Pointing Labs?

[cw642]

Has anyone had any success with what they call a pointing lab? Just trying to see what the rate of pointing verses nonpointing is.

[fishroger]

Yes, a friend has pointing lab. It does point, not all th etime, if a bird is running he flushes it

[fisherking01]

I had a pointing lab, Dusty, she was an amazing dog. Out of four female labs. she is the only one that truly pointed. You could put her on a bird and she would tip over before flushing a bird. I never lost a bird with her either. She was an awesome retreiver. if the bird ran on account of my inferior shooting, I could sit down and wait. She would come back with it. The other labs i have had point incidently, as most dogs will when on a hot scent. The one i have now will point for 30 seconds or so, then flush, or catch the bird. At 2 years old, she catches her fair share of birds. You'd be lucky to get a true pointer. I've hunted behind a lot of labs that were supposed to be pointers, fact is not many are. If you've got one that will point for over five minutes, I'd love to hunt with it, it's amazing. Brent

[IRISHSOBNO4]

i have a great pointing lab, she is the daughter of riks risky raider. she is 9 now and still acts like a pup when out hunting the drive is amazing. the only problem is she has a hard time settling down in a duck blind.

[Walleye Guy]

I also have a great pointing lab. He is a 7.5 year old male that is the son of Rik's Risky Raider as well. Anybody that has ever hunted with my dog cannot believe how well he points. To be honest I think my dog is an exception rather than the rule. If you do your research so should be able to find a good pointing lab.

[AlexRM]

I have two PL's both point really well! Stella came from Kelloggs bloodlines and she is great, she has probably the best retrieve drive in any dog I have ever owned. She is a strong instinctive scent pointer and and doesn't miss a bird. I have never ever lost a bird with her, she has a great nose. The only thing I have a problem with her is she never wants to quit hunting she wants to go go go, now thats fine with me because she is kenneled outside. She would not be a good house dog. When she gets bred she is going to be bred to a male who will compliment all of her natural abilities, but he will also have to be a very calm relaxed dog around the home, but then flip the switch and turn into a hunting machine within seconds.

My other PL Annie is out of Black Forest Kennels in Texas. So far she has a great temperment and also great pointing abilities. The only thing about her is, she has is not as good of a retriever as Stella, but I think she will come around, she is only 9 months and has some time to mature. She is also very athletic, she can flat out run, she is very fast and its quite frankly amazing how she covers ground.

I think pointing labs are the real deal. They are without pier as retrievers and also point game! And most of the time they are also great family dogs. What more could you want?

[kgpcr4]

I have a Pointing Lab as well. She was 4 months old and pointing. She did well in ND last year and 5 and 6 months old. She is going to be a good one from the looks of it.

[CFD200]

I have a four month Lab from pointing parents. I have not seen her pointing unless she is taking a bowel movement. I guess if she does it will be a plus but I will not be disa(pointed) if she doesn't. The retrieving drive is amazing compared to the English Cockers I had in the past. This will force me to do more fowl hunting I think but my first love is watching the dog work pheasants. It may take live birds to get her to point, but it is not a guarantee.

[AlexRM]

Get her on live birds and she will start pointing.

[cw642]

The reason I posted this question is I have a friend that bought a "pointing" lab puppy. His dog has yet to show any pointing and it is about 9mo. He has asked me to help to train his dog to point, but I could not give him an answer with out laughing. You see, all of my dogs (pointers) come out of their mother on a rock solid point. There is no need to "teach" them anything, and I believe pointing is an instinct not a taught skill like retrieving. Yes I do train my dogs to be solid to shot but never had to teach them to point rather than flush. I guess from what I've read is that the labs are sort of hit or miss. Some do some don't, but at 6mo when you relize this dog doesn't point and it is part of your family what do you do? I have a second question why did you choose a lab over all the other pointing breeds?

[gspman]

Has your friend shot birds over this dog that it did not point? If he has then the situation will be more difficult to correct.

If you have remote launchers here is what I'd do. Plant birds in the launchers and checkcord the dog in from a distance and crosswind from the launcher. When the dog smells the bird and turns in towards it you launch the bird. Restrain the dog with the cord and don't let it chase. Do this a 3-5 times each session. Hopefully the dog will realize it needs to stop when it first smells the bird. If the dog doesn't point say nothing and work the next bird. If it points then flush the bird and restrain with the check cord. Then give it a quiet "good boy" and some petting. After each session whether it points or not throw the bumper for a few retrieves to make it a fun thing.

