Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Favorite Lab color

We have our name in the hat for an upcoming litter of Lab pups. The entire litter will be yellows and fox reds. My idea of a Lab has always been a black Lab, so this pup will certainly change my perspective. I was just wondering if the folks on the Fire had any preferences as to the color of a Labrador. In all truthfulness, I have never been a big Lab fan, but this pup has me and my family pretty excited.

I prefer chocolate because they hide so easily where I hunt.

Personality traits are not linked to color genes.

I had a foxy red with a pink nose! Best bird dog I owned. I

Black and Yellow! Chocolates are ok. After that they are breeding for color and a lot is lost.

We have an 8 yr old Black female and a 4 yr old chocolate male. The black female sheds hair like crazy and stays wet for hours after swimming in the creek. The chocolate sheds very little and is almost dry after shaking off and s as 10 min walk. Black gal is by Far the smartest dog I’ve ever owned. The chocolate is the craziest. Both are excellent bird dogs in my opinion.

Yellow is a recessive gene in labs from what I understand, but they're my favorite anyhow. Chocolates have genes even more removed from the original breeding, I believe.
Hell, I don't know. I do love me some labs though.

I've hunted over the gamut of all colors including red and white, and I found no correlation between their color and their personality or hunting ability. Some are absolutely retarded and some are really smart. Most are in between. Their (non-color) genes may be the biggest factor, much like with people.

Presently have a chocolate and black. Have had yellow. Color doesn't matter as they all have their own personalities and are loved like kids.

I've had em all. This time I looked for a yellow and waited until I found the right litter. He just turned three but he's the best I've ever had.

Don't know if it makes any difference to the doves or waterfowl but it seems to me a yellow would blend in to more terrain than a black from above. I've only owned blacks or yellows, four blacks two yellows. They've all had some differences in personality but were good hunters and overall typical Labs. One yellow, a $100 female with a not so great pedigree, took a little more time but by the end of her second year was as good an overall hunter as any.

Chocolate for the win!

Good looking dogs.

43,
If that was for me, thank you. Pic is of three generations of a line I've been working on. Pic taken camping after a 10 mile hike.. well 10 for me.
Here's the 4th generation, and she's a killer. Will be having a litter this late spring.
Dan

It's time to get our four year old Black Lab female a companion. We went and met a breeder yesterday. She's got a litter of Yellows due next week. After losing Joe, who's my avatar, I really wanted another Yellow male. Then we had the opportunity to get a pup from a really well bred all Black litter. Growing up we had one Yellow and the rest were all Black. I don't know how I never noticed, but the black hair is much easier to deal with than the white. Maybe if I wore more white leisure suits I'd feel differently. I'm not sure what were going to do.

longarm,

That was for your dogs. Your 4th gen. female has got the "look". I've got an 18 month black male that has that same look in it's eye, saying shoot something. It's good when you find they've got the drive and better when they get a little older and mellow out some.

TimberRunner,

Your yellow looks like the one we lost Dec 26-2020. He's a good looking dog too. That goose he's holding appears to be still alive but he's got it under control.

The yellow hair is wild. It's always blowing out and to me seems way worse than the other colors.

Thanks for the kind words 43. That was after about a 350 yard blind. It helped that the white goose was sitting on an open sheet of water but he did good on that one. Hes young in that pic, he's filled out a bit more. As my vet told me at the end of duck season, "he's fit and looks good but could stand to eat a bon - bon or two and it wouldn't hurt him." 😀

I probably should run him in some hunt tests. I haven't played that game for a while but he's really good and I'm pretty sure I could title him with very little work. For some reason these days I'm just interested in hunting them and don't care about the games as much.

I love all the Labs I've met and worked with. But for the dog's safety I prefer a color that stands out against the typical hunting terrain in the area.

So I'd prefer a black or red or choco Lab in places where the main bird hunting may be on snowy backgrounds, or in CA where the usual background is often yellowed dead grass or brown desert soil. In dark green places like the Southeast, a yellow or white Lab would be fine.

