I didn't vote 'cause I'm not sure what the question is. But, which dog do I want? It depends, (LVL 2003)
You are absolutely right, some dogs work themselves into a frenzy on the line and couldn't mark a snow goose on a golf course at 60 yards. I've seen others; Cosmo comes to mind, or Hiwood Citation (Ticket) for you Texas guys; that bounced around and generally worked themselves into a tizzy on the line and could nail the marks. You'd swear they weren't looking and they'd nail the mark anyway.
I've seen other calmer dogs sit on the line, look at each bird going down and not mark worth beans. 'Course there are others who naturally sit like a gentleman, and could mark a mosquito at 300 yards. One of these days I'd like to get one of them!!!
Most of us make the best of what we've got. I like the calmer end of the spectrum but I'll work with the higher end if the talent is there. At the highest end of the spectrum, I'd leave them to someone who wants to beat up dogs every day. I remember Mike Shopbell, Gonia's assistant for a few years, say about Cosmo pups. "You beat them up all week long and they still creep on Saturday." I don't want one of them, but I don't want one who kind of watches the birds go down, ambles out to each one, walks back, and picks up all the birds with no hunts either.
I remember Gonia and I talking about this one time. He felt that later on in the dog's career that high end desire would still be there and the dog would still be working at a high level. If that high end wasn't there the dog would be ground down with steady all age training and would be retired early. I think he's right, especially for the pro trained dog. Us amateurs can tailor our training for our particular dog, mix in the easier attitude stuff with the hard all age concepts. Pros do this too, but we can do it much more than a pro whose dogs have to fit into the wham bam, thank-you ma'am, style of training for 20 dogs.
I hope this post makes sense and you're able to take out a real definite, "It depends," (LVL, 2003) out of it. 'Course it's all MHDAO. (Is that copyrighted too?)