Labrador History

Labrador History

The Labrador Retriever is considered a breed of English origin. The initial standard was established by the English who fixed the current Labrador type.
Today's Labrador is the direct descendant of the "black water dogs" imported from Newfoundland to England as early as 1814. At that time, two types of dog coexisted in Newfoundland, the "St John's dog" and the "great Newfoundland dog". The first will therefore give the Labrador Retriever and the second the Newfoundland.

St John's dog was used by fishermen to bring in dead fish that escaped from nets, in these icy waters where man avoided getting wet. This dog, smaller than the Newfoundland, was a best protractor and he was also preferred because his shorter hair did not take on ice... However, it is likely that there was crossbreeding between the two breeds.

The English, who had long been looking for the water retrieval dog that was missing from their panoply of hunting dogs, therefore imported these dogs from St John and crossed them with setters and pointers in particular to establish the current type and create this Fabulous retriever dog that is the Labrador Retriever.

Since the beginning of the century, the breed has finally evolved little, "banchory bolo" (dual champion hunting and beauty) of the twenties, strongly resembles a current Labrador.




The first Labradors imported into France were at the end of the 19th century by French aristocrats.


The Retriever Club de France was created in 1911. First reserved for hunters, the Labrador seduced the Presidents of the Republic then families . The number of births increased considerably in France at the end of the 20th century to reach more than 10,000 per year, to stabilize in recent years between 7 and 8,000 births per year.


Share by: