A sporting dog by trade, the Labrador Retriever has always been at home in the field. Today, the breed is equally at home...at home! The Lab is known the world over as a favorite family friend.
HISTORY OF THE LABRADOR RETRIEVER
What introduction does the world’s most popular dog require? Everyone has seen a Labrador Retriever romping happily with his family. Regarded as the ideal family dog for generations, the Labrador is by definition biddable and adaptable to practically any lifestyle.
It’s common today to hear the breed simply referred to as the Labrador; however, this is by and large incorrect. The Labrador is aretriever. The Labrador Retriever, a prominent member of the AKC’s Sporting Group, is a hunting dog by trade. The pet Labrador Retriever comes from a lineage of hard-working hunters who could spend tireless hours on upland game birds on rigorous terrain. While your pet Labrador Retriever may only fetch your slippers and the Sunday paper, it is helpful to understand that his predecessors pursued pheasant, duck and other wild fowl.
Well, that’s the “retriever” part of his name; what’s the meaning of the “Labrador” part? To truly understand the breed’s origins, we must look not to Labrador, but to the island off its southern shores called Newfoundland. The rich history of this island, originally inhabited by the Dorset Eskimos, dates back to the 1400s; however, it wasn’t until the 1600s that the island became the home of wayward fishermen. These fishermen, it is believed, swam to the island after abandoning ships that were passing by the island. As these fishermen tended to be “free spirits” (like many today!), the island went without laws or establishments of any kind for the next two centuries, despite the inhabitation of these men.
In wood or water, the Labrador is a skilled and dependable hunting companion and retriever.
The Labrador Retriever’s “soft mouth” makes him ideal for returning felled game undamaged.
The first dogs on the island of Newfoundland are traced to these fishermen, as there is no evidence of the Eskimos’ having dogs on the island, and no dogs existed on Newfoundland when the fishermen landed there. As the Labrador Retriever was once called the Lesser Newfoundland Dog, it has often been presumed that the breed is related to the Newfoundland breed. The Newfoundland, well known to dog lovers today, is a much larger, more abundantly coated, heavyboned dog, showing much influence of its mastiff origins. Still, both the Newfoundland
