John Grogan wrote Marley and Me. It is the story of a particularly wild yellow Labrador from performance lines that unfortunately wound up living in a suburban household. As one might expect from a dog of this type in that particular situation, he sort of went wild tearing things up.
As anyone who has read the book or seen this movie, Marley has passed on.
His successors, as of 2009, are two very different Labradors.
The dog on the right is Gracie, a brown-skinned yellow dog from performance lines.
And the other dog is Woodson, a conformation-type Labrador who was among 27 yellow Lab pups played the young Marley in the film.
Gracie is typical of performance-bred Labradors. She’s quite gracile and athletic, designed for speed on both the land and the water. Not many performance Labradors are brown skinned yellows. Brown skin is indicative of chocolate ancestry somewhere in the dog’s history, and most performance Labradors are black and a small percentage are yellows. Virtually none are chocolates.
But she’s still obviously of that type.
Woodson is a pale yellow, which some people think is actually white. It’s not. He’s also a black-skinned yellow. Most conformation-type yellow Labradors are paler in color, and because the standard essentially prefers black skin pigment over brown in yellows, there is a selection for dogs that have this sort of polar-bearish appearance.
The Labrador retriever is the most common dog in the United States. It may be the most common purebred dog in the entire world.
And because they exist in so many different places and are used for so many different things, they have quite a bit of variance in appearance and type.
The performance vs. conformation types is just one division within the breed.
There are many different flavors of Labrador.
I never read the book,Why did he get a performance based lab (Marley) in the first place, if what he wanted was a house pet?
The book is basically a manual on how to be the worst dog owner ever.
Sorry but I must disagree. He was actually a good owner – he learned to live with his dog’s personality and make the dog part of his family structure. That’s saying a lot.
The cautionary theme is that IDEALLY you should research your prospective dog”s breed and line,, and proceed accordingly. But that isn’t always done by inexperieced owners, nor is it even possible. in manycases. But the book demonstrates that you can still have a rewarding relationship.
He really didn’t know any better.
How did he come to get a performance based lab in the first place?
In the book, he and his wife were wanting a dog, so they decided to get a Lab because they are all nice and easily trained. He didn’t do much research. He just went to a breeder and got one. It turned out that this breeder had dogs from performance lines, but because the breeder wasn’t that knowledgeable, he wasn’t warned.
Thank you, I’ve learned something new today because I had no idea that labradors were either conformation or performance. I loved the book Marley and Me and although I know that they weren’t doing the right thing by Marley, I loved that they didn’t use his “bad behaviour” as a reason for getting rid of him and instead embraced what they thought was his personality and kept him until it was his time to cross the rainbow bridge..
A fair amount is known about the genetics of variation of yellow color in Labradors. see Pamela Davol’s great website
http://www.labbies.com/genetics2.htm
for specifics . . . I think you’ll find this source also does a good job explaining the genetics of variation in ‘gold’ color in goldens.
Davidol states: “there are at least nine combinations of alleles just to determine which of the three colors the Lab will appear” . . . and goes on to describe these.
Gracie looks like she has bbee coloration (ie, she’s a chocolate point) which is familiar to all Lab breeders. These are automatically disqualified in the show ring. You can get brownish skinned yellows with good strong black points from AsasB_ C_ee. These are totally acceptable in the show ring and should not be discriminated against. . . . though the faddish nature of the ring has favored creams in recent decades, as with goldens. The show ring is not at all color blind.
As for white Labradors, some think their coloration comes from an entirely distinct genetic mix than the cream colored dogs . . . the same color genetics that produce black points on white hair in the Westie. Woodson could be such a dog.
It could be, but I’m very skeptical.
If you get a “white” golden retriever wet and then get it in the sun at just the right angle, you can see yellow pigment. I don’t think the same follows with Westies or white German shepherds or white poodles.
Do the various studies look at epigenetics to see what role they may play in moderating genetic expression of color in dogs?
I found it somewhat confusing. Being a visual learner, I need to lay it out pictorially to fully understand it.
