highvelocity said:
My GSP will be a year old this week. He is a firecracker so if too much energy is a bad thing for you.. then go with a lab. A GSP will retrieve just as good as a lab in my opinion but if you're going to need a dog that will hold on a quail (covey)cubby or flush pheasant then the GSP is the choice for you.
If your GSP is flushing pheasant regularly then he is doing it wrong. Labs are flushers. GSPs are pointers.
My two older dogs are 1/2 Weimeraner, 1/2 GSP. My youngest is a GSP.
Labs and GSPs are both great dogs, but as others have said they are very different. The lab will definitely retrieve better. It won't point. GSPs are 'versatile' dogs by definition so they'll point, retrieve, etc. but they primarily lean towards the "point" and can be a little stubborn when it comes to retrieving. They are kind of hit or miss on whether they are great water dogs.
Those two breeds will be about even on the "Destruct-O" meter their first 2-3 years of life. And generally they will be highly destructive. They're both intelligent and very curious. From a pure personality standpoint they're both great. Very loyal, very friendly. Good around kids and other pets as a general rule.
You have to ask yourself what you really want the dog for. Is it a couple of dove hunts and maybe a duck hunt per year? If so then the lab is for you. But if you want to hunt upland birds, and you have the space/time to run your dog then the GSP is probably the better option.
I have a bit of a reputation of being a lab-hater, but I'm really not. I like to give my duck hunting friends a hard time about their tennis ball fetchers, but the reality is they are very good at what they are bred/trained to do. When you bring them to a big upland field you can't expect them to hunt like a pointer. As long as you understand what you're getting, and you don't expect them to act like a pointer then you won't be disappointed. (FWIW, I also wouldn't expect my GSP to make a 400 yard blind retrieve on a downed duck)