A colleague of mine was given a pup for xmas by her daughter (Dont panic, much wanted and already much loved:) ) She says it was from a farm....bed of straw... lots of other labs about, grandparents, parents etc. These were black or yellow. This litter apparently had half black and the rest were black with white splodges . My friend has one with white splodges. It had worms and was a bit rough but is now much better and at the moment no health concerns as far as vet thinks. I have never heard of a lab with white markings and it made me wonder if this is actually a lab cross. Just out of interest can you get markings like this on labs from unsuitable matings? It doesnt matter to my friend but its naughty to think you have been sold a lab if its not. No papers with dog and cost £150

Could it be a lab x collie?

Crossed with the farm border collie or springer??

You can get "slashing" on a Lab, whereby they get other lab colours on the dogs legs etc... I have seen yellow splashes on blacks and chocolates and chocolate splashes on blacks.
Dawn.

Thats what I wondered. she is bringing pics when they are developed so I may have a better idea then

I would doubt it's a true bred, although very many years ago during the forming of the breed it was not uncommon for "Patched" Labradors to be in litters. These days it is rare for anything other than an occasional white chest blaze or a white paw to appear.

Regards, John

Whilst you can get splashes of colour - i.e. chocolate on yellow - the only time I've seen white is a little whisp of white on the chest, which by Kennel club rules is acceptable on a black.

I would strongly suspect that this is a cross.

It would be interesting to see the pics.

Will keep you posted:)

One of My Lab females  minnie who I sadly lost through Pyometra had white on her foot  and I showed her and she had the most excellent pedigree and one of the top winning  show champion labs some years ago had white on.
I agree with others that it depends on how much white as mismarks are uaually quite small.Ive seen yellows with mismarks as well splashing (looks like brindle) usualy on legs .
The best givaway to wether the pup is a cross will be the ears if the ears fold over she could be full lab if they turn (like wingnut) then its probably a collie cross.
Some farm bred labs can be very poor quality and at £150 that is really not a lot for a farm bred pup.

Could be the owner didn't know the sire's identity and pinned it on one of the other Labs, either way so long as your friend loves their pup it doesn't really matter. A majority of people who need to sell pups, I wont say breeders, will say whatever the buyer wants to hear about the pups lineage, I had a friend told their mongrel was 'A pure bred long haired Russell', he looks more like a Yorkie x but it doesn't matter, he's loved and at least it was a half truth ^-^

I must say he sounds a lovely pup though.

That is funny as MB aka Dudley has a white speckled left back paw which has appeared in the last year ! We call it the 'The Dudley Mallan Paw' Just like her Mummie's head of human hair which we try to disguise with the hairdressers help :)

Dud's paw is very funny as it sticks out like a sore thumb ! With her HD you do wonder with her reasonably good pedigree what went wrong ! ! She looked like a FC when she was a pup ! We do love her though as she is such a special girl ! :D

Lucy
xx

When we got our lab x  (abandoned at 5 weeks)he looked just like an andrex pup yellow and fluffy, as he grew, a white mark started to appear  on his chest and his coat went to a deep gold, by the age of a year we knew he was a Lab x, but we didnt mind we loved him none the less, and he was with us for 14 and a half years, and have to say sometime the crosses are more healthier!!.

"have to say sometime the crosses are more healthier!!."

How an earth? The genes come from both parents. Mongrels or crosses aren't much vetted for their health, thus the common belief of their "healthier" status appears! 

FIRST crosses often are, because the gene for a particulr problem is usually in a different part of the DNA so does not make a match. What happens though is that the puppy now carries both defective genes so any puppies from this dog are now open to the ailments carried by both breeds!

Regards, John

There was a black lab lived near me (definately purebred) that had a large area of b;otchy white on head and chest.  It was very blotch and almsot looked like it had been caused by being burnt.  She said that it had been diagnosed has having a pigment abnotmality, and that area was devoid of all pigmentaion like an albino.  don't know if this is possible?

Thanks John,  .........ours was Lab /collie cross, also my vet of 20 yrs experience told me that probably the best dog to get is either a cross, or a little mongrel, as in her experience they have less health problems.(HER opionion).