For a good explanation of the gold/cream/white variances, see http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/dogcolors.html Dr. Schmutz has done extensive research into this question.
That last one shud have been posted here–sorry.
Skeptical good. Open mind good. Doctrine bad. Note 1999 copyright on the Davidol’s website. There may well be better information available . . . I haven’t found it. I sense that Davidol has at least the basics correct on the ‘modifiers’ of the genes that control eumelanin vs. phaeomelanin. I don’t have the library access required to sort through her references and see if better information has come out since.
Could be yet more complicated than we think Mary Roslin Williams, one of the gurus of pedigree Lab breeders (book, Advanced Labrador Breeding, 1988 . . . but she had been involved with Labbies by >45 years at the publication date), describes a white coated Lab who had a black undercoat!!! as well as hailstone Labs, who look like color negatives for a Dalmation).
I have seen white labs with black points that looked entirely white, not white with some yellow tints. I haven’t yet found definitive info on the genetics of these, and whether or not it is something altogether different from ‘cream’. I recall seeing some statements saying that the genetic tests required for a definitive answer were difficult. But genetic research is going gangbusters, and what was difficult in 2008 may be easy in 2012.
I own a beautiful choco girl who fits your 1940’s profile pretty well . . . her sire is in danger of becoming one of those ‘popular sire syndrome’ dogs cause he’s sired so many Chmpions . . . but he’s also a fine working gun dog. She’s chocolate, and I wouldn’t dream of taking her into the show ring cause she almost always sun-bleaches out to bronze tints.
I really don’t give a sh#t cause I’ve given up on the Ring as an assessor of quality.
That website appears to be very out of date. At the very least, it is not using the same terminology as is generally seen. The Schmutz page is much more current and standardized.
Specifically, they are using an outdated understanding of the agouti locus which combines the agouti series (tan points, sable like a Sheltie, wolf sable like a German Shepherd or Elkhound, etc) with the solid blacK locus, which includes brindle. The labbies site puts brindle on the extension locus, and it just isn’t.
I don’t buy their explanation of the different shades of yellow at all.
Thanks for pointing to the Schmutz website and paper. Jeez am I out of date. I hadn’t noticed the discovery of the K locus and reorganization of the A and E locii. But as a Lab person don’t find Schmutz very satisfying. I can’t see that Schmutz offers ANY explanation for different shades of yellow. In the research paper to which the web page refers, Schmutz and Berryere (2007) say ” Today, many Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers with an e/e genotype are cream instead of the traditional yellow to golden color seen in the past. The second gene in these breeds must have multiple alleles, only one of which causes phaeomelanin pigment to be diluted or pale.” Which second gene? How do they know there are only two genes involved?
Schmutz also seems to misunderstand the K locus. From what other sources say, K^B, the dominant allele in the series, produces SOLID colors. She calls it dominant black, and says: ” In some hunting breeds, such as the Labrador Retriever, all dogs are homozygous for K^B. In such breeds, the E locus alone then determines whether the dog is black or red.” Sorry, but the E and B loci co-determine basic coat color in Labs. And there are brindle Labs with the ky and or Kbr genes. They aren’t very common, but they exist. The basics of B/b E/e haven’t been changed by the discovery of the K locus.
As to the variations in shadings found among yellow/red dogs– at least in Golden Retrievers, my assumption is that much of this variation may be accounted for by the presence of factors to various color patterns such as sable, tan-marked, saddle, and so forth. Because Goldens (and yellow Labradors) are ee, no black or brown pigment can be expressed in the hair, and the patterns are far less visible– except as the variations in shading. It is plain that such patterns can be carried by Goldens, as evidenced by crossbred litters producing black-and-tan, sable, etc pups.
As to the intensity (darkness/lightness) of color over-all, at least some of that may well be due to other factors which affect the density or distribution of color pigment granules within the hair shaft. Dr. Little postulated the “chinchilla” series of three alleles as a possibility.
I find Schmutz’s explanation easy to follow. The e/e genotype is the one that determines there is no eumelanin (black) in the coat. This, of course, does not effect the color of the leathers which are black if the dog has a dominant B allele and brown if it has b/b.
