Labrador Retrievers!

ORIGINAL: Shelties4me
You know it really is true!  The breeder I got my Shelties from told me my husband was going to be stunned at how much smarter the Sheltie is than Labs.  I didn't say anything at the time because I'm a first time Sheltie owner but now I think this guy has never been around Labs!  I love my Sheltie to pieces.  He is my angel and he is very smart but it's a totally different kind of intelligence.  Does that make sense?  He learns very quick and is very task oriented but our Labs are "scary" smart.  Their ability to problem solve, the way they almost seem to understand what you're saying to them is just down right freaky sometimes!  They learn so unbelievably fast if you put the time in.  It's such a shame how many of them end up in shelters!  It's just such a tragedy!  I wish I could adopt them all!

 
Makes sense to me!  As I've mentioned in the past, I've had many different breeds of dogs over my life (Labs, Norwegian Elkhounds, Poodles, a Siberian Husky, a Siberian/GSD mix and a couple of Heinz 57s), but it's the Labs that I've had actually conversations with.  They were really tuned in to my thoughts and emotions, too.  Can't say it came with time, either- Caleb was only here a couple of months before he was reading my emotions and body language.  I wish people did more research before getting a Lab, tho.  Not everyone can handle the boundless energy and perpetual puppiness of this wonderful breed.

ORIGINAL: Shelties4me



You know it really is true!  The breeder I got my Shelties from told me my husband was going to be stunned at how much smarter the Sheltie is than Labs.  I didn't say anything at the time because I'm a first time Sheltie owner but now I think this guy has never been around Labs!  I love my Sheltie to pieces.  He is my angel and he is very smart but it's a totally different kind of intelligence.  Does that make sense?  He learns very quick and is very task oriented but our Labs are "scary" smart.  Their ability to problem solve, the way they almost seem to understand what you're saying to them is just down right freaky sometimes!  They learn so unbelievably fast if you put the time in.  It's such a shame how many of them end up in shelters!  It's just such a tragedy!  I wish I could adopt them all!

 
I get what your saying. My older Lab, Blackie seems to smile when you pet him and you can almost feel him telling you "Thanks,but a little lower.. ooooohh, that's the spot". My puppy Magnum when talking to him will cock his head to side as if trying to understand, and then sometimes bark as if answering.

here is question for lab owners.
My daughter has a cocolate lab and i just love him to death.
I live in the country on a small farm and Im looking  for a companion/guard more companion. but I have chickens and guineas and ducks do you think a lab could be taught not to go after my birds they are free range?GOd I just love this dog so much and I really want one but I cant have any thing that will hurt my flock.

ORIGINAL: kjc

here is question for lab owners.
My daughter has a cocolate lab and i just love him to death.
I live in the country on a small farm and Im looking  for a companion/guard more companion. but I have chickens and guineas and ducks do you think a lab could be taught not to go after my birds they are free range?GOd I just love this dog so much and I really want one but I cant have any thing that will hurt my flock.

 
Hmmm - that's a tough one.  I'm thinking "Yes", it could be done.  It would have to be raised around them from puppyhood.  I would stay away from Field breds!  The ones I've seen that were bred for the show ring tend to be calmer and less prey driven. 
 
Quick, funny story - The lady we got our first chocolate male from had a Canadian bred female that weighed around 120 lbs.  Unbelievably huge for a Lab!  Anyway, this lady had a neighbor down the road who was very into exotic fowl. He had quite a few ducks, geese, chickens, etc. that weren't your average run of the mill farm poultry.  Now our friend's Lab had never been field trained nor shown any interest in retrieving but she was very fascinated by these exotic birds.  The neighbor would miss a bird every now and then and it always turned up at our friend's house, unharmed.  The dog was going down the road, picking up the bird of her choosing and bringing it carefully back home for whatever reason.  Her amusement I guess!  So one day my friend was home and heard a strange noise in her living room.  She looked around and couldn't find what was making the noise.  She finally realized it sounded like it was coming from the back of her sofa.  She pulled the sofa away from her wall and there was a Canada goose behind her sofa!  The dog had brought it in the house and let it go!  [sm=eek.gif] Can you imagine?!
 
So anyway I guess it is possible to train one not to go after your birds but look for a dog with a really soft mouth, just in case! [sm=biggrin.gif]

I am a lab owner too!!!!

Belle our current black lab, is a big girl she just turned 4 (last Wed) We have her involved in agility, dock jumping and obedience and we hope to try lure coursing in the not too distant future.

We had a black lab before her name was Shadow. She lived to be 15 1/2. She was the worlds best bird dog. Never formerly trained, she could not stand it when my husband's shot would miss. She once got a pheasant with out him shooting it (she just jumped up in the air and grabbed it). She also once got a bird my husband did shoot away from a hawk. The hawk swooped down to grab my husband's pheasant, Shadow did not like that hawk taking her bird! Her birthday was 10/24 opening pheasant day is 10/20 in our area. Two days before her 15th birthday she still managed to put up a few birds. My husband took her hunting for her, not to actually hunt. We worried if we didn't it would kill her.

