A MUST for enthusiasts of the Labrador Retriever breed!
The first element of "For the Love of Labrador Retrievers" that attracted my attention was the beautiful photography and the quality of the subjects. However, Robert Hutchinson's book is primarily a history of the origin of the Labrador. Unlike many books about the breed, it is not intended for everyone, but is a must for any serious student of the breed. The first chapter, "The People's Choice," extols the virtues and attributes of the breed. It rightfully attributes the breed's popularity to its "singular mix of solid qualities...its winning combination of physical versatility, mental resourcefulness and emotional equanimity." Hutchinson recognizes the bifurcation that has occurred in the retriever breeds and the resulting decline in the number of dual champions, both in Britain and the United States.
The second chapter, "Dog of Earl," traces the American Labrador to the "tightly intertwined" lines of two private English kennels in the 19th century. It also documents the fact that all of these British kennel lines originated in, and were intermittently refreshed by, stock imported from Newfoundland. Hutchinson does not try to hide the evidence that more than a little cross-breeding took place, but instead provides substantiation of it.
The third chapter, "A Newfoundland Dog's Breakfast," covers the period from 1620 to 1927, presenting, in chronological order, the scanty documentation related to the appearance and evolution of the Labrador Retriever in Newfoundland. The author's thesis is that such documentation is, at best, ambiguous and inconclusive. There is the suggestion that only two breeds are descended from the dogs imported into Retriever and the larger, shaggy-coated Newfoundland. No answer is provided to the question of where the breed came from; indeed, the author implies that there may be no definitive answer.
"New-found Old Dog?" is the title of the last chapter. It examines several theories that have been set forth about the antecedents of the Labrador, some of which are, to quote the author, "not implausible...just unverifiable." He does, however, present a different theory. Since Basque fishermen are believed to have fished off the banks of Newfoundland in the 15th century, long before its "discovery" by Cabot in 1497, could not the antecedent of the Labrador be "a Portuguese breed," the "Cao de Castro Laboreiro" or Dog of Castro Laboreiro?
As possible evidence, the modern representatives of this Iberian breed look very much like the Labrador Retriever. Further, the features of the breed set forth in the Labrador standards in both the United States and Great Britain are similar to those in the Federation Cynologique Internationale standard for the Castro Laboreiro Dog. Also, could not the word Labrador be a construction of the word Laboreiro?
Will we ever really know?
Dr. Ziessow is the Director of the Labrador Retriever Club and co-proprietor of Franklin Labradors Kennel, which has produced 70 champions since 1951. -- Dr. Bernard W. Ziessow, AKC Gazette, September 1999
