CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THERE ARE ANY BREEDERS OF SILVER LABRADORS IN THE UK.

PLEASE LEAVE MESSAGE AT suesharry@btconnect.com

Sorry, but labradors come in three colours; black, yellow and chocolate (also known as liver). No reputable breeder will deliberately breed anything else.

May be the guest means pale yellows, if they join they can explain what they do mean.

I came across a website a little while ago, They are being bred in another country.Im absolutly disgusted with the so called breeders,its the results of a yellow and choc mating and i dont think im going too be the only one.

Have a look at this rather interesting site;

http://hosting.northernweb.net/silverlab/

Do you think they are they pure Labs??

Surely not?! The picture of the 3 generations - there has to be Weimaraner in there surely? In fact if I saw that pic in another context I would think they were Weimaraners - albeit pretty poor quality ones!

If the dogs in that 3-gen picture are pure labs, they're pretty poor examples, whatever their colour! Personally I think the colour is ugly because it is so poor - give me a quality weimaraner any day!

Your right JG, they don't look a bit like labs not much like weimaraners either but as you say more like the latter.

i would like to see the father of the daughter in the pic of the 3 gen (i hope you know what i mean lol)  there is a Weimaraner up the street from me called jock and if you squint a little then they do look alike lol

Nice to see they 'guarantee all puppies against any congenital defects within one year. ' - Shame hips can't be tested for until the pup IS a year old at least..........

It's breeders trying to make money exploiting some people's need to be different. I personally don't understand how a person can like a breed but want it to be different! I love Labradors and want my dogs to LOOK like Labradors. Labs come in three colours so it follows that I want a dog which is one of these three colours. To me anything else would not be the breed I love.

My suggestion, if you want a silver looking dog then get one from a breed which comes in this colour.

Regards, John

I believe that these can be bought in the US. Although they are not breed standard there either.
I've seen a few on websites and most either look like very pale chocolate labs, or where a Weimeraner has been sneakily introduced to the proceedings ;-) (There breeders dont take very kindly to that suggestion though!)

In the states these animals are sold for significantly more money than any other colour.

My advice would be - if you want a labrador, go for a standard colour. The less picky you are about colour and sex of the dog the better your chances of securing a really good example of the breed. (You wont have to settle for 'second best' just because it is the colour your are looking for)

If you are looking for something that is unusual I would recommend going for a standard colour in a more unusual breed. If you like 'silver' then a weimeraner could be an option. (although they are usually a much more demanding breed than a labrador).

However, to answer your original question I have never heard of a silver labrador in the UK.

I suppose it's the notion of getting something exclusive - loads of people seem to think that a blue Staffy is something exclusive and more expensive, even though their eyes can be too light to show and their coats can end up looking washed out as they age.  Disreputable breeders seem to be advertising them as "rare" and charging a fortune for them - even though there's a good reason that they're rare!

And wasn't there someone not long ago looking for a black and tan Staffy, even though no breeder would breed for this colour as it's heavily faulted against in the show ring?

there was a thread about this about 6 months ago, it was an americian man who had one and was asking if if was a 'pure' lab. These dogs have 'blue' eyes. my view is that these poor dogs dont look like labs. It's said that if you breed a yellow and a choclate you end up with 'silver'.I have a black lab who is lovley,  the silver did not look like my boy.

I think this shows what we point out on this board time and time again...that when people breed for a 'new' or unusual colour the breed type suffers.These dogs MAY be pure bred but if they are then it is obvious that the breeder has bred for colour without taking anything else into consideration.
Archer

They dont look like my lab, if they are pure i'll eat my hat, poor dogs have just been breed for money i thinks

Heidi

Hello chaps,

I spoke to the man in the US who asked the original question about 6 months ago (very nice chap).The 'silver' lab has to be registered in America as a chocolate, because that is in fact what it is.  It is a very dilute form of chocolate, mostly repeat matings between choc to choc, the colour getting paler with subsequent litters.  I asked about the eye colour, the chap said that his pup had blue eyes at birth and they gradually changed to a pale yellow/gold, (still too light for OUR breed standard).
Apparently some of the silver lab breeders in the US have offered a large amount of money to anyone finding non-pure lab lines in their dogs, I don't think that they'll get any takers!!  I did ask about the whole weimeraner thing, but after a bit of research, found that it may have been a purely 'throwback' situation with the colour and people have jumped at the chance to advertise them as a 'rare' colour. I know someone who has a very well bred lab, from excellent working lines who is black and tan. (the owner is always asked if she will breed from him, but has politely declined).
I think when all is said and done, whatever you call them, the silver lab was an accidental product that some breeders (in the US) have found a market for, hopefully they'll never come over here, although I'm sure that they're great dogs whatever their colour.
LABRADORS COME IN 3 COLOURS ONLY !!!! :)   (and silver is not one of them)

Ali :)

Silver labs? Yuk!! :-(  Why? Who needs them? Labs are good honest-no-nonsence working dogs and don't need pretenious breeders messing about with their colours.

Don't think if the 'silver labs' are pure bred or not matters too much, what does matter is the appallingly poor quality of those that are available to view on line, colour at the expense of the conformation and type can never be right and the breeders and potential purchasers are equally to blame for the poor quality of the stock produced and should be ashamed of themselves, they offer nothing to the Labrador breed nor to dogs in general.