Okay, while I grew up with labs, I am new to the show world. It seems to me the lab in Marley & Me is not very attractive. I know he looks like the real Marley but do you worry this will popularize poorly bred labs?

yeah, because people are going to want ill-behaved poorly bred labs after this movie.

That's my fear...i have never know a lab that came from a good breeder that acted that nuts...maybe i've been lucky. If the Obama's get a labra doodle and this movie spurs demand god help us.

Perhaps Joe Public might see this behaviour as "no way do I want a breed like that".

I once saw a Jack Russell puppy and he never stopped in 2hours of class, and I thought that's not for me.

Don't sweat it. If people buy a lab like Marley, they won't be getting more down the line. The dals dropped off after the surge. It may take a while, but in the long run this may be a good thing.

You may be right however it could very well work to our disadvantage too.
Just think of those breeders who show the more rare, not so in demand breeds...
They are very limited in what they can breed because they have to worry about not being able to sell the pet pups from their litters.
Therefore they are limited in what they can do with their pedigrees.
We take for granted that we can breed a nice litter whenever we want a new show prospect and never, ever have to worry about placing the pets in homes.
Although I doubt it would EVER happen, just be careful what you wish for.

When 101 Dalmatians came out, everybody wanted a Dalmatian, guess who got surprised that Dalmatians are very active dogs, they are not born "knowing" how to behave and think, like the movie portrayed.

Many ended up in shelters, because the ones in the movie weren't that destructive, and active, or dominant, they were so cute and affectionate!

Personally, the ones I have seen in person were quite aggressive in fact, not to generalize the breed, that is my experience.

I don't mind a decrease of popularity at all, I don't mind the poorer image of how silly a Lab can be either, especially if to find out that the dog is way nicer than Marley and provoke opposite effect to the Dalmatians and not have them all end up in shelters.

Amen!!!

They used a couple of rescue labs for the part of Marley ONLY because their personality ( a little whacked) very much mimicked the REAL marley. The movie is NOT promoting poorley bred labs. And the joe movie goer does not know the difference.

Has anyone seen all the full page ads the AKC has been taking out in STAR magazine, the GLOBE, etc...educating people PRIOR to the movie releasing???? They've spent a MINT trying to be proactive.