Pets

Labrador retriever black color: what is the standard?

There you were, innocently walking through the mall, when you decide to go to the pet store. In reality, your children make the decision, clamoring for a puppy.

Among the roly-poly puppies there is an energetic black and white puppy. Not knowing what it is, you look at the card in the window. “Black Labrador Retriever” reads. Surprised, he asks an employee about the puppy and assures him that it is a purebred black Lab. Purebred? Can black and white lab puppies be purebred? The price is certainly a “purebred” price!

As luck would have it, your children wanted that puppy. You doubt, and finally you ask that the puppy be in your arms until the next day. Back home, you decide to do some research. You go online and search the Internet for “information on black and white lab puppies.”

Very sorry

If the information you find is honest, you will learn that black Labradors do not come in black and white. Any dog ​​listed as a black and white Labrador Retriever is of mixed blood. Unfortunately, disreputable breeders are working to convince the public that these mongrels are AKC registered dogs. In fact, with a little dishonest paperwork, some may be able to register as Black Labradors, but their registration will not stand up to scrutiny.

Realizing that the puppy in the pet store is very expensive, since it is not purebred, he decides to look for a real black lab.

AKC color standard

The American Kennel Club (AKC) offers only 3 colors for Labrador Retrievers:

1. Black Labrador

2. Yellow Lab

3. Chocolate Labrador

Any other color, or combination of colors, disqualifies a dog from registering as a Labrador Retriever.

A black Lab may have a small white patch on its chest and meet the standard, but even that is considered undesirable.

A black Lab should be completely black, from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. There should be no streaks, spots or specks of other colors. If the dog is older and has some white “age” hairs, that’s fine. A young black Lab, however, must be completely black.

The genes of color

The color of the black Labrador Retriever is mainly determined by 2 genes.

1. The first gene (B) decides how dense the pigment granules in a black Lab’s coat will be. When the pigment granules are dense, the coat will be black. When the pigment granules are scarce, the coating will be chocolate. If this were the only gene involved, there would only be chocolate and black Labradors.

2. The second gene (E) makes the difference. Determine if any pigment is even produced. Regardless of gene B, if a dog has recessive E, there will be little color. It will be a yellow lab.

Variations in several other genes control more subtle color details.

A black Labrador’s nose matches his coat: black.

Blue, charcoal, gray and silver

Unscrupulous breeders have created new names for their puppies that do not meet the officially recognized standard, telling people that this is a new line of “purebred” black Lab.

The most cheeky of these four colors is silver. This is a very light color and since it is sought after by some who don’t adhere to the standard, disreputable breeders describe unusually light colored chocolate and yellow labs as “silver” labs.

Sharon Wagner, molecular biologist and geneticist for wigwaglabradors.com wrote an analysis that concluded that “silver breeders also blatantly lie. They have information on their websites that talks about DNA testing done by the AKC … AKC never did any genetic mapping of silver. Labradors have no plans to do this either, as they are just a registration body and the Labrador Club of America writes the standard for the breed. “

Dogbreedadvice.com states in a Labrador FAQ: “The ‘Silver’ Labradors are purely a scam and are crosses with Weimaraners or very light chocolates.”

The color of a black Labrador retriever should never be any of these shades.

You are my father?

Imagine that you mate with 2 black Labradors and, nine weeks later, a litter of little squirming puppies arrives. Three are black labs, as expected, but 2 are chocolate labs and 4 are yellow labs. Ahem! Please, the real father will stand up!

You know the real father, there is no question, so how did this happen? It all goes back to the genes. A lab with one gene for dark pigment and one for red-yellow pigment will appear black or chocolate, depending on other genes that control the color black or chocolate. Each parent in a litter with a few yellow puppies must have at least one gene for the red-yellow pigment.

We know that we mate with 2 black Labradors, so each of them must have had a gene for the dark pigment and another for the red-yellow pigment. If both parents had been yellow labs, neither could carry the dark pigment gene. None of her puppies would have been Chocolate or Black Labradors.
The color of the black Labrador Retriever is important to many people, as is the short, dense and weather-resistant coat; the “otter” tail; and a clean-cut head with a broad-backed skull.

However, the most important thing is that your adorable Lab is happy and healthy.

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