If you’re looking for a verdict on the English vs American Lab debate, I’ll tell you right now: American Labradors are the clear winner. They’ve got good looks, athleticism, and hunting drive in spades. But that matchup is like pitting a dressage pony against a cowboy’s quarter horse: It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense because they have two very different jobs.

A more apt comparison is between British and American Labs. Because we Americans are notoriously bad at geography, we often use “English” and “British” interchangeably. When it comes to working retrievers, this matters because English Labs are not the same thing as British Labs. English Labs are the stocky, blocky, square-headed Labs that look more suited for napping than fetching. They are traditionally show dogs, or conformation dogs, from England.

British Labs, or field Labs, are bred for hunting and field trial work, and they look an awful lot like healthy American Labs: athletic, lean, and lively. “British” simply means these Labs have bloodlines originating in the British Isles, which includes England, yes, but also Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. (My own British Lab happens to be Irish.) Still, there are plenty of differences to note between British and English vs American Labs. Here’s a rundown.

The English Lab vs American Breed Standard

The American Kennel Club recognizes a single breed of Labrador retriever. In other words, English, British, and American Labs aren’t distinguished by any major genetic differences—they’re all just Labrador retrievers. That’s why the AKC’s and the UK Kennel Club’s descriptions of what an ideal Lab looks and behaves like have far more similarities than differences. For example, Labs from both America and England should have friendly eyes expressing “intelligence and good temper” and a tail that “may be carried gaily but should not curve over [the] back.”

While physical differences can and do exist between American and British retrievers (more on this in a minute), size is usually the only reliable indicator of heritage, says Dave Bavero, owner of Waterstone Labradors in Boerne, Texas. British Labs tend to be smaller than American Labs.

Instead of major genetic differences, behavior and training preferences have shaped Labs so they reflect, somewhat comically, the stereotypes of their owners. American Labradors are vocal, enthusiastic, high-strung. English and British Labs are reserved, quieter, polite.

Physical Characteristics of Labs

Because the following characteristics are generally but not always true, a dog might be larger or smaller than the measurements associated with their bloodlines. Or they may have a mix of traits, like a blocky head and curving tail. When it comes to the English vs American Lab, overall size and personality is often a better indicator of breeding.

One note: The classic “otter tail” that is desirable in all Labs refers not to the length or curvature of a Lab’s tail, but to its rounded shape padded out with thick, dense hair. (If you’ve ever grabbed your Lab’s wagging tail to keep it from whacking you, you’ll understand.)

Energy Levels and Temperament

There’s a reason the Labrador retriever reigned supreme as America’s most popular dog breed for three decades. Labs are versatile dogs known for their energy, trainability, affection, and playfulness. They make great family dogs and dedicated, reliable working dogs. Both American and British Labs thrive with proper obedience training and regular exercise. Because they’re descendants of the extinct St. John’s water dog—a breed that helped fishermen in Newfoundland retrieve their catches—most Labs love water.

As with all dogs of a particular breed, individual Labs have individual personalities. Still, American Labs have a reputation for high energy. They are often vocal (known to bark and whine to express themselves) and can be rambunctious at home. The old saying that Lab puppies finally calm down when they turn three is especially apt when describing American Labs. This is because American Labs are a sporting breed, and breeders have historically prioritized high drive in their litters and continue to breed for those traits.

While the Brits also breed Labradors with retrieving drive in mind, they tend to prioritize calmness and quietness in their dogs. That’s why British Labs have a reputation as well-mannered house dogs.

“I have 15 dogs,” says Matty Lambden, a field trial judge and owner of Tamrose Labradors in central Ireland. “I could walk around me kennels and there won’t be one—not even one squeak. It’s a fault [in the UK]. If your dog whimpers in line, he’s gone. You drove three hours and the dog gives a bit of a cry, he’s out the door and you’re knocked out of the competition. So that’s why we don’t proceed with that [trait] or breed off those dogs. You’re better off putting all [your efforts] into a dog that you know is going to be quiet.”

Trainability of the English Lab vs American

While both American and British Labs are highly trainable and eager to please, the general rule is that American Labs are more resilient to pressure. Pressure refers to physical corrections, ranging from the tug of a leash to e-collar stimulation and force fetching. The reason pressure matters is that a training misstep with a softer dog is likely to have outsize consequences.

“Get a dog that has enough talent that they’re going to make up for your mistakes,” retriever trainer Tom Dokken advises owners interested in training their own Lab. “Because if you get a dog that’s super soft and you’re making mistakes at the wrong time, you might just shut that dog totally down. Whereas a professional trainer, if he has enough experience, he’s evaluating that dog early on to know where that dog’s limits are and where the correction levels are in order to keep it working.”

British Labs are known for their soft temperament and can shut down under too much pressure. It’s not an insult to tell a Brit their dog is soft. On the contrary, it’s a desirable trait and one of the reasons force fetching and e-collar training is almost nonexistent in the UK and among devotees of British-style dog trainers. In fact, British handlers often don’t put any collar on their dog at all. When I asked one British trainer why he didn’t keep collars on his dogs, he shrugged and said he thought they looked better without it (he wasn’t wrong). It’s also something of an obedience humble brag. My dog, he seemed to be saying, doesn’t need a collar.

Which Lab Is a Better Hunting Dog?

You could start bar fights over which breeds and even bloodlines make the best hunting dog breeds. If you ask American Lab handlers which Lab is the better hunting dog, they’ll assure you it’s an American. Brits will tell you just the opposite. (Few people will try to convince you English Labs make good hunting dogs.) In reality, the best Lab for you depends on the kind of hunting you’re planning to do, and what you prioritize in a dog.

“I always tell people to get the best bloodlines you can buy,” says Dokken, the legend behind Dokken’s Oak Ridge Kennels and the inventor of the Dead Fowl Trainer. . “I don’t care if it’s British, American, whatever it is. You can have dogs—again, whether it’s British or American—that have some talent. And then you can have dogs that have a lot of talent.”

Dokken has worked with thousands of dogs over his four-decade career and trained both American and British Labs. He doesn’t play favorites and if you ask him which he prefers, his answer is always the same: “One that wants to work.”

Still, in his decades of hunting and training, Dokken has personally owned five Labs; all five have been American. My British Lab and I trained at Dokken’s farm in South Dakota, a wind-swept prairie with big water and thick cover. It’s a fair microcosm of American bird hunting. Retrievers in the U.S. are often asked to navigate ocean surf for sea ducks, swift rivers for mallards, and half-frozen potholes for pintails. Our hunters work dogs in prickly desert, steep mountains, and dense woods for quail, chukar, and grouse. Hunting here is more dangerous than in tidy British farm ponds and neat hedgerows. 

For that reason, it’s smart to get a high-intensity dog whose drive overwhelms the potential for discomfort or disinterest when the hunting gets tough or slow. On average, that’s probably going to be a Lab with American bloodlines.

If quiet mornings and perfect blind manners are important to you, consider a British Lab. Duck hunting in particular includes lots of slow mornings, and a trained British dog will usually be able to wait out the doldrums silently and without fidgeting. (The same is true of an English Lab vs American if you’re determined to hunt with one.)

Here’s an example: One of the best duck dogs I’ve ever hunted over was an American Lab. That dog was steady, obedient, and had drive oozing out his ears. In the blind, he whined like a spoiled kid doing chores on a Saturday. Ultimately my buddy would get annoyed with his dog and I’d get a headache. (Whining in dogs, Dokken says, is usually involuntary—they don’t know they’re doing it, so it’s often impossible to correct.) Meanwhile, my own pup began his duck hunting career with more uncertainty than a hard-charging American Lab, but he stays naturally quiet, stays put when I ask him to, and picks up ducks just fine.

Labrador Retrievers in Field Trials

British Labs have always made good hunting dogs, says Bavero, but they’ve historically been dismissed by American handlers for field trials and hunt tests. 

“The stigma has been that British Labs are not as competitive of dogs, but you’re starting to see more of them in trials,” says Bavero, who began importing Labs from Ireland with his business partner in 2018. “But a lot of that stigma has been how we [Americans] have been training them: If you want to run a hunt test, you have to put a lot of pressure on the dogs. … The American style has been kind of what we do with most things. Build them up and break them down.”

Bavero finds that U.S. competitions tend to emphasize blind retrieves and focus on a handler’s ability to direct their dog right to a bird rather than letting the dog hunt naturally. Dogs require exceptional drive to endure the tedium of advanced handling drills, so Americans breed for that energy.

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Meanwhile, Brits breed for what Bavero calls “natural game-​finding ability,” a trait that’s rewarded more in British hunt trials, where dogs are handled to an area, then encouraged to search for birds as they would while hunting. Handling is still required but it’s less technical. The cultural emphasis on honoring other dogs has also resulted in calm, steady lines.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

British and American Labs are more similar than they are different. If you’re determined to compare the two, British and English Labs are generally shorter, quieter, and calmer. American Labs are known for their athleticism, high drive, and enthusiasm. But instead of worrying about whether a British or English vs American Lab is “better,” pay attention to which dog is right for your needs and lifestyle. Do your homework and choose a responsible breeder. If you get a chance to see a breeder interact with his dogs and, better yet, meet the sire and dam of a litter you’re considering, do it. Once you’ve made your decision, you’ll fall in love with whichever Lab you take home—no matter what his pedigree says.

The post A Guide to the English Lab vs American Lab appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Maybe you already know how to remove a tick from a person, but do you know how to remove a tick from a dog? Every dog owner should possess this skill. Because when it comes to pulling ticks off your pup, it’s a matter of “when,” not “if.” Every dog is going to get bit by a tick sooner or later, no matter if its a hardworking bird dog or the family beagle. Several common types of ticks can be found everywhere in the lower 48 these days, and they’re also more prevalent now thanks to climate change.

“Historically we had a seasonality to our ticks,” Cincinnati-area veterinarian Dr. Mark Hayes tells Outdoor Life. “In Ohio, we would get cold enough winters that we wouldn’t see ticks then. But now I see deer ticks all winter long. We’re really seeing them year-round.”

