History of the Labrador Retriever

[Above] An Artist's rendering of the original Labrador Retriever

The Labrador Retriever is a native of Newfoundland, but not that area known as Labrador. The Labrador is actually from the St. Johns area where St. Johns' water dogs, which bear a strong resemblance to modern Labs, are known to have flourished over many decades beginning prior to 1814.  It was said of the St. Johns  water dogs that they were "best for every kind of shooting; generally black, no bigger than a Pointer, very fine legs, smooth short hair, does not carry his tail so much curled as the other (i.e. Newfoundland), and is extremely quick running and swimming.... We rarely see a Pointer, however expert in fetching, that will follow-up the scent and find the wounded ones half so well as the St. Johns' Newfoundlands."

Another historian referred to the St. Johns' Labradors as "small water dogs, admirably trained for fowling," with short coats that will not become encumbered with ice coming out of the water as is the case with long-coated dogs.  Although almost always black, there was the occasional yellow and even more rarely, a chocolate.  Their medium size and short, water-repellent coats made them ideal dogs for working with the fishermen. Newfoundland's rough coast made it very dangerous for fishing boats to approach closely to unload their catches.  For this reason, water dogs were trained to haul in the catch by towing the nets laden with cod in the corners in their strong jaws and then swimming ashore. The retrieving instincts of these dogs were also useful to the fishermen in fetching articles accidentally dropped overboard by members of the crew and rounding up stray cod which escaped on the surface.

The earliest Labradors are said to have arrived in the Poole Harbor area around the 1820s on fishing boats that made frequent runs between Newfoundland and Poole Harbor, England. The English sporting gentry welcomed them with open arms, being quick to recognize the potential of these fine retrievers as gun dogs.  They most likely bred the dogs into the already existing English retriever lines, perfecting and producing the Labradors we know today (No one seems quite certain when the breed was dubbed "Labrador" Retriever, but it evidently took place sometime after the breed arrived in England.)

Labrador Retrievers were first imported to the United States during World War I and began to flourish after World War II. During the wars, however, the Labrador Retriever greatly diminished in Great Britain. The famous Sandylands Kennel imported such Labradors as Sandylands Mark (from the US) and greatly influenced the breed, bringing it to what it is today.