There you were, innocently walking through the mall, when you decide to enter the pet store. In reality, their children make the decision, clamoring to have a puppy.
Among the plump puppies is an energetic black and white little dog. Not knowing what it is, you look at the card in the window. “Black Labrador Retriever” it reads. Surprised, you ask an employee about the puppy and they assure you that he is indeed a purebred black Lab. Purebred? Can black and white lab puppies be purebred? The price is certainly the price of “purity”!
Luckily, your children want that same puppy. You hesitate and finally ask to hold the puppy until the next day. Back home, she decides to do some research. You go online and search the internet for “black and white lab puppy information.”
so sorry
If the information you find is honest, you will learn that black Labs do not come in black and white. Any dog listed as a black and white Labrador retriever is a mixed blood. Unfortunately, disreputable breeders are working to convince the public that these mixes are AKC registered dogs. In fact, with a little crooked paperwork, some can register as Black Labs, but their registration won’t hold up to scrutiny.
Realizing that the puppy at the pet store is too expensive, since it is not a purebred, he decides to find 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 Lab
Any other color, or a combination of colors, disqualifies a dog for registration as a Labrador Retriever.
A black Lab can have a small white patch on its chest and still meet the standard, but even that is considered undesirable.
A black Lab should be all black, from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. There should be no streaks, spots, or specks of other colors. If the dog is older and has some “age” white hairs, that’s fine. However, a young black Labrador must be completely black.
color genes
The color of the black Labrador Retriever is mainly determined by 2 genes.
1. The first gene (B) decides how dense the pigment granules will be in a black Labrador’s coat. When the pigment granules are dense, the layer will be black. When the pigment granules are sparse, 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 produced. Regardless of the B gene, if a dog has the recessive E, there will be little color. It will be a yellow lab.
Variations in several other genes control finer color details.
A black Labrador’s nose matches his coat: black.
Blue, Charcoal, Gray and Silver
Unscrupulous breeders have come up with new names for their puppies that don’t meet the officially recognized standard, telling people it’s a new line of “purity” black Labs.
The most brazenly promoted of these four colors is silver. This is a very light color and since it is sought after by some who do not adhere to the standard, disreputable breeders describe unusually light yellow and chocolate Labradors as “silver” Labradors.
Sharon Wagner, a molecular biologist and geneticist at wigwaglabradors.com, wrote an analysis that concluded: “Silver breeders are also outright lies. They have information on their websites that talks about AKC DNA testing… AKC never did no genetic mapping of silver Labradors nor do they have any plans to do so as they are only a registration body and the Labrador Club of America writes the standard for the breed.”
Dogbreedadvice.com states in a Labrador FAQ: “‘Silver’ Labradors are purely a scam and are crosses with Weimaraners or very light chocolates.”
The color of a black Labrador retriever should never have any of these shades.
You are my father?
Imagine you mate 2 black Labs and nine weeks later a litter of squirming puppies arrive. Three are black Labs, as expected, but 2 are chocolate Labs and 4 are yellow Labs. Ahem! Let the real father stand up please!
You know the real father, no doubt, so how did this happen? It all goes back to the genes. A Labrador Retriever with one gene for dark pigment and one gene for red-yellow pigment will appear black or chocolate, depending on other genes that control black or chocolate color. Each parent of a litter with some yellow pups must have at least one gene for the red-yellow pigment.
We know that we crossed 2 black Labradors, so each of them must have had one gene for the dark pigment and one for the red-yellow pigment. If both parents had been yellow Labs, neither could carry the gene for the dark pigment. None of his puppies would have been chocolate or black Labradors.
The black color of the Labrador Retriever is important to many people, as is the short, dense, weather-resistant coat; the “otter” tail; and the head well defined with the skull wide at the back.
The most important thing, however, is that your lovely Lab is happy and healthy.
