Pheasant Ridge Ranch

by Tom Huggler

Part 1

Nothing beats the high drama of bird hunting with a dog. Like a good play, we are drawn into the action, except now we get to be both spectator and participant. When the action reaches its peak, or climax, one of two things happen: We hit the bird, or we miss the bird. Either way, the flush of a grouse or pheasant, wood- cock or quail is the reason we seek feathers in the first place.

Like those great Elizabethan dramas, though, there should be a prologue and an epilogue, and a well- trained flushing or pointing breed dog gets the heart racing; the flush serves to sluice our neurons with adrenaline. And the retrieve? That’s the epilogue, the anti-climax that brings us back to earth, until we can do it all over again. Hunting without a dog reduces us to a stroll on the prairie, an armed walk in the woods. There is no passion, and without passion there is no real purpose.

These thoughts were on my mind recently while following a fired-up dog bouncing through a South Dakota shelterbelt. Friends and I were hunting pheasants, and the dog – a big yellow Labrador retriever named Timber — was doing his part, casting through the heavy cover like some painter spraying a wall, sucking up scent like an upright Dirt Devil. I knew the flush was imminent. My heart said so.

But there was no flush. There was this unmistakable, undeniable point! Timber’s otter-like tail was at a 45-degree salute. Stretched out like any self-respecting shorthair, he had this bird nailed. Timber knew it. The bird knew it. And now I knew it. Sliding past the dog, which stood as solid as a tank parked in front of the VFW hall, I couldn’t help but think, Gee, you’re awfully big for on setter. The rooster exploded from the tight cover, and I exploded the bird. The feathers were still drifting when Timber delivered the close-shot ringneck to his owner, guide Justin McGill of Marshalltown, Iowa.

Timber’s performance was no fluke. The five-year-old male is one of the stars of High Point Kennel, a breeding and training business operation that McGill owns.

In recent years, I had heard a lot about pointing Labrador retrievers but had never hunted behind one until that day. Whether you agree or disagree with the idea of encouraging what is, essentially, a flushing breed to point, you can be sure of this: Pointing Labs are here to stay, and more are coming. The 20-year-old American Pointing Lab Association now has more than 60 kennels in its registry. More than two-dozen of the APLA members who own these kennels train pointing Labs. The non-profit group lists some 2,600 dogs, about 95 percent of which are CP (Certified Pointer). You can even buy a book on the subject – Training the Pointing Labrador by Julie Knutson.

Why the Controversy?

Some people — this writer included — have long held that dogs should be true to the law of their blood. Hounds track, pointers point, flushers flush, and retrievers retrieve. That’s why I don’t want my beloved setters to flush birds… unless I tell them to. Yes, they do flush but only when I trust they won’t do it on their own. In fairness, what’s wrong with telling a Labrador retriever, “Whoa” so that you can move a few yards closer for a killing shot? Well, nothing is wrong, especially if the dog has a natural tendency to point.

“But it is wrong,” you counter, “because it’s just not normal. We shouldn’t be breeding and training for the point because Labs have been selectively bred and carefully trained for centuries to flush and retrieve.”

Is that true? According to Charles Fergus, author of Gun Dog Breeds, the Labrador retriever likely had its origins in a French scent dog called the St. Hubert’s hound (also the probable ancestor of the bloodhound, going all the way back to the 1300s). When the St. Hubert’s hound made its way to Devon England in the 14th century, fishermen there took the dog to Newfoundland where it was trained to catch and retrieve fish that thrashed at the surface and often broke free from nets. Selective breeding produced tough, hardy dogs with strong tails, webbed paws, a short-haired insulating coat, and a long-haired outer one that shed freezing water.

Water spaniels in both England and Newfoundland also influenced the early development of the Lab, along with several other retriever types. Early in the 19th century, some of these retrievers returned to England where sportsmen refined the breed- ing and produced the standards that include black as the dominate color (recessive genes cause the chocolate and yellow varieties). When the Earl of Malmesbury wrote about his “Labrador dog” in a letter, the name Labrador emerged. In 1903, the English Kennel Club recognized the Lab as a separate breed, and the American Kennel Club followed in 1917.

