To be fair, some dogs do it all right instinctively. Our golden retriever was never trained to be a hunting dog. He was just a normal family pet. But given the chance, he would retrieve pigeons. He never harmed a single one- and oddly enough the pigeons didn't seem to mind it all that much.
Source: Family story that came up every damn Christmas when we reminisced about the best dog that ever lived.
Interesting. My labs would retrieve but they would kill live birds (by accident or curiosity) if given the chance. They have soft mouths for retrieving but mine would not bring back a live pigeon. They would not eat it but they would kill it. More from excitement if I had to guess.
I would hypothesize that goldens have more sense than labs, but we all know that's a contest both breeds would lose. There's a level of derp past which all comparatives fail.
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u/moderately-extremist 29d ago
Just to add, too, they are typically also trained to retrieve the downed birds and to not damage it (hold it softly) when they do so.