The working of a dog.

Jp found and chased a wounded mallard in a flooded rice field about chest high. Took him a few minutes to catch him and when he brought it back it he was pooped. I'd say that romp wasceasily equivelent to an hour in the field.
 
Harder as in more physically exhausting, or more difficult?

Physically- Apples and oranges, IMO. Like comparing wrestling and basketball for humans.

More difficult overall- also apples and oranges, IMO... I would say it takes more natural ability to find and flush/point a bird. More training for waterfowl work.

Sorry. I am quite skilled at not answering questions...

One thing I admire about waterfowl dogs is the trust they have in their owner, especially on long water retrieves and blind retrieves. When you send them out into waves and they can't see the bird but just keep swimming because they trust that a bird is there.

But it also makes my heart skip when a dog slams on the brakes when it hits fresh scent. And when she's my dog, I can get a bit choked up too.:D
 
A wounded Mallard is a hard retrieve, fun to watch a good dog go about it. Mallards will do a lot of diving when wounded. My Lab Star will go right after them. :thumbsup:
A water retrieve is harder in normal conditions.
A dead duck is not a hard retrieve, neither is a dead rooster.
 
tough retrieve

one, if it be something like a pheasant that comes down really dead, you have the "air wash" theory to consider and sometimes dogs have a terrible time finding those. again like on a rooster that can still run, they can do so about 16 or so miles per hour, some dogs have a hard time at that speed, so the bird gets away or at least puts lots of distance between it and the dog, tough deal to make a find. on the other hand ducks do dive, some come right back up, some swim quite a ways, no dog can swim faster than a slightly wounded duck, some ducks like blacks are known to dive and never come up, they commit suicide by entangling themselves in the weeds, again on fairly calm water a good dog can actually follow a scent trail left in the water and therefore find the duck. didn't answer much but depending on the situation but it can be a tough deal or an easy one. you do need a dog to go for it and not quite on ya

cheers
 
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