MOST PEOPLE IN THE working gundog world know something of the history of the labrador, of how fishermen’s dogs, originally from Newfoundland, were selectively bred by the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury and the 5th and 6th Dukes of Buccleuch to produce the dogs we know and love today. History records that some early labradors were crossed with flatcoat retrievers, but the significant early breeders of labradors strove to keep them pure.
A letter written in 1887 by the Earl of Malmesbury records “I have kept the breed as pure as
