British Labradors
FTCh Pocklea Remus
A British Labrador is simply a labrador retriever from the gene pool presently found in the United Kingdom. They generally have a soft biddable nature, are highly intelligent and have been bred to intensely seek and retrieve game to hand with a soft mouth.
The differences in the training cultures which sometimes exist between the U.S. and the U.K. have resulted in labrador gene pools that can produce retrievers with different characteristics.
Generally speaking, there is less “force” involved in the training methodologies found in the U.K. To our knowledge, electronic collar based programs and force fetching procedures are very rarely utilized in the U.K., whereas in the U.S. they are standard practices. These differing approaches to developing dogs, resulted in quite different emphases being placed on breeding decisions. That, in turn, resulted in some of the differences we see manifested in the dogs from these two different regions of the world.
A labrador from the U.K. is generally a softer natured, soft mouthed dog, while a labrador from the U.S. field trial lines tends to be a dog who can better handle more of the physical and mental pressure that is so often a part of the training process in the U.S.
These are fairly broad generalizations that are not meant to cast a negative or positive connotation in either direction but simply represent an attempt to point out the differences between the two gene pools. There will always be some degree of variance found in both gene pools (“softer” American dogs and “harder” British dogs). But we feel this is a fair and accurate description of what a person may expect to see manifested in labradors from these two different cultural and geographic areas.
The British Labradors we breed at Tallgrass Kennels are strictly out of field trial lines originating from the United Kingdom or continental Europe.
Please visit Our Dogs page to view their breeding history.
FTCh Willowyck Jacksnipe ~ 2003
"A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast..." Proverbs 12:10a
