I always find it ridiculous

Did I mention his other breed is most likely boxer?
With my luck he'd just be a fat hyper dog with blown out knees and bad hips!

Many people do.

My puppy is only a lab mix and he is absolutely insane. I can imagine!

My pet peeve is "Golden lab" or "yellow retriever". REALLY?

They do. One of Adam's friends was talking about how insane one of the dogs his girlfriend watches is, then followed the thought up with how he can't wait to get a black Lab. Everyone's reaction was confusion as to why he wanted a dog he just described as The Worst Dog Ever, and he clarified and said "That's only chocolate Labs."

Every chocolate I know is naughtier than every black lab.

We were at an agility seminar this weekend talking to the trainer and discussing behavioral differences in red (heavy red line) dogs and black line dogs, in reference to Aussies and dobes.

Is it a fine science? No, but sometimes it seems to fit very well.

Probably having far more to do with the "breeding for colors" than anything but it makes sense in a strange way, chocolates have been bred for color more than the alternatives, if I remember correctly.

I definitely agree breeding for color does have an effect. However, it's really interesting that in Europe where the belgian shepherd varieties can be born alongside each other people still swear there are temperament differences according to coat length/color.

In collies I hear a lot that smooths are sharper, and tris are more naughty/feisty. I thought that was silly, but having seen several litters of collies grow up the tris really were pretty naughty/feisty compared to their merle or sable littermates.

Kaia is a tri borzoi, and she's pretty dang feisty/active/naughty for a zoi. Her breeder told me she was really glad she could place Kaia with me because she would have been too much dog for a lot of borzoi homes.

Kaia had nine puppies, 6 silver sables(grizzle) and 3 tris. The tris were all SOOO BAD! lol I would call them by name and the silvers would all come running and wagging their tails. But Marya would just stare at me like "EFF YOU!" and run away. There really was a huge difference in temperament between them, and it was really surprising. Kaia wasn't that oppositional, but she was definitely more of a feisty destructotron than her silver sable bro.

I attribute Rumor's psychotic brattiness to her being red.

I'd bet color genes are somehow linked to behavior genes. Not all of them, but enough to make a difference. In mice, the agouti "wild type" pattern, which is similar to sable in dogs, is known to be more wild-tempermented than white or black mice.

Just look at the Belyaev fox experiment - color is one of the physical things that changed when they selected solely on temperment.

That experiment was really fascinating. I do think lack of adrenalin (tameness as they were selecting for) has an effect on how white spotting is expressed.

My suspicion is that the color itself isn't really responsible for the differences in behavior. But when genes are physically located near each other on the DNA strand, they tend to get "unzipped" in the same clump when DNA is divided into sex cells. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some behavior genes are physically close to the spots where coat length and color genes are and tend to get clumped with them.

Tortie cats tend to be feistier. And in horses, there's the phrase "chesnut mare, beware". (I'm not a horse person, so I can't speak for the veracity of it)

What's odd is that I don't find orange male cats to have the same attitude that their tortie sisters have. Orange females, yes.

I know a tortie girl that was definitely a horror. Her orange daughter is a total sweetie, though.

Zander's a red, too. I guess that explains some of his quirks.

The longer I work in veterinary medicine, the more I abhor Labs. Some of the *nastiest* dogs I know are Labradors. And even when they're nice, they're so frequently huge and uncooperative and wild. It gets old really really fast.

But a good Lab is a good dog. And they are the reason I still love Labs. But yes, the amount of untrained, under exercised dogs that come through is quite annoying. Even more so when the owner just shakes it off and says it is because they are "x" breed.

He he = my sister has a sweet but hyperactive choc lab! That thing would drive me batty! Good thing she is such a sweetheart.

Yet another example of a Lab being in the wrong hands.

Pretty much the same reason my vet isn't a Lab fan. Yet, he's always liked Caleb-from the very first time I took him in.

:hail:

Are you embarrassed to have the same breed when you see stuff like that? I tend to mumble under my breath something like, "And that's why Labs have a bad image" or "Another example of someone who shouldn't have a Lab."

At times. There was someone who brought in a Lab puppy for vaccinations a few weeks ago. The thing was a nightmare. No impulse control at ALL. Would not hold still, constantly mouthed, did whatever the heck it felt like, and was just obnoxious. The owner just passed it off as it "being a Lab puppy". Um, no. Sadie was a Lab puppy, and by the time she was around 16-20 weeks old she would hold a sit/stay with a tennis ball being bounced right beside her (her most FAVORITE THING EVER). We had a horrible time trying to get her to not jump up on people, but that was about the only "bad" thing she did because we, you know, trained her.

A good friend of mine doesn't understand why I want to get a Lab (and not some other type of retriever) as my next dog because, you know, Labs are insane dogs that can't settle, don't behave, and are just generally idiots. Blackie and Sadie were definitely not like that.

I have a client who has lost some of his vision. One of the higher ups at the state's "services for the blind" suggested that, since the waitlist for a program dog is several years long, he "go to the shelter and get a black lab" to train as a guide. He did just that and his parents and he both didn't really realize that black labs (yes, the color thing again) didn't just *know* some of the skills for guidework. smh! Thank goodness they are willing to spend the money to hire someone to help AND that the dog he picked actually seems to be a decent candidate!

Absolutely. The number of lunatic Labs we see is REALLY unfortunate. Most are in daycare because their owners can't stand them. And yep, they all thought, "But Labs are supposed to be GOOD DOGS." As if they're robots that come pre-programmed.

But there are good ones! We do have a few that I just adore, who are very much still Labby and very lovable for it.

I don't think I'd ever get one with the exception of a senior. I LOVE senior Labs. They're like... a grandpa who you know used to have a really wild life, and now they just sit back and chuckle. LOL.

I know in our area at the Obedience classes, the wildest dogs are usually Labs but they are usually 8 or 9 months old with no previous training so what can you expect. At least they are bringing them to classes and trying to train them. Just wish they would start a little earlier.