If you have or have had a golden retriever lab mix? I have questions

[lasergrl]

My amish neighbor has a golden/lab cross. i was losing ducks, chickens, eggs, chicks, slowly all summer. One day the rabbit hutch was broken into. Set up a trail cam. it was Daisy the dog. Had to go talk to them and she is tied up now. You would never suspect it was her, she rolls over showing her belly when you talk to her. Since catching her on camara, I had seen her a few times grabbing the chickens but I was able to chase her home.

 

[Mak]

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We're not hunters, so no. Nothing against hunting and hunters, just not our thing. And it's not really a "problem." We just think it's kinda funny that a dog known as a retriever really doesn't like to take things in his mouth. Then again, that may be why he was dumped (he was. Showed up on our porch one day. Animal Control had him for a week, tried to find an owner, called surrounding towns, etc. No luck. Told us when we took him back people dump dogs in our area a lot. Stupid people. Lucky us!) Maybe whoever had him wanted to hunt with him and found he wasn't particularly interested, so out he went. We'll never know. But he's a sweetie, and we love him.

 

[Delmar]

My dog, Ziggy is a 2 1/2 year old Lab, Springer Spaniel mix, and he seemed to understand right away that the chickens are not for him. One day my wife let two of them fly out of my first, make shift pen. Mrs Delmar caught one of them and Ziggy simply cornered the other one and waited for her to come and get it. Good boy Ziggy!

I will have to admit he likes to get a rise out of them though. He is certainly not to the place where I would trust him with the chickens if they were free ranging, but I don't worry about him trying to get into the tractor. Probably the most annoying thing he does is mark the tractor. He will piddle directly on the chickens when they are dumb enough not to move.

 

[Cowgirl71]

My dog "Buck" is a Golden Retriever/Labrador mix. He's such a sweet heart! At first when we showed him the chickens he thought it was his birthday or something, but he quickly learned to leave them alone. Now, I've seen him with chickens on his back and he doesn't do anything.

He's an excellent watch dog. He's really good at looking fierce when he needs to, and then being a lovable guy the rest of the time. He's very smart. When our cows sometimes get out in our yard when we accidentally leave a gate open or they force the gate open, he'll bark and let us know. We had a Jersey bull during the summer. Jersey bulls are well known for being ornery and feisty. Cattle have an instinct that hates canines above all else, and they'll charge dogs for no reason. But anyway, Bubba got out in the yard, and since Bucky knew that particular animal pretty well, he knew exactly which pasture he was supposed to be in. So we go down to milk the cows, and we all of a sudden hear Bucky barking and notice that Bubba's missing. Well by the time we got there, Bucky had herded him back, and was just putting him through the gate that Bubba had forced open. We fixed the gate, and Bucky got a lot of attention that night!

He's also handsome. He got the courser hair and blocky build of the Labrador, and some feathering from the Golden. I'd highly recommend you get the puppy, LOL!!!

 

[bock]

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Ditto! I rescued my yellow lab mix when she was 11 months old, now she's 9 1/2 . She would never play fetch, or even put a toy in her mouth, and she hates water with a passion. She's a lovebug, but a bit defective! LOL!

 

[Mahonri]

my red Golden Retriever is a push over. Lets the chickens walk right over the top of her....

But... she will retrieve and fetch....

 

[sheila3935]

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Ditto! I rescued my yellow lab mix when she was 11 months old, now she's 9 1/2 . She would never play fetch, or even put a toy in her mouth, and she hates water with a passion. She's a lovebug, but a bit defective! LOL!

Oh my that sounds like my lab mix Ren. He hates water will jump over puddles acts like it acid. He wont fetch. But I dont let him near my chickens. He is the alpha dog and thinks it his place to discipline anything smaller than him. I dont let him near the grandkids for this reason too. He is very protective especially of me.

 

[momiphouph]

Anyone able or interested in posting pictures? I would love to see what your pups look like.

 

[Tala]

we adopted a 4 year old yellow Lab last February, he was a trained duck dog, so we knew it would be a bit risky. I believe he's actually Lab with some coonhound mixed in, not pure-blooded, but definitely very Labby in his personality. Fortunately, he thinks balls and Frisbees are the only things that need fetching! When we first got him I kept him on leash for a couple of days around them, and after that supervised time with him wearing an electric collar for backup, but it fortunately it wasn't really needed. He generally ignores them.
Only once he came up and scattered the chickens that were getting treats at my feet, which I believe was a ploy for attention, but no matter why he did it I scolded him sharply and he never tried it again. The only thing is if we play fetch while they birds are free ranging, we simply do NOT throw anything towards the birds that would make them scatter when he ran for it - don't want to get any bad habits started since he's been so good thus far!

As someone else stated, the fact that most Labs are eager to please and they WANT to DO things constantly generally makes them trainable, but also means that they need something to DO so that they don't learn to entertain themselves. They definitely need lots of exercise, NOT just being left out in the yard.
My other dog is kinda lazy. It doesn't bother her in the least if your idea of a good time is lounging around on the porch with a cold one

 

[Up-the-Creek]

We have a 7 yr. old yellow lab,...she gets along with everything except the UPS truck. We also have a lab/chow mix and he also gets along with the chickens and the rest of our critters. Honestly though, it isn't so much the breed, it is how you train them. I can tell you they are very active dogs and you have to make time to play or they will get bored and do damage.