Fifty Shades of Labrador Retriever

The Labrador Retriever: America' s favorite dog breed for over 30 years straight. There's lots to love about this happy-go-lucky dog, such as their extreme loyalty, their goofy personality, and their colors. Many people believe that the black Labrador is the best for the field and is the overall best color, while the yellow lab is slow and lazy and the chocolate is extremely hyper and hard to control. Science has proven that color of fur doesn't link to personality of the dog, but people still believe this anyways. And do Labrador Retrievers come in other colors besides the classic black, yellow, and chocolate?

Turns out the answer is yes and no. Labrador's only have three colors, but they have many shades. For example, there are many shades of yellow besides the blonde that you see on the dog in the thumbnail picture. Or when you go to the store and go to buy some chocolate, you see other colors of chocolate such as milk, dark, and white. But first, let's quickly cover the three colors before we get to the shades and how they work.

Black

The black color for the Labrador i the most popular color for home and field. In fact, the chosen color when the breed was first established was black and puppies born yellow and chocolate were killed. Black Labrador's will have black noses, claws, paw pads, and brown eyes. Sometimes, the occasional white spot will appear on the black fur, but we will cover that in another segment.

Yellow

Yellow Labradors are popular for TV because their lighter fur is easy to see on TV than the darker brown and black fur. Yellow Labs should have black noses, however, many of them have liver noses or pink noses. We call pink noses Dudley Noses.

Chocolate

Chocolate Labs, in my opinion, are the most stunning because of their richly colored coats. Chocolate is also called liver or brown, but dog breeders like to use the word 'chocolate' so that is sounds appetizing to the buyer. Chocolate Labs should have brown eyes and black noses, but many of the dogs have liver noses that match their pelt.

Shades of the colors

These three colors can have different shades, thanks to a word called 'genes'. Labrador fanciers, and those who own the shade, think that these 'colors' should be allowed in dog shows and kennels, such as the American Kennel Club, while they are just a shade of the color. To tell you how the shades work, we need to learn about genetics.

A gene has two alleles, one from each parent, that are paired to create a genotype. This distinguishes a phenotype. Together, this means the genetic coding expresses a physical or behavioral trait, resulting in the color of your Lab. These alleles are usually designated by a capital letter, the dominant trait and a lowercase letter, the recessive gene. And sometimes, the colors get diluted, which means that color is lightened. In order for a Labrador' s coat to be diluted, both parents must carry the recessive, or 'little b' gene. Let's take a break with the High School science class lessons and learn about this unique shades of Labrador.

Silver

This rare color is actually is the diluted chocolate color. To get this stunning coat, a chocolate Lab must carry 2 of the recessive diluted geneotype. Because of their grey color, many people believe that the silver Lab is actually a mix between a Labrador and a Weimaraner, which would make sense hence the Weimaraner's grey coat.

Red Fox

The red color of this dog is actually a darker shade of the yellow coat. To get a red color, the yellow Labrador needs to carry a recessive diluted trait. The red fox color is also called ruby.

White

Did you know that Brian from Family Guy is a white Labrador? White for a Labrador is just very pale yellow. In fact, if you look at this dogs ears, you will see a streak of yellow.

Charcoal

Charcoal is just diluted black. This color is darker than the silver Lab and lighter than the black Lab. These dogs' dark coat and amber eyes really stand out.

Champagne

Champagne Labs are labs with a dark yellow coat, but not quite as dark as the fox red. To get this, the dog must get the gene from both parent.

Bicolor dogs

Like almost all purebred dogs, the Labrador has other dogs mixed in it's blood. It is said that the now extinct St. John' s Water Dog (lesser Newfoundland) Gordon Setter, and English Pointer played a key part in developing this breed. What is the difference between these three dogs and the Labrador? The Labrador is single colored while these three dogs have (or had in favor of the lesser Newfoundland) more than one color. In fact, you can almost always see a black Labrador with a white patch on his chest, due to his lineage of St. John's Water Dog. Because of all these breeds, you can occasionally see a bi-colored Lab in a litter of puppies.

Black and Tan

Thanks to Gordon Setter lineage, some Labs are born with tan markings. Some people don't believe this is true and instead think that the dog is mixed breed.

White patches

As I mentioned before, Labradors can have white patches of fur, especially black Labs. These will appear on the chest either as a small spot, or be as large as the dog in this picture.

Bolo marks

Bolo marks are little white spots that appear on your black Labs paws. Dogs that have these are said to be direct descendants of the first champion Labrador, Banchory Bolo, who had the same spots on his paws.

Brindle

Brindle is perhaps the coolest pattern on dos, so it's no doubt that it looks cool on Labs. Getting a brindle dog is quite easy, given the right genes.

While there aren't really 50 colors of Labrador, it' s cool to know that there are more besides the classic three. Did you know that any color of lab can have any color puppies, unless bred with the same color? for example, a black Lab bred with a yellow Lab can have black or yellow puppies, but can also have brown, while a black Lab bred with a black Lab will have black puppies. However, there have been some cases where a yellow Lab bred with a yellow Lab and had black puppies and no yellow. Happy reading, and of course, Canine Good.