Natural History

This Sir Edwin Landseer painting of a St. John’s water dog named Cora has taken several different titles, but it is of a St. John’s water dog named Cora that belonged to a Mr. Alsop.

This dog looks very similar to a long-haired version of Lassie, one of that St. John’s water dogs in Newfoundland.

This is one of the earliest depictions of a St. John’s water dog, dating to 1822, when it was entitled Watchful Sentinel.  Labrador retriever historians know it best as Cora: A Labrador Dog, which they assume means “Labrador retriever” as we know it today.

A dog called a “Labrador” in the nineteen century almost universally refers to the St. John’s water dog in both its long-haired form (which was exported to England, where it became the basis for the early “retrievers proper.”) and the smooth-coated form (which the Newfoundlanders preferred).

I wish that Labrador retriever historians would understand that their breed as we know it today is actually a newcomer.  It didn’t start developing into its current form until about the mid-1880’s, when the smooth-coated retriever strains belonging the Dukes of Buccleuch and those belonging to the Earls of Malmesbury were merged and new imports of the smooth water dogs from Newfoundland were added to the combined bloodline.

See earlier posts:

• Paris was a long-haired St. John’s water dog.
• More long-haired St. John’s water dogs
• Lambert De Boilieu on the “Labrador dog”