The labrador retriever is certainly the most popular gundog in the United Kingdom and, arguably, throughout the world. The breed was developed in Britain from dogs that were brought back from Newfoundland by fishermen. Those Newfoundland dogs, in turn, had developed from hunting dogs taken there from Europe by fishermen and other settlers.

Three main colours are recognised - black, yellow and chocolate - although the black labrador and yellow labrador are the best known in shooting circles. Some chocolate labs do make good gundogs but they tend to be under-represented in field trials.

"Footloose" by John Doyle

"Still Waters" by  Pippa Thew

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"The Yellow Lab " by Martin Thackstone

Labradors are often claimed to be the easiest dog to train for gundog work and, for this reason they are a wise choice for the beginner. They are undemanding, good with children and usually of a placid, trainable disposition so they make ideal family pets as well as splendid hunting dogs.

On a formal driven pheasant shooting day, labradors tend to make up the bulk of the dogs being employed by the pickers-up - the men and women employed by the shoot to retrieve shot game. Similarly the majority of Field Trial Champions in trials designed for retriever breeds are labs.

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