My Brit was not just a pointing dog and retrieved too. She was also an excellent dog to have on dove hunts, but I think the point is that though some dogs can do multiple tasks, every breed has a particular one that it does best on average. Labs for retrieving waterfowl, Pointers for pointing upland game for example. A Lab can be trained to whoa on upland game and a Pointer can be trained to retrieve. But if you mostly hunt waterfowl, one would be best off with a Labrador, or if one mostly hunts upland birds, they would be best off with the Pointer because that is what each of those breeds where originally bred for. Take my Vizsla for example I hunt waterfowl less than 50% of my hunting time. She was easily trained to water retrieve and the breed does have some roots related to water retrieving but it was never the main purpose of the breed.
Even though my dog does the job, there are many breeds better designed for it that can do it better. If I mostly hunted waterfowl, A Vizsla would never be my first breed choice.

[quote=Sniper John]My Brit was not just a pointing dog and retrieved too. She was also an excellent dog to have on dove hunts, but I think the point is that though some dogs can do multiple tasks, every breed has a particular one that it does best on average. Labs for retrieving waterfowl, Pointers for pointing upland game for example. A Lab can be trained to whoa on upland game and a Pointer can be trained to retrieve. But if you mostly hunt waterfowl, one would be best off with a Labrador, or if one mostly hunts upland birds, they would be best off with the Pointer because that is what each of those breeds where originally bred for. Take my Vizsla for example I hunt waterfowl less than 50% of my hunting time. She was easily trained to water retrieve and the breed does have some roots related to water retrieving but it was never the main purpose of the breed.
Even though my dog does the job, there are many breeds better designed for it that can do it better. If I mostly hunted waterfowl, A Vizsla would never be my first breed choice.

I must say we have had some great conversations here within the last week. Nice to see people share their opinions and ideas and nobody's feelings get hurt. Lets keep this up.

Refreshing, isn't it? Shows it's very possible to disagree without being disagree-able!

I know for someone like myself that's in the market for a dog it helps to see various opinions without someone getting snippy because not everybody agrees with the way they do things. It seems to make it a much more informative topic for everyone.