Thanks. I was so confused. It appeared to be unsolicited information.
As for your lab trapping birds... That's perfect! I think anyone who believes flushing dogs intend to flush birds for the gun are fooling themselves. Flushing dogs are only doing one thing, and that's catching the bird. Now over the pond they don't like that, but in America, that's seen as a + flush.
I guess it's perfect if your goal is not to shoot birds over your dogs, again, why buy ammo?
And why would anyone believe that flushing dogs flush? I mean they have only been bred for that purpose since, what?, about 900bc, or so? Maybe that's why European spaniels are still better than the American version. And why their bloodlines are so coveted. My female has a who's who of French and English bloodlines and a completely different personality than the American-bred field trial version. Americans aren't the best at everything, many times greed, or the desire to be recognized are the main motive for us, where staying true to an ancient breed, come what may, is more the European model. My spaniels, and others I have trained with dizzied pigeons could easily grab them, sometimes do, but most often they nudge them to flight, that's called flushing.
If Tom was talking about his personal dogs, I stand corrected. If he was referring to my input as input based on retrievers, well, I have never owned one, so know little about them other than one has been bred for thousands of years for flushing game. The other for marking down waterfowl and retrieving it. Not to say they aren't/can't be great upland dogs, just that that is not what they have historically been bred for. And I don't think, on average, that they are as good as flushing dogs for upland hunting, just like I don't think Spaniels are, on average, better water dogs than Labradors. My dogs will water retrieve, but have no interest in sitting in freezing cold water all day. Don't you all suppose that has something to do with breeding? The lab likely originates in Newfoundland, the spaniel, most likely Spain. Quite a difference in climate and conditions.