Understand that obedience is also a major safety factor, so a good learner is paramount and a more important factor overall than color, for sure. But in over sixty years of bird hunting I have seen what a shotgun does to a good dog, and ANYTHING that avoids that is desirable. If you can't see them, it makes it more likely that you or somebody else might shoot them.

(To me the PURTIEST are the yellow fellows....).

Labs are my favorite dogs. I like yellow best but black and chocolate are fine too.

I am getting pick of the litter on an upcoming breeding.
I am going to get another yellow male.
They blend in so much better in corn stalks.
The sire is a half brother to my departed Trap.
He's 85 pounds, and the dam is long legged and 70 lbs.
We've decided on a call name of Finn.

Best of luck splatter!!!!!

Thank you.
Lee most likely will keep him for a year to get him started. I don't wanna screw it up !!!

Yellow or black for me, right after great genetics and proper conformation!

If any animal is purposely bred for a specific color- by default you are forced to accept whatever other genetic traits may be present in the parents.

Yellow is in fact dominant in that a dog with one copy of the yellow gene will be yellow regardless of its gene for black or brown. Black and brown share the same locus and black is dominant over brown. Thus you can have yellow dogs with either black noses/lips or brown noses/lips. Two brown dogs bred can ONLY have brown puppies. Two black dogs bred could have either black or brown puppies. Yellows bred together may have puppies of all three colors.

All labs are great and most dogs are better than the majority of people.

a Dudley. i have a yellow with the pink. her sister was choco with the brown nose. the choco passed this spring at 15, rosie the yellow is almost 16 and slipping.
i love em all but the chocolate's seem to have the most independent nature. mine flipped me the bird every time i missed. the yellow we have sheds like a cottonwood tree. have to vacum the house everyday of there is 2 inches of hair

tcp,
Can't help but agree fully with your last sentence. However re the genetics of coat color I respectfully believe this is a better explanation:

https://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-colors/#black-chocolate-Labrador-origins

"Mating Two Yellow Labradors
Two yellow Labradors mated together will never throw brown or black puppies. All their offspring will be yellow.

This is because yellow dogs do not possess the big E gene which is needed to switch off the masking effect."

Longarm,

Thanks for the correction. I was responding from my memory. Here is an equally good explanation with a little more detail

http://www.oakhillkennel.com/library/color.html

100%

This Can Not Be Stressed Enough!

^ Actually there is nothing particularly revelatory about that statement. In EVERY breeding one is "forced to accept" the genetics of the parents.
Sure, if someone is breeding primarily for color AND is willing to accept negative traits in the parents simply because the breeding will result in offspring of a preferred color, then they are breeding poorly/irresponsibly.

Silver, Red, etc are breed for color! Black, Yellow, and Chocolate are not forced colors. You agree in your own words with my statement!

Sure, if someone is breeding primarily for color AND is willing to accept negative traits in the parents simply because the breeding will result in offspring of a preferred color, then they are breeding poorly/irresponsibly.

"You agree in your own words with my statement!"
Is that a first?

I'm a big fan of the three standard colors in Labs. It's been awhile since I read up on silvers, but I seem to remember that there were some skin issues being introduced by focusing solely on that color in a breeding program. First breeder to report them happened to also be breeding Weimaraners..

Not a Lab guy at present, but if I was “nose, desire, size and temperament” would be the first priorities...have those in the right combination and I would be content with whatever they had.

I have no idea, I don't keep up with you and your positions.

It isn't just skin and medical issues. Breeding for colors has introduced weaker genes that effect a lot of the dogs behaviors and capabilities like drive, instinct, temperament, and also confirmation standards. Lab's outside of the Standard Black, Yellow, and Chocolate I would steer clear away from. They are novelties not gun dogs.

sad doing this to hunting dogs. Labs have enough health issues with the over breeding

I wouldn't even take a chocolate myself. Black or yellow, those are the choices. Everything else is a novelty, as stated.