The second locus referred to is the one that causes the different shades of phaeomelanin – from deep red to extreme cream (looks white). This locus does not change the color of the leathers.
Little postulated that different allele combinations at the ‘C’ locus caused the different shades of phaeomelanin. The ‘Chinchilla’ locus (as it has been identified in other mammals) has NOT been found in dogs soooo . . . they don’t have a name for the locus, or loci, that cause phaeomelanin pigment to pale. Thoughts are there may be many of them but there is definately a ‘main’ one that is at play in many breeds (including Labradors IMO).
“. . . Schmutz also seems to misunderstand the K locus. From what other sources say, K^B, the dominant allele in the series, produces SOLID colors. She calls it dominant black, and says: ” In some hunting breeds, such as the Labrador Retriever, all dogs are homozygous for K^B. In such breeds, the E locus alone then determines whether the dog is black or red.” Sorry, but the E and B loci co-determine basic coat color in Labs.”
To specialize terminology for a single breed is not helpful, IMO. E and B are not the deteminants of basic coat color in dogs. They are the ones of most consideration for Lab breeders.
I mentored in a breed that entertains all colors including black dogs that could carry every color you could imagine. The recognition of K and its alleles is important. There are numerous genes at play in coat colors. Black (K), Agouti (A), Extension (E), Brown (B), Dilute (D), White spotting (S) are the ones I consider the most important to determine first in an dog. They ALL co-determine basic coat color.
The K locus is generally already ‘set’ in Labs so it is one many Lab breeders do not consider, but it is still at play.
“. . . And there are brindle Labs with the ky and or Kbr genes. They aren’t very common, but they exist. The basics of B/b E/e haven’t been changed by the discovery of the K locus.”
Those of us in other breeds do not consider B/b and E/e the determinants of basic coat color as we have as well the full Agouti set to deal with.
As Agouti ALSO has its own types of ‘yellow’ . . . like clear fawn as an example (a’y’/a’y’, B/-,E/-, k’y’/k’y’,) . . . it is important for this to be understood.
Schultz, in her explanations, sometimes leaves out the ‘outliers’ in a breed and speaks to what the breed is supposed to be ‘set’ at.
Wonderful chart here, from vetgen, for those interested in a visual for coat color alleles and their interplay.
http://www.vetgen.com/canine-coat-color.html
The same colors exist in golden retrievers but are never expressed until you get an outcross to some other breed.
This post was about shades of yellow Labrador coloration . . . you’ll note that Vetgen, as cited by another Arlene, also uses B/b E/e . . . so for purposes of discussion, I see no reason to go beyond that limited framework, unless you have some information on how the Agouti or other genes may modify yellow.
B, in the K locus (which I’m calling K^B for want of superscripts) is NOT black. Otherwise yellow Labs, which in most cases are homozygous for K^B, would be black. The descriptions I find, including Vetgen, say it leads to self-coloration, ie, solid colors. As for B being brown, in Labradors, the recessive b is brown (ie, chocolate or liver) and the B is dominant black.
It’s a quirk of terminology.
If a lab is cream or fox red, it is still a yellow lab.
If a dog is black or brown, it is still a dominant black dog.
Cream is a variation of phaeomelanin, determined by other genes. Brown is a variation of eumelanin, determined by other genes.
Black, brown, charcoal, and silver dogs are all dominant black – they are not brindle, agouti patterned, or yellow.
It is equally correct to call a chocolate dog dominant black or self-colored, although one of these is decidedly less confusing.
It would be far less confusing to state that “. . .brown. . .dogs are all of the ‘black’ genotype” , or the ‘self-colored genotype'”, or to use the scientific identification. . There can be a vast difference between what a dog “‘is” genotypically vs phenotypically. To say merely that a brown dog is black, immediately sets up barriers to understanding.
I can immediately tell the difference between hunting, show, pet and guide dog lines when I see a lab in the exam room. All are clearly labs and I wouldn’t go so far as to make generalizations on the health of the groups but it does make one wonder what a large comparison study would find. Guide dogs are my favorite by far.