Originally Posted by
Charlotte K.
Bird dogs have helped people for centuries. The dogs have to be trained to do their job, which in the end helps the population of waterfowl (Ducks Unlimited) and the individual birds if one is crippled, rather than dispatched cleanly by the gunner. I feel better about a farm raised bird being held for launching or as a dead bird, as they are used to handling and captivity. (It would be stressful for a wild one.) I don't hunt, even though family members have for centuries, and my vegetarian husband couldn't get used to me and his sweet doggy having a freezer and doggy mouth with birds in it. I do believe that a dog trained to hunt saves a lot of cripples in the wild from a sad end. Hunting, for a meat eater or omnivore, is more honest than me getting my breast of poultry in the supermarket. The wild birds or released birds have wonderful lives until a quick shot hopefully kills them before they even know it, and the hunter has dinner.
We don't know if a retriever will do the job it was bred to do if we don't try to teach and test it. Good for you for trying and training your Lab!