Most tick bites are benign. But ticks also carry diseases like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Whether you have a family dog or one of the best hunting dog breeds that spends plenty of time outside, it’s in your dog’s best interest that you know how to remove a tick quickly and effectively. You should also know what tick bite symptoms to watch for after removing one. Here’s what the experts recommend you do.

Where Are Ticks Usually Found on Dogs?

While a tick can latch onto any part of your dog’s body, some regions are more vulnerable to bites than others. Ticks have a way of crawling the little nooks and crannies that often go unchecked, where they’re more likely to feed unperturbed for days on end. Some of these spots include:

• In and behind ears
• In armpits
• Between toe pads
• Between hind legs
• Hidden in jowls or skin rolls
• Around eyelids (sometimes mistaken for “eye goop”)

Steps for Tick Removal

The first rule is to remain calm. This will help keep your dog from freaking out. See if someone else can hold your dog still so you can use both hands to find and dislodge the tick. While you’re at it, double check to make sure what you’re looking at is definitely a tick and not a skin tag or a mole. If it has small legs sticking out around the attachment point, is a different color than your dog’s skin, and if your dog doesn’t yelp when you pull on it, odds are it’s a tick.

Tools You Will Need

• Tweezers or a tick removal tool
• Disinfectant, like antibiotic ointment or hydrogen peroxide
• A buddy to help hold your dog steady (optional)
• A headlamp or a flashlight (if you have a buddy) in the event of low or poor light

Step 1: Grab tweezers or a tick removal tool

While you might be able to remove the tick with your fingernails, it’s safer to use precision tools like a Tick Key or a Homesake Tick Remover if you have access to one. If you try to remove the tick with your bare fingers, you run a higher risk of prying the tick body off but leaving the head embedded (this is not good). Tweezers are also perfectly fine, Dr. Hayes says.

Step 2: Hold the fur back with your non-dominant hand.

Get as clear a view of the tick as you can. If the area has some extra loose skin, pull the skin away from the body and pinch well below the tick to bulge the bite area out like you might with a splinter. If the tick is under the ear, fold the ear backwards to expose the tick as much as possible.

Step 3: Grab the tick as close to the skin as possible with the tweezers or tick key.

With any luck, you’ll get a grasp on part of the head, ensuring you don’t leave it burrowed in the skin. Some ticks burrow deeper than others, but legs should be visible around the attachment site.  

Step 4: Pull straight up to dislodge the whole tick.

Pulling at an angle with tweezers will increase the risk that the body pops off the head. If you pull straight up, the head should detach from the skin cleanly. Don’t expect the tick to come free immediately. You might have to pull pretty hard. Just try to not crush the tick’s body or rip the head off in the process. If you’re using a tick removal tool, follow the instructions for how to remove the tick. Some tools require that you twist the tick or pull sideways rather than straight up in order to remove it from your dog. 

Step 5: Check the bite mark.

Look closely at both the tick and the wound site. If the tick still has its two-pronged jaw and head attached to its body, and the bite mark doesn’t have what looks like a tiny splinter stuck in it, you got the whole parasite out. If part of the tick’s head is missing, look back at the bite mark and see if you can get a grasp on the remaining piece. Don’t dig at it too much—this only increases the risk of infection.

Step 6: Disinfect the bite mark.

Any over-the-counter antibiotic ointment or hydrogen peroxide will get the job done. If you use hydrogen peroxide on a dog with a dark coat, it will likely bleach the coat a little. You can use an eyedropper to apply it if you’re worried about a blond patch. If you use ointment, apply it liberally. Watch the bite mark in the days that follow. A red bump or small rash might emerge. This is generally normal and doesn’t immediately mean the dog has a tick-borne illness, but Dr. Hayes recommends you still take your dog to the vet to get it checked out.

Do Dogs Get Tick-Borne Illnesses?

Tick-borne illnesses are nasty and potentially deadly, which should motivate you to remove the tick from your dog as fast as possible. Just like humans, dogs can get Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and a variety of other tick-borne illnesses that dog owners should be aware of. Most tick-borne illnesses present similar symptoms in dogs. They might take three weeks or more to emerge, so watch your dog’s behavior closely. 

First, look for fever. A dog’s eyes will turn red, they will emanate heat from their ears and nose, and their behavior will turn lethargic. If your dog is also exhibiting joint stiffness, lameness, swelling, or is limping or exhibiting other behavior that indicates they are in pain, there’s a good chance they’re dealing with a tick-borne illness. Also keep an eye out for decreased appetite, lethargy, malaise, diarrhea, vomiting, respiratory issues, or any other concerning symptoms.  

Potential tick-borne diseases in dogs include: 

• Lyme disease
• Canine ehrlichiosis
• Anaplasma
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Babesiosis

Ways to Prevent Tick-Borne Illness in Dogs

Just as we seek out the best tick repellents for our own well-being in the woods, pets deserve useful preventative measures, too. The best way to prevent tick bites and subsequent illness in your dog is by talking to your vet and getting a prescription for an oral medication, Dr. Hayes says. Most of these “pills” are nearly indistinguishable from normal dog treats. They deliver antibodies to your dog’s bloodstream that will kill any ticks that latch on. 

“A product like NexGuard that you give your dog once a month won’t prevent ticks from getting on your animal but it will kill them before they can transmit that bacteria,” Dr. Hayes says. “Those ticks have a hard shell, so they’re hard to kill, but they’ll die pretty quickly. I really like Nexguard, but you should talk to your vet.”

Over-the-counter topical products also help with prevention. Options range from a once-monthly ointment application like Frontline Plus to the good ol’ fashioned flea and tick collar, like this one from Seresto. Unlike the oral medication, these topicals act as high-powered repellents that keep bugs at bay. Some even kill fleas, ticks, lice, and larvae. (Dr. Hayes cautions against using dog-specific products on cats, as they’ve been known to be toxic to felines.)

Whether you choose an oral prescription or an over-the-counter topical option, Dr. Hayes also recommends also considering the canine Lyme vaccine for your dog.

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“Definitely get the Lyme vaccine if it’s in your area or you’re going to travel to an area with it. The vaccine has [few] side-effects. Then do monthly prevention, too,” Dr. Hayes says. “Prevention is a lot easier than trying to play catch-up.”

FAQs

Final Thoughts on Removing Ticks from Dogs

If you find a tick latched onto your dog, don’t panic. Instead, reach for your fine-tipped tweezers or trusty tick removal device and remain calm. First, focus on removing the tick from your dog in one piece. Then worry about watching for symptoms of a tick-borne illness in the days and weeks that follow. 

If you can’t stand the idea of a small parasite feeding on your pup, talk to your veterinarian about proper prevention techniques and the Lyme vaccine for dogs. It could make the difference between a fun summer spent outside and an expensive (and nerve-wracking) summer spent at the vet’s office. 

The post How to Remove a Tick From a Dog appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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EVERY DOG STORY ends the same way. (Spoiler alert: The dog doesn’t make it.) So why do we do it? Why do we intentionally introduce heartache into our life when we introduce a puppy into our home?

The easy answer is that the rewards—in companionship and hunting success with a canine partner—far outweigh the regret. Besides, if you are a dog person, not having a dog in your life is unthinkable, even though you have a pretty good idea of what will happen 12 to 14 years into the relationship.

I suppose I knew how Willow’s time with me and my family would end when she joined us as a pup. But those early days seemed blissfully endless. My kids were young, and they grew up with a puppy who was polite, obedient, intense in the field, and alternately frolicky and floppy in the house.

Once, my young son asked why Willow was so well-behaved. “Because she has a black mouth,” I answered blithely, without thinking about the implications. “All good dogs have black mouths.”

Then, as he spent the next months inspecting the mouth of every strange dog he encountered, I had to back off my pronouncement lest he get bit by a bad dog with a black mouth.

Willow grew into our family, becoming a talented bird hunter and a gentle presence in our lives. She would happily hunt with anyone, and did—accompanying my kids and scores of my friends to their first roosters and honkers. She hunted with senators and neighbors, pointers and setters, and plenty of fellow retrievers. She started to slow down a couple of years ago, but she responded by hunting smarter. She knew where birds would hold, and she’d dismiss marginal cover in favor of spending her time in these prime spots. And more often than not, her efforts produced a bird, or three.

For the past year, I’ve been wondering how Willow’s end would come. I expected it would arrive at the end of a veterinarian’s needle, and I dreaded the decision that would be mine to make: When is it finally time? What if I wait too long? Our final hunt (see “The Slough,” below) decided the matter for me, and as hard as it was, it was a relief, too. She died doing what she was meant to do. How many of us have wished for the same mercy?

Months on, I still wake up expecting Willow to be there by my bed, staring at my closed eyes and waiting for me to rouse. But we have a new puppy in the house. She’s a yellow Lab—just like Willow—and she’s birdy, mischievous, promising, impulsive. Her name is Nellie. And her mouth is pink. —Andrew McKean, August 2017

The Underdog

The runtiest of runts makes a heroic big-water retrieve / Tom Dokken, as told to Tony Peterson

There was only one female chocolate Lab in the small litter of six pups, and she was a runt. But not just any runt. She was the weakest runt I’ve ever seen. Not only was she about three-quarters the size of the other pups, she also had an underdeveloped back leg. But my wife, Tina, wanted her anyway. I was sure that even if the little runt survived, she wasn’t going to be a hunting dog. The decision, however, wasn’t mine to make. We named her Sage.

The other puppies bullied Sage, so we pulled her from the litter and bottle-fed her. With special care and attention, Sage survived, and soon it was time to start training.

Training any puppy is a gentle process. With Sage, it required all of the patience we could muster. It took her a year to get through the training that most of our dogs accomplish in months. But slowly her leg healed, and we coaxed her out of her shell.

Against all odds, Sage went from being the weakest puppy I’d handled in decades of dog training to an all-out bird-hunting machine. I have a lot of good memories of Sage, but one stands out as the greatest big-water retrieve I’ve ever witnessed.

Tina and I were hunting a 2,000-acre lake in South Dakota during the late season. It was chilly (probably in the mid-30s), and the wind was whipping at 35 mph from the north. The main part of the lake was rolling with 3-foot whitecaps, so we set up in a small bay.

Before long, Tina shot a drake wigeon and she sent Sage out for what we thought would be a routine retrieve. But when Sage was just about to reach the duck, the drake sprang to life. Sage was too close for us to swat the duck, so we just watched as the drake swam out and then dove. He popped up farther away, and then he dove again. And again. The crippled drake led Sage out of the bay and into the big rollers on the main lake. We could see Sage for a second through the whitecaps and then she’d disappear behind the crest of another wave.

At that point Sage was a few hundred yards out, with the wind blowing her and the duck even farther to the middle of the lake. She couldn’t hear our whistles over the wind, and our concern switched from losing the duck to possibly losing our dog. I took off running in my chest waders for our boat, which was a few hundred yards away. But when I reached the boat, I heard Tina yelling and saw her waving wildly at me from back in the blind. I looked way out into that gray, rolling water to see the white belly of a wigeon in Sage’s mouth as she paddled back toward us against the chop. Somehow I had underestimated Sage yet again.

Cold Case

A veteran blood-tracking hound goes to work / By Alex Robinson

By the time Sean Timmens got his Bavarian mountain hound, Kieler, to the hit site, it had been 41 hours since the bowhunter had put an arrow in the buck.

At six years old, the hound was a veteran tracker who had successfully recovered more than 100 deer, but everything was working against him in this case. The shooter, Wisconsin bowhunter Justin Peak, had arrowed a nice buck during the afternoon of November 8. Peak tried to blood-trail the deer that evening but called it off later that night. The next morning, he went back with buddies and they searched for seven hours, running extensive grids across the property. Then they called Timmens, who runs Kieler after mortally wounded deer for $100 a pop.

This was a worst-case scenario for a blood-tracking dog. Generally, 48 hours is the maximum amount of time in which a dog can pick up a scent trail, Timmens says. And the hunters had tromped all over the property, unknowingly spreading tiny blood spores and scent from the deer’s trail to the vegetation around it.

But if there was any dog in the area that could find the buck, it was Kieler. Timmens, a veteran bird dog trainer, got the hound from Poland as a puppy, specifically to be a blood-tracker. Right away he was amazed by Kieler’s combination of easy-going personality and impressive athletic ability.

“He’s the most laid-back people dog I’ve ever had,” Timmens says. “But, he’s also 52 pounds of pure muscle and surprisingly agile. Out in the yard, he outruns my shorthairs.”

Kieler wears a harness that attaches to a 30-foot lead that Timmens holds as they work through the woods. When Timmens gets to a hit site, he gives Kieler a single command: “Let’s go to work.”

When he’s hot on a track, Kieler keeps hard, steady pressure on the lead, his nose vacuums the ground, and he snorts the whole way like a pig.

So when Kieler pulled Timmens from the hit site down a steep ridge, through a mixed hardwoods, and then toward a big draw, keeping his nose to the ground the entire time, Timmens knew his dog was nailing the track. Instead of going up the draw, Kieler veered right and headed into a thicket of chest-high briars and honeysuckle. The hound disappeared into the tangle, and seconds later Timmens could hear him thrashing around and chewing the dead buck’s hind legs.

They had traveled 600 yards and found the buck in just 15 minutes.

“I called back to the hunter, who was about 20 yards behind us: ‘You want to see your buck?’ ” Timmens says. “And he was just in total awe.”

The Slough

The retriever road, a dozen years and hundreds of roosters long, ends with a final pheasant hunt in a favorite place / By Andrew McKean

We’ve been here a hundred times, you and me, hunting the old slough behind the line of rattle-branch cottonwoods. We stay away during deer season, but only partly because we both think a big old Milk River buck might show up someday and we don’t want to scare him off. The main reason is that the pheasants don’t pile into the slough until it starts getting cold, in December. After the ice freezes the black water, the roosters tuck into the cattails to keep warm and digest crops full of barley and wheat, and that’s where we find them on afternoons like this, the wind cutting through our coats and fresh tracks in the new snow.

We both know where the old roosters are holding, and we don’t have to trade looks or commands as we round the willow stand and head toward the swamp. We’re going to the same place we have hunted together a dozen times a year over a dozen seasons, and we walk side-by-side, taking our time. The long-spurred cocks are tunneled into the thickest cattails in the rotten heart of the slough, where they can hear the two of us now, crunching on the just-frozen ground.

They’re nervous, like the phalanx of twitchy hens in the orchard grass that skirts the slough, but instead of coiling to flush as we approach, the cagy old cocks resist the urge to fly and instead go lower, crouching into the murk to hide their gaudiness in a shadowy maze of standing stalks.

Their location will be betrayed, as ever, by their putrescence, and we will follow intensifying hits of tangy scent to its source. If we each do our job, the roosters will flush at the very last possible second, shattering cattails as they tower and cackle into the pewter sky. If we each do our job, the shot will be good, the retrieval uncomplicated, and by sundown another limit will be cleaned on the frosty tailgate of the old pickup.

We both know some hunts are not straightforward. Sometimes the ice isn’t good and we can’t reach the best spots. The rooster sometimes runs instead of flies, the shot sometimes is not good, and birds with ruined wings but uninjured legs sometimes get away. Those are the times we trade sideways looks at one another, silently blaming each other for the lost rooster. A disgusted glance says more than a shout or a growl ever could.

Each day we have hunted this slough over the past 12 years has been different, and today is different, too. The ice is so new that the stringy old roosters may not all be concentrated in that half acre of matted cattails. There may be some easier ones today, in the thinner cover. And today the wind is out of the east, so we circle wide in the alfalfa before entering the slough’s west edge. This never changes: We are both shivering with expectation as we stop and assess the conditions.

You don’t spend 12 years with a hunting partner and not know their abilities as well as their shortcomings. We are both smarter hunters than we once were, but we’re also stiffer and slower, expectant but cautious, a counterbalanced helix of thrill and apprehension. We are both nervous about the thickness of that ice, which is why we don’t charge right into the slough.

Retriever Roadtrip

Just three weeks ago, in South Dakota, we hunted a different, unfamiliar type of cover. Grainy milo fields and waving bluestem hid the scent of a different kind of bird. Prairie chickens look and smell like sharptails, but they flush wild like Hungarian partridges, in coveys, with one or two stragglers that hold too long, and those are the birds we carry in our mouth and game bag. The mid-November days in Dakota were different from our home in Montana, unseasonably hot and dusty, and both of us hunting at our best in the first and last hours of the day, when the scent hung like honey from the grass and the long light somehow made the shooting easier.

We camped on that trip, sharing our space with Otis and her Alex, who drove in from Minnesota. Our buddies Mark and Bill traveled with us in a motor home that had a bed in back and, up front, our bearskin rug, brought from its place in front of the fireplace at home. In Pierre, we met up with Uncle Ken and his two trip-wire Griffs, Cooper and Cider. We flushed pheasants and grouse around abandoned homesteads that smelled like cats. We slept out on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands, under the purple Dakota sky, and cooked and ate the birds that came from the prairie all around us.

That trip was one we had promised each other for years, a week of hunting in the crucible of America’s upland country for ringnecks and grouse and maybe even ducks. Those other birds are fine, but it’s pheasants that have always quickened our blood. Maybe it’s because we live so closely with them on our place in Montana. Either of us could walk out from the house and flush at least one rooster almost any time we wanted in the brushy ditches and grassy fence lines around the fields. But we don’t. We hunt together, because a bird we team up for counts for more than one that we get on our own. A bird from the slough counts for even more, maybe because we’ve hunted here together so often that it seems like the very source of our bond. It’s where we learned each other’s talents and limitations, commands and responses, and where we’ve lain together in the cured grass, watching the autumn sky change as a limit of birds cools between us.

In Dakota, we were both younger. Maybe it was hunting new country, with new company. Or maybe it was the painkillers—ibuprofen and Rimadyl—that loosened our limbs and opened our gait. Or maybe it was playing with our younger companions during breaks for water and shade. But now, after a long day in the office and low clouds bringing another winter, both of us are creaky. So we wait on the edge of the slough, sniffing the wind and deciding whether to trust the ice.

The Flush

A bird makes the decision for us. A rooster can’t stand the gathering suspense and flushes wild.

So I go, like I always go, nose down on a hot scent that reels me into the reeds. I’m close—so close—to a bird I can almost grab with my mouth when my feet stop working. Suddenly I’m wet and cold, looking up at the sky through the spiky cattails, broken ice all around.

A rooster explodes ahead just as I break through the ice. Cold water pours over my boots, but I’m just a few feet into the slough, and I stagger backward to solid ground. I can’t see Willow in the cattails, but I hear her, snuffing, filling her nose with the heavy wet smell of a huddled rooster. Just as I realize that the ice is too thin for her, I hear her break through, too.

I hear myself whine a little. I can’t keep my head up, but maybe if I swim under the ice I’ll find him. I always find him.

I hear a feeble whine from Willow. I throw down my vest and gun, calling her name, and charge into the slough, breaking ice as I go. I’ll find her. I always find her.

When I finally find her, she’s just a couple of feet from shore, trapped under ice so thick I have to hammer it with my shotgun stock to break through. I pull her up, through the rotten cattails and icy water into the weak light, but she’s already gone. I hold her yellow head. For the first time in a dozen years together, I’m the only one who is trembling.

Scratch, the Unkillable

A death-defying GSP makes the ultimate comeback / By Scott Linden

Scratch hunts as if every day were his last, perhaps because he has already faced off with the Grim Reaper—twice.

The massive German shorthaired pointer weighs 75 pounds and can easily rest his head on the dining room table. His lanky, long legs are always reaching as he runs all-out, to hell with trees, briars, barbed wire, or other dogs.

Scratch’s owner, Nancy Anisfield is the polar opposite of her dog—calm, level-headed, and a careful hunter. But she lets Scratch run big. He’s a three-ring circus of trips, stumbles, cuts, and head bumps.

On his very first quail hunt, the 11-month-old Scratch was run over by a Jeep. It was one of those fancy big rigs that some quail plantations use, with platforms for hunters and boxes for the dogs. But Scratch was too big to fit in the dog box, so Anisfield had him riding up front. He slipped off the Jeep platform and fell beneath the wheel. He was degloved—the skin was peeled off his entire leg.

Scratch underwent a major surgery and five days of hospitalization. Some might argue that the surgery wasn’t worth it, and the dog should have been put down because, even if he did recover, he’d never be the same. But Anisfield never entertained that notion.

One hundred stitches and six weeks later, Scratch was in the hunt again. As soon as he was let out, he peed on a truck tire and bolted toward a scrubby patch of loblolly pine, where he came to a quivering point. Then, finding his footing, Scratch leapt skyward, flying higher than a dog should be able to, stretching for a chittering bobwhite as it flushed. In one incredible leap, muscle, bone, and heart functioned at maximum capacity. This was not the move of a finished pointing dog, but it made a bold statement: Scratch was back.

The pointer found himself in trouble again just weeks before the 2013 North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association test (a highly esteemed invitational hunt test). While retrieving a bumper, Scratch’s stomach twisted, which is usually a fatal affliction for a hunting dog. During the scramble to the vet, it un-twisted, but the vet performed a preventative surgery to avert another episode. Incredibly, three weeks later, Scratch ran the NAVHDA course, but he botched a double-mark retrieve and failed.

There are no mulligans in NAVHDA, so it was back to training for Anisfield and Scratch. Over the course of two years, Scratch pointed hundreds of birds, covered thousands of acres, and completed dozens of water retrieves. He stumbled, suffered cuts and bruises, and worked through snow and heat. The work paid off and in 2015, Scratch requalified for the big invitational.

Just 90 dogs had qualified, and typically only about half pass the test.

During the final leg of the test, Scratch churned through 80 yards of open water and made quick work of the ground search. With a bold splash, he started back with a pheasant gripped softly in his mouth. He had given it his all, but was it enough?

It was crickets as Scratch’s scores were announced. The versatile dog training circle is a small one, and most in the crowd knew what Scratch and Anisfield had been through to get this far. Then at last the scores were totaled and the crowd heaved a collective sigh of relief.

Scratch was finally a champion.

The Heart of a Turkey Dog

A pup earns his keep on his first night home / By Gerry Bethge

I entered the peculiar turkey-dog universe when a little puppy named Jake arrived via U.S. Air on a snowy January afternoon in New England.

I got the dog from renowned turkey-dog breeder John Byrne, and his last bit of training advice was this: “Just give Jake some access to turkeys. The rest will take care of itself.”

The nor’easter intensified on the ride home from the airport, and by the time I reached hunting camp, more than 6 inches of snow had fallen atop the foot we already had. While my 10-week-old pup chased my giggling 3-year-old daughter, Amy, around the kitchen, I busied myself with the woodstove.

Then, I got a gift from the turkey gods.

Through the thick condensation of the front-door glass, I could make out three dark forms walking down the driveway toward the house. I wiped away the fog to see three adult gobblers standing just 20 feet away in the blowing snow. Not expecting much, I picked up Jake and headed out into the storm. By the time I got out the front door, the toms had gained 50 yards on us and were at the wood line. Jake hit the ground running, though it was more hopping between chest-deep snowdrift plunges. Puppy legs churning away, he followed the tracks precisely, first to the wood line, and then on up the hill directly behind the now-out-of-sight gobblers. I foundered in the snow, too, with admittedly more quit than Jake. I called off the chase after 300 yards. I didn’t want to lose this puppy after only a few hours of owning him.

Soaked and shivering, Jake was a mess. So I tucked my new little turkey dog into my coat and headed back to camp, already thinking ahead to fall.

Lacey and the Lion

A rookie redtick goes head-to-head with a monster mountain lion / By Brad Fitzpatrick

Dry-land mountain-lion hunting requires a special hound—a dog with stamina, a good nose, and, most important, a drive that will carry her over rough terrain behind a trail of evaporating scent.

The Uncompahgre Plateau of western Colorado, where Cliff Carney guides lion hunts, is a landscape that will test even the most experienced lion dog. It consists of rimrock canyons, cedar forests, and rocky draws. It’s tough country, and it’s where Carney’s one-year-old redtick pup Lacey would get her first test.

Lacey showed promise early on. She was eager to learn and easy to handle, and she developed a strong bond with Carney. So, naturally, he wanted to get her on a hunt and have her learn from his veteran dogs.

Lacey and the rest of Carney’s pack (a mix of blueticks and bluetick-Walker crosses) struck the trail of a mature tom during Colorado’s spring season. Judging by the size of the lion’s paw print, Carney and his best friend, Shawn Tyner, had a good idea they were on a very big tom. The dogs ran behind the cat all day, crossing broken scrabble and sheer rock. By late afternoon, the hounds were exhausted, so Carney called off the chase for the day.

Just after dawn the next morning, they picked up the track again. Lacey sat out this hunt because Carney didn’t want to put too much pressure on his promising young dog. Again, the dry air and heat were too much for the fatigued hounds, and Carney made the call to abandon the hunt.

By the third day, the dogs were rested but not at full capacity, except for Lacey. But Carney and Tyner decided to try once more, and they headed for the roughest strip of country in the area.

A flock of crows alerted Carney to a dead cow elk. Not far from the kill, they cut a cat’s track, and they suspected that it was the big tom they were chasing. The hunt was back on.

Throughout the morning, Carney watched on his GPS tracker as his dogs dropped from the race. First was his hound Jet, who became trapped on a ledge and needed to be rescued. Then his old, experienced hounds, Sam and Stoker, slowed and dropped from the hunt. Before long, only a single blip on his GPS was still pushing the trail. It was the redtick pup Lacey. She was running the lion solo.

This was a problem. If Lacey managed to catch the lion by herself, she’d likely be killed. A pack of hounds can keep a lion at bay with relatively little risk. But a single dog, especially an inexperienced pup like Lacey, was an easy mark for a big tom. As the signal from her collar traced a path directly through the roughest canyon country in the Uncompahgre, the hunters set out at a lung-bursting pace.

They followed Lacey through big canyons, the sound of her raspy bawls echoing against the rimrock. Finally, the two hunters followed the GPS signal up a ridge to a narrow ledge that dropped 300 feet to the canyon floor below. There at the edge stood Lacey, eye-to-eye with a furious tom.

The older dogs, Stoker and Sam, caught up then, and the three hounds stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the cat, their howls booming off the rock walls. Tyner quickly killed the lion, bringing the three-day chase to an end. The massive tom weighed almost 200 pounds.

But for Carney—a lifelong houndsman—there was something much more rewarding than a trophy cat at the end of the track. When he cut Lacey loose, she was a promising but untested pup. Now she was a true lion hunter.

This story, Wonder Dogs, originally ran in the August 2017 issue. Read more OL+ stories.

The post The Wonder Dogs: Tales of Six Incredible Hunting Dogs appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Six field trial retrievers died over two days after eating crusty mud near a pond at a popular dog training area in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now, the area is closed to the public while the Utah Division of Water Quality tests for contamination and cyanobacteria.

A dog trainer arrived to the 934-acre Lee Kay conservation area on May 12 and camped with a group of 13 retrievers for eight days, Utah DWR public information officer Faith Heaton-Jolley tells Outdoor Life. (Utah DWR is not disclosing the breeds of the dogs or the trainer’s identity). The trainer noticed the dogs eating muddy grass on May 17, and the dogs started vomiting and having diarrhea later in the day. The owner took one dog to a veterinarian that night. At 6:30 a.m. on May 18, the vet euthanized the dog. The other five dogs died over the next two days. 

The incident occurred during an American Kennel Club retriever field trial put on by the Great Salt Lake Retriever Club, which ran from May 18 to May 20, according to an event calendar for the facility. The conservation area was closed to the public for the weekend, indicating that the trainer was there to participate in the field trial. 

Utah DWR conservation officers received a report about the dog deaths on May 20 and dispatched a conservation officer to the scene to investigate. The officer didn’t see any other dead animals or dead fish in the pond, Heaton-Jolley says. This trainer was the only one at the facility to have dogs die. Utah DWR also contacted the Utah Division of Water Quality, who sent scientists out to collect samples for testing on May 22. While the scientists didn’t see any visual evidence of harmful algal blooms on the pond, they did see growth along the shoreline that they think is at least partially comprised of harmful cyanobacteria.

“[Utah DWQ has] seen instances of dogs becoming ill or dying after consuming some of those cyanobacteria mats,” Heaton-Jolley says. “Sometimes these mats contain lethal levels of cyanotoxins that target the liver or neurological system of dogs. Apparently they have a musky odor that may sometimes attract dogs.” 

The final test results for both the material along the shoreline and the pond water are still pending and an exact cause of death has not yet been determined. One of the dogs is undergoing a necropsy. While the trainer was responsible for the dogs at the time, he did not own all of them, Heaton-Jolley confirmed.

An AKC trial scheduled for Memorial Day weekend has been canceled as a result of the incident, according to a Facebook post from the Wasatch Hunting Retriever Club. Many participants commented that they would donate their entry fees to the WHRC rather than accept refunds. A four-day AKC trial is scheduled for the following weekend, as well. 

Read Next: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Labrador Retriever Colors

“In the retriever hunt test and field trial world, anybody from the Rocky Mountains has probably been [to Lee Kay conservation area],” retriever trainer Eric Fryer tells Outdoor Life. “This is the most popular place in Salt Lake City by far. We only have one other place in Utah that has year-round hunting dog training, and that place doesn’t get near what we get at Lee Kay.” 

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Throughout the history of America’s favorite dog breed, Labrador retriever colors have traditionally been classified as black, chocolate brown, or yellow. If you ask the American Kennel Club, those are the only acceptable colors for a Labrador. And even then, those dogs must have other specific color features (like dark noses and lips) to count as true Labradors.

