Male (vs) Female Lab

[T-Bone]

Is there any truth to the myth that female Labs are easier to train than male Labs? Which is the better all-around dog for duck hunting--male or female? Also, have yellow Labs been known to flare ducks because of color? I am partial to black but the HEAD of the house wants a yellow. Any comments on this would be appreciated!

[ March 06, 2002: Message edited by: T-Bone ]

[Haymaker]

I have never trained a male dog, and as I said in an earlier post I have only trained one lab in my entire life, the one I have currently. When I was trying to decide on whether to get a male or a female, I decided on a female. I chose a female because the labs I had seen up to that time, the males seemed to be more hard headed. The other thing that I was concerned about was that when other dogs are in heat, a male may have other things on his mind than hunting.

As far as the color thing goes, I thing that it is a matter of preference and I don't think that one color would flare ducks more than anyother. I have a chocolate, but like I said it is all in what you like.

I could be way off on this, but that is my 2 cents worth.

Darrell

[Hambone]

T-Bone, you have opened a subject where everyone has an opinion, though none are the same. I will give you my thoughts. I have one female and three male black labs. I don't think that the sex has any special bearing on the trainability of the dog. Most important are intelligence, desire and willingness to please. Extremely critical is the owner's dedication to training his retriever on a year-round basis and bonding with his dog. You can't take an untrained retriever to the duck blind and expect to do anything but spoil your own hunt and guarantee that your friends will hate your dog. As far as color goes, I prefer black labs because I like their looks. However, one of my best hunting buddies has a good female yellow lab that I often refer to as "Snowball", but I have never thought that her light color caused a problem, even in timber. I believe that movement, whether by the dog or the hunters, is the cause of most duck flaring. Again, that comes back to training, and those faults come back to one source, the trainer. Have fun with your new retriever, whatever your wife decides you will have...they add a huge amount of enjoyment to the sport!

[bear]

I have trained 1 female and 3 males. None of my male dogs were as difficult and hardheaded as my female was. I can not say that is always the case, but given my experience and my luck of her coming into season on the opening day of duck season, I will stick with the "Boys". [img]images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[CaptnT]

Alot depends on your temperment as a trainer. I prefer males because I can communicate more easily with them. I had a female that was an excellent hunter, but TERRIBLE house dog. I have found that alot of female labs like to chew and dig. The one I had shredded everything left within her reach. But her nose was noticably better than my male's. She was a very good hunter, but LOVED to run off when she could. She could break out of Fort Knox!!

I am in agreement with Hambone about the movement. You can always get a camoed vest if you or your buddies think the yeller dog is flaring ducks.

[chance]

In hunt tests and FT's the black males Labs dominate the field. On the average you will find that the males are more able to take the rigors of training. They have more stamina and seem to be more consistent than the females.
Opinions are formed from personal experiences. The folks that keep records say the law of averages favor the black males.

[goosebruce]

A good dog is a good dog. Orgin, color, sex, or fertitly nonwithstanding.

Want to play the odds? Black males from proven stock (i.e. ht & ft titled linage), with a health guarentee are the odds on favorites.

No matter how good your female is, most females loose something during their heat cycles. Some very lil, just simply can't be round the boys during that time, some go to pot. The same dog genetic wise, without the lost training/testing time, will accomplish more without losing 4-6 weeks a year. Thats why bloodlines with bad ass bitches are so hot, its harder to get the bottomside as heavy as the top. Make em yeller or choc, and you've REALLY done something.

What are you looking for is really the question. Me, I'm not into making puppies. Too many people know more than me, and the results of their works are way too cheap for me spend my training life trying to outdo them. In all acutuality, if I had to make a gender choice as far as trainabilty, which I would HATE to do, a fixxed bitch would git the nod. But then again, Id take the biggest slung male properly socialized over a fixxed bitch. Socialization goes a long way overcoming sexual generalized tendicies.

Does a certain color dog flair ducks? Dunno. If you think the dogs flairing ducks, move him. Geez, that seems simple nuff. My 2 cents, a dog moving his head aint like a man moving his head. And a dog sitting out in the open STILL, generally wont flair ducks. Camo vests have a lot going for them, breaking up a 3 foot long blob of any color with a moving head has got to be good. The energy your dog saves from heat lost is even better, but thats another thread. A dog bounching around hunting will not only flair ducks, its unsafe, and no fun. Obedience means more than color on flairing ducks. And yellow fits in a rice field coffin blind better than any other color, so it depends on where your hunting.

