Natural History

This is a description of a curly-coated and a wavy-coated retriever in The Dogs of the British Islands: Being a Series of Articles and Letters by Various Contributors, Reprinted from the “Field” Newspaper (1872)  by John Henry Walsh (“Stonehenge”):

Windham, the property of Mr. Gorse, is a good example of the wavycoated dog; and Jet, in the possession of the same gentleman, is, perhaps, the best specimen of a curly-coated one ever exhibited to the public. The flatcoated dog gained the first prize in Birmingham three years in succession, besides numerous first prizes at other shows. He has frequently been passed over for Jet, or Jet has been put aside for him. His powers of scent are excellent, and we understand him to be broken well, but he is rather hardmouthed, and this fault we hold to be hereditary. Jet, on the other hand, carries alive, and having carried a live pigeon for any length of time, will let it fly from his mouth at a given signal. He is a good water-dog, and a very genial companion. He has won as many, perhaps more, prizes than any dog shown. In 1865 he took the first prizes at Bradford, Brighton, and Leeds, and received the first prize and gold medal at Paris (pg. 90).

The size of the two dogs is given following this description. Windham, the wavy coat, is listed as having a height  at the withers that is 2 feet, 3 inches (27 inches) and a weight of 84.75 pounds. Jet’s height is listed as 2 feet, one inch (25 inches), and his weight is listed as 77 pounds.

Windham looks a lot like the larger wavy-coats that were popular in the early days of the fancy– big and Newfoundlandish. His description also points to a somewhat larger dog than the modern flat-coated retriever. The depiction of the two dogs is not proportional. Windham appears to be a smaller dog than Jet, but that size is not reflected in the description of their size.

The description of Jet points to a slightly smaller animal than the modern curly-coated retriever. It is also notable that his working characteristics are superior to Windham, who was a  hard-mouthed wavy. Most of these older accounts claim that the curly was inferior to the wavy or flat-coated retriever. The wavy-coat did take off because it was generally perceived to be a better working or trial animal, but it also was the favored breed of Sewallis Shirley, the founding president of the Kennel Club. Having that sort of patronage within the early days of the fancy certainly helped this breed become firmly established in Britain from the mid-nineteenth century until the early twentieth century as the prototypical “English retriever.”

Class and politics likely played a role in the rise of the flat-coated/wavy-coated retriever. The curly didn’t have the right people advocating for it, and the notion that it had spent some of its development as the “poacher’s retriever” didn’t endear it to the shooting sportsmen of the landed classes.

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Also of note in this Stonehenge edition is a description of the St. John’s water dog:

An English retriever, whether smooth or curly-coated, should be black or black-and-tan, or black with tabby or brindled legs, the brindled legs being indicative of the Labrador origin. We give the preference, from experience, to the flat-coated or short-coated small St. John’s or Labrador breed. These breeds we believe to be identical. The small St. John’s has marvellous intelligence, a great aptitude for learning to carry, a soft mouth, great strength, and he is a good swimmer. If there is any cross at all in this breed it should be the setter cross (pg. 89).

Two important parts of this description are of interest:

The first is that the St. John’s water dog (which some accounts called “Labradors’) very clearly came in a smooth-coated or feathered varieties. “Flat-coated” and “short-coated” clearly do not mean the same thing in this context. The feathered St. John’s water dog likely became more common among the first of these dogs imported to Newfoundland.  The fisherman of Newfoundland preferred the smooth-coated dogs of this breed to work on their ships, and any long-haired puppies that were produced in these litters would have been among those most likely to be sent to England for sale.

The other point of interest is the discussion of brindle or “tabby”  as being indicative of the “Labrador origin.”

Brindle could have come from brindle cur dogs that were brought to Newfoundland, or they could come from the brindle Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a Portuguese farm dog that may have accompanied fisherman from that country to Newfoundland. This dog is somewhat similar in appearance to a brindle Labrador retriever, and it may explain why certain retriever breeds, such as curlies and Chessies, have reputations as great watch dogs.

Perhaps the word  use of the word “Labrador” for dogs of this type comes from a misunderstanding of the word “Laboreiro.” After all, the place called Labrador was included in the colony of Newfoundland, even though it is clearly on the North American mainland. When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, it was just called “Newfoundland.” However, an amendment to Canada’s constitution in 2001 officially changed its name to Newfoundland and Labrador.

But the water dogs that came from the region were all from the island of Newfoundland. The only indigenous dogs to Labrador are a sled dog breed called a “Labrador husky” (not a Labrador retriever/husky mix) and various Native American dogs, such as this “canoe dog.”

Whatever its origins, brindle still pops up in modern Chesapeake bay retrievers and Labradors. It is also likely that golden retrievers mask brindle markings with their e/e genotype. (See this account of a litter of golden retriever/Malinois mixes to see the brindles.)

How that brindle got there is still a question, but it may be that this relatively obscure breed of Portuguese farm dog is part of the answer. Because brindle is a dominant trait (although it is recessive to dominant black), it would not take very many dogs of this type to establish this trait within the population of water curs of Newfoundland.