Silver Labrador Retrievers, Silver Labs, Silver Labradors, and Silver Labrador Breeders.
Have you come across Breeders selling "SILVER" LABRADOR RETRIEVERS?
BEFORE you pay hundreds of dollars MORE for an "out of standard" Labrador Retriever - Become informed!
|
I have noticed that many breeders of "silver" Labrador Retrievers do NOT have any disclosures of their dogs pedigrees/bloodlines on their own websites. Many do NOT divulge the puppy's Sire's & Dam's registered name OR AKC registration status or AKC registration number on their websites - yet will be advertising puppies for sale. "Silver" breeders sometimes might have pedigrees on their website, pedigree information for their yellow, black, & chocolate Labrador Retrievers - But NO online disclosures of their "silver labs" bloodlines! With the knowledge of a dog's AKC registered name, an inquiring person can go to the AKC's website and research for themselves the AKC registered status & pedigree of a AKC registered dog. Many of these so-called "silver labs" seem to share many of the same bloodlines, with a very high degree of inbreeding having taken place years ago, and continuing to some extent to this very day! An inquiring person, might also perhaps wish to verify if there have indeed been x-rayed & OFA certified for Hip Dysplasia as well as yearly AVCO/CERF eye clearances on puppy's Sire & Dam - as well as other canines in BOTH sire's & dam's pedigrees. With the high quality photo editing software available today on home computers - it might be best to verify any documents of OFA & C.E.R.F, researching online the Sire's & Dam's AKC registered name - & verifying for yourself claims made with regards to these issues. IF a puppy's bloodlines carry some genetic defects, in some cases exacerbated by a high degree of inbreeding - a caring breeder would not breed without first obtaining Hip & Elbow & yearly EYE AVCO clearances, as well as disclosing to any buyer's the any known issues in the bloodlines histories. Some breeders seem to only brag about "prelims" on hips - forever, but do NOT actually OFA certify their breeding stock's hips after their canine has reaches 24 months!!! X-rays in truth must be done after the dog has reached 24 MONTHS of age for OFA certification is given. "Prelims" are or x-rays taken ( & not always submitted to OFA even then) But "PRELIMS" are INVALID as a indicator after the age of 24 months. Some others, will not go thought the expense of testing to see if their breeding canines are genetically sound, yet will breed anyway. Perhaps placing buyer's at a greater risk of receiving a puppy that might develop Hip Dysplasia or Progressive Retinal Atrophy. You might discover that many of this type of breeder also refuses to be held accountable for the resulting veterinarian bills if genetic problems arise within that puppy the breeder bred for. Many puppies might not show signs of Hip Dysplasia or Progressive Retinal Atrophy until adulthood. If you can get the breeder to send you their contract, read carefully the fine details BEFORE you give them any money! Some breeders offer a ONE year guarantee against genetic diseases. A ONE year guarantee seems great, until one realizes that genetic diseases such as Hip Dysplasia or PRA (early blindness) may not show up till the puppy is OLDER then one year of age. Every IF you discovered some genetic problem early, and called the breeder to honor their "guarantee" - most will not return your money, instead demanding that you exchange the handicapped dog with ANOTHER puppy they also produced. Some breeders even go as far as demand that you destroy your dog first, a dog you & your family have over time, grown emotionally attached and bonded. My question is: If I were to receive one genetically damaged puppy, why would I wish to have a puppy from the same bloodlines as a replacement?! A few States (such as California) have laws against breeders that refuse to accept responsibly for the puppies they have produced. Some breeders want to be paid a fee BEFORE any disclosure of pedigrees or bloodlines, or even before disclosures of the Sire's & Dam's true AKC registered names (if AKC registered). Pedigrees produced can be self-generated by the Breeder, not necessary the agency the dog's are registered with. A breeder's self-generated pedigree may sometimes have "errors". One "silver" breeder of many decades, had previously explained on their website the reason they charge a fee for copies of their "silver" bloodlines: "Please note: the $10 fee for CCK's "Silver" Lab pedigrees goes to a Public Relations firm which handles CCK's mail. This charge is for copying, postage and handling charges. CCK does not handle these requests nor does CCK benefit from the charges." [quote source] A "Public Relations firm"? Interesting. It would cost the breeders little to disclose their "silver" & "silver-factored" AKC registered bloodlines on the very same websites that they advertise & sell their "silver" & ""silver-factored" dogs! The only breeder I myself found online that had claimed that their dogs pedigrees were available for viewing on their website - always has links that are "broken" - hence no one is able to actually view this breeder's "silver" AKC pedigrees online!
