Larry Mueller, a good friend of Mayo Kellogg, was instrumental in introducing pointing labs to the public when he wrote about them in 1988 and again in 2004. In recognition of his efforts Mayo Kellogg added Larry's name to his pedigrees of pointing Labs. In his article about hunting dogs in the April 2004 edition of Outdoor Life Larry does a fantastic job sharing with the novice as well as the experienced hunter the many advantages of this versatile hunting breed.
You can really see that Larry understands what the hunter is seeking, "If it’s a versatile pup you covet this spring, how about one that’s superior at doing what hunters need most and do poorest for themselves? Face it: We can stumble onto game occasionally, but our eyes are such terrible substitutes for decent noses that we’re lucky to find downed birds on bare bean fields. The very best versatile dog needs to be a retriever first and foremost. Add pointing instincts to that retriever and you have a real workhorse—the pointing Lab."
Larry goes on to explain, "High tails make dogs easier to see in cover, but mostly they allow us to better read dogs’ minds. Hanging tails provide little clue to intensity; straight-up tails say, “I got ’em.” If a naturally high-tailed dog lowers his tail, he’s signaling uncertainty. If the tip drops lower than the balance of the tail, he’s convinced things aren’t as he hoped."
Larry found just the right pup for his hunting trips, "The intensity of high tails makes hunting so much more exciting for me that I waited a long time for a pup out of just the right litter and related to Ord, Neb., breeder Jim Helm’s fox-red high-tailed Point Doctor (see photo below). It was a good plan. I got everything I had hoped for in a pointing Lab, including the readable tail."
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