http://www.canildastilias.com/

They look more like show labs than hunting labs to me. But I like the US Field Trial and hunt test looking dogs.

I agree...... I'll have to now find out if they work as well as look good but I honestly can't remember a time when a saw such good looking labs.

If however they do work as well as look good, I'll be looking to buy one.

Regardless of what the Labradors look like (show vs field), any Labrador is (almost) invariably a good hunting dog - some are great - and they are so easy to live with. Not that I'm biased of course

I agree..... I've had and trained labs for a large part of my life but couldn't have them when I lived in Africa because I was away too much.

I'm looking forward to getting another one though...... I'm also getting a pointer to work alongside the lab and training both is gonna be a shit load of fun for me!

I too love the combination - waterfowl with the retriever, but upland with a pointing dog out front and a retriever at heel or working the middle ground. Have fun!

I know what you mean about being gone too much and not having dogs. After college, I was in the field 6-9 months out of the year. Only when I moved to New Mexico in 1991 was I able to restore my house to a fur-filled kennel. Good luck finding a good one. I doubt you'll have much trouble.

Finding labs, let alone good working labs seems to be a lot harder than you'd imagine out here in Portugal.

Firstly, I don't yet speak the language so it's difficult to find ads and secondly, they all seem to use HPRs or Portuguese Pointers.

I'll manage it somehow though and I'm glad to say I've met some really nice guys who are also hunters and are bending over backwards to help me.

I'm also bloody glad to say the hunting here is miles better than I could possibly have imagined so I reckon the dogs, once trained won't be short of opportunities to do what they do best.

Good luck with this, Steve. If you were in the states, I could point you at some fine dogs. But Portugal? Can you import from Great Britain? Obviously there are some very good dogs in Great Britain. Its not hard to import here, but that does you no good. I have a very few contacts on the continent, and absolutely none in Portugal or even Spain.

And if there's lots of game, they will improve fast!

If I can't find what I want here, I'm going to have to go to the UK and buy there...... the import isn't particularly difficult but it'll jack the costs up considerably.

I'll have to go over there to find one I like and then the pup will need to be vaccinated (including rabies), blood tested and pet passport/rabies clearance issued all before it can be moved so that alone will involve at least 2 short or one long visit(s) to the UK and then I either have to fly it from there to Portugal or drive it...... and driving will cost something like 2 days and US$1500 (or more) including ferry crossings etc.

So it's obviously a lot more convenient and cheaper to buy one here if I can find one....... To say nothing of the fact that I loathe the bloody UK and will resent every minute I have to be in the God foresaken shithole!

That said, a dog is for life as they say and I'm a choosy bugger so if that's what I have to do and spend to get what I want then so be it.

Personally, unless classic looks mean alot to you, I'd go with a Lab from strong field trial lines. I'm on my fourth such Lab now and all have been great dogs. I use my dogs for pheasants and waterfowl. In my experience breed style/English Labs with barrel chests and short legs just don't have the endurance to stand up to a hard day chasing upland game.

Steve, you're right, it does jack of the price A LOT. But what do you do? As you say, dogs are for life.

Just thinking about it, with all the partridge shooting in Spain, you'd think they would have some nice dogs there.

Labman - while I mostly have Golden Retrievers, I have two Labradors, an FC and a MH. The FC ran our National last year. He had the points to run this year but didn't get the win he needed. The MH is keeping my right foot warm right now.

Looks are important to me but working ability is FAR more important so I'll need to see the parents working and then spend time with the litter to see how they respond to things like a bit of fur and feather etc and then I'll try to find a personality I think I'm going to enjoy and bond with etc and if that means a few trips to the UK and spending more money, I'll have to accept that....... mind you, I'll try to keep prices down by not flying until after the Christmas run up.

There's tons of wingshooting and deer/wild boar shooting here and Portugal seems to be the best kept secret in the hunting world for some reason (even prices are considerably lower than the rest of Europe) and you'd think there'd be lots of good working labs here but that simply isn't the case....... from my (admittedly limited experience) they all seem to use either Portuguese Pointers or the HPR breeds.

The red deer here incidentally are the Iberian red and they're simply mucking fonsters!