But lately, non-traditional Labrador retriever colors have increased in popularity. The coats on these dogs look like faded versions of the traditional colors. Charcoal, silver, champagne, and white Labs have all emerged on the scene. They simultaneously enchant dog-loving Americans who want something new and different—and frustrate the traditional crowd of Lab owners and trainers who don’t approve of the breeding decisions that result in these non-traditional coat colors. 

So where did these new colors come from? Are they associated with health problems? Are these “designer” Labs going to overtake the traditional breed-standard colors of black, chocolate, and yellow? Here’s the lowdown on all the Labrador retriever colors out there.

The Traditional Labrador Retriever Colors

Black is the most dominant color in the history of Labrador retrievers. The dogs that Labs originate from, St. John’s dogs, were all-black with white tuxedo markings on their chests and paws. Once multiple generations of Labrador retrievers reproduced, recessive-gene colors like chocolate and yellow emerged from other bloodlines. Before the 20th century, breeders didn’t value these colors, breeder and co-owner of DuckCreek kennels Peggy Stalnaker tells Outdoor Life.   

“The breeders would cull the runts or any weird-colored dogs,” says Stalnaker, who lives and breeds Labs of various colors in Winfield, Kansas. “They didn’t want to get the reputation that their females [whelped] funky-colored animals. People would think she wasn’t true full-blood, when she actually was.”

Eventually, dog owners began to value chocolate and yellow Labs, and official kennel clubs around the world began accepting these coat colors as part of the breed standard. The Labrador retriever was first registered as a breed with the Kennel Club of England in 1903 before the AKC registered them in 1917.

Labrador Retriever Colors Are Determined by Genetics

A series of genes determine what color an individual Labrador retriever will be. The sire and dam that produce the litter of puppies pass down those genes to the offspring. Different combinations of genes result in different coat colors, AKC judge and Labrador retriever breeder Margaret Wilson tells Outdoor Life. 

If you don’t remember the genetics unit from your high-school biology class, here’s a quick recap.

Black Labs and Chocolate Labs

The black coat color gene is dominant, Wilson explains. The chocolate coat gene, on the other hand, is recessive. (We’ll get to yellow coat genes in a second.)

Say two black Labs breed and produce a litter of pups. If just one of the parents—in this example, the sire—has all-black genes, none of their puppies will be chocolate. All the pups will be black Labs. That’s because the black genes from the sire will dominate any recessive chocolate genes the dam might contribute. But if both black Labs each have a recessive chocolate gene in their genetic makeup, there’s a chance the litter could include chocolate pups.

The same is true for a black Lab that breeds a chocolate Lab. If the black Lab only has black genes to pass down, all their puppies will be black. But if that black Lab has a recessive chocolate gene to pass down, the litter could include both black and chocolate pups. That’s because a chocolate Lab only has recessive chocolate genes to pass along.

Two chocolate Labs can only produce a chocolate litter, Wilson explains. Those are known as “homozygous chocolate” Labrador retrievers. All these dogs—the parents and the offspring—only have recessive chocolate genes. There aren’t any dominant black coat genes present to “switch off” the chocolate color.

Yellow Labs

Yellow coats come from an entirely different pair of genes than black or brown coats. The black or brown Labrador retrieve color coat genes are called “B” genes, and the yellow coat genes are called “E” genes, according to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. 

Here’s where things get really complicated: The dominant E gene can’t cancel out the black or brown coats. If either parent passes down a dominant E gene, the puppy’s coat will be black or brown. But, if both parents have a recessive gene (represented by a lowercase “e”) to pass on and a puppy receives them from both parents, those combined recessive genes will overpower either the black or brown trait and present a yellow coat. 

Read Next: The Best Hunting Dog Names

Yellow Labs have the widest range in coat color while remaining within the AKC breed standard, Wilson says. Yellow Labs must have dark, heavily-pigmented noses, eyes, and lips, but their fur can range from a lighter vanilla to fox red.

Fox Red Labs

This lesser-known Labrador retriever color often gets mentioned alongside other “designer” coat colors, and it certainly appeals to people looking for a classic Lab personality with a newer look. But in reality, the earliest yellow Labs were fox red, Wilson says. The color was first documented toward the end of the 19th century, and today, this coat variation is well within the AKC breed standard for yellow Labs. 

“Over time, some of the lighter colors became more popular,” she says. “Now there’s [been] a more recent resurgence in the past 30 years and the fox red is gaining more popularity every year. They’re absolutely legitimate.”

These darker yellow Labs are becoming especially popular among hunters, since the color blends into most habitat types. 

Yellow Labs with Pink Noses

Other iterations of the yellow Lab fall outside of the breed standard. One of the more common falters is the light brown or pink nose, lips, and eyes.

Something as trivial as a dog’s nose or jowls might not seem like a big-enough deal to warrant disqualification from AKC breed standards. But from a health perspective, says Wilson, yellow Labs with light features are more prone to complications.

These features often show up in yellow Labs with chocolate Lab parents. While the recessive “e” gene makes the coat yellow, the dog’s nose, eye rims, and lips will have less pigment like those of a chocolate Lab. (If you look closely at a chocolate Lab, you’ll notice that, despite their dark fur, their eye rims, lips, and nose are actually light in color.) This can make the skin more prone to sunburn or melanoma. Lighter, more sensitive eyes also make it harder for the dog to work properly in the field. That’s why yellow Labs with the eyes, lips, and nose of a black Lab are more desirable for working, trial, or hunting dogs. If Labs have black noses, lips, and eyes, they’re more protected from the sun and their vision is better suited for outdoor work.   

Which Traditional Labrador Retriever Color Is Best?

The best traditional Labrador retriever color is, of course, a matter of personal preference. Each color has their pros and cons. 

Yellow Labs

• Are harder to disguise in marsh and timber
• Are tougher to keep track of during an upland bird hunt since they tend to blend into grassy cover
• Identifying ticks, cuts, and abrasions is easier on their light coats

Black Labs

• Are easier to disguise in many waterfowl environments, including marsh and timber
• Are easier to spot while working thick upland cover
• Their dark coat makes it harder to notice ticks, blood, and thorns

Chocolate Labs

• Are the least traditional of the traditional Labrador retriever colors
• Have amassed a loyal following over the years
• Blend well into most habitat types and environments

Non-Traditional Labrador Retriever Colors

Beyond the world of AKC breed standards and traditional bloodlines lies a popular demand for something new and different. The results of this demand are a variety of Labrador retriever colors that aren’t formally recognized by the AKC, but that get peoples’ attention—and money—nonetheless.

White, champagne, silver, and charcoal Labs are all products of breeding focused on the “dilute” gene. This gene is entirely separate from the black and chocolate coat gene (B) and the yellow coat gene (E), and it is denoted by the letter “D.” When puppies inherit the dominant “D” gene from either or both their parents, their coats won’t be a diluted color, according to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. But if a pup inherits the recessive “d” gene from both parents, the coat will be diluted, or lighter in color. Black Labs will become charcoal, chocolate Labs will turn silver, and yellow Labs will turn either champagne or what is known as polar white.

Dilute breeding to produce non-traditional Labrador retriever coat colors has its controversies. The practice is particularly frustrating to the traditional Labrador retriever community that strictly adheres to AKC purebred standards.

“I call them ‘silveristas,’ because I consider these people to be a dilute terrorist organization that is undermining the integrity of the breed,” Wilson says. “And it’s not to better the breed at all, it’s to somehow give them credibility with the unsuspecting public.”

Where Did Dilute Labrador Retriever Colors Come From?

Wilson rehashes a story of the first documented silver Lab, which she says was supposedly born in Wisconsin in 1985 to a chocolate Lab female and a chocolate Lab male. But the breeder, who Wilson says she knew about through a friend, was having trouble with a Weimaraner on his property at the time. When the litter arrived, some of the pups were chocolate Labs and some were silver. 

“So he registered them as ‘silver,’”  says Wilson, who suspects the rogue Weimaraner was actually the sire. “Back in those days, the [AKC] hard copy registration form listed Labrador colors as black, yellow, or chocolate, but there was a box off to the side labeled ‘other.’ He filled in ‘silver.’”

Eventually, the Labrador Retriever Club (the only AKC-recognized parent club of the breed) caught wind of these so-called silver Labs. They forwarded the information to the AKC, who dispatched a field inspector to determine the genetics of the pups. (This was a tricky assignment in the era before modern DNA testing and microchips. The breeder presented a chocolate female as the dam and said the sire, which had been on loan as a stud, was back in the northern part of the state.

“So the field inspector took some photographs that, to my knowledge, no one’s ever seen, and we don’t know what colors [the dogs] were. The only photo that I’ve ever seen of the first registered silver was in a sepia-toned photograph,” Wilson says. “You can’t tell [what color the dog is].”

(We were not able to corroborate this story, but the Labrador Retriever Club does claim that the original silver Lab breeders were also involved with Weimaraners.)

Stalnaker, who breeds dilute Labs at DuckCreek, doubts this version of the silver Lab origin story, given what she knows about dilute genetics. Her hunch is that a few true recessive dilute puppies were born by accident.

“The traditionals will say, ‘Oh they have Weimaraner in them.’ But [Weimaraners] are totally different [than Labs]. I’m not saying that somewhere along the line, less-honest breeders haven’t thrown a Weimaraner in somewhere to try to pull more of the dilute colors. I’ve seen Labs that looked kind of Weimaran-y. But I don’t know. It’s just an argument that will go on and on.”

Stalnaker quotes a book written by breeder and hunter Mary Roslin Williams in 1969, titled The Dual Purpose Labrador. (Stalnaker points out that this book was published well before the first documented cases of dilute Labs in the United States.)

“It says that she has heard of a smokey-colored Lab, but she herself has never seen it.”

Does the Dilute Gene Cause Health Issues in Labrador Retrievers?

