Hello Everyone, This question is regarding one of my Labradors. All four paws have the middle two pads joined at the base. Is this normal as I have never come across this before or is it a 'flaw'. (sorry don't know how else to word it) My other Lab has four separate pads on each foot.

Yes, our old lab had webbed middle toes. :) As they were originally water dogs it was a necessary adaptation.

I've seen it in an American Cocker before, I wouldn't consider it a fault as such. After all it's not exactly going to be obvious to anyone. :)

Dawn R.

Thanks for that and so quickly. It makes perfect sense for the water work. I wonder if it's more of a traditional example of the breed.

Hi Cosijo,

Soory its long (but more interesting in full) you might find this interesting!
(Im a bit of a History buff for my sins! but it might whet your appetite for your breed its lovely when breeders can wax lyrical about their breed and the history makes it) :-
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It's fairly clear that there were no indigenous dogs in Newfoundland when the first fishing companies arrived. If the native Americans of the time had any, the explorers never observed them. Thus it's quite likely that the St. Johns dogs themselves come from old English Water Dogge breeds, insofar as fishermen were the primary people on Newfoundland for centuries. There is also some speculation that the old St. Hubert's dog might have been brought over as well -- illustrations of the breed show a black, drop-eared dog with a certain resemblance to the Labrador. But it is unknown if the fishermen going to Newfoundland would have had hound dogs used for game rather than water dogs.

We can only speculate what happened, but we do know that the cod fishermen sent out from Britain practiced "shore fishing." Small dories were used for the actual fishing, and they worked in teams of four -- two in the boat and two on the shore to prepare and cure the fish. They would have needed a small dog to get in and out of the boat, with a short water repellent coat so as not to bring all the water into to the boats with them. They would have bred for a strong retrieving instinct to help retrieve fish and swimming lines, and a high degree of endurance to work long hours. If the runs were heavy, the fishermen were reputed to go for as long as twenty hours to haul the fish in.

The dog developed for this early work could be found in several varieties: a smaller one for the fishing boats, and a larger one with a heavier coat for drafting. The smaller dog has been called, variously, the Lesser St. John's dog, the Lesser Newfoundland, or even the Labrador. These dogs came from Newfoundland; it is unknown why the name "Labrador" was chosen except possibly through geographical confusion. Charles Eley, in History of Retrievers at the end of the 19th century comments:

The story [...] was that the first Labrador to reach England swam ashore from vessels which brought cod from Newfoundland [...] It was claimed for them that their maritime existence [...] had resulted in webbed feet, a coat impervious to water like that of an otter, and a short, thick 'swordlike' tail, with which to steer safely their stoutly made frames amid the breakers of the ocean.
Part of the confusion over the names is that "St. John's dog" and "Newfoundland dog" were used interchangeably for both the greater (larger) and lesser (smaller) varieties. And the term Labrador has also been used to refer to the lesser St. John's dog, especially in the latter half of the 19th century. The greater is commonly held to be the direct ancestor of today's Newfoundland, while the lesser was used to develop many of the retrieving breeds, including today's Labrador.

The exact relationship between the two varieties of the St. Johns dog (and some 19th century writers listed up to four varieties) is also unclear; we don't know which came first, or to what degree they were related. Certainly the greater St. Johns dog was first imported to England nearly a hundred years earlier, and many contemporary and modern day writers assume that the lesser was developed from the greater but we have no real evidence one way or another. Newfoundland has been used for fishing and other activities since approximately 1450 so there has been plenty of time for the development of the St. Johns dog and its varieties.

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You can look up 2nd Earl of Marlmesbury (1778-1841) whose Buccleugh and  Marlmesbury lines were Imported Lesser St;John dogs.
Really interesting!
Hope this helps..... (and your still awake ;) )

Another fascinating post :) Do Golden Retrievers have webbed feet as well?

That is absolutely fab HuskyGal, really interesting and great reading. Thanks for taking the time to post. :-)