The Labrador Retriever is appreciated and called possibly the best complete dogs on earth and is also used first and foremost as a family friend. It is actually probably the most well-liked dog in america, Canada as well as the UK. It comes in three colours, yellow, black and chocolate. His traditional role continues to be for retrieving game but in modern-day times has been utilized very successfully to be a ‘sniffer’ for drugs and explosives and also as a guide dog to the blind. Because of his excellent weather-resistant coat, unique otter like tail and webbing to his feet, he also makes an exceptional water dog as well as being employed for waterfowl retrieval.

They came from around the island of Newfoundland, now a part of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; where they were accustomed to retrieve fish getting out of the nets, help haul fish nets when they were pulled ashore along with the ropes between the boats. The starting variety of the Labrador was the St John’s Water Dog, a breed that emerged in the 16th century through ad-hoc breeding by the early European settlers.

The assumption is that the forebears of St John’s Water Dog were from dogs such as Mastiffs that were taken to the area by decades of Portuguese fishermen and interbred with breeds brought from England and Ireland. These were probably crossed with Setters, Spaniels along with other Retrievers to hone their skills at retrieving together with the focus on a reliable character which makes them ideal for various roles.

It wasn’t until the dogs were brought back to Poole in England they became prized waterfowl hunting dogs by way of the gentry. The breed is thought to have arrived at the UK inside late 19th century by Col Peter Hawker and the Earl of Malmesbury. His dog called ‘Malmesbury Trump’ was described by The Countess Howe (Lorna) as one of the founding sires of the breed. It was not until 1925 that The Yellow Labrador Retriever Club was shaped with its breed club becoming created only nine years earlier in 1916.
After they came to England they were given the name ‘Labrador’ following the area referred to as Labrador Peninsula. This forms part of the state Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. The state was named following the Portuguese explorer Joao Fernandes Lavrador who gave it it’s name in 1498. ‘Lavrador’ would have been a title he was allowed to use as a landowner and meant literally ‘landowner’. The origins consequently of the Labrador name may be followed back to a 15th century Portuguese title.

The title was selected to tell apart them with the larger St Johns Dog or Lesser Newfoundland breed. The original St Johns Dog breed lasted till the 1980′s when the last two were photographed in 1981 in rural Newfoundland.