History of British Labradors

Back in the 1500's and 1600's the ancestors of today's Labrador were bred to work for the fleets fishing the seas off the coast of Newfoundland. The origins of the Labrador breed are closely tied to the fishing industry of that era. Fishing was a major driver in the early migration and colonization patterns of the Western world. Over the course of several hundred years these dogs would become the ancestors of the St. John's Water Dog of the Island of Newfoundland.

In the 1700's and 1800's the emergence of the flintlock, followed by percussion fowling pieces in Europe ushered in the age of sporting guns and the shooting of birds for sport. This was an activity that was enthusiastically embraced by the gentry of England. As the sport of shooting fowl became popular, so did the endeavor of using dogs to find and fetch the harvest.

The main two early breeders of the Labrador were the 5th Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland and the 2nd Earl of Malmesbury in southern England. The Duke of Buccleuch bred them for their excellence as gundogs for his estates in Scotland. The Earl of Malmesbury bred them for use in duck shooting on his estate at Heron Court on the South Coast of Dorset, because of the Labrador's acknowledged expertise in waterfowling.

​The two breeding programs flourished independently until the early 1880's when the the 6th Duke of Buccleuch and the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury met by chance while shooting. The Earl of Malmsbury subsequently gave to Buccleuch some of his impressive waterfowling Labradors, and the rest is history.

Shortly after the death of the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury in 1889, the Malmesbury kennel died out, leaving his strain to be preserved by the Dukes of Buccleuch. The Buccleuch Kennels are unique in that the original strain of Labrador imported in the 1830's has been strictly maintained to the present day.

British Labradors as Product of Field Trial Breeding Selection
Working Labradors in England are heavily influenced by the relatively small population of Labradors that are actively bred and trained for competition in retriever field trials. The typical successful field trial Labrador in England tends to be calm of temperament, is typically easy to train, has a tendency toward natural good manners and tends to have a genetically inherited tendency to deliver a retrieve to hand.

Gentle Training Culture
The British retriever field trial sector is characterized by a culture of gentle positive training methods. The practice of force fetch training is nearly never encountered in England. Delivery to hand is in the main accomplished by breeding selection for natural delivery to hand. All the owner needs to do is reinforce that tendency by rewarding it at the appropriate times. Nearly all competing field trial Labradors in England are trained and handled by their owners. Breeding selection tends to favor dogs that are fairly sensitive and easy to control.

Behavioral Requirements for a Winning Field Trial Dog
British retriever field trials are run in shooting environments and settings that are very different from American shooting, but the gundog behaviors those field trials require are the same behaviors desirable for anyone's gundog. To win, the field trial retriever must exhibit good manners in extremely high distraction environments and he must demonstrate game-finding initiative and hunting persistence. Typically the trials will consist of two types of scenario, driven birds and walked-up birds. The British shooting scenario is a little different than that of American shooting, but the behaviors required of the gundog retrievers is very similar. The major important behaviors are:

1. Exhibit Good Manners in an extremely high distraction environment

2. Demonstrate game-finding initiative and hunting persistence

3. Leave the short visible dead birds and go for the long unseen cripple
 

Exhibit good manners in extremely high distraction environment
Driven pheasants comprise a large part of British shooting. Pheasants are driven from cover in such a manner that they fly over pre-stationed shooters. The shooting is usually fast and furious with many birds being dropped around the guns and the dogs. The dog must sit quietly in place during pheasant drives during which dozens of shot pheasants fall all around the dog. If either the dog or the handler makes any noise, they will be excused from the trial.

Walkups constitute the other major scenario of British Field Trials. Here a line of beaters walks line abreast across a field flushing birds as they go. Interspersed across the line are 6 to 9 shooters, and approximately 4 dogs under judgment. As the line progresses the dogs must walk quietly at heel while the birds are flushed and shot. After several birds are down the line halts, and the birds are retrieved. The dogs must walk quietly at heel with no badgering from handler.

Demonstrate game-finding initiative and hunting persistence
On driven birds, the dogs not only get the opportunity to demonstrate their steadiness in the face of immense temptation, they also get the opportunity to demonstrate their game-finding initiative and hunting persistence. At the end of the drive, the judges will ask each dog to pick up a particular bird. The judges will select the wounded birds first. The handler sends the dog off on a line handles him up to the cover and casts him into it. Then it is all up to the dog. If he finds the bird he is a star, if he fails to find it, he is out of the trial.

The Cream Rises to the Top

The British have a practice in their retriever field trials called the eye-wipe that helps ensure that the most skilled dogs win at field trials. When one dog fails to find a bird he was supposed to find and the next dog sent for the bird succeeds in retrieving it, he or she is said to have wiped the eye of the first dog.

The British Retriever Field Trial system has done a good job of preserving the genetics of a good working gundog. A British Labrador whose pedigree has a good sprinkling of British Field Trial Winners and British Field Trial Champions will have a high probability of having the behavioral tendencies which lead to proficiency in the three major behavioral elements of success. These are just a few of the elements that we look for in our sires and dams that will continue the legacy of the British Labrador traits.