Labrador Puppies In September Hopefully!

Yes, if Chloe had a brindle pup we would be very worried!! It does happen though (have seen some showing ) but it is a fault.

Last time all of her puppies were perfect, the chocolate ones were the best colouring i've ever seen on choc labs and none of them had any white (which is acceptable) or any other colour on them! So we're hopeful she'll produce beautiful babies again

Jessica13 said:

Yes, if Chloe had a brindle pup we would be very worried!! It does happen though (have seen some showing ) but it is a fault.

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I've seen them too but the brindle is confined to areas that would be yellow on a black & tan/ black & gold dog.
They show up quite often in some working lines.
The AKC standard specifically mentions them as a disqualification but here they are just not one of the accepted colours.
I've had a couple of "rare" brindle "labs" in boarding & they were both not quite labs. SBT (one of them had the squeal!) & boxer would be my guess for the grandfathers - no papers of course but the owners had paid through the nose for them.

Good luck with the litter.

Sue

Oh yes, it always makes me sad to see breeders changing stupid money for these 'designer breeds' that are no more than mongrels. You can pick up a lovely mongrel at a rescue who is much more in need of a home, and i see no point in paying thousands for one But people do for some reason, i'll never understand it!!

The problem with the brindling in labs is that people dont research properly. You cant breed a chocolate lab to another one who is yellow, or carries it as this results in some awful colouring (including brindle) and pigment, but still people do it!! All of our labs carry chocolate so we stick to black or chocolate labs!! We were at Crufts this year and we saw sooooo many off colour chocolates, i have no idea how they got there, i guess it depends who the handler is

With our dogs we try to breed them as close to the standard as possible, and so that they are able to show, but some people just breed any two dogs they have to make money

Ooh, and dont even get me started on how overweight the show labs are

It was my understanding that brindle labs were considered inferior and no one wanted them, my husband had one years ago and considers it the best damn dog he ever owned, and she was pure lab, I've always been on the lookout for one for him since.

No insult intended, it's just that we've always wanted one.

It's kinda hard to know how to take things that are written down diademhill, so if you weren't being nasty to me, I shall try to feel less accused.

I wasn't "being nasty" and - as you say - they were considered inferior and so were selected away from and removed from the breed. As brindle on the body is dominant to lab colours it shouldn't be possible to produce one without another breed in the mix.
A black or liver lab with brindle feet is possible but any show breeder would be gutted if any turned up.


If you still have the papers for your husband's brindle lab it would be interesting to trace the lines, it is possible through the Kennel club, however long ago.
I've seen a set of papers for one of the ones that came here & they were false. Even though it's not my breed I can work out dates & a dog certainly can't be it's own grandfather

With Sara at six this is a great time to be thinking of a second dog - have you logged in with labrador rescue? They get all sorts through - especially over the summer.

Sue

She was an American lab born and raised and passed on so the Kennel Club here wouldn't have a record of her, maybe in the States they would but I've a feeling they would charge me to find out.

I registered with Guide Dog rehoming too but you know how many blind people don't want to keep their guide dogs? zero

I saw a black lab with brindle colour marking on his legs on Friday and I spoke to his blind guy and asked him about him to see if he knew his linneage and he told me he was a golden retriever

I didn't know what to say so I just said "well he's lovely".

SuzieQPlecMama said:

She was an American lab born and raised and passed on so the Kennel Club here wouldn't have a record of her, maybe in the States they would but I've a feeling they would charge me to find out.

I registered with Guide Dog rehoming too but you know how many blind people don't want to keep their guide dogs? zero

I saw a black lab with brindle colour marking on his legs on Friday and I spoke to his blind guy and asked him about him to see if he knew his linneage and he told me he was a golden retriever

I didn't know what to say so I just said "well he's lovely".

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Guide dogs use a lot of lab/goldie crosses so he could well have been more golden than lab. The again he could have been like my Dad who used to mix up the dogs & call each one the prevoius one's name or some of my clients who when I ask their dogs details and I've written them up & repeat back say - no , that was the old dog, this one is....
A local guide dog that I meet most weeks is a gorgeous black curly coat retriever & her owner is fed up of being asked if it is a labradoodle.

Older ex guide dogs are rare but failed or surplus puppies are sometimes available. A disabled friend of mine recently got a surplus guidewell lab to replace her seizure/assistance dog.

