The blocky English Labrador or "Bentley" Labrador may become a thing of the past if standard revisions are accepted in the UK.
The KC has come up with some standard revisions for the Labrador.
Characteristics Good-tempered, very agile (which precludes excessive body weight or substance). Excellent nose, soft mouth; keen love of water. Adaptable, devoted companion.
Body Chest of good width and depth, with well sprung barrel ribs – this effect not to be produced by carrying excessive weight. Level topline. Loins wide, short-coupled and strong.
The new proposed standards can be seen here. Several breeds are getting them.
I think the standard revisions are also necessary for the golden retriever which is losing its agility, and yes, there are lots of fat ones!
As I’ve said before, the blocky Lab is cute but it’s not functional.
It is common in many breeds for dogs shown in conformation to be FAT. I have even seen fat sighthounds. Frankly, all standards should penalize excessive weight or dogs that are too thin. I have Afghan hounds and they are supposed to have protruding hip bones, because the pelvis is set high on the spine, not because they are kept too thin.
Believe it or not, this standard did not. The barrel shape of Lab in good quality could always be accentuated with feeding him a bunch of junk. This standard revision also is against excessive bone. It wants an agile dog. That’s a very real change in the dog. I’m sure many breeders will not like this revision, and there will be a fight at the UK Labrador club.
I expect a fight in the UK, much like the one that occurred in the USA during the late 90’s when the AKC breed standard was amended. That ended in a class-action suit, because many winning dogs that fell within the breed standard written in 1957 were disqualified when the 1994 breed standard included a disqualification for dogs that were outside the height requirements.
I do wonder whether the standard changes will result in an increase of dogs in rescue. If a show prospect from a long line of show dogs is suddenly the wrong shape or has the wrong structure/characteristics, will that dog be kept in a breeding program, or will it be placed because it’s value as a showdog is diminished or worthless? How many will need to be rehomed?
When I was at Crufts in 2004, a Labrador won the Gundog group. He sure was a sweet-natured dog, but is this the build of a working retriever? You be the judge:
There is some historical precedent for blockiness and bone in Labs. However, once they were developed into a trial breed, the heavy bone was bred out. They can get away with some of it because they are short-haired.
That dog probably can’t swim as well as a leggier dog. A really good retriever can keep its head and shoulders well out of the water, making marking easier. I guarantee you he would get tired and pained in the joints if he had to run all day in the field.
However he’s not as bad as this dog: https://retrieverman.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/show-golden1.jpg?w=320&h=270
It’s the same cumbersome body with 8 inches of feathering that can get bogged down in a thorny thicket and become so water logged that the dog swims very slowly with its head barely out of the water.
No, it’s awful.
Maybe breeders will start to be more concerned about the longevity and health at this point rather than the cosmetics. If the new standard for Goldens was leaning towards the Field Working Retriever again it would do a great justice to the breed. Possibly introducing a more varied genetic pool and allowing for healthier longer living dogs to come of it. Considering the rise in health issues I’m surprised more breeders don’t just come around and realize this for themselves.
Then the alternative is for those “breeders” to continue to find good homes for the dogs like they do now. Even so they still haven’t stemmed the tide of dogs that wind up in rescue or in the ASPCA anyway. Everyone that looks for these dogs isn’t an unscrupulous breeder or a show fancy breeder. The majority are looking for good companion or a great family pet. It would almost seem that the main cause of discarded dogs is simply the breeders that aren’t satisfies with what they see or the results of breeders who don’t socialize the animals properly and then you have a bad match of dog to owner. Or an uneducated client who has no idea what they are getting into because the seller of the animal is only interested in the money. Either way,.. I don’t see it adding to the problem already at hand. What I do see is things will remain the same just that the dogs we see discarded will look different than they do now.
As a non breeder but lab lover, I am partial to what we in the U.S. have come to know as the “English” Lab. It is a slightly shorter, certainly stockier version of the Labrador Retriever than the “American” Lab. My Wife and I have specifically searched for a breeder that can provide a healthy lineage and stocky breed that does not need to be fat to accomplish the appropriate appearance. We have no desire to show or breed ourselves but simply love this particular dog. If this form were to be rendered outdated and no longer bread, we would be very disappointed, as would many others I am sure.