Silver Labrador
If you’ve spent much time looking at Labrador retriever websites, you’ve probably come across sites offering what they call “silver” Labradors. Are these a real type of lab, or are the breeders trying to pull one over on us? Here’s a look at the silver Labrador, where it might come from, and what this dog really is.
Officially, silver Labradors are a a lighter shade of chocolate lab. They can be registered with the AKC as pure chocolate labs, but some believe that this color couldn’t have been developed without genes from some other breed, such as the Weimeraner. There is no kennel club that recognizes silver Labradors as a legitimate color all its own.
Some breeders might claim otherwise, but they’re either mistaken or trying to get more money for this unusual color. It’s true that these are animals with beautiful coats, but they’re not registerable as silver, and are not worth large amounts of money. If you encounter a breeder selling silver Labradors at a high price, move on to the next one.
Just what makes these dogs silver in color? There are many complex combinations of genes that make up an animal’s coat color. All dogs have every one of these genes, but some are switched on and others are switched off. A silver Labrador is recessive for black, resulting in a chocolate coat. It also has a gene that can dilute the coloration, called the D gene. This appears in the homozygous recessive form, and is written as dd.
Dilute chocolate Labradors are silvery brown, while dilute black labs are slate grey, which is also called blue. Weimeraners are typically dilute, and have a mousey grey coat. Because of this, some people believe that Wiemeraner genes may have been introduced to encourage the presence of the dilute gene in Labradors.
Silver Labradors can be traced back to just two US kennels, originally, and from there back to a kennel that produced pointing and retrieving dogs in the 1920s and 1930s. As far as we can tell, these breeders stumbled on this interesting looking color, and breeders since then have kept it going.
While there’s nothing wrong with breeding a nonstandard dog for its color, there is something wrong with what many breeders are doing. They’re deviating from the breed standard and claiming that their animals are still show quality. They’re also frequently skipping the health clearances on their breeding animals, and rarely participate in competitions to prove the quality of their dogs. This can signify a breeder that’s simply out to make money, rather than improving Labrador retrievers as a whole.
Some silver breeders have also cited DNA testing for silver Labradors supposedly done by the AKC – something that this organization hasn’t done and doesn’t plan to do. After all, the AKC doesn’t write the breed standard. Plus, DNA testing can only really tell us about the parents of a dog. There’s no “purebreed” DNA test around yet.
So, what does that mean about buying a silver Labrador? Most of the time, these dogs aren’t the best bet. You can’t enter blue or silver labs in conformation events, they’re often from poor or unknown breeding stock, and while their genetic background is interesting, it isn’t incredibly special. While a silver lab is attractive and an interesting novelty, it’s not worth paying a lot for.
