Labrador chocolat

The origins of chocolate

The Chocolate Labrador generally came out of anonymity in the 1970s, mainly in England, the cradle of the breed, but also in Sweden and the USA. Exclusively black when the English fixed the race at the beginning of the 20th century, then yellow, the arrival of the chocolate color left no one indifferent: the purists finding in it all the faults of the earth (these are not real Labradors, chocolates have a different behavior from other colors, chocolates are more susceptible to diseases...).

The chocolate Labrador is however a Labrador like the others...

From its origin, the black Labrador carried the colors yellow and chocolate in its genes... it took longer for the selection to be expressed because in particular the recessiveness of the chocolate color means that the 2 parents must be at least carrier color so that it can express itself. There have always been a few chocolate subjects, but no selection on color, black remaining the standard. It was not until 1970 that English breeders began to specialize in the selection of chocolate Labradors.

"50 shades" of chocolate

The coat color of a chocolate Labrador can vary from a light brown to a very dark brown, almost black. Generally, a dark coat is more popular than a light coat. In theory, the coat of a chocolate Labrador like that of a black Labrador must present a uniformity of hue.
In fact, the standard tolerates a white spot on the chest, white on the legs, scattered white hairs, bolo-pats (tufts of white hairs on the back of the legs). Bolo-pats are even considered a quality criterion.
When the dog moults, the undercoat lightens before falling out, giving the Labrador that "50 shades of chocolate" look.This is also true on blacks which then have mahogany reflections on the coat, due to the undercoat which turns brown before falling, and makes some people say that the Labrador is a carrier of the chocolate gene because it has brown traces. , nothing to see you will have understood it!

The dark coat is often more sought after in the chocolate Labrador, yet there are still certain beliefs about obtaining a dark coat color:

A real chocolate is a pure chocolate (without yellow!)
Use a black stallion carrying chocolate and avoid marriages between chocolate!

Today with hindsight, neither yellow nor black play in the composition of very dark chocolate dresses but unfortunately beliefs die hard...
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embarrassed Chocolate x gene YELLOW = Milk chocolate
LabradorChocolate x Labrador Black =Cdark chocolate

Indeed, if a chocolate dog comes from blacks, it is the parents who provided the chocolate gene, in this case the black gene was not transmitted, so it cannot in any way influence the color of the dog. ..
Many chocolate Labradors carry the yellow color and have a very dark coat.
Marriages of chocolate colored Labrador lines do not produce lightening of their color.

The hue of the color is carried by the gene, if we want to obtain dark hues, we must choose parents from lines where the hues are dark.In fact, if the presence of yellow in the chocolate lines, if it has no influence on the tint of the dogs, it is can be researched because it can generate yellow dogs with chocolate pigmentation (bbee genotype), we call these dogs of the "Yellow-liver" (Yellow-chocolate), or "Pale face" (pale face). These dogs are true Labradors in every sense of the word, but their pigmentation, brown nose and pale pigmentation make them atypical. In France they are refused confirmation under the criterion of lack of pigmentation. These dogs can also be the result of a marriage between two yellows who each carry the chocolate gene.

He has gun eyes

Another criticism often made of the chocolate Labrador: he has light eyes. Indeed, some lines have presented, and still present very light eyes, sometimes even yellow. This "defect" is in fact, like the tint of the chocolate color, in no way linked to the color of the coat, but depends on the presence of a gene "light eyes" surely present in common in the initial lines with the gene carrying chocolate color.
A Labrador with a line with a good eye color will have a good color himself, regardless of the coat color of his parents.
The main thing is to select breeders with the desired color. It is also necessary to judge a subject on the harmony between the color of the coat and the color of the eye.
The color of the eye of the chocolate Labrador also has the particularity of slowly evolving towards brown and it is often downgraded in the young classes in exhibition on this sole criterion...

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