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You don't think that dog up there could hunt? - I think he could, according to his purpose, which is really close hunting, and retrieving in very cold water. That dog above is really the ideal standard I would look for today, and will in the spring when ecurbh and I go get our pups.

The function of a labrador was not the long legged field dog.... those pointers and runners would run on ahead. The Labrador is the 'gentleman's hunter and companion', that would always remain in gun range, the dog that in it's origin, remained at heel or close-in if pointers or spaniels were used. He hunts at the trot. Small enough for a hunter to pull back into a boat, and quiet enough to want to sit in one all day.

In recent years, they began breeding the legs into them to do the "all in one flushing and retrieving dog" on upland birds. These new dogs were also wired all the time, like a pointer, wanting to run rather than trot. They started breeding them taller with a body bred for endurance and distance. They also disregarded or bred away from, the heavy double coat that would keep them warm in cold water, because in running the field, they would overheat if too heavy. But that was not their original function. And the big tall labs of today could not fit or want to sit still in a boat.

He would hunt I'm sure. I was being somewhat fascetious there. But he couldn't hunt for very long. Not with the heavy weight on him, not in this climate and terrain. I think the original New Foundland needed that weight and insulation, and a boat dog has less physical demands. Maybe our views are different because of our different locals. I need a dog that can do a day of ducks or geese at long distance in corn fields and in much warmer weather. That dog would not be able to do that for very long. I just think it is wrong that there is no category for conformation that a dog that could do that job might compete for. Two separate categories then? I don't know. :)

Wow! Lab discussion! All right!

As many of you know . . . I have a "throwback" Lab, a little Chocolate girl - she is English conformation bred on her sire's side (Mardas Labs in Yorkshire) and Canadian field trial on the other (Storm's Riptide Star). She looks very like her sire except for the chocolate color - she is 42 pounds and 20.5 inches at the shoulder. We have kept her very thin because she competes in agility, but she has bone and substance with a good wide skull and chest. I thought she might look a little "houndy" until I consorted with 10 couple of foxhounds all Saturday.

Her coat is not as thick as it should be because she is a pampered indoor pet, but she minds the cold not at all and was blissfully happy jumping in and out of the cold ocean at 20 some odd degrees air temperature over Christmas. And she is naturally birdy - although we have never hunted her she retrieves beautifully, and she has twice jumped up and caught birds alive and unharmed off the bird feeder. When I yelled, "DROP IT!" and she spat them out, they flew off. She looked at me like, "You silly human, you told me to drop it and look what happened!"