If you have no manual launchers or no launchers then you'll have to restrain the dog when it first scents the bird and have a training buddy go in and launch/flush the bird. Since the timing isn't going to be the same I'm not sure how well this may work.

Hopefully over time it'll "get it" and start pointing. But I'm not a pointing lab guy so I offer no guarantees. I think this could be a lot of work but if he really wants it to point this is how I'd do it. He needs to not shoot birds the dog intentionally flushes too because that will encourage the dog to flush instead of point.

Good luck to your buddy.

gspman

[AlexRM]

The reason I choose pointing labs over traditional pointing breeds is, I am a not just a pheasant hunter I am a duck hunter also, and the traditional pointers are not hardy enough in our cold MN weather, and do not have the retrieve drive or desire a lab has. I also want a dog that can cover ground farely quickly and thoroughly, that will also point and hold point on wild birds. And also be great family dogs, they are not as high strung as some tradional breeds IMHO. That is why I choose PL's over other dogs.

Some people claim they have pointing labs, and breed them to so called pointing labs and say they are selling pointing labs, when in reality they are nothing more than just regular flushing labs. People that sell pups like that give PL breeders a bad name. You have got to do your research and make sure you are buying a true pointing lab. I am by no means saying the person your friend bought his pup from isn't breeding pointing labs, some pups will just not point and thats that.

[IRISHSOBNO4]

i used to work my pups with a wing on the end of a fishing pole i would cast it out when they were looking the other way. then walk them in that direction and twitch the wing.

they would all go on point.

the female i kept from that litter didn't point when i hunted her the first year, the second year something clicked

and she has been solid ever since.

my wife said she was pointing the chickens for over an hour yesterday before she finally called her into the house.

[AlexRM]

I just saw that a pointing lab won Dog of the Yr in the in the puppy division in the Wisconsin run & gun competition, and also took 5th Place overall in the open Pointing division. This is against tradional pointing breeds

[cw642]

Never realized anyone had Dog of the Year for a class that the max age is 12mo. Seems kind of weird that a 12mo dog could take 5th also. Must be one heck of a dog to beat out a bunch of "real" pointers. Or is it a really poorly advertized and run event, never been I can't say. Alex for some reason you post a regional dog event result to prove what? Look at a National field trial such as the one at Ames Plantation. This trial is one of the oldest, and is concidered by most the granddaddy of them all. It has never had a PL even listed as running among the 60 best pointing dogs in the country. I don't think that PL are a joke, but the feedback I get from most is if it doesn't point it's still a good retreiver. My Pointers are good retrievers too, so is my friends yorkie. Until they can consistanly produce dogs that NAUTURALY point as all pointing breeds do I think of them as more of a fad than a breed. Are they their own breed in the AKC or are they just labled by breeders as POINTERS?

If you could, post where you saw those results. I googled and yahoo searched it but couldnt find anything.

[AlexRM]

I wasn't posting that to prove anything. Here is the site [Note from admin: Please read forum policy. No unauthorized links. Thanks.]

[gundoglily]

The " puppy class" is for dogs that are 24 months or younger on Jan. 1 of the competition year. The dog can also run in the Top Gun, which is why she finished 1st in the puppy and 5th in the top gun. The dog has to follow all the "pointing dog" rules. Has to maintain a point for 3 seconds, cannot be "whoaed" into a point, penalized for trapping or catching birds. The dog points solid. The dog has also had 1000's of birds shot over it.If you want to do a google search type in "Wisconsin Series" and it is about the 8th one down the list. The dog also runs in the "National Bird Dog" series and does well there also.

In the AKC they are registered as "labrador" and sold by the breeders as "pointing labs".

[kgpcr4]

My Pointing Labe will never run with the pointers but they will never work the cattails like my lab. also when it comes do any water work I win hands down, My buddy busted a rooster than fell in a pot hole and his setter would not go get it. Also if you do want to do some duck hunting you are better off with a lab. Also its very hard to beat the personality of a Lab!!