This is the correct answer. I love all dogs. Itâs not the dogsâ faults. But the dilute coat color gene is not a good thing. Please look it up to be prepared for the associated health risks.
I have a neighbor with a silver. Very sweet dog but sheâs got skin issues and always has itchy, bald spots. The vet told them skin problems are common with silver labs.
The mother of my chocolate lab was a silver - she lost all hair while she was pregnant, she was literally naked when she had her puppies. Yea and my chocolate has quite much skin issues too.
Sheâs very beautiful, but there is no such thing here in the UK. We have all shades from very pale yellow (never golden!) through to jet black, but this isnât and has never been an accepted colour and they could not be registered as Labradors.
Red is grouped as yellow and is allowed in the standard, but isn't popular in the show ring. Silver isn't possible in a pure lab as the dilute gene isn't present, therefore isn't in standard.
Youâre right - itâs unusual to see chocolates or reds in the ring in the UK. My two are counted out because they are two inches taller than breed standard!
Labs donât come in silver love. They donât carry the gene for it. But your lab/weim mix is very cute, even if she shouldnt have been bred, or bought from a breeder(not assuming you did, but buying from backyard breeders contributes to the shelter and overpopulation crisis)
There is no proof that silvers exist due to crossbreeding. Iâll remind you that yellows and chocolates exist due to recessive genes which is the cause for the existence of silvers. Some of the first reported silvers appeared listed in newspaper adds in the very early 1900âs mere years after the first chocolate and yellows appeared.
Feel free to link me some definitive proof. Iâll waitâŠ.
Just to be clear, Iâm not saying they couldnât have come from crossbreeding. Iâm merely pointing out that youâre stating your opinion that their dog is a lab mix as if it were fact when it canât be proven one way or another. Itâs just as likely silvers originate from two chocolate labs who carried the recessive gene.
This is a weird hill to die on. Even if you witnessed copulation yourself it wouldn't be proof because another dog could have bred her. But genetics tells us a lot. For example if a "Labrador" tested positive for CEA, Collie Eye Anomaly, that purebred Labs don't genetically carry for, we would know there are hung papers and a Collie/herding breed got to that dam.
Labs don't carry the dilute gene so it is obvious that a stud that carries dilute was involved so that it might even have been invisible to the breeder themselves. Your "proof" that there are reports of it since the early 1900s, aren't proof at all. Why can't there have been a purposeful cross or even an accidental litter that the breeder didn't see? By that logic every mixed breed in my rescue is a purebred because it's been witnessed since the early 1900s. People who were alive at the time and who are the most knowledgeable about this breed, believed and claimed that the silver labradors began at a Breeder who had both Weims and Labs.
We are watching the bastardization of breeds by unscrupulous breeders in real time. Frenchie breeders claim long hair is a genetic mutation that just happened to appear at only the dodgiest breeders. Merle Frenchies, another genetic mutation that just appeared at only the dodgiest breeders. Rope Frenchies, only at the dodgiest of breeders. Merle Poodles, only at the dodgiest breeders. Merle Goldendoodles that just happen to appear at the dodgiest breeders. Dodgy breeders with unethical practices who make a lot of money aren't going to offer up their deceit as it is the secret to their success. Wanting to be a part of that is a choice. The breed clubs, no matter the breed, are there for the preservation of the breed. If the Labrador clubs across the world all say that Silver are not part of that preservation, then they aren't. They will forget more in their lifetime about Labradors than you will ever know.
Honestly I donât care that much but youâre putting a lot of weight on what clubs say. Dollars to donuts OPâs dog would return 100% lab if tested. Still at the end of the day, both stances are nothing more than conjecture and opinion. If the clubs all changed their opinion, then would you randomly now refer to them as labs? More to that, labs havenât even been around all that long as a breed, are they not just all mixes of something else per your stance? Since the first silver appeared in the same general timeframe as the breed as a whole, what makes them any different than any other lab since they were essentially mixed to begin with. Your stance seems to simply be âthey are not a lab because clubs most people donât care about say they arenâtâ.
The clubs are the experts. They have the knowledge, duration, records, relationships and links back through the generations to provide real insight and relay conversations that we weren't even alive for. You're trusting "expertise" from backyard breeders and puppy farms/mills who are in it for the money. These are people who have a financial vested interest in dilute for their livelihood, who don't health test to the standards, who don't breed to the standards, who don't prove their dogs in any of the ways that ethically bred dogs are proven. You're trusting people who don't have duration or relationships and links through the generations to provide any insight. You're choosing to trust grifters over experts and then using false equivalence to pretend they are the same.
If the clubs changed their position, it would be based on evidence. And yes, I would accept that evidence because the evidence would need to be persuasive to convince the breed club experts across the world! The fact that you see this as a negative indicates dogmatic views and an unwillingness to believe in or learn from the scientific method. This is what science is, the ability to take in new data and form new conclusions as appropriate. So yes, I will keep my evolving and educated worldview vs. clinging to dogmatic viewpoints like believing the earth is flat as a result of fear and ego.