IMPORTANT! AKC registered pedigrees - IF the breeder divulges the AKC Registration Name OR number of the Sire and Dam - see if the Sire & Dam are truly AKC registered for yourself by going to AKC Reports , sign in, and then click on: Points & Awards and enter the AKC registered number or name that you wish to research. You can also order online the pedigree from AKC for about the same fee ($10.) as some of these breeders are charging people to view the breeder's own self-generated pedigree! - have the breeder give you the AKC number and AKC registered names of Sire & Dam, thus you can research for yourself the dogs pedigree/bloodlines. IF the Sire & Dam are FULL AKC registered & you cannot find information on AKC's website, insist on seeing an AKC generated pedigree or the AKC registration on the sire and dam as an aid to research for yourself the AKC pedigree. Call AKC to verify that the dog (s) have "FULL" registration. AKC dogs on "Limited" registration cannot register any prodigy! AKC Labrador Retriever puppies CANNOT be registered as "silver". The AKC determined in 1987(see AKC statement below) that "silver" Labradors may be registered as "chocolate". At that time, no canine DNA testing was available! Thus, "silver" breeders are allowed to register their AKC dogs as "Chocolate" -- but NOT "silver"! Some breeders of these "silver labs" have their dog registered with CKC (Continental Kennel Club), which is NOT the same registry as the well-respected and well-known (CKC) Canadian Kennel Club Registry. There are many different canine "registries" out there - more every day. Become knowledgeable about just what registries a breeder's dogs belong to. Don't be fooled about the breeder's claim of "papers". The term "Papers", does not necessary mean AKC registration anymore! "Silver" breeders have now also created their own "registry": "SLR - Silver Labrador Registry". Buyers of these "silver" puppies are being given "Silver Labrador Registry" created registration "papers". Contrary to the claims "silver" breeders want the public to believe, there is NOT a reputable registry in the World that registers "silver" Labrador Retrievers. Do NOT BE MISLEAD! Labrador Retrievers AKC registration forms never had a "silver" Color Option!!! Some decades years ago, AKC Labrador Retriever breeders listed "silver" under the AKC's "other" color option. The breeders of these "silver" Labrador Retrievers could X the AKC Registration form's "other" color and fill in "silver" ( so could a breeder that wished to claim having a "Blue", "Purple", "Red", etc. - Labrador Retriever) . Color option "other" has since been eliminated for over two decades. AKC determined that the coat looked like a dilute Chocolate, so they allow the "silver" breeders to register their "silver" dogs as a Chocolate. Example of a few "silver" Labrador Retrievers pedigrees Some well known chocolate, black, and yellow Labrador Retriever bloodlines might have been added along the way by the breeders of "silver", giving the "silver" pedigrees the appearance of being accepted by the mainstream. Again, Do NOT be mislead! Ask any well known & respected breeders how they feel having their bloodlines being used to enhance the status of the "silver" breeder. IF you succeed in examining a "silver" Labrador Retriever's true pedigree - take note that some of these "silver" & "silver-factored" Labradors are very inbred in their pedigree's - beginning when they started appearing 20/30 years or so ago, and continue to some extent today to be very closely related to each other! A very small gene pool being used to breed from. "Silver" breeders as a result of breeding for a coat's color - have a need for heavy inbreeding in an attempt to profit from marketing their "silver" Labrador Retrievers. Heavy inbreeding can cause it's own set of genetic problems. What is more important then any "COLOR", is the genetic health of the puppies being produced!!! Many of these "silver" breeders appear to be breeding solely for a coat's COLOR, with very little emphasis on temperament, genetic health, type of coat, & bone structure = with no OFA or CERF/AVCO clearances being done to certify soundness. Why IS that? A breeder that started breeding "silver" Labrador Retrievers two decades+ ago, had made the following claim on his website: "DNA testing and mapping of CCK's "Silver" Labs was done during the close of the Twentieth Century and meticulous investigations of each CCK "Silver" Lab's ancestry was conducted by investigators from AKC. All conclusions were the same, i.e., "there