Everybody's
Everything
A well-bred
Labrador retriever loves the world and everyone in it. Labs,
by and large, are supremely content to live in the moment,
especially if it is the moment you are living in, too. They
can be utterly devoted to one person or to a house-full of
children and adults. They will go anywhere and do anything
their owners might fancy. Walking, jogging, swimming, hunting,
chasing Frisbees, playing hide-and-seek – the list of
the Lab's favorite things is boundless; but this is not to
say the mature Lab is a hyperactive dancer that must be kept
jitterbugging every minute it is awake. A Lab is also happy
to curl up with you and a good book or to help you steal a
siesta in the shade of your favorite tree.
The Lab
is so accommodating it is a fair bet to become America's national
dog. Last year it ranked first in new registrations (149,505)
among the 143 breeds registered by the American Kennel Club
(AKC). Indeed, the Lab has been the top of the AKC's pops
for the last six years.
Where's
in a Name?
Although
it is Labrador's namesake, the Labrador retriever was fashioned
in England after its ancestors had emigrated there from Newfoundland
with the help of that country's fishermen. The origin of the
Lab's Newfie ancestors, however, is a matter of some dispute.
One writer announced with great conviction: "Vikings and Basque
fishermen visited Newfoundland as early as 1000 AD and wrote
accounts of the natives working side by side with these retrieving
dogs." Another authority said with equal conviction: "It's
fairly clear there were no indigenous dogs in Newfoundland
when the first fishing companies arrived."
Whom to
believe? The advice here – as it is in most disputes
concerning canine origins – is simple: flip a coin. You
will be right half the time.
No matter
where their ancestors originated, there were two types of
dogs hard at work in Newfoundland by the early 1700s. Both
were called Newfoundland or St. John's dogs. One was a heavyweight
contender with a long, ponderous coat. This dog, used primarily
for draft work – though he was not opposed to getting
his feet wet retrieving – was the greater Newfoundland
(or the greater St. John's). In four-dog teams it hauled carts
loaded with 200 to 300 pounds of fish and the driver of the
cart. Greater Newfoundlands pulled carts to market in their
"native" land and in England as well. This greater Newfoundland,
odds are, is the ancestor of the modern breed of the same
name.
The lesser
Newfoundlands (or lesser St. John's) were smooth-coated black
dogs of smaller build. The constant companions of fishermen,
lesser Newfoundlands were unrivaled at retrieving game in
the field and fish in the freezing waters of the Labrador
Sea. They were also unrivaled for their hardiness, serving
as tow barges when necessary, and for their stamina, often
working 20 hours at a time. When they were off duty, they
played with the fishermen's children.
St. John's
(or Newfoundland) dogs, greater and lesser, crossed the Atlantic
to England regularly in the 18th and the first half of the
19th centuries. When England passed a law in 1856 forbidding
the use of dogs for draft work, British interest in the greater
St. John's lessened.
Another
British law – the Quarantine Act of 1885 – put paid
to the further importation of the lesser St. John's dog, but
for some decades before that a handful of British estate owners
had regularly imported St. John's dogs and bred them to produce
several strains of retrievers. One of these breeders, the
third Earl of Malmesbury, was probably the first person to
apply the name Labrador to one of those strains. In
1887 the earl wrote to a friend, "We always called mine Labrador
dogs, and I have kept the breed as pure as I could from the
first I had from Poole [Harbour], at that time carrying on
a brisk trade with Newfoundland. The real breed may be known
by their having a close coat which turns the water off like
oil, above all, a tail like an otter."
When Labrador
retrievers first appeared in British Kennel Club's events
during the latter part of the 19th century, the retrievers
category included curly- and flat-coated dogs, as well as
other varieties. Indeed, dogs from retriever litters were
eligible to compete with the variety they resembled most;
but by 1903 the Labrador had been established as a separate,
true-breeding strain, and it was granted separate registration
status by the kennel club.
Recrossing
the Atlantic
During
World War I, Labradors crossed the Atlantic again, this time
bound for the United States, where the AKC, following England's
lead, had a catch-all classification for retrievers. When
the AKC began registering Labradors as a separate breed in
1917, the first name entered in the stud book was Brocklehirst
Nell, a bitch imported from Scotland. Nell was shortly joined
by many others of her breed. Often they were accompanied by
their Scottish trainers who were brought over by wealthy Americans
interested in breeding Labradors. The affinity of the Scots
for the Labrador was enormously responsible for developing
the breed's hunting versatility and for popularizing Labradors
in this country.
