Mine is 7 now and just can't Stand to be away from us. I had grand plans of using him a an actual bird dog, but never even started his training. He responds to signs and voice commands so i know he has the brains do more.
Black labs are pretty good dogs even if I call mine a dumba55 on the regular.
The tone of voice is more important than the words. I used to call Maximus all kinds of stuff. He'd wag his tail when I'd ask "Who's the big dumb dog?" the way you'd ask who's a good boy
Ours is a purebred that was given up by his owner. This guy apparently was in a wheelchair when he bought him. Pretty smart, just needs training. Typical teenager right now. Testing limits and being ignorant.