# Looking for a pup...



## Sitka deer (Jun 2, 2007)

Hello to all, first-time poster here and I have some questions I hope to find answers to...

It is about time to get another bird dog and I am thinking about a pointing lab. I run a charter boat on Kodiak Island, AK and we shoot a lot of ducks. Tides and currents can be huge and the water is always cold. Labs have troubles losing too much heat through their tails and we have to be careful how much we work them. But nothing else is as good.

Now I find as I get older I enjoy grouse more than ducks. Somehow huddling in a blind is not the attraction it was 20-30 years ago. And our upland bird shooting is sometimes spectacular. Some areas literally have limits of over 100 ptarmigan and grouse (spruce, ruffed, sharptail) per day.

Compounding that, I spent a week pheasant hunting in SW ND two years ago. It is something I have thought about almost every day since. And I am not without a few great and successful hunts here since, like dall sheep, caribou, Kodiak brown bear and Sitka blacktail deer... And I am returning to ND this fall for birds... I also spent several weeks just hunting grouse last fall.

Most consider our spruce grouse unworthy and "fool hens" yet do not make the birds fly. Make them fly and ALL bets are off! Very close in work in dense swamp spruce makes me think a pointing lab would be perfect and the ducks would still get plenty of attention. My best source of info on dogs has unfortunately lost too much too fast and remembers nothing... Has had several Natl Champions and I used to pitch dummies for him as a kid. Got enough from him to have had a large string of excellent labs.

OK, enough rambling about background and a list of actual questions:
What about pointing labs? Has anyone here had any experience with them? Are they really good hunters? Can someone expect to pick a pup and have a hunting pointer? Are pointing labs usually high strung?

Any good breeders anyone is familiar with? Any to avoid?

Thanks for any insight you may have!
art


----------



## griffman (Jan 17, 2004)

Welcome to the board! :beer:

I'm personally not on the pointing lab bandwagon yet. Can't help you there, but there may be a few on board that can. Try posting on uplandjournal.com, there are some pointy lab guys there.

Do I have to tell you I'm envious of your hunting grounds? Pheasants and the plains are #1 for me, but I do dream of those Alaskan grounds and birds, not to mention the big game!

Good luck on your trip to ND this Fall!


----------



## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

Welcome...

If you do still continue to duck hunt..get a chessy. I've never had one but everything i've researched says they might fit you perfect for that.

As far has pointing labs, my dad has one. He is quite the dog! If you do get one be ready to spend the money for a quality one that has a real high chance of pointing. I don't think every pup from a litter will be guaranteed to point but if pointer breed to pointer-it should have a good chance. Check out Trieven Kennels out of Wyoming. They have a website. I had a dog from their line and she was outstanding. Everything i've read/been told says they have some of the best pointing labs. I think pups run in the $1000-1500 range.

I envy your home and hunting territory. Has been a dream of mine to shoot a few ptarmigans and hunt ducks up there.


----------



## Sitka deer (Jun 2, 2007)

griffman
Thanks for the link, I will check it out. I have to admit the pheasant hunting I did a couple years ago over GSPs and flushing labs was some of the best fun I have ever had. While going to college I spent quite a bit of time in various places hunting differnet stuff and always seemed to find something I really liked, but pheasants were never anything other than a lucky break. Limits? Nah...

I have been told by friends the pheasant situation looks extremely good in SW ND?
thanks again
art


----------



## Sitka deer (Jun 2, 2007)

verg
One thing I should have mentioned is the fact I have been running huge labs thinking they did better in the cold. I am not convinced of that any more. I think I need a smaller dog... A 50# lab would be much easier to deal with than the 100+ brutes I have dealt with.

Chessies concern me a bit because of the over-the-top high strung nature of the ones I have been around. I do expect some in a good dog. I also expect I may be all wet because my exposure to chessies has been very limited.

Labs dominate the local field trials... So I hesitate to run against that grain, also.

Our seasons run far longer and our limits are more generous than any place imagineable... It need not be an expensive trip to hunt birds here.
art


----------



## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

*"Chessies concern me a bit because of the over-the-top high strung nature of the ones I have been around. I do expect some in a good dog. I also expect I may be all wet because my exposure to chessies has been very limited. "*

Do you know what lines the Chessies you've been around are from? I have 4 Chessies and have had Chessies for many years and "High Strung" would definitely not be a description that would enter my mind with Chessies. They'll certainly get revved up when I grab my gun, a training dummy, etc. but around the house they are about as layed back as any hunting dog I've seen. They aren't for everyone....they're really not all that popular (which is a blessing in disguise), but you'll find that most people who have had a good Chessie will not have anything else.....not all, but most.

Art, it sounds to me like you need two dogs..... A good Chessie for your cold water work, and one of the pointing breeds for you upland birds (if you really want a dog to point birds for you).


----------



## Sitka deer (Jun 2, 2007)

stonebroke
I understand what you are trying to tell me and you very probably are right. I just wanted more than that!

Could not tell you the bloodlines of the Chessies I have been around. They were good working dogs but wound up! Pretty high maintenance. Obviously they vary a great deal.

One of the problems with having two dogs for different purposes is leaving one at home each time... or dealing with two at a time with different agendas. 
art


----------