AFAIK it was because of the non standard colours being produced that the AKC got the disqualification clause in the standard.
The akc or the american labrador club might be able to trace a bloodline but when you say passed on - did paperwork pass on too?

Sue

Passed on as in "left this mortal coil" and as for her papers, I asked Dan but it was a long time ago and he doesn't have any of his old paperwork anymore.

He is a habitual thrower-awayer, which is good, because I swear I was a wasp in a previous life and horde so much paper it drives him nuts.


Anyway.....congrats on the decision to have pups, Chloe & Chloes mum we'll be watching this thread for an update....

Jessica, I have a question about your comment about "show" Labs. Standards and such are probably different in the UK, but I've learned quite a bit about working Labrador Retrievers from my sister's Dad's family. They only have 3 Labs atm who hunt for fun & are not being bred in-home (but their boy has been studded twice), but they've bred amazing dogs in the past. They are super-duper pro-work when it comes to Labs, they've exhibited dogs in local club Conformation to prove their dogs have no conformation faults, but they openly dislike the path show Labs are going down. Their dogs are lean (not Weim-style lean, but trim) and have a classic head, not blocky... they weigh 55-75 lbs, as opposed to the 80-100+ that is popularized here with backyard breeders and even show breeders. I do not want to sound rude, just a question, but isn't your stud a stocky show type? Not necessarily fat, but he doesn't have a significant tuck and probably not a defined waist. I don't doubt that he can work, but it seems to me that logically a dog with too much fat layering is not able to swim as vigorously, run as hard & for as long as a lean & svelte Lab.

This is basically how I see a real working Lab. This is exactly what my sister's relatives Labbies look like, they have one black male.

Also, I whole-heartedly agree with the coloring debate! Brindles just should not be bred for. The color cannot be shown, so it is a pet quality dog and although it'd probably look cute, that is not an accepted color for Labs. I feel it's much like the rumored "Silver Lab", 99% of the time it's cross-breeding, in the rare instance that it does pop up it is a serious fault in coloring and should be a nice pet dog not a breeding dog.

splashstuff - I understand completely what you are saying as the same is happening here. The dogs are getting fatter and fatter in the showring and there's no way they could do their jobs properly. Chloe is a bit on the heavy side and always has been but she is a LOT slimmer than all of the show labs, our two 'puppies' are too lean for showing really, but have done quite well considering.

The stud we're using is actually one of the slimmest we've seen!! We want to use a proven stud, who has done well showing so we know his conformation is correct, and we want to keep the nice head and front Chloe has so need one with breeding which will allow that, so working dogs unfortunately are not an option due to the very narrow dome heads they have here (which i personally dont like). Kris is also a working dog so he is fit and healthy, and at 9 years old i think he's allowed a bit of weight on him!!

Also, we have brought this up with a lab judge and they said that infact labs DO have to have some fat on them as in Canada (where they originate of course) they would have had to swim in freezing water and therefore they need the layer of fat to be able to keep doing their job. But some of the labs here are obese and i agree that that is wrong

Yeah, for sure. You know about 500x more than me about Labs, obviously. =P I agree that your stud is definitely slimmer than most show Labs. I also agree that Labs do need a fat layer for swimming in cold waters, but just like basically every show dog, that has been exaggerated to scary proportions in show breeders. Like, GSD's are called to have a sloped topline in the standard, and show GSD breeders interpret that as "Topline should be at a 90* angle and hocks should scrape against the ground!". I do understand that in Canada, it can get cold, the dog needs a layer of fat around the chest to protect vital organs. But, if the dog is literally obese all-around, that fat layering is hurting them more than helping them when it comes to working! It's great that you are not just breeding for extremes in the show ring .

Definately not breeding for what the showing people want!! Our dogs are pets first (all puppies will be sold to pet homes only with breeding and exporting endorsements!) and i wouldn't allow any of our current dogs to get that way just to have a place or two higher in the showring, just as we wouldnt specifically breed for that. We hope that all of our dogs can do the job they were designed for and thats what we breed for!!

That said though, my lab Riley has "retired" from the showring (he hated it, poor boy!!) and i tried agility with him, which i thought he'd be good at as he's obedient and can jump hedges when he wants to, and is fairly close activity wise to working... But no. We went under jumps, around them, through them, but not over any He sticks to obedience and flyball now, too much thinking can hurt a boys brain