A Dog
for All Reasons
Hunters,
of course, have always admired the Lab for its hardiness,
great enthusiasm for water work and all-weather suitability.
Centuries of selective breeding had bequeathed the Labrador
the ideal body for land or water work. The crisp guard hairs
of the Labrador's coat easily shed burrs and brambles, and
the dense undercoat makes the dog practically impervious to
water. The Labrador's tail, referred to as an otter tail,
serves as an efficient rudder capable of aiding the dog in
the strongest currents. This unusual tail is thick and rounded
in appearance, completely covered with extremely dense hair.
The Lab's
versatility and skill as a hunting dog are enough to secure
its reputation anywhere it goes, but its affable disposition
is what makes the Lab a superstar. While hunters were enthusing
over their Labs' prowess, the hunters' families – and
other families, too – were discovering that when Labs
were not out in the field, they were ready and willing companions.
With that discovery doors were opened to Labs in countless
American households.
Youthful
Exuberance
Lest anyone
think Labs are perfect, we are obliged to mention puppyhood
– a time not without trials and tribulations. Lab puppies
can be gawky, uncoordinated and enthusiastic. An interesting
combination. Lab puppies will track indoors all the mud formerly
in the yard and deposit most of it on your sofa. Their highly
developed tails – great swimming aids and a barometer
of the dogs' unceasingly great attitude – are also lethal
weapons, capable of sweeping a table clean of every expensive
bauble you have collected through the years.
Not only
is puppyhood a trying time for Lab owners, it is also a long
time. Labs do not become the mellow fireplace ornaments that
Hallmark and other greeting-card companies portray them as
until they are two to three years old. Fortunately, you will
find it difficult to stay angry with your gawky youngster.
Those big brown eyes will easily convince you that whatever
just happened was all a mistake. Besides, you will already
know there is not a vindictive or a spiteful bone in a Lab's
body. So if you are prepared to give your Lab plenty of exercise
– and if you put your knickknacks out of harm's way –
by the time your Lab emerges from its protracted adolescence,
it will have long since become an irreplaceable buddy. That
buddy could easily be with you for the next 12 or even 15
years. With a friend like that, who needs knickknacks anyway?
Select
Wisely
Selective
breeding, always lauded as the method by which great dogs
are developed, is also the means by which breed deficiencies
are perpetuated. There is nothing sacred, much less magical,
about the word selective. It is, instead, the kinds of selections
breeders make that determine the health and soundness of their
dogs. Unfortunately, many selective breeding programs include
a number of unwise selections: the use, for example, of a
top-producing stud that also produces a bottom-line genetic
defect. Therefore, the Labrador retriever, like all selectively
bred dogs, is subject to a number of inherited diseases. Chief
among them are: hip dysplasia, epilepsy and progressive retinal
atrophy (described below). What's more, Labs can also be afflicted
with hemophilia B, hypoglycemia, dwarfism and diabetes.
Hip
dysplasia is a malformation of the hip joint resulting
in a poor fit between the head of the femur bone and the hip
socket, in which the femoral head normally lies. This condition
can be alleviated by surgery. The best way to avoid buying
a puppy at risk for hip dysplasia is to ask if both the puppy's
parents are OFA-certified free of hip dysplasia. If they are
not – and if the breeder will not show you the certificates
to prove it – keep looking.
Epilepsy
in dogs is characterized by seizures. If they are short and
infrequent, a dog may not need anticonvulsant medication.
If the seizures are more severe, a dog is a candidate for
a lifetime supply of phenobarbital, Valium or some other drug
used to prevent seizures.
Progressive
retinal atrophy (PRA) is the wasting away of the vessels
in the retina. Initially manifested as night blindness in
young dogs, as PRA progresses, its victims become totally
blind.
A responsible
breeder will be amenable to discussing these problems with
you. Anyone who evades the issues or denies they exist should
not be given any consideration when it comes to purchasing
your puppy.
Rick
Beauchamp is a freelance writer and a licensed judge with
both the American Kennel Club and the United Kennel Club.
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