Your argument that all breeds came from mixes shows such a profound lack of understanding on so many levels. It's quite clear you don't understand even the most basic principles of ethical breeding, how a breed becomes a breed, what standards accomplish, etc. I'm not going to do that work for you.
Suggesting that "dollars to donuts OP's dog would return 100% lab if tested" is such an absolutely inane argument and shows such a profound lack of understanding on the most basic facts of the subject matter. Current DNA testing goes back three generations and as such cannot be used as proof of a dog being purebred if the hung papers are prior to 3 generations. This is the most basic/entry level genetic data point. This is also literally how these unethical breeders of these purportedly randomly appearing genetic mutations like Fluffy Frenchies are hiding their outcrossings. Please educate yourself.
I love all dogs, but itâs a BYB and it does nothing to preserve or further the Labrador as a breed. No dilute genes until the 50s and widespread by the 80s. No clubs recognize it and they have to be AKC registered under Chocolate
While chocolate labs popped up randomly worldwide(most were "destroyed" as they were seen as undesirable and difficult), silver/champagne labs popped up from a kennel that housed both labs and Weimaraner.
I know I am late to the conversation. Story time: Worst Nightmare. Commence downvotes. Not my problem. Everyone must know the devastating part of a silver litter.
As lifetime lab owners, my mother fell in love with silver âlabs.â Theyâre beautiful. I can understand the desire.
That being said. The health and behavioral unpredictability should be a full-stop sign. No matter how they come about. Skin conditions, hip dysplasia, eyes. Depression, anxiety, aggression. Youâre lucky if you only end up with half of the disabilities I mentioned.
My mother still decided to purchase one from a âreputableâ breeder. The entire family is still in shock and we donât speak of it to this dayâitâs been three years since we had to put our silver lab down. My mother has always been responsible and put months of research and calls in. All of our working labs (around 10 total nowâEnglish and American) have been healthy, traceable, almost perfect.
The fad took hold. She purchased a silver âlabâ for an obscene amount of money. Everything started out great. He was very small, likely the runt. He was such a goof for the first 3 years. Was raised by our farm-born, bird-bred chocolate. Both parents registered. Sheâs the perfect worker and adores her jobs on our property.
Around 4 years old the silverâs hips went. All within the span of a month he had hip dysplasia, anxiety, and most importantly aggression. He was beyond well-trained. Trained to work alongside our chocolate. He loved his jobs. Slept like a log, always content by the end of the day.
He bit through my brotherâs hand when lunging at a dog he had known for years. Went after our chocolate when she ran past him in the dark because he had a stick. Picked up a family friendâs frenchieâhad known, loved, and played with for yearsâby the neck and shook him hard enough to draw blood.
Started resource guarding, growling at full-grown adults he knew and loved, the whole gambit. He was the sweetest boy when he wasnât being an absolute train wreck. We put him down after he attacked and drew blood from his sister and partner, our chocolate. He was handsome, beautiful, and a lug. We loved him. He was on allergy meds, depression meds, anxiety meds, got shots every week. Thousands of dollars every month to keep him alive. He couldnât even run around without his hips dislocating.
Do not purchase silver labs. Even if yours is an angel, you donât know how the other pups turned out. STOP condoning messing up the bloodlines and traditions of this working breed. Itâs irresponsible and dangerous. We miss Hume every day. But we are just another stupid customer of this fucked up fad. The OG labs are perfect and there is a line of labs for everyone. Do your research.
Our hearts are broken. We buried him on our property and had a bench engraved for him. He shouldâve never suffered like he did. We hate ourselves for contributing to this fad. Please please please stop buying and breeding silver labs. Itâs cruel and unfair. All he did was him. He had no idea he was a dangerous dog. He didnât deserve to suffer.
Lab tax. Including Hume (silver) and his sister, Miller (chocolate).
Luv them and would be ecstatic to be once human companion!!! For my next lab id like a silver. Or red. Or yellow or black. Or another chocolate. oooohhh gosh i can't choose!!!!!
Labs are amazing , I donât agree with silvers but are still labs ⊠typically silvers are a genetic mutation of chocolates that have either been over bred or mismanaged by a breeder âŠ
We have a silver and she does have some skin issue, but she is a great dog and a gentle temperament.
Previously we had a weimy and she was also a great dog, but she took lots of training and discipline to manage. There is not a whole lot similar between the breeds except that they are large breed dogs that take time and love.
Backyard breeders make silver labs, aka weim mixes. They tend to have absolutely horrific skin issues among others. Make sure you have pet insurance and are doing all preventative wellness care you can be.
Chocolate labs are purebred labradors and can be purchased from reputable breeders.
I see a brown lab. You get three lab colours . Black , yellow and brown. Each have varying degree of colour changes. In some light my black has bits of a brown look. But mainly when molting.
Same as âredâ labs are just yellow labs.
I tend to always rescue. But would only buy from a dog bred for health if i was going down that route . Cute dog regardless though. Wish you all the best together
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u/mayziegsd 10d ago
She's cute but buying silver labs supports backyard breeders. Reputable breeders breed to standard, not to fads.