Natural History

Posted in Labrador retriever, working dogs | Tagged bear dog, bear hunting, Labrador retriever, laika, Russian brown bear | 13 Comments

13 Responses

1. on April 29, 2013 at 9:22 pm Losech

   Dang, I thought for sure the black Lab was gonna be the one to get mauled.

   
   
2. on April 29, 2013 at 9:50 pm Dave

   Hilarious because I know a few people who would be pulling their hairs over this with red face because only North Americans use unorthodox breeds “for stupid reasons.”

   
   
3. on April 29, 2013 at 10:54 pm Sam

   Interesting to see the different breeds at work. Is there a reason they let the dogs harry the bear so long before shooting it?

   
   
   • on April 29, 2013 at 10:58 pm Dave

     Probably training.

     There was one Norwegian who imported a dog from Estonia who had to train his dog to bark. Why? In Estonia, the wildlife density is very high, so the dog never learned to bark for very long. In Norway, wildlife occurs sparsely so dog must bark for long time before its owner arrives.

     So, they are probably teaching the dogs to wait for the gun-shot.

     
     
     • on April 29, 2013 at 11:00 pm Dave

       Err… “… from Estonia and had to…”

       
       
     • on April 29, 2013 at 11:03 pm Sam

       Interesting! I thought it might be along those lines; building drive for the hunt in the dogs.

       
       
4. on April 30, 2013 at 5:52 am chervilmeadow34

   pass on looking at that one.

   
   
5. on April 30, 2013 at 1:58 pm Jen Robinson

   What’s a dog supposed to do when hunting bear? From my uneducated perspective the black Lab did better than the liaka. He kept checking back to the hunter for guidance and didnt put himself in harm’s way…but sure drew the bear’s attention.
   Btw, those two were English Labs, and if they were fed another handful of kibble a day, they’d look like the Lab in the “Labrador beef” post. (I’m defensive on this as my two Labs are distinctly English…I brought them with me from Australia, where English lines prevail and American field lines are viewed as ugly).

   
   
   • on May 1, 2013 at 6:08 am bearcoatpei

     English show lines – we have separate working labrador bloodlines too.

     Couldn’t help feeling sorry for the bear. I have no problems with hunting, but I don’t like seeing deliberately drawn out kills. Maybe it was the laika that was the one being trained up, hence getting a mauling that I’m sure it will not want to repeat.

     
     
     • on May 1, 2013 at 7:24 am retrieverman

       The UK working lines of Labrador are quite in demand over here. They are different from our working lines, too, which are somewhat on the extreme end. Very driven. Very rangy. Lots of energy. Capable of putting up with a lot of pressure.

       The UK working lines have been bred to be super biddable and have a lot natural game finding ability. They are just as driven, but they are calmer.

       
       
       • on May 1, 2013 at 1:28 pm bearcoatpei

         The working labs I come across are always nice calm dogs and under control, but the people that have them have usually sought one out for a reason. I do like the smaller, lighter boned working type labs more than the show type tanks. Some of the show and especially pet bred ones can be really tall as well as stocky. To me, a male lab the size of a fair sized male rottweiler is not ideal.

         
         
6. on May 2, 2013 at 11:13 am Jen Robinson

   Not to hijack this discussion, but do want to point out that type in Labradors isn’t simple. Neither the English vs US nor the bench vs field distinction is straightforward. The penultimate ‘beefy’ Labrador, in my books, is Dickendall Arnold. He was predominantly American, with some imported English blood. He wasn’t heavily used as a sire, but a few of his pups were much titled, both in the US and in Europe, and much used at stud. The resulting pups tended to be true to type — heavy set, with thick coats and heads, top lines, etc., conforming well to breed standard. a good many of them got hunting titles, and a good many we used in the field and never saw competition. I once owned one of his granddaughters…she was a soft, biddable, but very heavily built dog, and had bird retrieving instincts you can’t beat.
   Allen’s law says you want thick individuals for work in cold water and snow…lankier individuals for hot climates. So it’s good that there’s a wide range to choose from. Appropriate that the Scandanavians and Russians like dogs with good bone.
   I liked the fact that the black Lab in the video kept looking back for instructions. I think we do better to focus on how the dogs work than whether they are endo, meso, or ecto-morphs.

   
   
   • on May 3, 2013 at 6:24 am bearcoatpei

     As labs are extremely popular worldwide and used for many jobs, it’s no wonder there’s such a wide choice of type to choose from. As long as they can do their job, you’re quite right to concentrate on that being the important thing.

     
     

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