Say No To Silver Labs

[TORNER RETRIEVERS]

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At the end of the Twentieth Century, the frequency of silver (gray) labs began to increase in North America due to an increase in the number of chocolate labs in the gene pool of Labrador Retrievers. These Silver Labs in turn fueled an enormous controversy within the Labrador community.

Fortunately, by the advent of the Twenty-First Century, the controversy surrounding Silver Labs subsided except for a few remaining breeders of "standard" colors. These remaining opponents of Silver Labs are the K-9 version of the "Flat Earth Society". Unfortunately, those holdout breeders who refuse to acknowledge AKC's acceptance of silver labs, continue to confuse the general public by making unfounded accusations about the purity of the Silver Labs breeding. In an attempt to quiet the ranting of the more vocal opponents of Silver Labs, one breeder of silvers offered a $100,000.00 Silver Lab Challenge to any of these "experts" who wished to put their money where their mouth was concerning their accusations surrounding the ancestry of silver labs. And to the man, not one of those "experts" you see on the internet was willing to stand behind their Flat Earth accusations regarding Silver Labs.

Are Silver Labs Pure bred Labrador Retriever?

DNA testing and mapping of silver labs was done during the close of the Twentieth Century and meticulous investigation of each silver labs ancestry was conducted by investigators from AKC. All conclusions were the same, i.e., "there was no reason to doubt that the dogs were purebred Labrador Retrievers," (see conclusion issued by AKC). Amazingly, the Flat Earth Opponents of Silver Labs counter these scientific conclusions with the incredibly insane accusation that the "cross-breeding" which allegedly produced the Silver Labs was either covered up by line breeding or happened to long ago to be detected by DNA testing. If anyone ever needed an indication of just how ignorant opponents of Silver Labs are, this statement should be the key. Every K-9 carries in its genes a complete history of its ancestors going all the way back to wolves.

Everything written about the Silver Labs is based upon speculation. One statement that is commonly made is that there had to have been a Weimeraner introduced into the bloodlines to produce the silver color. This statement has been proven false. UC Berkley studied the genetic makeup of the Silver Lab against that of the Weimeraner. Researchers concluded that it was not the same.

Silver Labs were registered as Silver both on the registration certificate and the AKC color charts until 1987. Breeders who could not produce Silver puppies protested to the AKC and they were only allowed to be registered as a shade of chocolate.

****Fact: Silver was NEVER listed as a color choice on puppy registration slips! Unfortunately it was common practice for the AKC to have a blank line for "other color" on ALL breeds' registration slips. This was before the computer age and it was easier for the AKC to use the same slip as some breeds come in any color. Also, uniformed pet buyers would register their puppies as whatever "they" interpretted it be such as blonde, golden, creme instead of the proper color yellow or liver, brown instead of chocolate. This is were the loop hole started and how the first Silvers were registered. The AKC standard has NEVER listed Silver as a recognized color.

****Fact: A shade of chocolate, which is deceiving to begin with, is the only way to register these crossbreds with AKC at this present time. Simply put, purebred Silver Labs do not exist!

****Fact: According to the AKC standard, the chocolate color can range from a light brown to dark brown. No where does it mention, Gray, Silver, or Blue/Gray pigmentation.

****Fact: A pedigree obtained from AKC on one particular "Silver" Lab (registered as chocolate), also showed that there has been radical inbreeding taking place amongst one breeder. Not only was this dog a result of a father to daughter breeding, the daughter was a result of a full brother to sister breeding! Thus, keeping the dilute "silver/Weimeraner" gene, while being able to pass DNA testing to determine parentage.

Reputable breeders are so adamant about Silver Labs because they saw their share of the market "fall through the floor when chocolates became popular." These "ethical" breeders have resorted to killing any Silver puppies to protect their investment in the black and yellow bloodlines.

