Lab or flab?

A reader sent me the link to this US show champion Masti... oops, sorry, Labrador.

© Riverlane Labradors

Compare this to a typical UK working Labrador, which actually does the job for which it was bred.

What are the show breeders thinking?

I wrote about the supersize problems in show Labradors in the June 2010 issue of Dogs Today Magazine:

Illustration: Kevin Brockbank

"Afficionados of working Labs believe the show dogs are far too lumbering to do a proper day's work. They refer to the show dogs as 'Rottadors'. The show fraternity, meanwhile, call the working Labs 'Whippets'. believing them far too slight to be 'proper' Labradors and that their type is more true to the revered standard.


"The big question is: does it matter? Is there anything inherently wrong with simply having the two different types, as long as both types are able to emjoy long and healthy lives? I think the answer is probably no - with a couple of caveats.


"First, I believe it is a general kindness to Labradors to keep them lighter on their feet, given their propensity to hip dysplasia/arthritis - and I mean structurally, not just in terms of keeping them lean. I have seen too many show-type Labs slowed to hobbling, stiff-legged painfulness as they grow older.


"And second, I think it matters because of the continuing delusion among show breeders that they are breeding the 'correct' dog despite the fact that it doesn't do the job it was bred to do and looks absolutely nothing like the dogs that the original breed standard was written to reflect."

A pdf of the whole article is downloadable from here. It can be reproduced for non-commercial use as long as myself, illustrator Kevin Brockbank and Dogs Today Magazine are credited.