was no reason to doubt that the dogs were pure bred Labrador Retrievers" (see conclusion issued by AKC)." [quote source] Many other "silver" websites have this same wording almost verbatim -- no matter how many times this statement about DNA testing and mapping during the close of the Twentieth Century is repeated - it is a LIE! Some breeders try to deceive to public by making the false claim that DNA testing was done in 1987 when AKC conducted it's inquiry. DNA was NOT taken on any of the dogs in question! If the breeder had documents of a AKC Registered Sire and Dam - the puppies claimed to having been produced by an AKC registered Sire and Dam would have been AKC registerable. The TRUTH is: AKC came out in 1987 and examined a "silver" kennel, took color photographs and filed a report - "DNA testing and mapping" was NOT done!!! DNA testing of canines was not even available when AKC made their inquiry in 1987 - which was hardly "the close of the Twentieth Century"! AKC never did any genetic mapping of silver Labradors nor do they have any plans to do so since they are a registering body only and the Labrador Club of America writes the standard for the breed. I even discovered a website of a long-time "silver" breeder apparently claiming DNA testing has been done for 500 years. DNA testing of Canines has only become recently available. DNA can be used to prove ONLY that the canine Sire is/isn't the Sire, the canine Dam is/isn't the Dam. DNA testing cannot prove if untested canine grandsires and canine granddams were purebred or not. A breeder of "silver Labs" continues to make an interesting claim on his website: "...a $100,000.00 Silver Lab Challenge to any "expert" who wished to put their money where their mouth was concerning their accusations surrounding the ancestry of Silver Labs. As a surprise to no one, not one "expert" you see on the internet was willing to stand behind their "Flat Earth" accusations." [quote source] Read a rebuttal to that "silver" breeders published claims: The molecular biologist and geneticist Sharon Wagner of wigwaglabradors.com
AKC is a registering entity, it does not write nor enforce Breed standards. AKC relied solely on the report written by an AKC representative that looked at the dogs in question, and at color photographs taken of those dogs. The 1987 Conclusion issued by AKC: Response of Jack Norton of the AKC giving the American Kennel Clubs official position on the issue of "silver" Labrador Retrievers:
Here is the position statement from the Labrador Retriever Club, regarding "silver" Labrador Retrievers:
There are NO rare colors in Labradors.
DNA testing is incapable of determining if any other type of breed, such as Weimaraners, were blended into a Labrador Retriever at some point of time to produce "silver labs". There is currently NO scientific data, either published or preliminary, which has mapped any silver gene in Labs. Even if so-called "DNA testing and mapping" were to be done TODAY, DNA testing can only determine if a dog is a dog - and if the Sire & Dam of that dog are also DNA profiled, it can verify if that Sire & Dam are actually that dog's parent, as well as some well-investigated diseases and other well-known conditions. You would need to DNA test EVERY dog in the "silver" bloodlines back over the last 30+ years when the "silvers" started to be produced, to make sure the sire and dams of each generation were the true prodigy of the previous generations! Since the older generations of "silver" dogs are now dead and their DNA was never tested - any true proof about whether or not other breeds, such as the Weimaraner, have been introduced into the "silver Labrador Retriever" is forever out of reach, buried. DNA testing can only prove if a CANINE is a CANINE, it is incapable of proving/disproving if different CANINE breeds were mixed together of non-DNA profiled dogs of one generation earlier. Canine DNA testing is very limited in scope. It is nowhere close to the DNA testing complexities available for humans. And even at that, we got OJ'd. Compare for yourself how a Labrador Retriever looks , and compare how a Weimaraner looks.
Here are links to some pictures of "silver" (registered as "Chocolate") Labrador Retrievers: These are direct links to the pictures on sites discovered using internet search engines. I have not saved these images to my own directory. I have no control if a site's owner chooses to "move/remove" images of their "silver" Labs from the sites linked.
Form your own opinion after researching more about the "rare silver Labs".
