Canis lupus hominis

A flat-coated retriever/border collie x.

Source for image.

In Rawdon Lee’sA History and Description of Modern Dogs (Sporting Division) (1894), the following dog is described:

One of the best retrievers I ever owned was a sorry looking customer–a cross between a badly bred collie dog and an illegitimate retriever slut. His curly tail would have been a credit to an Eskimaux [dog]. But a dog does not carry a bird or a hare with his stern, nor does his intelligence lie therein. Although the dog “Dick” was not more than forty pounds in weight, and had a small head and jaw, he could carry two rabbits easily. This he did when out shooting with a friend, and a couple of rabbits had been stopped simultaneously by smart first barrels. Dick was so jealous that he persisted in bringing both to his master (p. 395).

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Rawdon Lee’s text has lots of information on the history of the wavy-coated retriever. The author laments the desire of breeders to get rid of all the wave in the breed’s coat, arguing that the straight coat does not provide as much protection to the dog in “rough country.”  He also laments the setter head that seemed to be taken over in the breed, which most likely happened as Irish setter blood was added to turn the wavy-coat into the flat-coat.

The author also discusses the history of the breed, contending that the dog Paris was a Labrador (St. John’s water dog). He also suggests that Zelstone was of mostly St. John’s water dog extraction and had no setter blood. He talks of “pure Labradors” being registered and shown as wavy-coats. If these claims true, then this is very good evidence that the St. John’s water dog sometimes had a long coat.

Within the text, there is a discussion of  the history of the breed’s working conformation. The original flat or wavy-coated dogs were too big and too coarsely built to be of much use– some were nothing more than dogs of the large Newfoundland breed that had been registered as retrievers. Some people in the early days wanted a big, lumbering retriever that “could jump a gate with an 8 lb. hare in its mouth, and gallop with one at full speed.” It was discovered that smaller and more lightly built dogs were more functional in the field– somewhere in the 50 to 68 pound range. That is actually about the size of most working-type golden retrievers, although there are big dogs and smaller dogs within both show and field varieties.

This text should be read by all golden retriever people.  Coarsely0built retrievers are typically cute as puppies but are far from functional. The flat-coated retriever fanciers have the axiom: “Power without lumber; raciness without weediness.” It is not a bad axiom for all retriever conformation. I point this out only because it appears that too many goldens are going back to the old coarse dogs that all the old flat and wavy-coated retriever people tried so hard to breed out of their strains. (I bet  Harding Cox, who extolled the virtues of the yellow and red flat-coats that became eventually became goldens and who also talked of the importance of this lighter working conformation, is spinning in his grave.)

Lee’s style is to mix in some lore, and on retrievers, he weaves in some interesting anecdotes:

Lee talks about heroic retrievers saving people from drowing and retrievers that have proved excellent at assisting deer-stalkers in Scotland– a task the Guisachan retrievers were also given. He also describes a black and white retriever named Theodore Nero who bests a whole horde of well-bred show retrievers and Newfoundlands in  a water retrieving trial. He talks of a terrier/water spaniel cross that was an excellent retriever and of how his own Irish terrier is a very so tendermouthed that he can carry an egg in a cup with breaking either.

Rawdon Lee is a great source for breed history. It does not matter what dog it is. His late nineteenth century volumes on breed history are important sources for all anyone wanting a history of Kennel Club dogs. He might get a thing or two wrong, but they are still worth reading.