broke now and we put out 25 kick-em-up quail this last Saturday. Willy hunted with an older well-broke dog and aquitted herself quite well. She seems to want to retrieve the birds by the head, and she pointed the last "covey" while the older dog backed her.

I hate seeing Suwannee getting old, but I sure am looking forward to watching Willy come along...Geo

I just came back from N Dakota duck hunting trip. My pup Merry, small munsterlander, had her 1st birthday this weekend and retrieved 20 ducks our 2 man limit over 3 days of hunting on the water. She replaced my SM who passed this spring as the duck dog. She had retrieved ducks for me for a number years in ice water conditions in MN and ND. They are also good upland pointers and wonderful family dogs. I do a large variety of hunting in the US and find them to be excellent working dogs as well as a pet.
Dwight Beske

Hi Slate:

Where do you live in Alberta?

Franchi

I much prefer goldens over labs. But in reality, it is the dog, not the breed that matters most. Especially in splitting hairs between goldens and labs. Finding the right dog for you and your situation regardless of breed is the trick. Hence, my, as yet unanswered, query this morning about a kennel in NY.

Brent

Franchi, My family has a home just west of the City of Edmonton right on a marsh. Great training for the dog but restricted from shooting. We have hunted a lot this autumn and the possession limit of ducks is 16 and dark geese 16. We now clean and give birds away lest we offend. I have used 4 different doubles this year so far: 10 gauge Greener, 12 gauge Darne, 12 gauge LC Smith 3E, 12 gauge ASEL. Friday we go hunting grouse and I will take the damascus barreled Wilmart. Great Joy in the hunting and comraderie. The oxbow we huntied this AM flushed more than 1500 ducks when we arrived. Yeah I know that it is hard to count but my estimates are not far wrong. You Guys in the South should have a bountiful season. Many of the geese have moved further south but mallards are about in profusion.
Brent D. I noted your post re the Golden blood line. If we go Golden re recognize that the dog will likely be less "tough" than a lab and we will have lots of coat cleaining sessions. There are some good blood lines in Alberta of both Goldens and Labs.

My GWP died earlier this year. I recently purchased a Drathaar puppy. I am looking forward to next year although there are a lot of birds this year.

There are no real good Golden lines around here, slate. Seems the brains are gone, all jolly jacks. From what I hear Goldens are softer than the Labs and Labs are softer than the one-man Chessies. My four-year-old Lab is going in for that big-buck rear-knee operation next week---cruciate something---so I'll probably have him only for a week or so of this year's gunning. The ligature break is apparently something like hockey players get from overstressed twisting and turning.

Slate
I have a GWP from Birch Hill kennels out by Vermillion.I just got back from pheasant down south with her and my chessie and she is starting to work out quite well at 1.5 years old.Have put her on huns,sharptail and ruffies with really good results but only OK on ducks.My 2 cents about an Alberta bred dog.

Dave

I use to breed and train Goldens, Labs and Chessies. It all break down to what you want and need from a dog. If you have tons of work and can deal with a extreme dog none are better than a Chessie. If you have more than average work, can deal with a strong will dog then a Lab will work. If you need a dog which can be a little versatile, will retrive birds in all but real nasty icy conditions and want a dog that will become tha next member of your family then a Golden will work.

I use to explain it in another way to people. If you have a Golden and someone breaks in to your house and kills you, the Golden will go home with them if they are good at petting them. If you own a Lab he will bark like Hell during the attack and might bite the attacker given enough time. If your dog is a Chessie he might not be able to prevent your death but he will make it his life's work to track down your attacker, kill him and then for good measure kill every other member of his family.

Good blood lines and real hunting stock will work with all three breeds. Problem is finding real hunting breeds. Goldens are so popular that they are often poorly breed and you end up with 105 female dogs. Almost twice the standard for the breed and a monster if hunting out of a small boat. But you will never find a better tempered dog than a Golden. Chessies are making a comeback as a breed but their double layered coat takes some care and can be just a little smelly as a inside dog. Labs, if breed for hunting, are a very versatile dog which has almost no limits to what they can do.

My next dog will be a Golden because it has to fit into our family and must be non aggressive to strangers and kids alike. Had I no limits I would choose a Lab for the versatility. My Chessies days are behind me. You just get tired of having to hit the dog, between the eyes, with a 2 X 4 every time you want to get its attention. That and the fact that you know one day the dog will take the 2 X 4 away from you.