I agree but Chocolate's do occur regularly without manipulation so I included them. Myself I rather have a Chessie, but if I were to get a lab it would be black or yellow.

A friend of mine big in the hunt test scene told me that off colors do get titled. BUT he said the best of the best in natural colors vs bred colors is night and day. Personally I have only seen a handful of Silvers, a few whites and reds. None of which impressed me in the least.

I mean, if you just want a dog to look at, then knock yourself out. No shame in that. Just know what you're getting into. 12-15 years of your life and his intertwined. Make it what you want it to be.

Again, it appears you are seeking an argument where there isn't one. Maybe have a glass of milk and a nap?
No one has argued in this thread for red or silver labs.

You may want to re-read your original post. I never said anyone argued over red or silvers. I stated why they should stay clear of them and why they are a novelty dog and not a gundog. You have added zero to this thread.

Do you even own a dog, Champ?

Yellow and Chocolate. The black ones I’ve had were crazy.

Well, you’re way wrong on most stuff here, but it just appears you’re misinformed and proud of it.

‘Red’ is the original ‘yellow’ Labrador retriever color, and all yellows have differing amounts of differing shades of fur, from almost white, to deep red. Breeding a pair of great hunting yellows, that happen to be on the red end of the spectrum, is in no way ‘forcing color’, as they can be ANY shade and all shades of ‘yellow’. I will say that the lighter, whiter yellow coloring has FAR more to do with forced breeding (among lighter yellow dogs) than the deeper yellows or even reds.....because we’ve had decades of folks wanting ‘white’ or ‘creme’ labs, for cosmetic/show reasons, and pursuing such....while field breeders didn’t push that, it’s proliferated down.

Silver OTOH, is not Labrador color....it’s forced from a particular marker that was INTENTIONALLY turned on, by breeding to something that had it turned on already......which was never a lab, to begin with.


I fully agree in breeding for aptitude and ability, and not show.....but from a yellow owner perspective, it’s always better to breed yellows to yellows or yellows to blacks. Dual recessives (chocolate and yellow) can bring out undesirable aberrations.

From some of your other comments about lab color and breeding, it might be better if field bred labs stayed away from you to begin with.

My preference is Black.

This is TEX. Long gone but not forgotten. Championship bloodline, 98 lbs. of muscle in his prime. He was a great dog:

High_Noon that's a handsome devil. I bet he would have liked my Jackie Brown

They're all nice. I'd just pick the one that was most interested in you, tiebreaker being size of paws.

I have always had black until my current Lab, which is yellow. She is in my avatar.

I have fallen in love with yellows because of her. Chocolate is my least favorite.

Black for me!

I like them all, but like yellows and blacks more, and have had a preference for yellows (especially darker dogs), for years....just as much by luck of the draw, I guess.

My hunting but has had 2 labs out of the same kennel here in W WA. Both English chocolates.

Absolutely great dogs and great hunters. I'm partial to chocolates just because of that.

Aesthetically speaking, I like chocolates, blacks and yellows in that order. I'd steer clear of any silver/white/red type breeders.

LOL.....’whites’ and ‘reds’ ARE ‘yellows’, with ‘red’ being the original ‘yellow’, and both ‘whites’ and lighter ‘yellows’ being the result of breeding for ‘shade’....as much or more than anything else.....well, except wiemeramer crosses for ‘silver’....which is a blight. I’m not a fan of ‘lighter’ dogs, just because of hiding them, but not because they can’t be any good in the field. Over the last decade, I’d wager there’s FAR more issues with breeding for a specific color, with regards to chocolates......as they're the most recessive color combo.

I have had blacks or yellows. Right now I have a 7 year old yellow and a 1 year old black male, a grandson of Apache Joe. I take good blood lines over color any day.

Like that truck bed with a load of geese photo. Had a yellow that looked pretty much like that one.