The Pointing Lab is a Labrador retriever that points upland game birds, and retains all of the Labrador Retriever’s great assets: desire, keen nose, trainability and friendly disposition.  The Pointing Lab combines all of the best qualities of the Labrador retriever as a great family companion, superb hunter and retriever on land or water with the added advantages of a Pointer.  The Pointing Lab will find upland game and establish point -holding the game until its handler can reach the area and flush the game.

The Pointing Lab is a relatively new entrant on the hunting dog scene and is still being refined in terms of breeding and training principles.  Supported by the American Pointing Labrador Association (APLA) the Pointing Lab is being promoted through breeding, training and certification activities.  The APLA’s mission is to identify certify and promote Labrador Retrievers that point naturally.  The Pointing Labrador Retriever is the result of breeding practices that selectively breed to enhance the pointing trait while maintaining all the highly desirable  traits that made the Labrador the #1 all around dog it is today. 

As with any quality gun dog, the finished product is a combination of good bloodlines and sound training.  Not many folks have been exposed to quality Pointing Labs.  They are confronted with the commonly heard, “my dog points on occasion”, or, “Pointing Labs just pause they don’t really point.”  Pointing labs DO point.  As with any pointing dog, it really depends on the natural instinct of the individual dog.  As proof of this, just visit www.nagda.com (Others?)    and note that high caliber pointing labs are right up there with high caliber “traditional” pointing dogs in national trials! 

If you are interested in a quality Pointing Lab visit the APLA website (or the Rocky Mountain Pointing Lab website and learn about this wonderful versatile gun dog.  Come out to one of our training days, or better yet, visit a sanctioned APLA Hunt Test where you’ll be able to watch these wonderful dogs in action and talk to their owners and handlers, as well as meet various breeders and learn about the breed.