The Labrador Retriever is loved and known as one of the best all round dogs in the world and is used first and foremost as a household friend. It is by far the most widespread dog in the United States, Canada and the UK. It comes in three colours, yellow, black and chocolate.
The Labrador Retriever originated in Newfoundland and was brought to England by fishermen about 1800. The founding breed of the Chocolate Labrador was the St John’s Water Dog, a breed that emerged in the 16th century through ad-hoc breeding by the early European settlers.
It is presumed that the forebears of St John’s Water Dog were from dogs like the Mastiffs that were transported to the island by generations of Portuguese fishermen and interbred with breeds brought from England and Ireland. They were probably crossed with Setters, Spaniels and other Retrievers to hone their skills at retrieving with the emphasis on a stable nature making them suitable for a assortment of roles.
It was not until the dogs were brought back to Poole in England that they became prized waterfowl hunting dogs by the aristocracy. The breed is thought to have come to the UK in the late 19th century by Col Peter Hawker and the Earl of Malmesbury. His dog called ‘Malmesbury Trump’ was described by The Countess Howe (Lorna) as one of the founding sires of the breed. It was not until 1925 that The Yellow Labrador Club was formed with its breed club being formed only nine years earlier in 1916.
When they came to England they were given the name ‘Labrador’ after the area known as the Labrador Peninsula. This forms part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. The province of was called after the Portuguese traveller Joao Fernandes Lavrador who gave it it’s name in 1498. ‘Lavrador’ was a title he was permitted to use as a landowner and meant literally ‘landowner’. The origins therefore of the Labrador name can be traced back to a 15th century Portuguese title.
The name was selected to distinguish them from the larger St Johns Dog or Lesser Newfoundland breed. The original St Johns Dog breed survived until the 1980′s when the last two were photographed in 1981 in rural Newfoundland.
The Labrador retriever is an amazing gun dog, constantly dominating field trials. Standing 21.5 to 24.5 inches (55 to 62 cm) and weighing 55 to 80 pounds (25 to 36 kg), it is more solidly built than other retrievers and has shorter legs.
His traditional role has been for retrieving game but in more recent times has been used very effectively as a ‘sniffer’ for drugs and explosives and as a guide dog for the blind. Because of his exceptional weather-resistant coat, unique otter like tail and webbing to his toes, he also makes an excellent water dog and is used for waterfowl retrieval.
It’s distinctive features comprise its otterlike tail, thick at the base and tapered toward the end, and its short, dense coat of black, chocolate, or yellow. The Labrador retriever is characteristically rugged, even-tempered, and calm. In England it has been used in military and police work, as a rescue dog, and as a guide dog for the blind. A faultless family pet, the Labrador retriever became in the 1990s the most popular dog breed in the United States.