Is the Pointing Lab a New Breed?

Various European spaniels also influenced the development of both flushing and pointing breeds. Today, the springer spaniel flushes, and the Brittany points – so much so that the “spaniel” designation attached to the Brit was dispensed within the early 1980s. What about the Labrador retriever? Dale Merritt, APLA president, says the early introduction of various gun dog breeds to the “Lesser Newfoundland Dog” (Labs) could very well have enhanced the genetic trait to point.

“Retrievers pointing upland birds is neither new nor is it a surprise,” Merritt explains. “Along the same lines, when an individual animal from the pointing breeds shows the inclination to retrieve with some enhanced desire, do people accuse that pointer of having a ‘little retriever in the woodpile?’”

Further, Merritt, who owns Bearpoint Kennel in Larkspur, Colorado, says the pointing characteristic has always been pervasive in the general Lab population. “I never force my dogs to point,” he says. “They do it naturally, sometimes at twelve weeks and sometimes at two years of age.”

For more than 10 years, the Labrador retriever has led the AKC list of annual registrations, but the registry does not distinguish between pointing Labs and non-pointing Labs, and, along with the United Kennel Club, it never will because Labs that point are not part of a separate or new breed. They are Labrador retrievers that demonstrate a pointing trait rather than a flushing trait.

Last winter at Pheasants Forever’s Pheasant Fest in Madison, Wisconsin, the editors of this magazine staffed a booth next to the APLA exhibit. “We were shocked at the amount of interest and traffic they generated,” says Steve Smith. “We have an obligation to our readers, many of whom have reservations about pointing Labs, to cover the subject in detail.”

Smith posed several concerns to the APLA. They follow, along with the APLA’s response:

The Pointing Dog Journal:

When I buy a pointing Lab puppy, how do I know I’m getting a purebred Lab and not a dog that’s a second- or third-generation outcross to a pointing breed with similar coloration, like a German shorthair? Breeding, for example, a liver shorthair to a chocolate Lab, and then breeding some of the resulting puppies to another chocolate Lab could produce a litter of Lab-looking dogs with a strong pointing instinct because they are one—quarter GSP.

Dale Merritt, APLA President: “It is likely that some breed mixing occurred in the past among all breeds for various reasons. There can be no question that ancestors are similar in a number of the sporting breeds. However, the current ability to utilize DNA testing allows verification of dogs being bred with any frequency.

Breed mixing is certainly not the basis of the pointing Labrador. This point trait has been and is inherent in the breed across bloodlines. Mixing breeds within the modern Labrador would likely require multiple generations to “correct” and is simply not necessary or practical.”

PDJ:

Some people have expressed reservations that because breeders can get such high prices for these pups, compared with non-pointing Labs, that they may be tempted to breed with a high concentration on the pointing instinct, perhaps to the degree of ignoring other traits. It’s like, “Yeah, his joints and connective tissue and temperament aren’t the best, but he sure can point — lets breed him.” What is your position on that?

Merritt:

“There are breeders across all breeds who unwittingly or even intentionally reproduce dogs for the wrong reason. Breeding solely for color, head configuration, or a single performance characteristic is not in the best interest of any animal, and that includes retrievers that point. The field retriever people often accuse the bench retriever people of ignoring the athleticism and field performance, while the bench folks accuse the field folks of ignoring conformation and breeding only for running long and straight.

Now, the pointing retriever people are also accused of self-serving or short-sighted motivations. They, like the other retriever people, honestly try to do what is in the best interest of the animals. There are exceptions in each group. The best interests of any animal: health; soundness; improvement of the breed as a whole including intelligence, talent, and attitude are also what motivate the good breeders of all of these dogs, and that wholly includes pointing Labrador people.” ·

Editor’s Note:

In the next issue, we’ll pose more questions to the APLA and will explain the testing standards for pointing Labs. Further, we’ll discuss what the future holds for this development in hunting dog breeding and training.