At one point years ago I had a pair of Labs I hunted together. One a giant slobbering 100# monster and his mate, a 65# assassin! They'd clean up the birds from a 3 or 4 man volley quickly. I had spent hundreds of hours training from puppies and both "steered" quite well by hand sign. The female frequently would fetch 2 birds in a single trip. The big dog could whip any wounded snow crow in short order and did the deep salt marsh mud effortlessly. Neither worth a damn on quail, wanted to jump right in the middle of a covey. They DID find birds the pointers had a hard time finding. It's very common for our handlers in this area to carry a Lab for finding the "lost" ones.
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