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White Labs????


cheekymunkee

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A person I know is thinking of getting a dog from a breeder ( I talked her OUT of getting a pit bull, she's not really the responsible type) who is breeding a Champion (?) White Lab to a Chocolate Lab. I've never see nor heard of a white Lab. IS there such a thing or is she getting ripped off?

Debby

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From the AKC Standard:
Color
The Labrador Retriever coat colors are black, yellow and chocolate. Any other color or a combination of colors is a disqualification. A small white spot on the chest is permissible, but not desirable. White hairs from aging or scarring are not to be misinterpreted as brindling. Black--Blacks are all black. A black with brindle markings or a black with tan markings is a disqualification. Yellow--Yellows may range in color from fox-red to [color=red]light cream[/color], with variations in shading on the ears, back, and underparts of the dog. Chocolate--Chocolates can vary in shade from light to dark chocolate. Chocolate with brindle or tan markings is a disqualification.

I guess defining 'light cream' could be tricky! If the 'white' lab is an AKC champ, it is simply a VERY pale yellow. So whether or not your friend is getting ripped off may depend on how this breeder is promoting the pups from this breeding. RARE WHITE LAB PUPS!-Run for the hills.
Pups from parents of working background and all health checks in place with no special emphasis on color, worth checking into.
I hope your friend knows that Labs generally have no sense until they are about 2 years old and are EATING machines. I don't say that to pick on Labs, many larger breed dogs take longer to mature mentally as well as physically.

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Everyone is right, there technically is no such thing as a WHITE Lab, just a very light Yellow. :wink:
Like Carol wrote in her post there are varying shades to each color, but the colors are the 3 basic colors; Yellow,Black,Chocolate.
Sounds to me like someone trying to cash in on a supposedly "rare" puppy....... :roll: :-?
I myself have a Black Lab/Rott, Gretchen 2 1/2yr. (all black) she has never been an eating machine.......I've practically had to coax her to eat every day of her life. :roll: :oops: ( Labs are known to get obese very easily if their food isn't kept in check and they don't get exercised.)
Gretchen's 95 solid pounds and is a gorgeous girl !! But I will say Carol you're so right about the not matureing till after 2 !! Sometimes I'd say she's still very puppy like !! :lol:

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its an advertising ploy. "white" is not a color in a lab. Pale yellow is, and that puppy in the picture (ADORABLE) will darken as it gets older. It wont
keep that color its whole life. if it really IS white, and doesnt darken. look out. they should NEVER be THAT white after maturing. if it is, it's been mixed with something else, or WAY overbred to extremely light labs, which has the potential for causing deafness. white is not a Lab color.

My Golden was almost that white as a puppy. but then darkened to a nice
medium golden shade. truly white dogs are spitzes, poodles and a few rare others, like malteses. I'm sure theres more, but Labs are not one of them. they dont appear to suffer from the deafness syndrome, like overbred white and merle dogs. I wish I understood why trying to make them white, or very light, when they weren't intended to be that way, causes deafness. Maybe DAL can help. its something genetic, but dont know why it affects whites and merles.

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Actually a lot of them stay that white on their bodies but their ears and head get yellower. Maybe thats why their not deaf? (like dalmations, the more spots on their head/ears the less chances of them being deaf)

[img]http://www.edgeofthebreaks.com/images/Yellow-lab-with-boat-in-wat.gif[/img]

Not a very good pic but a full grown "white" lab where you can just see yellow on his ears and nose.

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We have a few very light almost white yellow Lab's which come in for boarding. They are healthy, the breeders where "reputable" breeders...they sold them as normal pet quality as yellow labs.

We also have a Golden Retriever which comes in for boarding. He is so light he does look white. I would have to really study him to convince myself he is not white. The funniest thing is , we have a lady who boards her 8 Great Pyrenees. She actually breeds Pyr's and shows them (she had top Pyr in Canada a few years back). Any way, she saw the light Golden Retriever and she mistook him for a Pyr :lol: This Golden does look more like a Pyr than a Golden, he also is a purebred from a reputable breeder.
I know that "off" colors happen all the time with every breed. Some times their ancestors come back to haunt you. It takes a great knowledge in breeding to keep recessive colors from popping up. Just like my friend who breeds Newf's...here in Canada Gray Newf's are a big no no...she will not breed to any line which may have had a gray in its line. In the States Gray and cream (or brown) Newf's are recognized...not so in Canada.

I also found with the Great Danes, alot of breeders had harlequin bostons showing up in their lines...the way to solve the problem years ago was to euthanize the pups of the wrong color...not so much that they were unhealthy, but, the reputable breeder did not want their kennel being know for having a "wrong" unrecognized color.
I guess that some back yard breeders started taking advantage of the unrecognized colors (which happen quite a bit) and started selling the pups as being "rare" due to thier unusal coloring. Reputable breeders were (a while back) not selling the unusal colors as they did not want to tarnish their kennel name in the show circle.
There are quite a few reputable breeders now who will sell the unrecognized colors. They sell them as pet quality.
Breeders are now starting to recognize some of the unusal colors which do happen. There are a few breeds which the pure white color can be genetically unhealthy, 2 I can think of off the top of my head are white boxers and white Dobies.

There are a few breeds that do have white dogs pop up which are not genetically unhealthy...but, are not recognized colors with the AKC or CKC...the ones I can think of right off the top of my head are white Shepherds & American Staffordshire Terriers.

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  • 3 years later...

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