English Pointer Lab Mix, a very much popular breed is well-known worldwide in the hunting community because of their shared ancestry. This is a designer dog who is also known as the “Pointerdor” crossing between the purebred English Pointer and the purebred Labrador Retriever.
As a dog breeder, it would be interesting to you to know all the relevant information about this breed and after knowing all, you may also desire for such an adorable energetic breed as your pet.
Is English pointer lab mix Breed Suitable for You
It would be unwise to take a pet without knowing its suitability along with the pros and cons. So, before your final decision to have an English Pointer Lab Mix as your pet, you have to look into some relevant causes of your choosing and avoiding this mixed breed. Let’s have a look
Reason for Choosing
- If you need a dog with athletic energy along with hunting instinct.
- Not only friendly with kids but also compatible with other pet dogs.
- Easily convivial with everyone with whom he identified.
- It requires very little grooming.
- Suitable for the active first-time owner.
Reason for avoiding
- Too much rowdy.
- Huge exercise and activities requirement.
- Easily destructive, if left alone a long time.
- Unsafe for very young kids and little pets because of their hunting and prey instincts.
- Can ignore your command being so much curious to an interesting sight or scent.
Pointer and Labrador Retriever Breed History
The English pointer, simply known as the only Pointer developed in England as a gun dog. Tracking prey and pointing it for the hunters on the hunting field was the first job of this breed which is the good implication to their name “Pointer”.
Labradors Retriever was first developed in Newfoundland, Canada as a working dog for fishermen. They are called “Retriever” because of their ability to retrieve objects. This breed possessed the highest ranking as the most popular breed in the American Kennel Club’s list.
Pointer, Labrador Retriever Possible Appearance and Temperament
Each mixed breed might carry different traits inherited from their parents. So, the actual physical appearance and temperamental traits of an English Pointer Lab Mix breed might not be fixed according to your wish as these are totally unpredictable.
But some traits can be predicted through peeping out the traits of parent breeds of Pointerdor puppies. This mix breed is medium to large-sized breed having long, muscular legs built for strength and speed; slightly stubby muzzle; wide ears sitting at eye level and hanging down till about the upper jaw; black, brown or Isabella colored nose; rounded eyes with dark or lighter colors including hazel, brown and amber; a slight slope at the level of the shoulders; long tail which is thick at the base.
As your English Pointer Lab Mix is a blended breed with genetic inheritance from his parent breeds, any of these traits can be present or absent. His height and weight range can be about 24-28 inches and 45-75 pounds respectively which are in-between the proportion of parent breeds.
His short, dense, water-repellent, smooth with a sheen coats have various colors including white with either chocolate, orange, lemon, black markings, or solid coloring in any of these hoes.
The temperaments of this mixed breed are very much sweet and affectionate. He is not only affectionate, congenial, gentle, and warm but also a curious, energetic, and adventure lover which makes him a wonderful pet. He likes to co-operate with you and is always eager to please you.
He can also have the tendency to help the blind or any disabled person having the genes from his Lab breed who is well known as a therapy dog breed. He may also possess a little bit stubbornness from his Pointer genes. As he has hunting and prey instincts from his hunting background, it would be safe not to have any small pet like a cat or bird.
He can be reserved with strangers but he will bark at suspicious noises. Despite having extremely high energy, much loyalty, hunting, and prey instincts, he cannot be considered as a good watchdog breed rather he can be considered as a good family dog.
Maintenance and Care for English pointer lab mix puppies
Despite knowing as a low-maintenance breed, your pet needs special attention and care is a mixed breed. Keep him always neat and clean, brush his coat about 2-3 times per week, give him a fresh bath according to his need, ears, and eyes need to be cleaned regularly to avoid infection.
Give him proper nutrition and diet dog food according to his age and gender.
Training and Exercise for Pointerdor puppies
A Pointerdor puppy needs a lot of patience and perseverance along with firm handling and training experience to train-up as he is so easily distracted by exciting sights, scents, and sounds.
Besides this, he needs a huge amount of exercise along with other activities to burn off his high energy. Mental stimulation, obedience command, a short but funny training session with traits all of these can be helpful for effective training in order to make a good and perfect Pointerdor puppy.
Your Pointerdor puppies can be habitual “couch potatoes” which means a lazy and relaxed lover, regular exercise including other activities are a must for your pet to keep him fit and healthy.
Keep your Pointerdor puppies busy with a minimum of 65 to 75 minutes of various physical activities including long or short run, fun-games, hunting, swimming, etc. otherwise, he can show bad personality including barking, digging, chewing anything, ripping the stuffing out of sofas, etc. being bored.
Is There Any Health Risk to this Mix Breed
There is no dog breed without any health risk. Thus, your Pointerdor puppies are also not free from some health concerns who may possess some genetic health problems from his parent breeds as common health problems between breeds can be carried over to the offspring mix.
For your Pointerdor puppies, there is always a risk of hip and elbow dysplasia, heart disease, bloat, skin problems, etc. as these are seen in both parent breeds separately. Moreover, he may suffer from some other potential problems including progressive retinal atrophy, entropion, cataracts, cherry eye, epilepsy, exercise-induced collapse, etc.
Inherits from his parents. Regular consult with a veterinarian and proper care can reduce the potential health risk of your pet.
Life Duration of Pointerdor puppies
The life expectancy of your English Pointer Lab Mix can be about 10-12 years and sometimes up to 15 years of proper care and treatment can be given to him.
You can decide now either English Pointer Lab Mix is your perfect match or not. If you already have one, you should render him proper training and care to have a well socialized and healthy pet.