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the St. Hubert's Hound from France, and eventually become the Labrador Retriever.

Originally The Labrador Retriever was known as the Lesser Newfoundland Dog.

The first time that the word "Labrador" was used in order to describe the breed was around 1800. In 1814 a book called "Instructions to Young Sportsmen" was published and highlighted the Labrador as one of the best dogs for use in bird and wild game hunting.

In 1823 famous painter Edward Lansing was well known for his paintings depicting dramatic scenes with Newfoundland and Labrador Dogs.

The popularity of the breed became immense. Everyone from working men to wealthy land owners admired the Lab for its positive disposition and alertness. People of all classes owned Labradors and the popularity also took off among the wealthy members of society in Britain, who would purchase the dogs from Newfoundland fishermen when they arrived at British ports to sell their fish.

In 1830 the Earl of Malmesbury officially changed the name of the breed from Lesser Newfoundland to Labrador Retriever.

Fishermen and hunters found the Lab indispensable as a work dog. Labs were often seen on the landscape of Newfoundland pulling fishing nets into shore and in the wilderness retrieving wild game and waterfowl that had been shot by hunters.

Despite its immense popularity the Labrador Retriever of Newfoundland would die out by the mid-1800s. This was caused by a heavy new dog tax being charged by the governing body of Newfoundland. Unfortunately this meant many fishermen would have to choose between the light duty Labrador Retriever, and the Heavy work done by the Newfoundland dog. Ultimately fishermen would choose the Newfoundland Dog for its ability to perform heavier work and haul heavier loads.

A couple decades later the dog tax had been lifted, and by the mid-1870's breeders began to import Labrador Retrievers back into Canada from England, where they had remained popular among hunters and aristocrats.

The Labs popularity again began to quickly take off.

The first recorded Yellow Lab was born in 1899 and named "Ben of Hyde". Ben of Hyde's line continues today and can be traced to many modern lines of Yellow lab. In the 1940s a light brown line of labs began to show up, and people began to refer to them as Chocolate Labs. Chocolate Labs would not be recognized as an official breed until the 1980s.

Scientists have discovered that the coloring variations in the Labrador Retriever are caused by two genes in the dog's DNA that work together.

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