#dogs

Idea for a new breed of dog – the “NewLab”

There is now a trend afoot of breeding “designer dogs”. The basic idea is to cross two established, well-characterized breeds and attempt to obtain the best traits of each in the result, as well as eliminate the excessive genetic inbreeding that has overshadowed many of our current purebreds.

There are two forks to the “designer dog” trend. One focuses only upon the First (F1) generation – the 50/50 cross, and neglects to consider any subsequent progeny. The second branch of the trend is to actually develop a new breed of dog, with back-crossing to the original breeds (and even incorporating sometimes a third).

I’m recommending the second tack. I would very much like to see a dog which might be termed the “LabradorNewfie” Or maybe better, the “NewLab”. Here are the reasons:

1st (and maybe primary): It is good to have a wider admixture of genetics to choose-from than is available in the standardized AKC breeds, which widely tend to over-inbreeding.

2nd: The Labrador Retriever and the Newfoundland dog have a common origin in Atlantic Canada, many generations back, when the New World was first being colonized by European peoples. This common origin deserves to be rejuvenated and brought back in a new form.

3rd : Both the standard Labrador Retriever and the Newfoundland dog have a strong commonality in both being very intelligent, gentle, loving animals. The Lab typically is quite active however, while the Newfie, with his size, is less so. An animal that is intermediate might be very desirable in its own right.

4th: A larger, longer-coated version of the Labrador Retriever would be a very beautiful animal.

5th: A larger version of the Labrador Retriever could possibly be even more useful as a watch-dog than the standard Lab.

6th: The wider range of genetics in the mix might result in an even healthier and longer-lived animal, perhaps even more intelligent than the standard of either breed, despite being larger than a Lab.

Ok, so what would such a cross look like? Well it would depend upon the parents and then the cross-backs upon subsequent generations. Over time I myself would want to see a long-haired retriever-type dog, looking somewhat like a black Golden Retriever with a more square muzzle (if you can picture that) - but a little huskier – weighing-in at 80 to 100lbs. And yes, the dog would love water!

Here is what some might look like:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56506170296701764/

These are mostly F1 crosses, But the type can be developed in any direction - genetic diversity should probably be an aim, seeing as it was an impetus.