German Retriever...A New Breed?

As the story of this amazing dog begins to circulate in the outdoor industry I thought I should provide people with the "how the story actually began version", of the German Shepherd that retrieves ducks.
About a year and a half ago my daughter gave me this dog as an eight week old pup. She knows I have always liked black German shepherds so she located on and brought it to my house. She insist this dog came from a littler of black and tan GSD's, that were advertised as German Shepherds.
Last fall I told my doubting brothers I thought he was smart enough to learn the art of waterfowl retrieval even though he wasn't actually a waterfowl dog. As you might expect, they of course fell backwards out of their chairs laughing. When they finally picked themselves up off the floor they said; "there is no way that dog is ever going to retrieve even a single duck".
Now everyone knows I love a challenge, especially when it comes from my older brothers, but I was beginning to wonder if I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew this time, since I have never trained a retriever of any kind. Determination took over and I worked with my dog Rocket throughout the summer, just taking it one slow step at a time. When duck season arrived this fall I nervously ventured out to put his training to the real test. .
When the first duck hit the water he was out of the blind and on him with a classic retrieve that would have made any black lab in the country jealous with envy. As a matter of fact he is now running 100% on retrieves. Not only has he picked up every duck he's been asked to, but he stepped it up a notch with a double retrieve on Canada geese, getting the wounded one first mind you!
The question often comes up is he 100% German Shepherd? I don't know the answer to that because my daughter didn't get the papers on him at the time and I have no way of locating the breeders. He is obviously not a retriever but I don't tell him that, because he certainly thinks that he is.

Steve Matt/G3 Sportsman Field Staff