14 Amazing Facts About Labradors You Probably Never Knew

Think you know everything there is to know about Labradors? Well, think again.

We’ve collected some of the craziest and most truly amazing labrador facts to help boost your Labrador IQ.

1. The Labrador is the most popular dog breed in America, followed by German Shepherds (2), Golden Retrievers (3) and Bulldogs (4).

2. Only 3 colours of Labrador are recognised by The American Kennel Club – Chocolate, Black & Yellow.

3. The first dog to detect diabetic episodes was a Lab named Armstrong, according to Guinness World Records 2015. He was trained in 2003 to smell the chemical changes that happen when hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) occurs.

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4. Confusingly, the Labrador breed originates from Newfoundland, and not Canada’s Labrador as many believe. They date back to the 1700s with the St. John’s dog, named after the capital city of Newfoundland.

5. This area’s small water dogs were bred with Newfoundlands, producing a breed known as the St. John’s Water Dog, the ancestor of today’s Lab.

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6. The third Earl of Malmesbury was the first person to call the dogs Labradors and the name gained popularity in North America.

7. In 1903 the Labrador was recognised as a distinct breed by The English Kennel Club.

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8. According to the Book of Guinness World Records, the largest single-breed dog walk involved 700 Labradors on a 5km stroll in Warsaw, Poland, on the August 29 2010.

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9. More than one colour of puppy can be born in the same litter.

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10. Their dedication to pleasing their owners is one of the main reasons why they are one of the most reliable and common breeds to be selected as therapy and rescue dogs.

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11. Labradors have an extremely high pain threshold, making them excellent dogs for rescue work. It also means if your Lab is in pain it can be harder to spot than other breeds.

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12. The longest distance that a lost dog has walked to find his way home was a labrador/boxer cross named Jimpa, who turned up at his old home in Pimpinio, Victoria, after wandering a huge 3,218 km across Australia.

13. The surrogate mother of the first cloned dog to survive birth was a golden labrador.  The cloned puppy, known as Snuppy, was made when a donor egg cell was fused with DNA from the ear from a male Afghan hound, before being transferred to the labrador mummy.

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14. The World Record for the most bottles recycled by a dog belongs to a Labrador. Tubby has recycled over 26,000 plastic bottles over the last six years in The UK by ‘collecting them on his daily walks, crushing them, and passing them to his owner’.