The AKC Labrador Retriever Breed Standard The UK Labrador Retriever Club Breed Standard The Canadian Labrador Retriever Breed Standard Compare these worldwide standards of Labrador Retrievers against the claims the "silver" breeders might make about their "silver" labs being "accepted" by recognized & respected registries outside of the United States. Take note of what is considered "Disqualifications" in a Labrador Retriever. Some genetic diseases can also be rare, but a responsible breeder would NOT try to increase the number of canines that have rare genetic diseases by purposely breeding for them. Nor should a breeder be breeding, or inbreeding, with their goal being to produce a color that is incorrect, as well as inbreeding in the hopes of producing the "rare". Inbreeding itself may be a cause for concern, due to an increased risk of genetic defects. Responsible, caring, ethical breeders, use far more factors then a Labrador Retriever's coat "color" in the decision on whether to breed/not breed! Contrary to the claims that some "silver" breeders make, such as: "Some of these ethical breeders freely admit killing "Silver" puppies to protect the breed standards. In reality, the "Silver" puppies they kill have the same genetic make-up as the blacks, yellows, and chocolates they allow to survive". [quote source] Ethical breeders killing puppies because of a coat's color?! Very interesting, and very reveling on the part of the persons making such fraudulent claims. An attempt to disparage ETHICAL breeders, perhaps? I have NEVER seen any credible evidence that support that outrageous statement "ethical breeders freely admit killing "silver" puppies to protect the breed standards". Yet several "silver" breeders have willfully chosen to use this same verbiage almost verbatim, on other "silver" websites. What does a unethical breeder do if they are unsuccessful in selling their mismarked /non standard "purebred" puppy for thousands of dollars? AKC registered breeders have limited-registration available. Ethical breeders place non-breed standard Labrador Retrievers in pet homes! Ethical breeders are not the ones selling non-breed standard puppies for hundreds of dollars MORE then breed-standard puppies go for! An Ethical breeder would NOT be deliberately mating mismarked/out-of-standard Labrador Retrievers to produce more mismarked/out-of-standard Labrador Retrievers hoping to market them as "rare". I myself remember the "cabbage patch doll" and "beanie baby" marketing devices used to make these products seemly hard to come by, ever claimed to being "Rare" thus more costly for the buyer to own. And I remember the vast amount of monies people were willing to fork over for what was market-created perceptions. I even am old enough to remember the "pet Rock" that everyone just had to have. There are some puppy-producing type of breeders - that seem to place a great emphasis alone on a coat's color - hoping perhaps to generate huge sums of money as a result of a coat's color alone? Many such breeders have NOT ever have tests done on their dogs - such as OFA hips & shoulder, nor even CERF/AVCO the dogs eyes. Many of the genetic problems of Labrador Retrievers do not show up for several YEARS! An ethical breeder tests dogs used in their breeding programs - such as yearly AVCO/C.E.R.F on eyes, and upon reaching 24 months of age or later - x-rays taken and OFA certified Hips. Ask the breeder - Does the Labrador Retriever breeder have OFA certification on hips & yearly AVCO/C.E.R.F on the Sire & Dam of the puppies? Some Labrador Retriever breeders only boast "prelims", if at all. "Prelims" are NOT certified OFA, instead the Breeder must have the dog x-rayed and submitted to OFA after reaching 24 months of age, and only then is OFA certified with those findings! Besides "silver", there are also breeders selling what they claim are other "rare" colors, such as "white", "cream", "fox red", etc." "White", "cream", "fox red", etc. Labrador Retrievers are simply different shades of the Yellow Labrador Retriever. One shade of Yellow is worth no more than another shade of yellow. They can be shown, they are correct. They're just not "rare", and they're not called "white", "cream", or "fox red" - just YELLOW. What's in a name? Research all the facts and become informed before you buy any puppy/dog. Be aware some breeders start handing out their puppies as young as five weeks of age!!! The law in California is no younger then EIGHT weeks of age!!! I myself believe that it is totally unethical for anyone to deliberately breed for a so-called "designer dog". These breeders try to charge far more then what a good quality AKC Registered, Sire & Dam has had OFA hips/ & eyes AVCO/CERF certified, breed standard Labrador Retriever would cost! It would be far more generous of you to visit a local Animal Shelter, and rescue one of the MANY "designer" dogs that have ended up there thru no fault of their own! This is The American Kennel's Club listing of Colors for the Labrador Retriever:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Silver Labrador Retrievers
| Sunlight can be a strong disinfectant. | ||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
||
Labrador Retrievers - Wind Dreamer AKC Registered puppies
Dam & Sires must be certified OFA hips good or excellent, & yearly CERF/AVCO testing!
DNA profiling & microchips of all Wind Dreamer Labrador Retrievers
Our puppies are DNA profiled & microchipped BEFORE they leave for their new homes.
