Choosing The Right Duck Dog Breed

Spend enough time around waterfowl-hunting junkies and you’ll quickly learn that most of them have opinions about which breed of duck dog is best. Actually, make that strong opinions.

And it’s a sure bet that those opinions lean heavily toward Labrador retrievers. You don’t need a poll or purebred registration statistics to know this. They’re everywhere. From the duck boat to your local retriever club to next weekend’s hunt test, Labs rule.

While there are many reasons for the Lab’s popularity, none of them matter if you have your heart set on another breed. And let’s face it: Outstanding duck dogs come in every shape and size. But if you’re undecided about which breed is best for you, here are some facts and opinions to consider.

Make a Practical Choice

Wildfowl “Retrievers” columnist Tom Dokken has seen just about every breed of dog in North America in more than 40 years of owning Dokken’s Oak Ridge Kennels, his huge all-breed boarding and training facility in Northfield, Minnesota.

When cornered by a prospective client on the question of which breed of duck dog is best, he tries to steer the conversation into practical terms.

“What are you going to be hunting is my first question,” Dokken says. “Waterfowl only, or are you looking for an upland dog too? Next, I ask if they’re looking for a dog that will double as a family pet because some breeds are certainly better suited to living in the house than others.

“A common comment I get is, ‘I don’t want a Lab because that’s what everyone has.’ Well, there’s a reason for that. The pool of good Labs with proven field accomplishments is the largest of all the retrieving breeds. Buy from a reputable Lab breeder and your odds of getting a winner are stacked in your favor.”

Labs, golden retrievers and Chesapeake Bay retrievers are the “big three” in terms of traditional duck dogs, but the list of other possibilities is a long one. It’s not difficult to find breed-specific clubs and training groups devoted to flat-coated retrievers, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retrievers and standard poodles, to name just a few.

Fans of smaller breeds such as American water spaniels and Boykins spaniels emphasize their energy, compact size and nice fit as house dogs. And other breeds that aren’t traditionally thought of as retrievers earn their keep in the uplands and can get the job done in the marsh. This is an option that some hunters swear is the best of both worlds. In fact, the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) Utility Test for versatile pointing breeds involves a duck search that requires satisfactory completion of water work for a pass.

“Honestly, any dog that comes from proven field lines has a chance of doing waterfowl work,” Dokken adds. “What you’re buying in a well-bred dog is trainability. It’s got to have intelligence, drive and retrieving desire. I can’t say it enough: You’re not buying a puppy, you’re buying a pedigree.”

More Breeding Insights

In a rich lifetime of training his own retrievers and clients’ dogs, Charlie Jurney of Beaverdam Kennels in Terrell, South Carolina, has produced hundreds of titled dogs. The majority have been Labs. Interestingly, Jurney has another accomplishment on his resume: He handled the first Boykin to ever achieve a Grand Hunting Retriever Champion title. So, is he all-in on Boykins as duck dogs? Not really.

“A Boykin is a great companion dog and an excellent dog for dove and upland hunting. But would it be my first choice for waterfowl? No, not at all,” Jurney clarifies. “Compared to a Lab, a Boykin isn’t inclined to do precise water work without a lot more training. Yes, I achieved a GHRC title with one, but that only proves that there are freakishly good dogs within all breeds. On the flip side, the chance of you getting one of them is very small.

“I’m only using the Boykin as one example to make the point that it makes more sense to pick a breed that’s been bred for the job you’re asking it to do. If that’s waterfowl hunting, sure, you can use a spaniel, but that’s not what they’re bred for. Why work twice as hard to accomplish what’s quicker and easier with a Lab?"

Like Dokken, Jurney is a stickler for understanding the histories and accomplishments of the parents and ancestors in the pedigree as a guide to getting the best dog you can, regardless of breed.

“Go see the parents,” Jurney emphasizes. “They’re likely to reproduce themselves. And if the grandparents are around, see if you can get a look at them and their abilities too. Ask the breeder if they’ve done the breeding before. If so, ask to speak with the owners of some of those dogs.”

Not All the Same

It’s important for the first-time retriever shopper to understand one more important fork in the road in the decision-making process: There are variations within breeds, and those variations can be massive. The differences between a retriever bred for conformation (the AKC’s written standard for a breed, for example) in the show ring versus what you expect your retriever to do when a duck sails down 200 yards away on a frigid November hunt are night and day.

This is a topic I’ve discussed many times with my friend Curt Zenefski of New London, Wisconsin. He’s been enamored with golden retrievers from the time he was a young boy. He’s parlayed that affinity for the goldens into his Maple Creek Acres breeding program with a goal of producing slim, athletic, hard-charging goldens for waterfowl and upland hunting. In the looks department, these dogs bear little resemblance to the heavyset, big-boned fluffball goldens you often see racking up likes as they clown around in social media videos.

Zenefski specifies the word “field” in any conversation with a prospective buyer. If they’re looking for nothing more than a companion or house dog, he steers them to other breeders who are a better match.

“From structure to temperament and almost anything else you can think of, it’s almost like two completely different breeds when you compare field-bred goldens with show-bred,” Zenefski says. “Our dogs make great pets but they’re also super high-energy. I want to make sure someone who’s buying one of our pups understands that.”

Zenefski makes another great point that any retriever buyer should consider, which is to be honest about how hard you’re going to train and how often you’re going to hunt.

“If you’re shopping for that combo home and hunting retriever, meaning a family dog that is only going to get hunted a couple weekends a year, you need to find the best field-bred dog you can,” he explains. “I hear people say that they only hunt a few days each fall so they don’t need a dog from great breeding. The opposite is true. They need the best, because hopefully that dog’s innate talent will make up for the owner’s shortcomings in the training department.”

And…Back to Labs

Ray Voigt of Thomasville, Georgia, is all in on Labs because of the many reasons most duck hunters already know: They’re versatile enough for both waterfowl and upland hunting, friendly, people-oriented and adaptable to most family situations.

In 20 years as a professional retriever trainer, Voigt worked with and helped train a staggering number of championship-level Labs whose descendants will be populating impressive pedigrees far into the future. Today in his role as Senior Specialist, Pro Plan Sporting Dogs, he gets insight into a variety of breeds, but Labs are still No. 1 with him.

“The larger gene pool, or maybe call it sample size, for Labs means you have a higher chance of getting a dog with great trainability,” Voigt says. “You still have to do your homework with finding a reputable breeder, making sure the parents have all the proper health clearances and so on, but common sense says look at the odds.

“There are certainly plenty of great goldens and Chesapeakes, but just like with Labs, you have to do your research. There are good and bad examples within all breeds, so understand the lines, and understand what you’re buying."

Finally, Voigt offers what is perhaps the best advice for anyone shopping for any breed: “Buy any retriever you want, but don’t buy something just to be different."

Amen to that

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