Simply stating, there are few things in this world that are more satisfying in the long-term than a good huntin' dog.

Nate

I think the whole dog of a lifetime thing, for me, anyway, rests more on how the dog affected you, some undefinable intrinsic quality rather than from a pure performance standpoint.

As an example of what I'm trying to say, my current dogs are great dogs both. My little female is a solid hunter and a sweet pet. She's tough, she's a good, if not great, marker, handles pretty well and just gets the job done in a yeoman, blue-collar manner. From a technical point of view she's easily the best hunting dog I've ever had, and with enough time, reflection and comparison to dogs yet-to-be she just may end up as my lifetime dog.

My male, well, life with him is a roller-coaster. Some days I think he's the most magnificent dog I've ever seen. Other days I'm convinced he belongs on the canine equivalent of the short bus. He's still something of a mystery and a work in progress.

But the dog I compare them both too, and indeed the dog I compare all my previous dogs to and I'm sure all future dogs as well, is my first chessie, who in terms of being a finished retriever was nowhere near where my current dogs are.

Why? She captured my imagination. There was something about her, an intensity. She was a complete throwback to those original eastern shore market-hunting bay dogs. She was mean, surly, large and powerful, and if she didn't know you she'd fix you with a brief, haughty, amber-eyed stare and then look right through you as if you didn't exist, because in her world, you didn't.

And that intensity carried right on through to hunting. I've not seen a dog since that - for lack of a better term - attacked a retrieve like she did. She was an incredible natural marker and went I sent her on a bird she took a line and then simply plowed through everything in her way along that line.

But her obediance was shite, she didn't handle and as a result couldn't do blinds to save her life, so in a hunt test any reasonably-trained retriever would wipe the floor with her.

That all, of course, was my fault. She came along at a time in my life when I didn't have a clue about training a dog (still don't, really). That's one of my greatest dog-related regrets, and probably the reason she's my lifetime dog: Potential, unrealized.

It seems that first gun dogs have an edge in "gun dog of a lifetime" accounting. All the excitement of training, working and hunting the first makes them very special. I agree completely with needcoffee that most/all well-bred gun dogs have the instinct and ability to become excellent hunters but with the first you are learning far more from them than they are from you. I think that makes them almost mystical in our eyes and memory.

I can't say this from experience as I am still working on my first gun dog. She is doing well despite my mistakes. But I know this is true for my dad. He still talks about Sheba, the 7/8 lab who could hunt anything...

That should read "obedience" rather than obediance. Fingers and brain don't easily mesh...

You all bring up some very valid points...while writing the post I kind of felt like the question of the lifetime dog lies somewhere in the middle of asking a mother to name her favorite child or asking a coach to tell you his best player of all time...it's a tough one for many reasons but I sure do hear it bandied about often.

i think that, like kids, some pups are born with more natural ability (i.e. are hard to screw up) while others require more training/attention. but i don't think the dog with the most natural ability is automatically the lifetime gun dog. sometimes it's the ones that take the most work that really shine in the field and grab hold of our hearts. that said, i agree with dave... it's like asking a parent to choose their favorite kid. no way i can pick just one...

We grew up with labs but I needed a dog with all the drive and the ability to be agile yet small enough to work the tight hedge rows here in NY with out coming out all cut up as I see my friends goldens and labs.The 45lb.dog does it all and goes were the large breeds cant.They all are great breeds this one works for me and still plays with the kids,cat,and wife.

Excelent! warm today only -2 little wind great day!

idahooutdoors, Sounds like one heck of a dog...gotta love a pup that totes the bourbon... -d

My hunting dog of a lifetime would be Ethyl, my second hunting dog (1977-1988). And my first hunting dog was great too, but no Ethyl. Although Ethyl was half lab and half golden retriever, she looked like a small black lab. I have posted quite a bit about her. She was fairly good at marking downed birds but not the best I have seen, but in all other respects I have never seen anything to surpass her. I could take her for a walk in a city park full of ducks and geese and never have her on a leash. She was always at my side. I even hunted big game with her, including the backcountry horseback trips. Again, she was always right behind me and I'd often forget she was along until I sat down for a break. At blind retrieves she knew no parallel. Friends would come by and pick us up to find birds that had been shot the night before on the other side of a pond or river. No problem! Ethyl loved goose hunting and the tougher they fought the more she liked it. But with us, she didn't have a mean bone in her body. She was so sweet that even people who did not like dogs would beg to babysit her. The two labs I have now are great dogs and wonderful hunters but, again, no comparison to Ethyl.

And Needcoffee, you're wrong. It's not bunk. You can't make a silk purse out of a bull's scrotum, no matter how hard you try. During the Ethyl era my brother bought a fancy-papered HUGE yellow lab. It was at our house from the time he was a pup. That dog was so stupid that if it'd taken any brains to breathe, he'd have been dead at birth. I mean, no one could teach him ANYTHING (and at least four different subsequent owners also tried in vain). Not everyone can be a brain surgeon, no matter how hard they try or how much time or money they spend attempting to learn to be one. Same thing with dogs. Some are naturally going to be better hunters than others. The sister of my brother's idiot dog was a WONDERFUL pooch. I have seen some amazing hunting dogs owned by people who really didn't put any time or effort into training them (including the above-mentioned "WONDERFUL pooch").