We also have golden retrievers (my first love) but I will NEVER live without a lab in my life now too!

Definitely stay away from the field breds, kjc. I agree with Shelties4me.

I am also a lab lover and owner.  I have Cole, who is a six-year old black male - rescue.  He is a well-bred dog out of field lines and was surrendered when he was about a year old due to his high energy - his original people didn't train him when he was small.  He has been the BEST BEST BEST dog!  I could not ask for a dog with better temperament. 

I hate that Labs are given up to shelters because of their energy. People see their great Aunts 10yr. old Lab just sittin there and go and buy a puppy and think it will turn out the same. NOT! That dog was older AND dogs in movies(which the sell of that breed of dog in a popular movie increases) are super trained! You must also train the dog, you just can't be a working person that's never there and expect your living room to be okay when you come home! Chew-mania! AND they buy them from field trial lines! That's just irresponsible at it's best. I was glad to see info cards in '8 Below'(about Huskies and Malamutes) and 'The Shaggy Dog'(Bearded Collie) about the breeds from the AKC. Very smart.

i heard that they aren't exactly the smartest dogs either is that true??

i <3 (heart--love)) it when they're walking, cuz their heads are soo close to the ground, its soo cute!!

and i have a lab wallpaper, its a tiny toddler lab (lol) and its body is yellow and it has big paws and everything but its ears are soo little and golden brown, its adorable!!

ORIGINAL: PomeranianLuvr

i heard that they aren't exactly the smartest dogs either is that true??

 
They say that Poodles are the smartest dogs but I don't believe them. Don't get me wrong they're knowledge smart but Labs are knowledge and this wierd sort of smart.
 For instance my Lab,Blackie,hates lizards. He looks around our house for lizards every day. Well one day he saw skink and he caught it and brought it in the yard, rolled on it, and then got up looked at it and kcocked his head to the side. He knew he only had half the lizard,he had bitten it in half!He got up went and got the other half of the lizard by the house, brought it in the yard and rolled on it. That was sooo wierd. He knew he only had half the lizard! He went back and got the rest!

We discovered two weeks ago that we have a nest of bunny babies in our front landscaping.  Casey discovered them first!  He is obsessed with bringing us baby bunnies when we're outside.  They're not hurt at all, apart from being pretty slobbery.  Thankfully mama bunny doesn't seem to mind, as she keeps taking them back.  Casey knows he's supposed to "leave it", but he just can't help himself unless you catch him in the act.

I have a 14-month old field Lab named Ben. He's smart, but a very sneaky kind of smart, a great problem solver, but usually the problem is "how do I get this thing that my people don't want me to have?" He's full of mischief but makes me laugh all the time.

I'm planning on starting agility with him soon. Field labs especially are very high energy, I think it will be good for him.

Hooray, Labs [] I have a 2-year-old chocolate lab named Riley. He was a rescue - typical story, old owners didn't have the time/energy for him, he was crated upwards of 15 hours per day. Pic below, because I'm not savvy enough to make one of those pretty pretty sigs!

Goldens were my first love... but I'm constantly amazed at how great Riley is. As some of you have mentioned, it's eerie how well he seems to comprehend everything I say, and he's just a joy to be around. His only fault seems to be that his life goal is apparently to attack every squirrel in the DC Metro area [].

p.s. I do realize that this is a stupid question, but is there any way for me to figure out if Riley is a "field" lab or an "English" lab? He is registered, and I have his papers, and obviously it doesn't really matter, but I am curious to learn more about his background. All I've really done was a quick google search that yielded nothing. Suggestions?

The difference between a field lab and a bench lab is in physique more than ancestry. "Field lines" are simply breeding lines who breed for field conformation, "Bench lines" breed for show conformation.

Look at your lab...is he short and stocky, or lanky and slim? Does he have a big blocky head, or is it slimmer and more streamlined?

I admit I have the most difficulty telling between field and bench in chocolate labs. The field bred chocolate labs I see are on the whole stockier than field bred yellows or blacks. My dog's sire was a chocolate field bred champion gun dog and was quite stocky, although he didn't have the bulkiness of a bench lab.

ORIGINAL: monkeybear
...All I've really done was a quick google search that yielded nothing. Suggestions?

 
Did you google your dog's name or some names in his pedigree?  I've only been able to find dogs with titles or show/competion wins when I google a name.  Also, look at Riley's pedigree- any titles his ancestors have won will give you an idea wether he's field or bench bred.  "Ch" in front of a dog's name would mean it's a breed champion.  Titles after a name are for performance events, like hunt tests, field trials, obedience, etc.  Hunt titles would be "JH", "SH" and "MH" for Junior, Senior and Master Hunter.  Of course, a dog can have titles at both ends of their names, too.