Hey duck buster, my original intent was to get the perspective of other avid hunters who have or had experiences with multiple colored labs so they have a baseline of comparison. My BIL is an avid bird hunter and has trained only black labs, but has been around many colored retrievers. Just to clarify, he did say if I was to never take her hunting or even occasionally, a chocolate would be fine, but a driven high achievers, not so much. I felt if I only took one persons advice, that wouldn’t be fair to the dogs. Also, before I posted the question, my research led me to believe that chocolates are just as capable as others. But still wanted to hear from actual owners and not go by just what I read on the google. O I do trust his opinion, but wanted others perspective as well.
The other point, you are right on, I am an avid dove hunter, who’d like to get into duck hunting as well. The pup would be a family pet who I’d like to train to retrieve. This pup will not be in any competitions ever.
I desire a chocolate mainly for the the color. Nothing against blacks or yellows, but I have always been drawn to chocolate. I’d also like the pup to have a great disposition and easily trainable. I will also add that I do not have professional training to teach labs to retrieve, so any lab I get may be a disservice to the lab, lol.
You make excellent points, and I’m not taking any advice the wrong way. I’d love the dog to retrieve. But I probably fall within somewhere in the middle as far as the amount of time/ work dedicated to creating an elite retriever due to my work schedule.
That’s as honest as I can get. I appreciate your honesty as well. Really it comes down to how much am I willing to spend. In my mind, I want to spend more to get away from the backyard breeders and inbreeding and such. So I guess, I want a champion bloodline for clean genetics mainly, and she can retrieve, double win. But again, I’m a weekender hunter. Please offer more feedback. Thanks, nic.
There has been a lot of good advice in selecting chocolate labs for hunting. A lot of recommendations were research, pedigrees, which adds up to $$$ when looking for all that. I am not sure that was the OP's original intent in asking the question. I just want to point out the OP stated it would primarily be a family dog that he'd like to train to retrieve. Family dog first and foremost (at least how I am reading it).
Is there some basis behind your BIL claims about chocolate labs? yes, but there are A LOT of exceptions as many have said. You'd be best to do homework if your intention is to have a really good chocolate HUNTING dog. If you want a higher probability of a dog that will retrieve birds without doing pedigree checks and everything else- black or yellow labs likely have higher probability of having more hunting drive in untested litters with unknown pedigrees. There's also more of them out there to choose from.
If you truly do just want a family dog that MIGHT retrieve your birds with training- temperament and personality of labs work great in homes (all colors of labs). Get a dog you'll like regardless, and you can't go wrong. If the dog then likes to fetch and you work with it on retrieving, it may then do what you want it to do in the field.
I can't tell you how many people I know own dogs from champion pedigree lines, sent them to professional training, but don't do anything with them. They spent thousands of dollars because someone said "this is what you should do for a really good hunting dog", but their dogs primary duty is to play with the kids and sleep on the couch. Hunting is secondary and they bring their dog 1-2x a season. Their training goes soft because they dont keep up with it and practice it, so they are well behaved albeit mediocre hunting dogs. So think hard about what you truly want the dog to do. Because if you don't need a dog of that caliber, don't spend the money for a dog of that caliber. Unless you want to of course.
The biggest question is: how important is it to you that they dog retrieves birds? Deal breaker? Be honest with yourself.
In my opinion that should determine how much investment (time and $$) you put into looking for and acquiring a new dog. Once you determine that