Stalnaker says she takes meticulous care to produce the healthiest dogs possible. When dilute Labs became popular, she explains, attempts to meet consumer demand resulted in some problematic inbreeding. This resulted in dilute Labs that were less genetically diverse and had higher chances of genetic health issues. But Stalnaker puts all her dogs through extensive genetic testing to determine any predispositions for these issues, which range from dwarfism to exercise-induced collapse syndrome to excessively dry noses. 

“We test for 17 or 18 different genetic disorders at this time. But this isn’t specific [to the dilute gene itself],” Stalnaker clarifies, adding that it is standard practice among reputable Labrador breeders (of any color) to perform key genetic health tests before breeding. “Dilute Labs do have a tendency toward fur issues, where they don’t have a full undercoat and a full overcoat. Their fur would be really thin. But I haven’t had that with any of my dogs. Some of them had coats that weren’t as heavy as I wanted them to be, but we’re away from that now.”

Stalnaker is talking about color dilution alopecia, which is a common disorder for all dogs with dilute coats. She has avoided this by breeding in non-diluted Labs that possess the dilute gene. This means some of her puppies are traditional colors and some are diluted. But the diluted Labs have less disorder-prone genetic codes thanks to the genetic diversity from the non-diluted sire and dam.

Her customers have been happy with their DuckCreek Labs. She recalls one man who flew to Kansas from south Georgia to pick up a silver puppy and fly it home. He was mostly looking for a companion dog, but he’ll also hunt over it, she says. That’s who DuckCreek Labs cater to: customers who want a pet that can also hold its own in the field. She doesn’t get many “hardcore” hunting customers, since she doesn’t run her dogs through hunt tests. She cites the time commitment as a barrier. (She’s too busy coaching the local youth trap shooting team.)

Final Thoughts on Labrador Retriever Colors

Dog breeds evolve over time, and many dilute Lab fans argue that breeders like Stalnaker are responsibly meeting consumer demand. Just because a Lab inherits a dilute color gene and has a slightly different coat color does not mean that dog isn’t capable of fulfilling all the personality and physical traits of the breed. Despite criticism from traditional Labrador loyalists like Wilson, some owners still register dilute Labs under traditional AKC colors. For example, since the AKC only offers choices of black, yellow, and chocolate, a “polar white” dilute Lab owner might register their pup as a yellow Lab.

“They’re promoted, and unfortunately, advertised as rare and desirable, and the AKC is going to recognize them,” says Wilson. “But all of these things are just their propaganda. Don’t buy one from people who are breeding these dilutes, no matter what kind of snake oil salesman they may be.”

Meanwhile, Stalnaker runs into the occasional negative quip about her Labs, but generally people are civil.

“Once in a while, I will get a comment on the open Facebook page, but I choose not to argue with anyone,” she says. “People have their opinions, and you’re not going to change their minds. If anybody is nasty, I just block them. But it’s [usually] a respectful disagreement.”

Read Next: Golden Retriever vs Labrador Retriever: Which Hunting Breed Is Better?

The new variety of Labrador retriever colors is probably here to stay, since the consumer demand is high. But the dilute Labs will probably remain on the outskirts of the Lab community for the foreseeable future, while the traditional Labrador retriever colors of black, chocolate, and yellow continue to win hearts and field trials alike.

The post Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Labrador Retriever Colors appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Few dog breeds have more fans than Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers. These two hunting retrievers are historically the most popular household pets in the country, holding the No. 1 and 3 spots respectively on the American Kennel Club’s Most Popular Dog Breeds list for decades. (The German Shepherd usually clocked in at No. 2, and the French bulldog dethroned the Lab in 2022, ending the Lab’s 31-year streak.) So which retriever makes a better hunting dog: the golden or the Labrador? In this showdown of the golden retriever vs Labrador retriever, we break down each breed’s strengths and weaknesses.

Golden Retriever vs Labrador Retriever: The Upshot

Golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers are similar dog breeds. In general, both are known and valued for their flushing and retrieving abilities, making them both a great choice for upland bird hunters and waterfowlers alike. Neither breed is known for pointing birds, so if you’re looking to hunt over a pointing dog, go with a pointer or a setter. (Pointing Labradors do exist, though they’re a niche and sometimes controversial retriever.)

Show Dogs and Field Dogs

Labs and goldens are also similar in that they have long been bred for two purposes: as conformation dogs (also known as show dogs), or as working field dogs. According to amateur handler and longtime hunting retriever owner Kari Laufenberg, conformation retrievers are usually bred for their looks and stocky stature. They are meant to meet breed standards in a show setting. Field dogs, on the other hand, are bred to perform in field trials and hunt tests. They’re often sleeker, their coats shed water faster, and they’re more utilitarian. But those long-standing divisions are fading.

“I hunt and train with the more conformation-bred dogs, but the two worlds are starting to come together,” she explains. “In the past, it might have been thought that a conformation-bred golden retriever or Lab would not have the drive to hunt and do field work, whereas the field-bred dogs had high drive. But now these conformation breeders are seeing the value of breeding some of that into their lines.” 

That value includes creating a more well-rounded and versatile dog that appeals to a wider population of owners, from hardcore hunters to young families.

But Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers have a few distinct differences that bird hunters should take into consideration when picking which one to bring into their life. 

Get a Golden Retriever If…

• You’re spending more time on dry land than water. Golden retrievers take longer to dry off and can develop hot spots, or acute moist dermatitis, if water gets trapped in their coats, Laufenberg explains. Goldens tend to require more grooming attention in general.
• You’re looking for a pet that can make a good teammate. Golden retrievers are generally great with small children, in hospital settings, and any other circumstances that require extra gentleness. They are well-suited for being considered pets first and hunting dogs second. 
• You want your dog to enjoy downtime with you. As a breed, golden retrievers are slightly lower-energy and less task-oriented than Labs, although there are lots of exceptions, Lauenberg points out. 
• You need a quiet dog. According to the AKC, goldens tend to bark less than Labs. But again, there are exceptions.
• You don’t need a watchdog. Goldens are known for their affectionate personalities—not their protective nature. They have little instinct for guarding homes or being suspicious of strangers.

Get a Labrador Retriever If…

• You’re spending more time on water than dry land. Field-bred Labs have sleek, short coats that look almost waterproof. They dry quickly and aren’t as prone to hot spots as goldens. They also don’t require as much grooming.
• You’re looking for a teammate that can make a good pet. Labs are just slightly more intense and less reserved than goldens, although they were America’s favorite dog breed for a long time.  
• You want to play fetch with your dog for hours on end. Labs tend to have a bit more energy than goldens, and might be more prone to playing than snuggling.
• You don’t mind a little barking or whining. Labs can be a bit louder than goldens.
• You want a watchdog. Labradors also have friendly personalities, but they tend to be more protective of their homes and handlers, according to the AKC. 

How Are Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers Similar?

When it comes to size and demeanor, these two breeds are more similar than they are different.

• Both have historically been bred for long days sitting in a duck blind, working a field, or slipping through the timber. 
• Both breeds weigh, on average, in the 55- to 80-pound range and stand at about 21 to 24 inches at the shoulder, depending on sex. Some Labs might get heavier and taller than some goldens. Conformation retrievers tend to be heavier and have thicker coats than field retrievers.
• Both Labs and goldens make great companions for families of all ages. While the lower-energy golden might let your toddler sleep on it or pull its tail, the higher-energy Lab will lick the peanut butter off your toddler’s face and keep them entertained.
• Both goldens and Labs are good-natured. Since the personalities of individual dogs vary, nitpicking the personality differences between the two breeds is like splitting hairs. Both breeds are so primed for obedience training, Laufenberg explains, that a solid obedience foundation can help mold them into the perfect dog for your exact situation. 

Do Golden Retrievers Make Good Hunting Dogs?

The phrase “hunting dog” might bring a Lab, setter, or spaniel to mind. But field-bred golden retrievers have serious prey drive and unmatched noses, which puts them squarely among the top hunting dog breeds. The first golden retrievers were born in England in the late 1860s, from a litter between a golden, “wavy-coated dog” named Nous and a Tweed water spaniel named Belle. (Tweed water spaniels are now extinct.) Belle belonged to a wealthy member of Parliament named Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, and Nous belonged to a cobbler who received him as payment for a debt.

“It was an inspired combination, crossing a retriever to a water spaniel to create a robust hunter capable of navigating both land and water to hunt grouse, partridge and even red deer,” an AKC article reads. “Marjoribanks’ famous 1868 litter contained the … puppies who are considered the world’s first Golden Retrievers.”

Today, goldens especially rise to the top when it comes to conformation-bred retrievers doing field work. 

“The pros will notice that, when working with a conformation-bred golden retriever versus a conformation-bred Lab, the golden retriever does a little more on the thinking side,” Laufenberg says. “That’s not to say Labs are stupid, because they are not. But it’s kind of the joke in that world—the Labs will just go do something, but we have to think hard about the training with the golden retrievers.” 

A golden’s propensity to think more before acting shines through in its calmer, more deliberate demeanor.

“In general, a golden retriever is going to be a little more laid back,” she explains. “Once they retire from field work, they [might] go do therapy work. They have a real soft presentation about them and they just want to be next to you. They’re a good sponge. That’s not to say a Lab couldn’t do it, but it’s just more common in the golden retrievers.”

Still, there’s no denying that golden retrievers are far less common hunting dogs than the ever-popular Labrador retriever. Labs are more versatile when it comes to hunting land or water, and duck hunters might even pick a Chesapeake Bay retriever over a golden when given the choice. And while many goldens have respectable prey drive, it doesn’t meet that of the field-bred American Lab.  

Why Are Labrador Retrievers Good Hunting Dogs?

If golden retrievers have sharper minds for field work, Labrador retrievers tend to have bodies built for bird country. Water rolls right off their backs. They slither through tight brush and glide through rivers and lakes. Their seemingly endless energy gives them the power to tackle long days effectively. And when those days are done, their shorter coats are extremely low-maintenance.

“Grooming comes into play. A lot of the [Lab] guys I train with look at my dogs, and say they love how my dogs work but they’d never want the responsibility after,” Laufenberg chuckles. “A lot of guys will go with the Lab because the maintenance is easier.”

