I was out with my girl. She has a great conformation. A lady came to say hello. Asked me what breed she was. When I told her a Labrador. She said, "I have a Lab at home same colour." This is not the first time this has happened. I wonder sometimes what these people have at home?

i live in ga,,for year now and i know what you mean,,many times i take my crew to vet for shots,,check ups etc,,and someone will ask me what kind of dog i have,,so many here are long in leg,,sharp snout,,tall,,i just answer that mine are from english lines,,built different,,to which i get .",,oh ,are yours a true pedigree,?",i just smile.and answer,,yes they are...

I've been asked if my boy was part Rott? No, sir. He's an English Lab.......:)

I've been asked the same questions more than once. A smile works wonders and a look up and down at their "lab" if present helps stop the ignorant comments at times. Also, telling them you're a labrador breeder can be of great assistance.

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Replying to:

I've been asked if my boy was part Rott? No, sir. He's an English Lab.......

According to the guy in the waiting room at the vet's office, my specialty winner can't be a purebred lab because she doesn't look like his brother in law's dog who is AKC certified.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I am told mine look like labs but thier legs are too short.
There might be something in that :(

I have been told mine have too much hair, apparently i have it all wrong - Labs should have a sleek, shiny coat
I'll make a note of that for my next litter!

"According to the guy in the waiting room at the vet's office, my specialty winner can't be a purebred lab because she doesn't look like his brother in law's dog who is AKC certified."

Hmmmmm certified eh?
Just what would it take to get a dog certified?
Do they stamp them on the head or something?

Annie

(my son is sitting with me and insisted on the mystery machine being added

I was recently told that I "really should get my dog in for a grooming, that she really needed a shave." Turned out the gal was a "groomer" herself and according to her had many show lab customers.
She even gave me a coupon for a free bath.
I thought of letting my girl go for a romp in the mud and then taking her on in for a little bath but wouldn't really be that mean.
Annie

LOL.

I've been told that that I got totally ripped off when I bought my CH/Can CH specialty winning, multi-BOB, multi-group placing, Westminster AOM dog, because there is now way that he is a purebred.

When I explain that he is in fact purebred, and I get the 'oh, he must be English' line, I smile and say "No, actually he was born in Maine. He's not English, he's correct." That usually shuts 'em up.

"I wonder sometimes what these people have at home?"

/shudder. I don't wanna know.

I often joke with my husband as we pass a particularly unique looking dog "See now, I bet if you asked them what kind of dog that is, they'd tell you it's a labrador. But it's NOT!"

Then I thank my lucky stars for what *I* have at home.

Why would this bother you? The general population that has pet labradors doesn't know what a correct one is or isn't so don't get upset about thier ignorance be kind to them as they love their dog no matter if it is a nice one or not. Geesh these kinds of posts makes me wonder about some people !
Aloha,
Jackie

The pet people are getting more educated. But they really don't care that much. Thank goodness, they are the ones that take the pink nose pup, the one with white on it, the shy one and love it like crazy. All our pups sure do not look like show.

I think the general public's perception is that of a field lab and we all know our differences there. When you purchase a lab calander, look at the photos and you will see what the public expects a lab to look like because we all know that calandars have the best of the best, right?

the question is many people don't care about true pedigrees...english' lines...whatever..
so when they go out and see a dog which is a show dog, for example..they think something is strange and for sure their idea is "this ain't on my dog" her/his dog is the strange one or that strange appeal....know what I mean?
Let me just give you an advice: Don't mind what they call your dog because you know what it is and that's what matters..

I completely agree - most people are just uninformed and there are so many incorrect Labs out there that it would be easy for one to assume the majority is the correct...

However, as to why I think it bothers me personally is because my Labs are like my children and I take it too personal. If a person asks a question out of curiosity I'm fine with that but the negative comments without an obvious sense of curiosity (but TELLING ME that something is wrong with my dog) is what gets under my skin. I can't imagine someone walking up to me and saying, "Your son's legs are too short for his body". I let it get to me and usually say nothing (just smile and grit my teeth) but it is my problem - I take it personal when I should be looking at that as an opportunity to inform someone.

I was on my way to my first show,,, was walking in the hotel lobby and was stopped and asked what kind of dog.

They never seen a dog like her before!! I was a bit nervous heading to the ring

I had an experience a few days ago where I was given an ear full of how my dog was too small for the breed ring (they thought she was an adult, she is 8 months!) I just smiled then they preceded to tell me how breeders and "show people" are ruining dogs because they keep them fat!...Omg I did take it a bit personally ..all I could think was 1st of all.. my girl is a pup and she is not fat!! she is beautiful! these weren't even lab people ...and leave my dog alone .... anyway I emailed my breeder to "whine" and she of course made me feel better...people are something
Lisa

Like previous poster said. Thankfully there are people who will love those pink noses etc. I am sure I would also. I just worry about the public thinking incorrectly of what a Lab should be like. Especially how the over bred chocolates means "all chocolates are hyper".