****Fact: This statement is so silly. First of all, breeders dedicated to the Labrador Retriever don't breed dogs according to any "market". Secondly, ethical breeders don't breed just to make money so this contradictory. Mismarked puppies do occur in Labs and have done so for decades, this is well documented. Reputable breeders simply sell these puppies as pets. So to say that "ethical" breeders have covered up the Silvers by killing them to protect their black and yellow investments is ridiculous, especially since Silver breeders say that their color comes from chocolates. If it is from the chocolates, then what and how would they be protecting blacks and yellows that supposedly don't carry the gene for Silver in the first place?

Silver Lab breeders would have you believe that Silver or gray Labs have been mentioned since people began writing about Labs.

****Fact: In all the books that this author has read, and believe me, it has been many from a range from the 1960's to present. From pet books to those written by very experienced, knowledgeable and reputable breeders all including an in-depth history on the Lab since its beginning. NEVER has this author seen a thoroughly "gray" adult Lab mentioned! If this were a true color gene that is associated with the recessive chocolate color, then it would have been around since the beginning, something that simply has never been established. This author would really like to know what literature these breeders are getting their information from. It would have been nice to have included a credit to certain books that mention adult "gray" Labs.

Ignorant and/or jealous breeders accuse the Silver Labs of being a cross between Labs and other breed(s). These accusations are based on finacial motives.

****Fact: This is a common accusation by knowledgeable breeders who have many, many years breeding Labradors true to the written standard as approved by the AKC which has NEVER acknowledged a Silver Lab. Breeders who make such statements about others being ignorant or jealous about this color only have profit on their mind. Breeding for a specific "rare" feature that is not part of the Lab's history is only thinking of the pocket book, as mentioned on the home page. The knowledgeable and reputable breeder of Labradors is concerned for the breed and its preservation. Making money is the furthest thing from their mind. Breeding quality Labradors for the improvement, betterment and preservation are their only goals! It has nothing to do with jealously and everything to do with keeping the Lab pure and protecting the original colors of the Lab: Black, yellow and chocolate.

One breeder has even gone so far as to offer a Silver Lab Challenge and will give anyone $100,000 to any "expert" that can disprove their Silver Labs are anything but purebred.

****Fact: DNA testing can only prove the parents. IT CANNOT INDENTIFY DIFFERENT BREEDS. Therefore, since some breeders have been duping the public with rare and exotic AKC Silvers for many generations with their inbred mixes, DNA can only confirm the parents of a puppy in question. It cannot go back further generations needed to prove that Weimeraners were introduced into the Lab gene pool. Therefore, no it cannot be proven. However, anyone with a trained eye in dog breeds and conformation can tell that these dogs are indeed crossbreds.

Here is the most probable scenario of how the Silver(Dilute)Gene was introduced: A litter in which there are both chocolate and "silver" pups. The owner marks the Other color box and puts down "silver". The AKC field rep goes out to see the litter. The sire IS a registered chocolate. The dam IS a registered chocolate. The DNA test proves all the pups, including the 3 "silver" ones are from those two parents. AKC does NOT have a choice but to register the puppies. They are from two registered Labs. Their position is that color ALONE can not designate the puppy as not purebred. In the case of the silvers, they were genetically proven to be from the parents stated on the registration application, so they had to be registerable as purebred!!! The real problem is that several generations earlier, some chocolate pups that were most likely sired by a Weim were registered as Labs because the breeder didn't know about the mismating. The silver color can be traced to a single line (and most likely a single litter) that was then linebred and eventually produced the silver pups. No where along the line was there an OBVIOUS attempt to bend the rules, but since AKC only requires the signatures of the sire and dam owners to register a litter, nothing can be done about it now. The error was set in the breed before DNA testing was being done, so it is really hard to undo it now. In closing, anytime someone tries to sell you something that is rare and exotic for an exorbitant amount of money, is only in it for one reason. MONEY. These Silver breeders are very defensive and secretive about "their" bloodlines. Some charge for information packets and if you ask any questions about their dogs, you will get a rude response. "Just buy the packet, so I can make money!" A reputable breeder will be extremely open and honest with puppy buyers and most have pictures AND pedigrees of their dogs on their websites to share with all who are interested. So why are these Silver breeders so defensive and secretive? Something to hide? They definitely do not have their dogs' and the breed's best interest in mind.