List of Labrador Retrievers


This list of Labrador Retrievers covers notable individual dogs that belong to this breed. The Labrador retriever is the most popular breed of dogs in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The breed is exceptionally affable, intelligent, energetic and good natured, making them excellent and popular pets, companions and working dogs. They have a high work ethic. Common working roles for Labradors include: hunting, tracking and detection, disabled-assistance, carting, and therapy work. Approximately 60–70% of all guide dogs in the United States are Labradors.
As both the most popular breed by registered ownership and also the most popular breed for service dogs in several countries, there have been many notable and famous Labradors since the breed was recognized.

List of famous dogs

[Assistance dog]s

Cora, a yellow lab golden retriever cross, is a Guide Dog for the Blind in England who holds the Freedom of the [City of London]. Cora is the first and only Free Dog of the City of London since the recognition ceremony was first recorded in 1237 in the year of King Henry III. The Freedom of the City of London is awarded to people who have achieved success, recognition or celebrity in their chosen field. The recognition of the Freedom of the City of London was unanimously extended to Cora at Guildhall in June 2017 alongside her owner who is a solicitor member of City of London Solicitors Livery Company.

Police, military, rescue and detection dogs

Other heroic labs

  • Willie, who saved his friend, John Stenglein, from a wolf attack at a logging camp near on April 26, 2000, in Icy Bay, Alaska. John and an older boy were playing near the edge of a logging camp when a wolf appeared and chased the boys, attacking John when he fell and dragging him and toward the woods. He was saved by his friend's Labrador retriever, Willie, followed by a group of people, and then John's father arrived and shot the wolf. The wolf was found to have been neither sick nor starving, but habituated to the presence of people. John received 19 laceration and puncture wounds on the back, legs, and buttocks.

Pet dogs

Field (working) dogs

  • King Buck successfully completed an unprecedented 63 consecutive series in the National Championship Stake and was the National Retriever Field Trial Club champion for two successive years, which accomplishment was not duplicated for nearly 40 years. He was also the first dog to appear on a United States Fish and Wildlife Service Duck stamp, which always featured a water fowl.
  • Blind of Arden,Life magazine December 12, 1938: Cover - Labrador Retriever, Blind of Arden". Inside cover text reads: "The dog on this week's cover is Blind of Arden, who won the No. 1 U.S. retriever stake of the year on November 21, had his picture taken at Southampton by LIFE photographer George Karger." and stated to be 4 years old at the time. first dog to appear on the cover of Life, also winning the No.1 competition at the time, the open all-age stake of the Long Island Retriever Club, with a "remarkable" blind recovery.
  • NFC-AFC San Joaquin Honcho won the 1976 National Field Trial Championship and accumulated 142 All-age points during his competitive career. He was owned and trained by the famed retriever trainer, Judy Aycock, who purchased him on recommendation from the retriever legend Rex Carr.
  • NFC AFC Storm's Riptide Star, or "Rascal," was the first chocolate lab to win the National Field Trial Championship. He was the 1996 National Field Trial Champion. He was handled by Mike Lardy. He was also a finalist in the 1998 National Open.

Fiction, TV, books, films and media

Mascots and adverts

Notable individuals in the development of the breed

  • The Duke of Buccleuch's black Lab Avon, considered the foundational dog of the modern breed, along with Buccleuch Ned and the Earl of Malmesbury's dogs Malmesbury Tramp and Malmesbury June, all pivotal in the foundation of the modern breed. All date to the 1880s. In particular, Jack Vanderwyk traces the origins of all Chocolate labs listed on the LabradorNet database to Buccleuch Avon and the two Malmesbury dogs.
  • Ben of Hyde, first yellow lab on record.
  • The two famous dogs that rekindled the modern darker colours of yellow Lab—Balrion King Frost, credited as having "the biggest influence in the re-development of the fox red shade", and his great-grandson, the likewise famous Wynfaul Tabasco, described as "the father of the modern fox red Labrador", and the only modern fox red Show Champion in the UK..

Other

Notorious labs

  • Toby, 75 lbs., who killed 2-year-old Megan Stack, left alone downstairs with the dog, in 1988.
  • A 9 to 12-week-old lab killed 2-month-old Zane Earls, who had been left alone in 2008. The dog had not been fed in days and was later put to sleep. The teenage mother of Earls was convicted of manslaughter for leaving her baby unattended in a swing for roughly 2 hours while the puppy was loose in the house.

Notorious Labrador mixes

  • Tania, whose 2005 attack on her unconscious owner Isabelle Dinoire led to the world's first partial face transplant.
  • Lucky, "Labrador/Golden Retriever mix", who killed two-month-old Aiden McGrew alone in a baby swing in 2012.
  • The pair of Labrador/Shepherd mixes, that killed two-year-old Ja'Marr Tiller, alone in his yard in 2012.