Interesting Changes in the Breed

I bookmarked this video some time ago, but it's well-worth watching, even though the video quality is not the best.  What you will see is the transformation of a sturdy, big-headed, straight-backed working dog into a sloped or roached-back dog with a much light structure and a much weaker hindquarters.

Put together by a breeder of German Shepherds, this video compares photos of champions over time--from the 1940s to the early 2000s.  It's mind-boggling to see how drastically the breed has changed in both the "American" and "German" lines.  No wonder modern show-quality GSDs wobble so much as they walk.

Old-School Labs

I found a copy of “The Golden Stamp Book of Dogs” at a thrift store this week and while flipping through the pages, I was struck by the way breed standards have changed over the years.  The edition I have was printed in 1966, but bears a 1953 copyright, indicating when the photos used in the stamps were taken.  What caught my eye was the page about Labrador Retrievers.

The stamp featured a glossy coated Black Lab, which was interesting, since Yellow Labs are by far the more popular of the two main coat colors.  I did a Google search for “black Labrador retriever,” and about one-third of the photos showed Yellow or Golden Labs.  Chocolate and even “Silver” Labs also came up in the search results.

More significantly, what I noticed about the Lab in the Golden Book stamp was how different the body types are today.  Labs are extremely popular in Texas, both as pets and hunting dogs.  The purebreds I see at the dog parks are huge—with wide, blocky heads, deep jowls, broad chests, with thick barrels, fuller, longer-haired tails, and plushy coats.  The photos below are from breeders’ Internet sites and are typical of the purebred Labs in my area.

I don’t have any hard data to support this, but the “Labs” that arrive at my Shelter every day tend to resemble the dog in the stamp photo.  They are lighter-boned, with higher tucks in the flank, leaner barrels, more tapered heads, less conspicuous dewlaps and jowls, and generally have shorter, sleeker coats.  Mind you, many of our animals are what horse people would call “grade” level, even if they are purebred.  And a large number of our Labs are mixed breed, primarily Pit Bull, but also Vizla, Catahoula, or Rhodesian Ridgeback. 

Still, many of our Shelter Labs are dead-ringers for the old-school Labs shown on the stamp.  It’s amazing to look back to see how standards have affected an individual breed.

Check out this video from a breeder of German Shepherd dogs to see how the standards of the “German” and “American” lines have altered the profile of the “champion” GSD. The video begins with photos from the 1940s and ends in the 2000s, and the images dramatize the extreme effects of breeding for specific conformation types.  You can compare the GSD on the Golden Stamp Cover with today's show ring GSD and immediately tell the difference

However, if you’re in Texas and are looking for a Lab, come check out our Old-School Labs at MCAS!