Willow is a sweet dog that wants to cuddle in the house and turns into an intense retriever with a very strong search instinct in the field.  Her water retrieves started at 9 weeks, dove hunting at four months, and ducks and pheasants at six months.  Willow is eager to please and relishes attention making her an excellent companion and a pleasure to train.  Willow is small, especially in comparison to the ever increasingly oversized lab population.  I prefer the small to medium sized labs for the longer endurance in the hills and ease of integrating them into the rest of my off-season life.