[bert]

My Lab was a retriever....she lived to retrieve. She would break the ice at the river’s edge to go get a downed duck and would frown mightily if you missed.

During dove season, she would run around so anxious to go fetch doves that she would lose control and dribble pee the excitement was so great. Just getting the shotgun out of the closet would set her off.

Her name was Windigo de Makati, of Australian parents moved to Manila. We called her Windy for short.

[AnAmericanMother]

Labs are incomplete without a bird in the mouth.

My 10 year old Choc, Shelley, rides on the truck to keep the younger girls company. She has her HR title but she came to the game late (she was already an agility and obedience dog) so I retired her.

But the youngest dog was running in AKC Junior Hunter and they needed a test dog - so I got the Shell out of the truck and brought her up to the line. She saw the gunners pulling a live flapping mallard out of the crate at the winger and just went NUTS. She remained at heel, but she was bouncing vertically like a pogo stick and whining to beat the band. I usually don't bother with a lead bringing her to the line since she's generally steady, but she was SO worked up to be back in harness again that I threw a check cord on her quick.

She did two perfect retrieves of course, even though the live flier landed in heavy cover. And her baby sister did fine too: