Labrador Retriever breed guide

Labradors' have an excellent sense of smell and can follow almost any scent to its origin.  For this reason they are often used by military and police as detection dogs. Labradors instinctively enjoy holding objects and even hands or arms in their mouths, which they can do with great gentleness (a Labrador can carry an egg in its mouth without breaking it). They are known to have a very soft feel to the mouth, as a result of being bred to retrieve game such as waterfowl. They are prone to chewing objects (though they can be trained to abandon this behavior).

The history of the Labrador Retriever

English visitors to 19th century Newfoundland were impressed with the black water dog working as waterfowler's companion gamely retrieving downed birds in freezing tidal water. No one was more impressed by them than the Earl of Malmesbury who imported the first ones into England. He wrote a letter to someone in 1887 in which he described his dogs as his 'Labradors'. People were very impressed with the Earl's black Labradors and the name stuck.

The Labrador quickly assumed the position as England's fave retriever then Britain's fave dog. The yellows became more common than the black dogs and recently chocolate has been a new lab fad. It was quickly given official recognition everywhere in the world so popular had it become.

The Labrador is far too accomplished to even try to list its full CV here. Suffice to say the Labrador has been one of the few canines that have become a part of the very fabric of the 20th and 21st centuries and humanity would be appreciably poorer without it.

Check listings for Puppies for sale here and the links to our labrador breeders below to go to their profile page.  You can also find Responsible Labrador Breeders by location.