To be safe, Id get both sexes, and all 3 colors, and you know you got it licked! hehe. travis

[Judd Irland]

I've raised and trained a chessie bitch, a yellow bitch, a chocolate bitch, and a chocolate male. They all were excellent hunters. The best was the chessie followed closely by the chocolate male. I prefer chocolate color but I hunt timber, rivers, and beaver ponds. If I had to choose a better gender for hunting--hands down male for one reason only....Dad always said, "A bitch in heat stays at home." Out of respect to other hunters I wont take a "hot" dog into the field. The day you leave her at home is the day no ducks die cleanly so you spend all day running down cripples.

Just my opinion--worth every cent you paid for it [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[T-Bone]

Hey guys I really appreciate the comments. I tend to agree with "chance" that black males are a favorite but that is a bias opinion. I already own an older black male that my dad took over a long time ago.(a true house dog) I am still leaning towards a yellow female because the HEAD of the house has heard that the female Labs are better with younger children but I still want the best of both worlds. I have a 3.5 month old girl that needs a puppy in the worst way. She just doesn't know it yet! Anybody in the north Miss. area with pups from good hunting stock with all the goods give me a shout.

[Red_Head]

I have a black female that has gotten up in age and she is a very good dog.I also have a yellow male that is in the training process now and is doing very good. I personally think that a male dog (no matter the color) has more durability in the field. You can occassionally gat a hard headed dog, but I think the male dog is just more pain tolarant than a female dog. Alot of female dogs have a very sensitive nervous system and get very shy and scared when punished. Not saying beaten, I am a strong dog lover and just bought a yellow female that is about 4 months now. But, a female sometimes can't mentally handle the training as well as a male. This is why some say the males are hardheaded. The reason that the male black is the dog that sticks out at field trials is because there are about 5 times as many black dogs there as any other dog. But, if you dig deep enough the other color dogs are getting their junior champ. and masters and seniors and hunt champs. just as well. There is not a think wrong with the sex or the color it is a personal choice. They are fun dogs and very smart, just a joy to be around.

[Unkljohn]

Well here's my opinion, based only on my limited experience. I've had 3 labs, 1 male chocolate, and 2 female blacks. The male is much tougher than either of the 2 females were. He was also WAY more destructive as a puppy than either of the other 2 were. He would chew anything and everything he could get his mouth on, and beleive me that was alot of stuff!!! [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] I think if you only have 1 dog a male is fine, but if you have more than 1, the females just get along better with other dogs,JMHO. After I lost my last female the change was very noticeable in the male, he settled down and is now a terrific dog,when I still had the female he was allways acting up and trying to steal attention away from her. So when I get another dog, it definately will be a female.
Good luck with your new puppy, it will quickly work it's way into your heart and you will wonder how you made it so long without it no matter which sex or color you, or your wife, choose. [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
JT

[goosebruce]

Any lab gotten as a puppy, and socialized to children will do fine with them. Dogs may try to challenge the pecking order of a child, and if that happens it must instantly be made stone cold clear to a dog the kid is a little you. I've got pics of tj, my premie baby that came home after 112 days in the hospital at a whopping 5 lbs, with o2 gigs in his nose, asleep on my fatdawgs stomach. The same dog that wouldnt let my wife sit next to me on the couch, knew kids are different. Seen many a niece or nephew ride around on her jowles, with never as much as a whimper from her. Dont be new to the house and pretend to grab a kid....
New male dog growled at tj once... Aint happened since.
Old piece of crap pom poo we have has snipped and bite at several kids. Too small to do any real damage, we long ago figgered hed just keep them kids honest around dogs, that all dogs arent like the labs.. Seems to have took... travis

[captain duck]

opinions are like belly buttons-we all have one. I have had 3 black male labs, 1 black female, and 1 choc female. My current black 10 year old female has the best nose and is the hardest hunter I have had. Very difficult to keep steady without training collar. Still digs and chews everything everywhere like she was a puppy.Has over 3000 field retreives on actual hunts but remains one of my hardest dogs to handle. I will go back to a big ole black male the next time but I have never had any hunter tell me their yellow dog flared ducks.