Thanks @VTDuckGuy for the inspiration to do this.

My last dog, Tank was the retriever of a lifetime. She was my best buddy but she had shoulder issues and her hunting life was cut short. She was unable to hunt by age 8, but she lived another 7 years relaxing in luxury and just being my friend.
When she could no longer hunt, my desire to hunt waterfowl died. I sold all my gear and gave it up, but what I didn't figure out was, that was just my grief for losing my best 4 legged friend.
Last year, a couple of my friends bred their champion fox red labs. At dinner with them one night (yes, it was a set up ), they asked me to take one of their pups. At the same time they asked me to join them as a guide in their company. I truly missed the thrill of working dogs and watching birds work. What better way to come back than to take people hunting.
So, I chose a female. She went off to the trainer. After a few weeks the trainer called me and said she was a dud. He provided video proof. She just wasn't interested in retrieving.
He told me that her brother was showing signs of being very good and that he had my female sold to a guy in Florida who just wanted a pet and didn't even want papers. basically, I could just swap dogs at no cost.
This dog, has exceeded all my expectations. he is AKC and UKC registered. He got his HRC started title at 8 and half months old, with 4 successful passes in a row. He has been training full time for 8 months now. He's doing multiple blind retrieves right now. I'm going to get him in 3 weeks and will hunt him from September 1 (Dove season), until February. Then I'm going to send him back to get all of his titles. I have never done any of this before. My previous Labs were trained by me, using the book, Water Dog. He is 10 months old today.
His name is Dan and I'll post his journey with me this season right here.
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Good looking dog!

Can't wait to follow your adventures Dan

Looking forward to joining you on a hunt later this year! It's going to be awesome!

Me too!

Prey drive is a thing! He looks to have it.

He's been home for a week now and is settling in fine.

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My favorite dog ever was a fox red. We lost her 02/2020. he’s a beaut OP

Thank you sir.

Dan had his first three hunts last weekend. There were 7 hunters here in the Texas panhandle. We killed 315 mourning dove and 11 collared dove. Dan retrieved about 200 of them. He's a stud.

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Hell of a job in your heat!!

Thanks!

We hunted blue wings this afternoon and got a three man limit. Dan hunted with his mother, Rose today. They did well.
The little girl is Emarie. She's one of my good friends daughter. She's a cutie and loves dogs and birds.
That's Dan in the left looking all buff.
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I took 4 men out this morning for the first big duck hunt of the year. We were one duck short of a limit but it was a good time. The client brought his own dog and we split the retrieves. Dan is spectacular for a 14 month old dog.

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Dan retrieved 64 ducks in the last 4 days. He's 14 months old.

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Another 62 ducks retrieved.

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Add 15 more.
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I took 9 men from South Carolina duck hunting this morning. They got 25 ducks. Dan retrieved 24 of them.

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I got pneumonia on January 9th and missed the rest of duck season. I sent Dan back to Alabama to finish his training. Ha arrived in Alabama on February 26th. He passed his HRC Seasoned test Today, less than a week after he arrived. He's such a stud! Sorry for the brag post but I have to tell somebody

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Great looking dog.  Thanks for sharing both of your stories.

...we expect updates.

@NAK

He has passed two of the four tests for his Champion title in the last week. He as two more to go, so I should get him back in May.

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Great Stuff.   Dan has such intensity in the latest picture.

I'm an upland guy and a pointing Fox Red is on my list for retirement.  A Britt for covering ground and a pointing lab for finding dead and working singles sounds like a hell of a combination to me.

That sounds great to me.