The image above is of Albert.
Albert was a St. John’s water dog who was actually born in Newfoundland.
He was among the last of his breed. Well, he was among the last of the lines that were free of modern Labrador retriever blood.
And he had a famous owner.
This particular dog belonged to Farley Mowat, a well-known Canadian naturalist and author.
The above photo comes from Bay of Spirits, Mowat’s memoir about his time falling in love with Newfoundland– and then having a very bad falling out with it.
Albert is described as follows:
Perhaps the most momentous event that winter was the aquisition of Albert, a young water dog from La Poille. As big as a Labrador retriever, he was a sway-backed creature, black as ebony except for his white chest, and equipped with webbed feet, the tail of an otter, and the attitude of a lord of the realm. He quickly became an integral member of our little family both ashore and afloat, where he demonstrated he was a proper seadog: sure-footed, ready for anything, and afraid of nothing (pg. 303).
“La Poille” is on Newfoundland’s Sou’west Coast. It is normally spelled “La Poile,” and it is not very far from Burgeo, where Mowat lived from 1962 until about 1968. Albert would later be featured in an episode of the the CBC series Telescope in 1970.
By then, the Mowats had taken to summering on Quebec’s Magdalen Isands, which are located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the film, Albert and his mate– aptly named Vickie– are shown retrieving from the surf. Albert also receives a bizarre bedtime story from his master, which would give any dog nightmares!
Mowat tried to use Albert as a way of saving his breed.
Mowat believed the water dog of Newfoundland was closely related to the Portuguese water dog, a linkage that, thus far, hasn’t been revealed in any genetic studies. Like many breed historians, Mowat tried to trace these water dogs through their poodle lineage, eventually arriving at herding dogs that were native to Central Asia. These linkages have not been confirmed in any genetic studies, but they are still pretty interesting.
In order to save the breed, Mowat tried breeding Albert to a Labrador, but because none of the puppies had the characteristic white spots, he abandoned the project. There were only four pups in the litter, and both bitch pups died. The two dog pups were given to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin.
These dogs were multipurpose hauling, hunting, and fishing dogs.
They are primary ancestor of all the retrievers, except the Nova Scotia duck-tolling retriever, which may have a bit of this blood. However, it is mostly of collie extraction. All the others, including the large Newfoundland dog and its variants, are derived from variation upon this landrace.
There still are black retriever-type dogs in Newfoundland, but these dogs heavily outcrossed to modern Labrador retriever lines, which were introduced from North America and the United Kingdom as “improved” hunting dogs.
When people say that Labrador retrievers come from Newfoundland, they aren’t exactly wrong. However, all the larger retrievers descend from this stock, and the modern Labrador retriever was developed in the United Kingdom in the 1880’s.
The dogs are derived from animals from Newfoundland, but the “improvement” happened in the United Kingdom and on Chesapeake Bay.
Albert is an idea of what a dog from this landrace looked like– at least what the last of his kind looked like.
One can create a dog that looks very much like him if one crosses a Labrador retriever with a border collie.
But the cross is an imposter.
Albert’s kind was developed on the land and on the sea.
Natural and artificial selection honed his kind.
A dog derived from the cross of a border collie and a Labrador retriever never experienced those generations of selection.
It would just look the same.
Nothing more.
I like the idea of ‘saving’ a numerically small breed or species as from the late seventies to the early nineties I was one a group of people in England breeding to save the (local version of the ) soft coated wheaten terrier here. It made us feel we were doing something special. However, looking back I wonder if it is really the best thing to do when being forced to breed from within a narrow genepool – which is something all breed and species would-be rescuers need to consider (ideally) but we can’t help thinking we are god!
More and more I think that the concept of breed purity should not take precedence over sensible widening of the gene pool wherever possible by outcrossing to closely related breeds or species where available, whilst still selecting for desired individual breed type (in say dogs) among the F1 pups.
Some ‘purists’for example, refer with regret to some infusion of domestic cat genes into the scottish wild cat, but I disagree, especially as the wild cat genes dominate and the ‘hybrids’ appear to all intents and purposes to be like genuine wildcats, being untameable and identical in appearance and behaviour to other wildcats., albeit presumably better equipped for long term survival due to this widening of the gene pool. Obviously a certain amount of luck has been necesssary for recessive disease genes not being unwittingly infused from the outcross, but hopefully in future there will be increasingly better methods available to investigate and maybe manipulate the health of the genes used in this kind of breeding.
That is a long way round to suggesting that some reinvention of a breed like this St Johns Water Dog for example should not be considered unthinkable. However I realise that it is difficult to partially recreate a particular breed concept while retaining the integrity of not just physical appearance but also the way its brain works to complete specialised tasks bred into the original breed over generations of selective breeding.
It is a fact, though, however regrettable the idea may be to those invoved with specialist working breeds, that these days more than ninety percent of all dogs are required essentially as loyal and friendly companions, plus being adaptable in a small pefrcentage for training to help humans with disabilities or other needs. Fortunately even those dogs not descended from long lines of specialised working breeds can nevertheless be trained to many roles unfamiliar to their parents – at least arguably.
