[fabsroman]

LOL

Catdaddy, I own a lab, and I would love to see a hound swim through fast moving, freezing cold water all day to retrieve waterfowl. That would be fun to see, because I can tell you the hound wouldn't last very long before he went under or just refused to make the retrieve. I am willing to bet that you have never waterfowl hunted, or if so, you don't do much of it. Have you ever been in freezing cold water? I was in it a couple of years ago to get my dog out of an ice hole. He was in there for at least 5 minutes struggling to get out, but I got him out and he was just fine.

Dogs have certain attributes that make them better for certain things. A lab is a great waterfowl dog. Mine does pretty well on doves, but he also runs the risk of overheating during warmer weather. I dove hunt where there are ponds around, so he gets the chance to cool off. He is also pretty good with upland hunting because he has a pretty good nose.

His very first retrieve on a goose was well over 200 yards away from the blind. He truly surprised me on that retrieve when he came over a hill with the goose in his mouth. He wasn't even a year old at that time. Have you ever had to walk out several hundred yards to retrieve a bird? Trust me, I prefer the dog do it if it happens a couple of times during a hunt. How about having to deal with birds that land on the opposite side of a fence? Climb over or slide under, or just spread the fence a little and let the dog through?

Hounds have there place too. A lab will not come close to the tracking ability of a hound, or the pointing ability of a pointer. Yes, labs can be trained to track and point, but they just aren't that good at it. Another place labs are used is for drug sniffing by law enforcement.