Natural History

Posted in Absolute Piffle | 6 Comments

6 Responses

1. on February 23, 2011 at 10:15 pm Jess

   Does that mean it retrieves demons? Is there really a use for that? Maybe for an exorcist.

   
   
   • on February 23, 2011 at 10:17 pm retrieverman

     If it retrieves demons, then golden retrievers retrieve….

     Gold!

     
     
     • on February 23, 2011 at 10:53 pm OspreySong

       But then labrador retrievers retrieve labradors?

       
       
       • on February 23, 2011 at 11:02 pm retrieverman

         What’s a Labrador?

         In Spanish, it means a tenant-farmer.

         The place is named after a misunderstanding of a Portuguese title. The first non-Norse European to have seen Labador was João Fernandes. The Portuguese crown gave him the title “lavrador.” In Portuguese, “lavrador” means landholder.

         It means the opposite of Labrador in Spanish!

         The actual dogs were named by one of the Earls of Malmesbury, who had a line of St. John’s water dogs that were used as estate retrievers. He called them “Labradors,” but no one knows where he got that name.

         One theory is that the Cao de Castro Laboreiro from Portugual played a role in the St. John’s water dog’s development on the island of Newfoundland (and possibly St. Pierre and Miquelon). Laboreiro could be misunderstood as “Labrador.”

         The dog we know as the Labrador retriever was created in its present form in Scotland by the Dukes of Buccleuch, starting in the 1880’s.

         I digress.

         
         
2. on February 23, 2011 at 10:57 pm OspreySong

   I think I figured out the formula though: Take 1 fluffy flat-coat retriever, let it play in the mud, then let it shake mud out, then tell it that it’s time for a bath or a trip to the groomer. Take a picture, then photoshop some red light in for the eyes.

   
   
3. on February 25, 2011 at 12:40 pm M.R.S.

   …and it leaves human handprints instead of pawprints? Must be the demon in it …

   
   

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