Our black lab was a great retriever. The only problem was that he wouldn't let go of the ducks until he'd gnawed their heads off. Once he got old and started going blind, we had to pair him with our rottweiler to retrieve birds. The rott would swim out, but he'd freak out when he tried to grab the ducks because they were still alive and moving. The lab would follow the rott and do the actual retrieving. Dogs are awesome.