Best breed of dog for waterfowl retrieving

[outdoorsman812]

I don't know a great amount about dogs for waterfowl hunting, but a dog is a important tool depending on how you hunt. What breeds make the best retriever and is the easiest to train?

[LOC]

Best Chessy, easiest to train, Lab's.

Just my $0.02

[Marc]

The Chesapeake Bay retriever was bred specifically for hunting waterfowl and where used by market hunters to retrieve 150-200 ducks a day, braking through ice with their chest to retrieve. Their coats are more suited for harsh cold water environments. They make great dogs for hunting Sea ducks off the rocks or a shoreline. The water just bead right off a Chessie when it comes out of the water. I have two labs as well and the Chessie dries off twice as fast.

Labs seem to train easier and it’s due to the fact that Chessies are so smart they want to think for themselves and they can be stubborn at times.

Chessies make excellent waterfowl dogs; they have tones of drive, energy, endurance, and never want to give up once they’ve been sent off to retrieve.

From my experience if this was your first dog I’d say go with a Labrador from a good line of hunting stock and not from a puppy mill or pet store. Ask the breeder for titles to prove he at least has the potential to be a decent dog. You’re going to pay more but you’ll hopefully get twice the dog.

Join a retriever club and then after this dog grows up and retires and you want to try something different then consider a Chessie or stick with a Lab, whatever floats your boat.

Chessies and Labs are like Ford and Chevy trucks you'll always have a difference of opinions.

Marc.

[branthunter]

The male Lab I have is way smarter and was way easier to train than the one Chesapeake I had 25 yrs. ago. ( But then again so am I and a dog is only as good as his handler/trainer, breeding and all else being equal). He also has a terrific nose for searching out cripples and hunting pheasants. He has marked (all on his own,no help from me) several fly-away-and-die birds that dropped 200 or more yards away, both on open water and in fields. He's aggressive in what he does and will keep going 'til he drops in winter conditions. That's a real risk with any good dog and it's up to the owner to protect them from themselves in harsh cold conditions. For snow and ice get your dog a neoprene vest and each time he comes out of the water use your hands to squeegy the water out of his/her fur and fluff him/her up. I even cut off an old pair of chest waders just below the crotch and on really cold days or if he's swimming in ice/snow filled water I put his head thru one leg and the body of the wader fits over the rest of him like a tent. It really warms him up quick and helps stave off hypothermia ( yes, your lab will become hypothermic if you don't look after him----it's happened to mine before I learned my lesson and I know of one lab around here who actually stopped breathing due to hypothermia [he was revived]. Hmmm, seem to have gone off on a tangent here but, coming back to your original question, I have no hesitation in recommending you get a lab. There are several good breeders in B.C. Both my labs are from Someday Kennels in Kamloops and the younger black female is almost as good as the older chocolate. She'd probably be just as good if I'd spent as much time training her as I did him.Once you get your dog spend lots of time training . I found it really helpful at the start to get involved in hunt trialing.

[Islandeer]

I run labs and love them as all round hunting companions. My next would be a Golden, and the Chessie is a classic retriever. The old line about training a lab with a 2x4 could be adjusted for the Chessie to training them with a 4x4 !!

Start with good blood, the good stuff always comes out in the end.

[outdoorsman812]

thanks for the good info, this would be the first time i got a dog for hunting purposes, i probably won't be getting one any time soon though, how much would one expect to pay for a good quality lab?

[Marc]

You're looking in the ball park of $1000.00 for a dog from a reputable breeder with hips, and eyes guaranteed. This is just a pup and you can pick up started dogs as well but the more the dog is trained the more you’re going to pay.

[Gilmore]

Labradour Retreiver... the only dog you'll ever need.

[Ian F.]

Geeze man why not ask who's got the best looking wife as the answer would be easier to get too!

80% plus of all retrieving titles ever awarded in tests, trials and otherwise have gone to Labs. It is much easier to get a good lab then the other breeds

BUT

You only get out of a dog, what YOU put into a dog.

I'd suggest doing some reading on training, particularly mike lardy before you go too far down the road.

Very best,

Ian

[416]

For water fowling l would say its a toss up of either labs or chessies. For an all round hunting dog, the chessie is a superb hunter, and hard to beat.