Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:46 pm Post subject: The Golden Labrador Curse Again!
A family friend was here on Monday and was fussing Cadbury, her son and his girlfriend have labradors - I believe the GF shows. Anyway as this lady is fussing Cadbury she says,
"My son brought his labs over on the weekend." (between him and GF there are 3).
So then I say,
"One of his is a Fox Red, right?"
"Yes." she says.
"Has he got another yellow lab?" I ask.
"Two Goldens, yes."
"Oh, so they are all yellows."
"A fox red and two goldens, yes."
I can see we are forming a stalemate as she is saying 'golden' as firmly as I am saying 'yellow' as if I am the one who is wrong. And I didn't even try to begin suggesting that fox red is in fact a shade of yellow. But she honestly was trying to tell me that I was wrong for calling them 'yellow!' I think people must get muddled with Golden Retrievers, yet I always considered them 'yellow labs'.
I honestly thought that yellow labs were known as golden til Madisons breeder corrected. I had phoned to see if she had any litters available, she asked what colour and i said a gold one...Her tone said it all..you mean a yellow, i have never made that mistake again and always corrected folks when the asked if Madison was a golden lab....lol
Plenty of people do call yellows golden labradors. My parents always did, and until I got Charlie I also thought that was what they were as it was all I had ever known.
JohnW once told me the story behind them becoming KC recognised as yellows rather than goldens. Apparently back in 1903 (I think) the breeders applied to have Golden Labrador Retrievers recognised as a breed. However, so too were the breeders of Golden Retrievers, so the KC decided that the names Golden Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever were too similar. It decided in its wisdom to recognise "Golden Retrievers" and "Yellow Labrador Retrievers". I think that is correct, but I am sure John will say if it isn't.
Hence, Yellow Labrador. I think though that Golden Labrador had stuck somewhat in the public consciousness, and 106 years later it is still there.
Last edited by Topseyt on Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
i also thought yellow labs were golden.....that's what they seemed to be called when i was growing up.On my first post on here though got corrected,i introduced my GOLDEN labrador then got shot down and told she was yellow.Needless to say haven't made that mistake again
My dad will also tell you that the golden retriever is the long-haired variety of labrador.
Actually, the history of the Golden is even more obscure than the Labrador! (If that’s possible!!) Some say it was descended for a yellow Russian Circus dog. Certainly Lord Tweedsmuir was one of the earliest exponents and is believed to have used a "Tweed Water Spaniel" in it's makeup. (Hence the reason why I always annoy the Golden people by calling them Damn Spaniels!
Flatcoats incidentally had Irish Red Setters crossed in during their formation.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