Sad that Mowat cared so much about cosmetic markings . . . or that he didn’t know more genetics and realize that there was a good chance of getting the markings back in F2 . . . or select a Lab who throws pups with a white chest blaze (a small one is permitted by the standard, though show people sometimes dye them black) . . . or place the pups with dog breeders instead of politicians. The hunting fraction of the Labrador community cares more about performance than looks . . . there would have been people who would treasure these lines.
The hunting fraction is the reason why the St. John’s Water Dog died out.
The St.John’s is to the Labradors as the Welsh Collie is the Border Collie.
You say: “The hunting fraction is the reason why the St. John’s Water Dog died out”. Please explain. My understanding of hunting in the Labrador community (I’m not a hunter, myself . . . started breeding Labs in Western Australia, where most gundog hunting is illegal) is that hunters, in the US, are extremely diverse. Some are generalists, some specialists, some make a big deal about retrieving competition, others want an all-purpose dog. I was surprised, in meeting a local Lab breeder, to be introduced to a bitch she called her “Louisiana duck dog”. The bitch, who one of her popular brood bitches, had a scrawny/lithe build and looked like a kelpie x Labrador to me. But she was proven as a waterdog . . . who did well working out of a small boat . . . and there were plenty of people wanting her pups for a decent price.
The trials. Labradors outperformed all other breeds at the trials.
Because the St. John’s Water Dog was a generalist, the Labrador was being promoted as a specialist. Hunters literally believed Labradors made better bird-dogs due to better trial results.
The Welsh Collie is suffering for this reason too, despite that it is still a working breed: the sheep-trials the Border Collies excel in caused a shift in popularity.
If it’s as you say, I’d point the finger at what the Ozzies call ‘cultural cringe’ — ie, assuming the Colonial is inferior to Mother England, than to hunting. Trials are an entertainment / diversion for the land-based aristocracy and don’t have a lot to do with practical hunting (or herding). The land race hunting hounds in the US South have done pretty well . . . as have the kelpies and heelers (cattle dogs) of Australia. In any case, it’s sad that the Canadians didn’t treasure the practical land race dogs that originated in their provinces . . . and disappointing that Farley Mowat made decisions based on presence of absence of white chest markings.
Huh? What does practical hunting has to do with the fact that most people are recreational hunters nowadays? Very few people in the western world still depend on a dog to make a livelihood for themselves. Fur is no longer profitable and the wilderness in most part of the world is so remote, that it costs a pretty penny to reach them.
With the death of the fishing industry, all that was left for the St. John’s was recreational hunting since no one needed them to haul nets or pull carts. Recreational hunters tend to emphasize on results– and the Labradors is the testament to those results.
We see this with aboriginal populations across the globe, trialled working dogs and pedigreed show dogs are displacing them as the resource economy which was once dependent on dogs, such as fur-trapping, dwindles. In effect, “city hunters” are replacing trappers and fishermen; and they, the recreational hunters, have a very specific thing in mind. No longer dogs are judged based on their individual merits, but on their parents’.
Yeh, you speak about some intresting ideas. That “dogs are being judged by their parents (only)” is to make the history a glorious one, a holy canon, picture on the wall. We’ve lost the wild as our dogs became as domesticated as we are.
“No longer dogs are judged based on their individual merits, but on their parents’ “.
Dave, but of course a dog’s individual merits count!
However, the individual merits don’t materialize from thin air but are inherited… ;
If you breed – or even buy a dog – you´d pay great attention to parents and even further on on the line, shouldn’t you.
The more I read about this landrace, the more convinced I become that the Chesapeake Bay Retriever is its closest “heir apparent”. Webbed toes, wavy coat, thick rudder-like tail, strong, good for water or upland game, indifference to cold temperature, they all fit. Based on what you’ve said in re color recessivity in the past, the color isn’t a problem either.
In Albert I see not the collie. He’s a good mutt, of ancient, and very well mixed breeds.
“ancient, and very well mixed breeds” . . . isn’t that the definition of a land race?
Yeh. But hey, doesn’t he resamble the Chessie in the face, too !
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[…] as an officially-recognized breed. Instead, the Labrador Retrievers displaced the old-time cur. Albert and Lassie became the last known St. John’s Water Dogs. An outport fisherman with a puppy in […]
Interesting! It has been said that the St. Johns water dog was last seen in the 1970’s. Farley mowits dogs I believe were not the last ones. As a kid growing up in Northeastern ontario, we had a black lab dog in the late 70s to early 80s that was all black with the same style markings and many other people of the time had the same type of black lab dogs. None of these dogs were registered or recognized but were just very common to see. I think the St. Johns waterdog was common to ather areas of canada and not just Newfoundland. Yes I do agree the old black lab / St. Johns water dog is gone but only because now one decided to recognize the breed in time to save it from the new introduction of the english and american variety of labrador retriever. We used our old lab to retrieve water fowl and so did many others. The first purebred labs I seen were smaller dogs too but were only to be ruined by fanciers breeding the dog into the heavy ,fat , clumsy mess that they are today lol. The american dog is much more of a hunting retriever then that english show breed. I do have fond memories of the old black and white lab/ st. johns dog.