I hear "Golden" Lab all the time. It does not upset me it is just they do not know. I then educate.

I had a man pull in my driveway for directions and when my girls ran up to him he panicked and asked if they were Pit Bulls.

I think a lot of people assume that because the Lab is the most popular breed that most people know what they look like or should look like.

i had someone ask if my pointed black male was a rott....which was a little amusing because we were walking with my rottie girl and they clearly had no clue what SHE was.......

Jackie,
I love reading your post! You have so much class, people should learn alot from you.

cheers,

For those of you who are bothered by what the pet people say or think about what your dogs look like in comparison to theirs, just remember, we show breeders made our dogs look how they are today and whether that is "correct" or not is just some people's opinion (show people) we just may be the ones that are breeding the wrong type of looking dog... you need to put the shoe on the other foot and look at it from the others point of view, there is no right or wrong here only personal prefrence.

I get calls all the time from people wanting a dog that looks this waay or that way and I tell the ones that want a field type looking labrador that they need to find another breeder as that is not the type i'm breeding.

I myself prefer the type of labrador with more bone and substance but I also don't like them overdone and above all they must have balance or they don't stay in my yard but that is my personal prefrence. On the other hand I had one litter where I had a pup born at 2# 10 oz, he did live and turned out to be to me that most horrible example of the breed in the looks dept but you know what? I love that little guy so much, he thought he was a human not a pup as he had to be syringe fed from day one due to his 4" overshot bite and it didn't matter to me that he was the ugliest lab i've ever seen I loved him anyway and he was from an excellent breeding and his brothers and sisters were beautiful.
Aloha,
jackie

I'm a pet owner with a beautiful black English type Lab and when people ask me what he's mixed with I get so annoyed, It's like someone saying my kid is ugly!!

My husband and I were at Petco picking up dog food and I brought my 9 year old American Champion bitch, Zen in with me. At the checkout a woman in the next lane asked me what kind of dog she was, so I politely answered that she was a purebred labrador. I was trying to educate her. Then she asked why was she big and fat (which she is not),and that purebred labs don't look like that. This is when I got annoyed. I replied that this dog was not big and fat, but she was correct and furthermore she was a Champion in the breed. Sometimes you can't help but be direct when someone is rude like that.

Yes, I agree. Some people are rude no matter what.
They need to say things to hurt others as they have no self esteem.
There are no ugly dogs just "ugly" owners.

A couple years ago I was standing ringside at our outdoor specialty and a man and his son came and stood by me. The man kept saying things like "Look at those funny looking, fat, short-legged labs". He finally turned to me and asked "What kind of labs are these?" I responded "they are correct labradors!" I usually try to educate a bit more but he was being rude.

If it's black..it must be a 'Labrador'...

On Sundays for the past four months, I've been walking my solid black German shepherd female up and down Saratoga's city streets to prepare her for the traffic portion of an obedience test. She's sport lines, so she's a little different looking than many GSDs. She often puts her ears back to listen to the city sounds. Many times people would say, "Oh, look at the black Lab..." and then my GSD would pop her ears up, and they'd say "Whoops...that's not a black Lab...there's something else mixed in there too."

I would also like to say that the AKC dog responisbility TV advertisements are working. While walking around Saratoga, I have been approached by children who politely ask, "Can I please pet your dog?" just the the AKC ad. My GSD is very friendly and loved all attention. And I had fun talking to the parents of the children. Very often they are thinking about getting a dog for the family and they ask questions.

I should probably drop the AKC a note to let them know they're doing a good job with those ads!

Cheers,
Cathy M.

I'm curious to know if some of the "old time breeders" have had these same comments years ago or are our labs really changing and we, as breeders, changing the breed to look differently and not realizing it?

Cathy,

Are you doing a BH test for Schutzhund with your GSD soon? Or are you doing some other obedience that requires a traffic test?

Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth:

We're entered in the BH and the AD this weekend. I think the dog will do fine, but I am a nervous wreck!

Then it's on to CPE, NADAC and AKC agility and AKC obedience/Rally for the rest of her career. (And I will be nervous there too, LOL!)

Cheers,
Cathy M.

Are you going to the BARK event?
Good luck with the tests!

Very often the pet people in question are judgmental and harsh in their ignorance. I have also been told that I am an irresponsible dog owner because I haven't neutered my dogs. I have been told, as I stated earlier, that I was ripped off when I got my dog, and by implication, that whatever I think I might know (having done a ton of research), I don't.

So yeah - that bothers me. Now, when people say to me "are those labradors? They don't look like any I've ever seen before!" I am happy to educate and discuss the differences between well-bred, byb and type.

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Replying to:

Why would this bother you? The general population that has pet labradors doesn't know what a correct one is or isn't so don't get upset about thier ignorance be kind to them as they love their dog no matter if it is a nice one or not. Geesh these kinds of posts makes me wonder about some people !
Aloha,
Jackie