My first pheasant hunting was with a Lab and a Brittany. They worked well together. The first dogs my wife and I got were a Chocolate and a Brit. They hunted together for whatever. Couple stories from those two.

On one OD over at Moses Lake/Potholes I picked up almost a limit of Mallards and Pintails that were crips. That evening, out in some sagebrush, the two pointed. When the bird flushed there was a riot of color and a "quack". Pheasnats don't quack. It was a drake Mallard.

You have to use a retriever to hunt birds; they saved us so many times finding birds.