Read Next: Why British Labs Just Might Take Over American Bird Hunting

Labrador retrievers originated in Newfoundland from the packs of dogs that ran around the capital city of St. John, according to the AKC. Originally, a “land race” of St. John’s dogs emerged, and eventually the Labrador retriever evolved from that breed. They spent a lot of time in the water near the fisheries and were known to retrieve any cod that spat a hook, as well as nets and lines. All modern British retrievers were born from St. John’s dogs.

The Labrador retriever’s hunting instincts are obvious when you watch a retriever field trial. These competitions involve retrievers following their handler’s commands to find a duck or bumper (both known as a “mark”) hundreds of yards away without any knowledge of where it landed. Field trials are generally more taxing on a dog’s memory and endurance than hunt tests, which are shorter-range and test retrieving skills, Laufenberg explains.

“In [field trials], you’ll mostly see black Labs—very few yellow or chocolate Labs. And you almost never see a conformation-bred golden retriever there. They’re logical thinkers, so they’ll say ‘This is not reality, we will never be out hunting and do a 300-yard mark, so why are we doing this?’ Whereas the field-bred Labs will fly out there and do it because they love it.”

That prey drive in Labs shines through in the last seven decades straight of National Championships for Retrieving results: a golden retriever hasn’t won since 1951.

Golden Retriever vs Labrador Retriever: Training Tips

Once you settle the golden retriever vs Labrador retriever debate and bring a dog into your life, the best thing you can do for them is lay a foundation for training, Laufenberg says. The training approach is the same for both breeds, and obedience training should come first.

Read Next: The Best Hunting Dog Names

“When they’re puppies, we’re working on pulling out their [prey] drive and getting them exposed to birds. But I’m always making sure that their obedience is good,” she explains. “No matter what you do with your dog, obedience has value. That’s whether you’re walking down the street with your dog, if you’re hunting with your dog, if you’re doing agility with your dog, obedience is in everything. It just makes for a great relationship with the dog, and it’s also a safety factor.”

Final Thoughts on Goldens vs Labs

Lots of people prefer golden retrievers for their demeanor, but you can’t argue with the field-bred Lab’s prey drive on land and in the water, their longtime position at the top of the AKC Most Popular Breeds list, or even their short, fast-drying coat. Based on factors like versatility, ease of care, general popularity, and seven straight decades of NRC wins, in the match up of Golden retriever vs Labrador, Labs take the title. 

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RANDY BROWN has been fascinated with blackmouth curs ever since he read Fred Gipson’s Old Yeller as a kid. As he grew up and got into hog hunting, that fascination became an absolute passion. Brown owns 17 of these curs—“yellow dogs,” as he calls them—and four American bulldogs for chasing wild pigs near his home in central Alabama with his best hunting buddy of 25 years, Brian Miller. It took Brown a decade of researching, testing, and breeding dogs before he was able to assemble a pack that perfectly fits his style of pig hunting. Brown and Miller hunt by rigging—which means they have two of their best scenting dogs ride on the front of their truck (the rig) while they drive down trails. When the dogs catch the scent of a pig, they start barking, and the hunters cut them loose. Then the chase begins.

Rigging is a common practice among Western houndsmen who target bears and mountain lions, but it’s unusual in the South to use hog dogs to hunt this way, Brown says. Blackmouth curs are athletic, protective dogs that are eager to please and extremely loyal. Brown makes the most of those personality traits. If his dogs can’t strike a pig from the truck, he’ll cast them in a 300-yard loop, and then they’ll come back—unlike some big-running hounds that could be gone for the whole morning.

“There are so many pigs down here, if I can’t find one in a spot, I’ll just pick up and move to another spot,” Brown says. “I want to be chasing hogs. I don’t want to be chasing after my dogs [trying to get them back] all day.”

But once the curs get on a hog’s scent, they stick to it—especially JJ, the lead dog, Brown says.

“You can watch him on the GPS. When he loses a track, he’ll make circles until he picks it up again. Then he’ll shoot out of there on a straight line, and you know he’s back on that hog,” Brown says.

Once the curs have a hog bayed, Brown and Miller rush to the spot with their catch dogs—two massive American bulldogs. The breed is a descendant of the now extinct Old English bulldog, which was brought to the States by working-class immigrants hundreds of years ago. Ever since then, the American bulldog has been catching feral pigs for Southerners and guarding their farms.

During that time, the role of the catch dog has not changed. His life’s work is to bite the pig and hold it so his hunters can move in and kill it with a knife to the heart, an adrenaline-kick ending to a wild chase through the backwoods.

“I just love the thrill of watching the dogs I’ve trained,” Brown says. “No two hunts are ever the same. You never know what’s going to happen.”

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Two collared wolves from Colorado’s North Park pack killed a working dog on March 13 and fatally injured a pet dog on March 14. The dogs lived on neighboring ranches located about four miles from each other in Jackson County, Colorado, the Coloradoan reports. A veterinarian euthanized the pet dog due to the injuries.

The two dogs are the first victims of the North Park pack since November 2022. They are also the 11th and 12th confirmed livestock or pet depredations in the state since the pack killed its first calf in December 2021. The North Park pack formed in June 2021 when a female from Wyoming’s Snake River pack had a litter of six pups with a male she traveled into Colorado with earlier in the year, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

When Wolves Kill Dogs

Greg Sykes considered Cisco, his 7-year-old border collie, “the best hired man I ever had,” according to Steamboat Radio.

“I found him dead 30 yards from the house,” Sykes said. “Called CPW and they came out and confirmed it was a wolf kill. Two collared wolves who were at my house at 4 a.m.”

The wolves reportedly returned to Sykes’ ranch around midnight on Monday before wandering to neighboring Roy Gollobith’s ranch. On Tuesday morning, Gollobith saw his pet mixed-breed named Blaze standing outside with his head hanging low.

“I called him and he just turned around with this glazed looked,” Gollobith told Steamboat Radio. “Then I saw blood on his throat. Sure enough he was pretty tore up.”

Gollobith’s wife rushed Blaze to a veterinarian in Laramie, Wyo., where the dog’s injuries necessitated euthanasia.

“They said there was too much damage to his throat and abdomen to do anything, so they put him down,” Gollobith said.

He recalled a time last year when Blaze got in a fight with two wolves near the house.

“He (Blaze) had it behind the front leg,” Gollobith said. “The wolves turned on him and chased him back to the house. There was blood and hair out there but it wasn’t Blaze’s, it was the wolf’s. I’ve seen him attack bears. He just doesn’t give up.”

Wolf Reintroduction Plans in Colorado

These attacks come as CPW and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continue working on the gray wolf reintroduction plan. Voters passed a state law in 2020 that requires CPW develop a reintroduction plan by the end of 2023. FWS held its first public meeting in Grand Junction on March 14.

Gray wolves are currently listed as endangered in Colorado, which means ranchers can’t legally kill wolves that attack their livestock. (The only instance killing a gray wolf is currently legal in Colorado is in defense of human life.) FWS has proposed a “10j rule” as part of the reintroduction, in reference to section 10j of the Endangered Species Act. This would mean the reintroduced gray wolves would be “experimental” and their status would change from “endangered” to “threatened.” This would create a route for ranchers to take lethal measures to protect livestock.

According to the current draft plan, livestock owners would need permits to kill wolves as a livestock protection measure. In this case, the state would consider working dogs as livestock. But like with any wolf kill resulting from a livestock depredation, owners would need to report the kill to CPW within 24 hours and a thorough investigation would ensue. Investigators would require a “preponderance of evidence” that wolves were the culprit in order to rule the kill wolf-caused.

“After issuance of a permit, any landowner may immediately take a gray wolf in the act of attacking livestock on their private land or land that they are legally grazing using a federal land-use permit provided the landowner provides evidence of livestock, stock animals recently (less than 24 hours) wounded harassed or killed by wolves and state or federal agents are able to confirm that the animals were attacked by wolves,” the draft plan reads. “The carcass of any wolf taken and the area surrounding it should not be disturbed in order to preserve physical evidence.”

Read Next: How Many Wolves Should There Be in Colorado?

Livestock owners would be qualified for compensation for a working dog the same way they are if they lose a cow. That’s little consolation for Sykes.

“I’m going to do everything I can to throw gasoline on this because I’ve been trying to be that guy that says. ‘OK they’re here, let’s figure out how to live with them.’ But now they’ve tied my hands,” Sykes said. “If I would have went out and found this happening, I guarantee the conversation we would be having would be through a pre-paid phone card, because I would have killed the wolves. Something has to be done.”

Pets and hunting dogs will not qualify for compensation, and killing a wolf that’s attacking pets or hunting dogs would not be legal. This follows suit with state laws prohibiting the killing of bears and mountain lions attacking pets or hunting dogs.

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After picking out your pup, picking out a name can be a big decision. If you leave it up to the kids, you could get stuck with something ridiculous like Snickers or Princess. If you get lazy, your dog could end up with the same name as every other Lab at the hunt test. Inspiration for a hunting dog name can come from anywhere, but the best ones follow a few simple rules.

Above all else, says dog trainer and bird hunter Web Parton, naming a hunting dog requires that hunters consider brevity and clarity.

“There’s the popular wisdom that a dog name should be one syllable and it shouldn’t interfere with any commands,” Parton says. “If you have a bird dog and that bird dog is going to be whoa-broke, you probably don’t want to call the dog Joe.”

But you should also let the name come to you after spending some time with the dog, Parton says. A pup’s characteristics and quirks will rise to the surface, which can make for great inspiration. 

“It can be kind of comical sometimes. There’s the German Wirehaired Pointer that shows up with a hard mouth and chews on birds, and his name is Gator,” Parton says, referring to some clients he’s seen over the years. “Or there was one proctologist who had a German Shorthaired Pointer male, and his name was Anus. And his wife would baby-talk to the dog, ‘my good little Anus.’ So I’ve seen just about everything.”

