Iron Spikes, kbobbjr put this is about as well as it can be put. I'm not saying that all chocolates are dumb and all yellows and blacks are smart. I'm simply stating that most chocolate dogs are bred to be chocolate. Silver labs are bred to be silver. They're not bred because they have a good pedigree, but they're bred because people want that color. Typically,chocolate is the desired trait of a chocolate dog, not marking or handling or drive or trainability, but chocolate. I've seen some really nice chocolate dogs run, Roux being the primary one(http://www.dakotascajunroux.com/html/pedigree.htm). They're certainly out there, but they are few and far between. I've also seen some crappy blacks and yellows. There can be great dogs and terrible dogs of all colors. Personally, I like black, but I'd buy pedigree before color any day. I know not everyone runs hunt test, but for for those that do run hunt tests, what is the % of chocolate dogs that are entered in those tests vs. black/yellows?

The fact of the matter is, the majority (not all) of the talented dogs you see at hunt test and field trial are black and yellows. No one can argue with that. Again, this doesn't mean there are no talented chocolates because there are, but the majority of traits that I personally desire in a dog, seem to come from blacks and yellows.

I would like to know your thoughts on this. I have a chocolate that is almost two years old and is a very good dog so far, she appears to be better than my prior chocolate lab that passed last year. She hunted last year after getting started at a trainor for 3 months and I have worked with her since with hand signals. I bought her for hunting only, no hunt tests, I hunt 25-30 days out of the season.
One parent was black and one was yellow, both have several titled dogs in the pedigree and both ran hunt tests, with that being said my chocolate was not breed for color it just happened that blacks and chocolates were born out of that litter.
I think this scenerio is different than two chocolates being breed for color, so there can be very good chocolates running hunt test, I just prefer chocolate dogs because they blend in better were I hunt.

lol... Well DH, I don't think a genetic screen will divulge anything on a 'smart allele', it's up to the breeder to observe the parents for temperament, drive, hunting instinct, trainability, olfactory sense, memory/recall and focus. I think the culmination of these things is what produces an 'intelligent' dog.

Oh I agree 100% once I find the look of a dog I look at the parents and what they had to offer on the mental and intelligence side and if that doesn't add up I move the next thing is the health of the dog. These are all important things that people really need to look at and be educated on when getting a puppy for the first time.

If people are not educated on these things then we start getting the undesirable dogs when it comes to health and work ability. I try and talk to all my customers about this.