One more question. How are Labs for pointing and Upland hunting?
First, labs can be excellent uplanding hunting dogs. I've seen examples that had excellent noses, excellent desire, and excellent retrieving abilities. They have the size/strength to hunt heavy cover like cattail swamps. IMO, the better ones tend to be the slower/older ones who work very close and methodically.
Second, strictly speaking, labs aren't traditionally considered one of the pointing breeds, rather they tend to be considered flushing dogs. Rather than locating and pointing, and letting the hunter flush the game, they locate game and flush the game themselves (preferrably within gun range of the hunter).
There are, however, some folks who have been breeding "pointing labs"; selectively breeding labs who show a tendency to point rather than to flush their quarry. The theory is to have all the good qualities of a lab (nose, desire, retrieving, size & strength) in a dog that will also point.
The subject of "pointing labs" is a bit controversial. I personally have seen couple of these dogs in the field, and they were OK pointers. If one primarily hunted heavy cover and/or cornfields, I think they'd be fine.
Beware however, labs are so popular (read: overbred) that there are lots of breeders out there who don't know what they're doing, and the breed suffers from a bunch of different hereditary health problems (bad hips, eyes, etc.) Also, truly proven "pointing lab" lines are hard to find, and the pups fetch a premium ($$$).
Me, I prefer GSPs.
-nosualc
ps - Hunting over a good dog of any type is one of best hunting experiences one can have. One of the worst is to hunt with a poorly trained dog, regardless of breed/type.
Ive got a Weim as a goose dog. Makes me proud
Turned, and trotted away.