While we don’t exactly recommend naming your dog after body parts, it’s pretty hard to go wrong as long as you follow this advice. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Gun Names

These names are a fine choice if you want every passerby who asks your dog’s name to know that you eat, breathe, and bleed hunting. Your wedding ring might be made of antler and you probably keep your calls on your rearview mirror.

• Benelli (Nelly)
• Browning
• Boomer
• Colt
• Gauge
• Kimber
• Nitro
• Remington (Remy)
• Rigby
• Ruger
• Shooter
• Trigger
• Scout
• Smith
• Weatherby
• Wesson
• Winchester (Winnie)

Nature Names

If you’d rather get lost in the backcountry than christen yet another bird dog “Rigby,” these new-age nature hunting dog names might be right for your pup.

• Aspen
• Cedar
• Creek
• Coulee
• Cypress
• Desert
• Fern
• Flint
• Forest
• Fraser
• Maple
• Mesa
• Pine
• River
• Sage
• Stone
• Storm
• Summit
• Terra
• Willow

Read Next: The Most Underrated Hunting Dog Breeds

Popular Reference Names

From literary characters to presidents, this list of dog names casts a wide net. Maybe you name your dog after a favorite musician, Western character, or the author of your favorite book to throw in your pack.

• Abe
• Aldo
• Butch
• Cash
• Clifford
• Clint
• Doc
• Elmer
• Ernest
• Finn
• Hank
• Huck
• Louis
• Oakley
• Ringo
• Ronnie
• Sawyer
• Teddy
• Wyatt
• Zane

Place Names

These hunting dog names are for the folks whose water bottles, coolers, and back windshields are plastered with stickers from all the spots they’ve hunted, hiked, or lived. If nothing on this list speaks to you, think of your favorite town, mountain range, or national forest.

• Bridger
• Casper
• Cheyenne
• Cody
• Dakota (Kota)
• Denver
• Indiana (Indy)
• Kenai
• Homer
• Maui
• Minne
• Moab
• Nash
• Ozark
• Reno
• Teton
• Tex
• Vegas
• Zion

Refuge Names

If you want to take it a step further and name your bird dog after your favorite National Wildlife Refuge, check out this list. Just don’t hot-spot yourself.

• Baca
• Bayou
• Cache
• Delta
• Hopper
• Merritt
• Monte
• Rocky
• Quivira
• Sabine
• Sutter
• Wheeler

Animal Names

These are good hunting dog names if you’re the master of irony. You’ve probably been accused of Dad jokes and puns, and if you have teenagers, they roll their eyes at you a lot. 

• Bear
• Billy
• Bird
• Buck
• Caddis
• Drake
• Fox
• Gaddy (Gadwall)
• Grizzly 
• Goose
• Moose
• Rabbit
• Raven
• Toad
• Teal
• Tiger
• Trout
• Wolf
• Woody (Wood Duck)

Kitchen-Sink Names

Here are some hunting dog names that don’t quite fit any category but still seem to pop up here and there. They could be inspired by anything, from hunting gear brands to the truck you drive.

• Chevy
• Cowboy
• Dodger
• Harley
• Hobe
• Filson
• Ford
• Ranger
• Rider
• Sitka
• Skipper
• Trapper

Classic Names

We had to save the most popular for last. These hunting dog names don’t really require much explanation. Maybe you’re the type who only eats vanilla ice cream. Maybe you know someone else who named their dog off this list and it seems like the safest bet. Now pick a name already—you’ve been calling the dog “Dog” for a month and your kids are getting antsy.

Read Next: Your Retriever Will Teach You These 5 Life Lessons

Female Hunting Dog Names

• Bella
• Dixie
• Frida
• Lady
• Missy
• Molly
• Ruby
• Sadie
• Tessie

Male Hunting Dog Names

• Blue
• Boone
• Buddy
• Duke
• Gunner
• Lucky
• Max
• King
• Red
• Rex
• Tank
• Tucker

There’s no doubt about it: Picking a hunting dog name can be really difficult. When in doubt, aim for something with one or two syllables that won’t interfere with the standard commands you plan to teach your dog. Avoid common words you’ll use in a hunting situation, too, like “Duck” or “Rooster.”

Read Next: Golden Retriever vs Labrador Retriever: Which Hunting Breed Is Better?

Beyond that, wait for the dog’s personality to shine through and surely something will come to mind. Besides, the dog will end up with at least a dozen nicknames anyway.

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The popularity of shed hunting dogs has gone from zero to ludicrous in the last decade. But if expect to take your pup for a walk in the woods and see the success of a social media shed hunt, you’ll probably go home sorely disappointed. Yes, shed dogs are growing in popularity, and all those piles of antlers on Instagram may make the dog-less shed junkie cast a curious eye at his or her retriever. Or maybe do a quick recon on Google, searching to see what the story is on available litters of hard-driving shed retrievers.

That’s understandable, and there are certainly benefits to owning a shed dog. But it’s a good idea to understand what’s required to turn a dog into an effective shed hunter. Whether you’re looking to teach an old dog new antler tricks, or pick up a pup that will be dedicated to the task, here’s an honest look at what you’re getting into and the outcomes are likely to be. To set the record straight, I’ve outlined the seven biggest mytsh and misconceptions around shed hunting dogs.

Any Sporting Dog Can Be a Shed Dog

This is a tricky one. According to Josh Miller, a seriously accomplished dog trainer and owner of River Stone Kennels, “People just get too optimistic about their dog’s ability. Sure, theoretically any dog can pick up an antler and bring it back to you, but that’s not how it works in the real world.” Miller’s words might sting a little, but they are also true. If you have a high-drive dog that has plenty of natural hold and carry ability, and you want him to bring you sheds, then you’re (probably) well on your way. A dog that is average in drive or retrieving desire might be a different story. It also goes a step further with individual personalities. Some dogs just seem to hate holding antlers in their mouths, in the same manner as others that shun woodcock or certain kinds of ducks for reasons known only to them.

Training a Shed Dog Is Simple

The easy part is getting ahold of a couple antlers and some deer scent and then essentially having the option to train in any environment (backyards and living rooms included). The goal, as dog trainer and owner of Dog Bone Hunter Jeremy Moore puts it, is to get a dog to associate the scent of sheds with a connection to a reward. “An antler has plenty of scent, but what a dog doesn’t know is how to connect that scent to a behavior like retrieving. That’s where proper training comes in through a soft introduction, and then gradually builds to positive nose work games.” This, Moore went on to explain, isn’t as easy as getting a dog to react to fresh bird scent, or something else they are genetically predisposed to hunting. But it can be accomplished through the proper program with enough time.

The Nose Is All That Matters for Success

When you dig into the broader working dog world, you find all kinds of canines that are being used to sniff out invasive species, identify and track down poachers, and even sniff out and locate endangered sea turtle eggs buried in the sand. Dog noses are incredible, but they aren’t the only way dogs learn to find sheds. Tom Dokken is a well-known trainer, and he sells a kit for training shed dogs. In it are several oversized, fake antlers used to teach dogs to look for sheds. When I started focusing on this with my own dogs, I realized how quickly they began to identify white objects laying in picked bean fields and how quickly they learned to use their eyes as well as their noses. If you’re going to train your dog for antlers, don’t ignore the visual aspect of the task. Understand that even though dogs are natural hunters, thanks to stellar olfactory capabilities, they can learn very quickly to use their eyes as well. They just need the right guidance.

Shed Hunting Is in the Blood

“No dogs are bred for shed hunting. If you see someone advertising shed hunting lines, they may be great dogs, but they weren’t bred to specifically hunt sheds,” Moore says. There are plenty of people claiming shed dog bloodlines, and hunters are buying them. But the reality is that those dogs are bred to produce traits that lend themselves to the task of shed hunting, but not shed hunting specifically. This is no different from a breeder saying his dogs are bred to hunt pheasants, which sounds simple enough but is also impossible. Bird dogs are bred to work a certain way and hopefully express specific traits their parents possess. That should mean they’ll be an asset in the CRP where roosters roam, but doesn’t mean they were specifically bred to hunt ringnecks. The same goes for shed dogs. The traits you want in a shed dog are possible to focus on through specific breeding, and could express themselves in certain bloodlines, but those dogs were not bred to hunt antlers.

Read Next: Shed Hunting: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Antlers

Shed Dogs Result in More Sheds

The most common assumption with a shed dog is that they will out-hunt human counterparts and deliver bundles of antlers. According to Moore, the amount of extra antlers you’ll get with a shed dog is all about perspective. “If you’re honest about the number of antlers you usually find in a given season, which is pretty low for most people, then a shed dog might give you a 25 or 50 percent boost in finds. But that might be the difference between finding four versus three. Dogs aren’t antler-finding machines, but they do go into places we typically avoid, and that means they occasionally find antlers we would have walked by.” So if you are worried about risking a lower-back injury from carting out all of that extra bone from the woods this spring, think again.

Dogs Are Natural Antler Finders

We’ve all heard stories about dogs that just like to find sheds and will gladly bring them back to their owner during a winter walk in whitetail country. Finding those dogs is akin to a random farm litter producing a field trial champion (you’re more likely to get struck by lightning). Dogs love to chew on bones, we know that, but they usually aren’t naturally interested in antlers enough to pick them up when they are in the woods and there are so many other things to sniff and chase around. A dog has to learn to connect an antler to a reward, which means you have to train shed hunting behavior into your dog. Again, this is a hell of a lot easier with a driven dog.

Shed Hunting Will Ruin A Bird Dog

I once heard Dokken explain that the smell of a rooster to a hunting dog is like a T-Bone steak, while the smell of an antler is probably closer to burnt toast. A dog that loves upland or waterfowl hunting is not going to give up on grouse or mallards to go find a stationary object that can’t run away or bleed in its mouth. Training a hunting dog to find sheds is only going to add to the season, not take away from anything you already do with your pup. In fact, it’s pretty easy to make the argument that tacking on three extra months of field time with your dog working through shed-antler environments will only make it a better hunter (and you a better handler). This is the great intangible, besides just enjoying more time outdoors with your shed hunting dog.

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