re: Might have to train a poodle to be a retriever

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And yet the FT drama queens won't let them compete against their big black labs. It's like they are an innercity charter school that won't let the asian kids attend for fear of making the other kids look dumb. Hell I just want to see a silver lab compete.

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The only upside I see to FT is maintaining hunting stock / gene pool. Outside of FTs there ain't enough folks interested in actually hunting to maintain that and prevent Labs and other breeds from being bred only for show and pet markets. FTs are a strange lot BUT their obsession keeps the gene pool in such a state that it is possible for normal people who merely need a retriever who can be trained to have some ancestral instinct for hunting. I have had labs which were not from hunting stock and it is possible to train them but it is significantly harder....blind retrieves and simple bird sense is something that humans simply can't impart to a dog....the dog either has it or she doesn't. They can be taught but the difference in a 6 week old puppy using its nose to solve problems and his eyes that tell him there ain't anything of interest to look for is huge.