is it true working type labs are taller than the show type?? also can working type labs be good pets if u dont intend to work them but give them plenty of exercise and stimulation!???

Hi guest,
We had a working-bred lab bitch who was 24" at the shoulder (way OTT for a show lab) and she was 'normal' among our friends who work their gundogs. She was also lighter-built, and less 'stocky'. She was kept purely as a pet, but needed to be occupied - she insisted on carrying the newspaper home from the papershop at 14 weeks of age! We never trained her 'properly', but she would retrieve to the hand naturally, and loved to carry and pick things off the floor for me - she certainly had a brain and instincts which needed using, but she never seemed more difficult than any other dog.

But then, the only dog that is happy to sit and do nothing all day is a stuffed one!

:D :D You come out with some corkers JG :D :D

liberty

Some working Labs are big. My Anna is perfectly in proportion but is nearly 3 inches over the standard. Other workers I know of are quite small. A working dog is selected for it's working abilities rather than looks consequently they can be a little variable.

As to their ability a pets, They have brain and so are not the kind of dogs to lay around doing nothing! Over generations they have been expected to spend all day in the field and so often appear to never sleep!! I have never seen Anna do any more than cat nap in her life. She sleeps all night but during the day always has an eye on me, even during the evening whilst I'm on the computer.

If you do not give them something to do they will find something and you know the old saying, "The devil makes work for idle hands!" (Or paws in the case of a Lab!!!) If you are prepared for that they soak up knowledge like a sponge.

Regards, John

Hi John :)

How are you? Been up to much mischief lately?? ;) :D

liberty :)

Moi? Mischief? As if!

The devil hasn't yet come up with work that a working labs paws haven't already thought of!!

:D :D