# I am ready for a puppy - what breed is best for me?



## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

I have been wanting to own a dog for years, but living in Fargo I did not want to have one locked up at home all day alone. So for years my wife and I have told each other when (if) we ever move to the country we will get a dog. Now it has been a year since we moved and we are getting pretty well established into the home and are starting to feel like we are ready to get a puppy.

For years we both agreed that a friend of ours (Horsager), has a great dog (Buddy, an English Cocker); that is what we felt we wanted for a dog breed. Since moving we having been reconsidering and looking for a Golden Retriever and also being open minded to a Chocolate Labrador.
We are home for the most part, a majority of the time so the dog will be well taken care of; my wife works out of the home and pending the dogs size I may take it with me also to work. It will be free to run around the farm yard, but do not want it going outside of trained boundries (heavily traveled gravel road is a 150 yards from the house).

Most important of all we want the new dog to feel like a member of our family, second it would be nice to have an alert watchdog that is obedient and will let us know when we have company in our yard (not a out of control barker, just security), and last it would be great if it could upland game hunt with me (waterfowl is optional).

I have been thinking a male (I have a name picked out).

Any suggestions or input is welcome as it has been years since I have owned a dog. Also, along with suggestions, if anyone is aware of a breed along the lines that we are looking or that you would suggest that is available, I would appreciate a heads up on that also.


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## fetchingfloyd (May 12, 2009)

i would suggest a lab......they are the best of both worlds, family dog and gun dog...........they make great upland dogs too. i hunt pheasant and grouse with mine and do very well.


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## templey_41 (Jul 19, 2008)

I can personally vouch for both breeds. My brother has had english cockers for over 15 years now. Great bird dogs they do get a little tired runnin g through the tall grass but they have a great upland drive. His was a male and h eh ad it trained for both upland and wterfowl. the little guy mad e aretrieve on a goose on water and it may have been the funiest sight ever, but he never gave up and brought it in. He was an awesome family dog and hardly ever barked. Now on the other hand he just gae away his two cockers and they barked but only when strangers or someone would come over to the house.

I have a yellow lab female 2 yrs old and she is an awesome dog. She is a fetching machine and loves to go hunting. I was amazed at her upland skills at just 6 months and i hadnt even trained her on it. there is a lot of natural instinct in a lab and that's why they are my favorite. Infact we are getting another one at the end of June. she loves waterfowl hunting and doent' ever want to stop hunting. she just recently started getting protective of the house. barks when stranger scome or there is a knock on the door.

Either breed is great.


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## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

You didn't mention what you wanted to hunt or whether you were wanting a flushing breed or a pointing breed. ????

Goldens are nice dogs, but their coat requires a lot of care. If you go that route be aware that there are Goldens from both Field and Show lines.....some hunt, some don't. Labs are a good choice, but be very careful when selecting a breeder. Everybody and their brother are breeding Labs these days and for every really great lab out there, there are twice as many with problems. Chocolate Labs do not have as good a reputation as Blacks or Yellows. I don't know if it still holds true but they used to say if you want a great lab get a Black, if you want a good Lab get a yellow, and if you want a knothead get a Chocolate, or something to that effect. Some gundog writer wrote that, I believe, (can't recall who) and it seemed to catch on as I still read that comment from time to time.

Dogs can be trained to stay within a boundary, but if I lived near a heavily travelled road of any kind I'd have my dog kenneled or in the house when I wasn't actually with the dog. All it takes is for a cat, rabbit, deer, etc. to catch a dog's eye and they forget their boundaries very quickly. Remember, these are hunting dogs.......they are not cowdogs, which tend to show little interest in hunting and naturally hang around the yard.


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## speckline (Dec 13, 2008)

Both breeds you are interested in will be good family dogs. A hunting Golden is much harder to find than labs and you typically will pay more for a Golden with good hunting lines.
As far as labs go, the old thought was Chocolates are dumb as a box of rock. that was the past and not really applicable today. Again, you need to look for good lines. The price however for chocolates are higher than yellow or blacks. In fact, the price for labs is typically in that order. Highest for chocolates, then yellows and then blacks. I personally can't understand why because I see more good hunting blacks than the other two.
If your primary purpose is for upland, I would look more for a taller athletic build in the dog than at color. The athletic build usually will go longer in the field. Good luck in you search and whatever you do, make sure the litter has all the health clearances!!
And by the way, once you go black, you'll NEVER fo back!!! :beer:


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

> Dogs can be trained to stay within a boundary, but if I lived near a heavily travelled road of any kind I'd have my dog kenneled or in the house when I wasn't actually with the dog. All it takes is for a cat, rabbit, deer, etc. to catch a dog's eye and they forget their boundaries very quickly. Remember, these are hunting dogs.......they are not cowdogs, which tend to show little interest in hunting and naturally hang around the yard.


very very good advice never ever let your dog run loose unsupervised its the absolute worse thing you can do for many reasons


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## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

speckline said:


> Both breeds you are interested in will be good family dogs. A hunting Golden is much harder to find than labs and you typically will pay more for a Golden with good hunting lines.
> As far as labs go, the old thought was Chocolates are dumb as a box of rock. that was the past and not really applicable today. Again, you need to look for good lines. The price however for chocolates are higher than yellow or blacks. In fact, the price for labs is typically in that order. Highest for chocolates, then yellows and then blacks. I personally can't understand why because I see more good hunting blacks than the other two.
> If your primary purpose is for upland, I would look more for a taller athletic build in the dog than at color. The athletic build usually will go longer in the field. Good luck in you search and whatever you do, make sure the litter has all the health clearances!!
> And by the way, once you go black, you'll NEVER fo back!!! :beer:


I'm no expert on Chocolate Labs by any means. My experience with them is limited, but I've been around a couple. We have friends who have one... Very, very nice dog....very personable and is a nice family dog, but quite frankly he's not the brightest dog I've ever seen. We dogsit for these friends, so I've had him here for a week or more at a time. He really could care less about retrieving......he's quite happy to jsut be a family companion. They also have a black lab we dogsit.... No comparison between the two. Gabby, the black, is sharp as a tack. I recall two other chocolate labs I've seen around town. One was owned by an avid goose hunter. It was a total knothead. Having said that, I also have a couple of friends who live out of state who have chocolates that are very nice and are good in the field. I've seen ads for chocolates with MH titles, so there is obviously some really good ones around. Like they say, "A good horse can't be a bad color". Isn't chocolate just a lighter shade of black? :wink: The best Lab I've ever seen was a Yellow Lab. The dog was almost human....just incredibly intelligent. As a matter of fact, I'd have to say he was the most intelligent dog I've seen in any breed except for perhaps a border collie a friend of ours has.....


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## Losthwy (Apr 19, 2009)

Labs, the problem a lot of chocolate Labs that many were bred for color. There are some good lines out there Rascal come to mine, but there are a great deal more good black Labs to be found. For waterfowl Labs can't be beat. And they make good upland dogs and will go all day long if it is cold, with their thick coats one does have to be careful in hot weather which I imagine most of your season in ND it's cold.


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## flightbirds (Jun 25, 2004)

Amazing,

You mention that you want this dog primarily for upland, waterfowl optional. Nearly every post on here is discussing the choice as being between goldens, a yellow or chocolate lab.

If you are planning to have a dog that is primarily an upland dog you would be doing yourself a disservice to not reconsider the english cocker or a springer spaniel. My experience is that they are far superior in the upland field to either labs or goldens. They also do just fine on waterfowl.

Springer's are an excellant family dog as well.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Thought I read once that Goldens have a high bite rateing? Not trying to smear the breed or anything. Labs have one of the densest hair coats out there. Lots of hairs per sq. inch. It is an amazing scientific fact that labs shed all that hair every two days, mostly in the house.  So talk to your wife first because she will mention it later.

Some of my best friends are covered in lab hair.


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## knutson24 (Feb 16, 2009)

Dick Monson said:


> Some of my best friends are covered in lab hair.


Is that because they are labs? :lol:

I can personally attest to the amount of hair labs shed. I just put my three back out in the kennel three month ago and i'm still hav to sweep hair off the hardwoods almost daily.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Yesterday my wife and I welcomed a new member to our family. He was born 03-08-09 and is a 17 lb., male Golden Retriever named Ruger. Now we have the dreaded puppy training to go through (any kennel and house training tips are appreciated).

Thanks to each and everyone who posted, the posts helped us make a decision. We could not find any English Cockers available; looked at a few Golden Retrievers, 2 German Shorthairs, a Chocolate and a Yellow lab. Next week Ruger will be going in for a vet check. Below are a few pics of the new the pup !!!


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## DuckBuster (Mar 18, 2003)

Congrats, Mossy! First tip: Be consistent with the training. If you don't want him on the couch, don't EVER let him up there. even when he's being cute and your wife says "Aw, just this one time..." :wink: Second tip: Crate train him. Give him a place that is his, this will help a lot down the road.

Good luck with the new pup. They grow REALLY fast, so enjoy it!


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## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

An invest in a good pair of dog clippers........you're going to need them if you don't want to spend a lot of time pulling burrs!!!! :beer:


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