Sisters Reunited

My newest lab turns seven months old and will be going on her first pheasant hunt today. I bought her in New York after a buddy who lives near my camp bought one of her littermates and called me because he knew I was looking for a new lab.

Last night he brought Izzy, the chocolate lab, over to my Camp to meet her sister for the first time since they were littermates. They got along great and spent the entire time play fighting. We finally got them to take a break and sit down so we could get a picture or two.

They are going to be hunting together later this week.

Izzy and Raven.





They are panting because of all the wrestling and fighting they’ve been doing.

Lugnut Nice looking Labs And a nice backstory concerning their heritage .I started my hunting career hunting true wild pheasants in PA 50 plus years ago now If I could turn back the clock I would go back to the 1970's I had 1000's of acres I was allowed to chase Ringnecks on. .Several family members and friends that had the same desire to hunt pheasants as I did . And a young Springer Spaniel that was just learning his way But even though he was learning the addition of a dog made the hunting so much more fun . I never took hunting roosters for granted .However I did think there would always be plenty of them to go after .Just like that the really wild ones disappeared Just like the muskrat they are a distant memory of my days of youth .

You were telling my story too West Side.

That choc lab can drink a lot of water in a short amount of time i bet.

I wouldn't have guessed them to be littermates. They look quite different from each other.

A good friend of mine has 2 Visulas that are sisters as far as the blood line goes . But they are 3 years apart in age The same male and female where the parents of both litters Until he mentioned it I had never heard of that being possible .Of course it is very posible and most probablty is the situation very often.

The chocolates tongue is 4 times as large/long as the blacks

Great looking labs...Hope they hunt and not fight

I think it might be crossed with a Spoonbill Nice looking dogs...

Raven has the same oversized tongue as her sister Izzy. I just didn’t catch it at full extension.

Raven, the black lab, was the runt of the litter. Her sister Izzy has been restricted from exercising for the last five weeks because of a shoulder injury during training and then being spayed two weeks ago. Her owner never cut back on her food and she put on about ten pounds which is why she’s looking bigger than Raven.

American not British it looks like. Both great looking dogs!

Yes, they are American labs. They are hunting dogs with champion bloodlines.

You know what’s the difference in Championship bloodlines and no Champions in the bloodline?

Price?

Training and money. If you have the time you can train up a world class dog. If you have the money a trainer can train up a world class dog.
Most dogs with Championship bloodlines came from those with time and money. Those hunt tests aren’t cheap and you have to pass so many to get to that Champion stage. I’ve seen a lot of good “meat” dogs that with more training could be running field trials. All the owners of those dogs wanted was a dog that would listen and keep them from having to chase down their own birds.

I can’t argue with most of that wanna be. I’ve had labs all my life and I’ve always trained them to hunt and retrieve myself. Most we’re good to excellent hunters and retrievers and all were very well disciplined, they were house dogs and were taught manners early on.

Up until my last two, none of them had champion bloodlines. My second last one I decided to buy one that had an excellent pedigree. He is a super hunter, more prey-drive than any dog I’ve ever known. He figured out upland bird hunting at six months old and was showing the old hands how it was done. Most of my labs were about a year and a half old before it finally started clicking and they figured out the game.

Could some of my so-so hunters have passed hunt tests? Probably, but I doubt even with extensive training and money that they would’ve ever made champions. I believe dogs from champion bloodlines are genetically predisposed to do better sooner at the hunt game than most other dogs. And getting one of those makes training a “meat” dog easier for me.

The new pup only has two champions in her pedigree. All of her lineage were/are hunters. She’s smart and already has the retrieving game down and has learned all her house manners. But, like most of my other labs she didn’t have a clue what was going on on her first pheasant hunt yesterday. She was just romping around enjoying the sights and smells. I have no doubt that she’ll pick it up within the next year and become a good to great hunter like most of the rest of my labs but she is certainly not a super hunter.

And that, in my opinion, is the difference between solid champion pedigrees and not.

I assume that good bloodlines also means no potential for hip dispasia? Seem to hear alot of talk about that if one wants to breed, regardless what breed of dog you have.

We had a trainer that would train for what you wanted. He even trained pointing Labs. This trainer even has the first English Cocker (Batman) that earned his AKC Master Title. A Great Reputable trainer will tell you after a couple of weeks of what you have. Ours had turned away champion bloodlines and kept dogs that he had to get “Papers” on in order to run AKC test.
I’ve seen him train pointing Labs, flushing Labs, and “duck dogs”
Unfortunately he’s dead now. He was one of the BEST trainers we’ve ever known.

Good looking dogs! I hope they listen. Good luck on y’all’s hunt.

The parents of most of my pups have been OFA certified to be free of hip dysplasia. The few I’ve bought with champion bloodlines certainly were. Not all are though.