Thread: Fat Labs

Originally Posted by Ducdog

You are correct, but to me there should not be 2 standards, both camps ( Show and Hunting) need to up their game and breed to as close as possible to the one standard, I guess it is also a question of what you want from your dogs, do you want a dog that never stops, never has much down time is always ready for action 12 months of the year full on 100% of the time, one that would go completely insane if left in a kennel for a couple of days ( not that I am advocating this) because of work commitments etc etc etc, or do you want one that will retrieve all the birds you shoot, track a deer/pig etc not use the kids as skittles, is quite happy to go hunting as often as you want to go but is equally just as happy to spend time with the family if unable to get out for a hunt, one is much easier to live with, having said all that most of my pups go to hunters, god forbid some are even trialing. As for driven hunts our son used his dog on these hunts completely show bred, again my argument ( if you call it that) is while his dog could work these hunt's every week he would have been equally at home in the show ring, this to me is the mark of a true Labrador .

most of the fence jumping English labs I've seen do all that and can still put in a solid weeks work...all had an off switch.
I would say given a full work load even a show lab would soon be non standard as they would soon change once a few ribs start showing.... but I would also expect the pedigree to show up and the dog could break down or quit.