Almost afraid to ask this . . . .

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

Well-known member
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But does anyone have, or know of someone who has, experience hunting with either a standard poodle or a labradoodle?

I'm mildly allergic, and my wife is much more allergic, to dogs. I had pretty much given up on getting a hunting dog to save both of our health, but . . .

She has recently discovered that a neighbor's standard poodle does not bother her. Or me. And a friend who trains service dogs told us that labradoodles are also often hypoallergenic.

I recall that poodles were originally bred as hunting dogs, and the neighbor's seems to like the water just fine, and retrieves a tennis ball just like a lab. Although it's not hunted, it is very trainable, and, once you get past its looks, it almost seems like a real dog.

If I could bear the winks and jeers at the boat launch . . . . what do you think?

I realize of course that I have just exposed myself for--and I fully expect you will all deliver--a fair bit of grief. (This ought to get the lab and chessie guys together on something . . . . )

But I'm hoping that somebody with actual experience hunting poodles may see this and reply.

Other possibilities that might lead to less abuse are Irish water spaniel or Portugese water dog, but those are rare enough I probably couldn't find or afford one.

Fire away--flame suit on!
 
Jeff,

When I was running hunt tests a lot back a few years ago, there were several people that were running poodles (at least a couple at each hunt test). You might contact a local AKC or UKC club to see if there is someone that trains/owns/runs/breeds them in your area then go observe them for yourself.

Those that I saw were enthusiastic retrievers and seemed very tractable, though they weren't as intense about hunting and water as the other breeds.

Scott
 
It seems like the poodle would be a good duck dog. It was developed in Germany and name meant duck dog. Later the French called it Poodle. The link Bill provided is a good one.
 
Jeff,

Four replies so far and no one has given you any grief. Could it be that,,,,,, only a real man will hunt a Poodle and you dang well not mess with that man!!

:>) :>)
 
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Jeff,

I have had the same question as my wife has problems with a dog in the house. All my labs spend most of the time outside and just spend a few hours inside a few days a week. She is great with the dogs otherwise and becomes best buds with them, just can not have them inside.

Matt
 
just make sure you get one from hunting stock. i have seen a couple decent poodles being trained. My mother bought two golden doodles for house pets. I thought possibly they could pull double duty as field dogs. Turns out they have zero, and i mean zero desire to retreive anything. They do seem like they would be hell on anything with fur, as they are constantly catching rats and squirrels which is something I've never had another breed do.
 
When I was a kid we had an Irish Water Spaniel and my aunt had a working poodle. The spaniel was a fantastic hunting dog and was tough as nails but I think the poodle would outperform it on retrieving.
 
Hi Jeff,

I knew a couple of people who had the same problem. Someone recommended that they look into the Portugese Water Dog and they did. They didn't have any problems with their alergies, and they had a fine hunting retreiver as well.
 
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Jeff,
I would not give you any grief over the idea of hunting a standard poodle. They were originally bread to retrieve so as long as you spend your time researching and find one of the few hunting lines left I think you will be very happy with your choice.

Now if you go and buy and expensive mutt I would probably give you some grief. Lab Poodle mixes are just that a mix and honestly I did quite a bit of research into them. The only ones promoting them seem to be the breeders making money off them and if there is a standard it really has not been developed to the point where you can get predictable results from them. Not to say some mixes are not great hunters I know some are but you would have a hard time being sure of what you are getting.
 
I just concluded a little discussion that got a little more into breeds than I intended - it is under "lab wanted" int the classified section.

I have a friend in Iowa that hunted with a Drath and it was a super dog. It was killed a couple years ago in a corn-picker accident. He is greatly missed. The owner replaced him with a poodle. I don't think he is entirely pleased. He resorted to shoveling off a patch of grass to get it to go potty outside. I think it may have been just because he didn't want to stay out in the cold playing "how long can you hold it?" with the dog. I've yet to hunt with the dog and it is still a young pup, but I think it is so different the hearty dog that he had before... His old dog ran all day and never even panted. He alway used to tease us about our labs when they started to slow down in the afternoon. To be fair, I'm sure his dog was in top condition hunting week after week in tough cover and ours just came out for 4 or 5 days.

I think you should consider your hunting style first and then see if you can find a dog that is for sale and satisfies your hunting requirements. For me that would mean going to see the parents in person and carefully evaluate the parents based on my hunting style. It could be an expensive and time consuming process just making the selection. In the end having a dog that you love to hunt with year after year is really what matters most.
 
Jeff,

You might want to do some research on the Puddlepointer. I seem to remember that they have the anti-allergy traits you are looking for as well as being top notch hunting dogs - including ducks. If you remember Bill Vanderlaan who used to frequent this page, he trains them now. Not sure if he is a breeder or not though.
 
Jeff - I specifically remember reading a snow goose hunt story where the guide used a white standard poodle with excellent results. Any dog working for a snow goose guide down south is going to be doing a LOT of retrieving - sorry I can't remember which outdoor mag. but if I can find it - I will post again.

Like any other breed you probably want to get away from show stock to working stock if you can find a breeder. Come to think of it, most full size poodles seem to have good qualities - just ridiculous haircuts.

sarge
 
I don't buy the "hypoallergenic dog breed" thing. From what I understand there is no scientific evidence proving this, I always understood it more of particular dogs than the breed. I would consider house sitting a couple different Poodle's or visit other Poodle owners in their house's to make sure its not just that partiuclar dog.
 
Thanks for not picking on me--but I know most of you would be crueler when you saw me and Fluffy at the launch! LOL.

So far, the discussion here pretty much mirrors my own conclusions:

(1) I don't trust the hypoallergenic thing based on information on the web, but want to test a breed--and preferably the dog's actual parents--myself. Remember that my wife and I do NOT react to our neighbor's standard poodle.
(2) Generalizing by breed probably doesn't mean much. What I'd like is to find some folks who actually hunt the dogs in question, and then talk to breeders they recommend.
(3) I'm sceptical of the Labradoodle cross thing, until I hear specifically that both the hunting qualities and the hypoallergic traits are something approaching "breed standards". From everything I've read, that just is not the case, although I've found some folks who rave about particular dogs.

(4) CONCLUSION: It's probably hopeless to think I'll find a hypoallergenic dog that will hunt like the labs and springers I grew up with (and sneezed all the time because of it).

But I'm going to keep looking, just in case. And any thoughts folks here have, particularly suggestions of breeders/lines you suggest I look at, will be taken with less salt than the general web chatter and self promotional websites.
 
While I am NO FAN WHATSOEVER of the so called "Designer breeds" I also think there is often way too much creedence put on specific breed dogs. I have been around some great hunting mutts over the years. In fact one of the best, and "birdiest" dogs I ever was around was a mutt cock-a-poo I was given as a kid. As far as pure eagerness and God given birdy talent, she was up there with the best of them. Get her in a Grouse woods, or in a Duck Blind and I one would never be able to tell she wasn't a highly sought after pure bred. I guess no one ever told her that she wasn't.

I hunted several times over a huge Lab/Newfoundland who hunted the same way. Boy could he retrieve Geese!

I guess my point would be, if you like the dog, and somewhere along it's lines there is some bird "doggyness", go for it.

In any case Good Luck in what you may decide.
 
Jeff,

Pete mentioned a [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Puddlepointer, call or write the people at Cedar Wood and ask them about the allergic thingy. http://cedarwoodgundogs.com/index.asp

I have hunted over a puddlepointer, a women in Idaho Falls owed him. Kick ass, take name dog, when it came to waterfowl work. The training had something to do with it I am sure. If memory serves me correct that dog might have had some of the Cedar Wood bloodlines in him.

Matt
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