THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Sloe was by Stag, the sire of Flapper, going back to the Duke of Buccleuch’s 
strain and that of Sir R. Graham. For some unexplainable reason, since so 
far as can be traced all ancestors are black, three litters by Sam all came 
of a colour best described as buff, excepting one bitch, which was pure 
white. This bitch Mr Mackenzie put to a black Labrador, and the result 
was another buff -coloured litter; so next time she was sent to Lord Lons- 
dale’s dog Blanco, a bluish-white dog, by Captain Radclyffe’s Ben, and this 
cross produced eight white puppies and the colour was fixed. The coats 
are hard and short, and they have good bone and are low on the leg. They 
are hardy dogs, as fit for a long day’s work as their black relations and in 
no way inferior to them. A white -coloured animal is often thought to be 
deficient in stamina, but in this case, there is no sign of it. They are rare, 
as naturally their owner does not part with any of the colour, with the 
exception of two given to Lord Lonsdale as puppies. A nearly white Labra- 
dor, owned and bred by Lord Helmsley, ran with credit in the stake pro- 
moted by the Yorkshire Retriever Society on Lord Fever sham’s shooting 
in October, 1912. 
Those owned by Lord Lonsdale originated from dogs given by friends 
who happened to breed yellow puppies from black parents. Lord Lonsdale 
has found that they do not breed true to colour, and has even reared three 
litters without getting a single yellow puppy, which is unfortunate, and 
would point to the fact that black is the predominant factor yet in the 
breed. In their work the Lowther yellow Labradors are as hardy as the 
black, and are first-rate in their working qualities. 
The fawn, or yellow, coloured Labradors, owned by Captain Radclyffe 
at Wareham, are true Labradors, and must not be in any way confused 
with the Ilchester or Tweedmouth breed, or the so-called golden-coloured 
retrievers. The ancestors of the breed now at Wareham were brought 
from Newfoundland to Poole Harbour by the owner of a schooner trading 
between Labrador and Poole, in the year 1858 or 1860. Hawker brought 
over some four different lots. These were all black in colour, with white 
mark on chest, and some were bought by Captain Radclyffe’s father, 
and the breed has been kept ever since. A dog named Ben, owned by 
Captain Radclyffe, was the first pure -bred yellow Labrador he possessed, 
and this dog and his sons now get from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of their 
puppies yellow in colour, though mated to black bitches, so the colour 
appears to be predominant and fixed, though it should be stated that once 
all the puppies of one litter, the sire and dam being yellow, came pure 
268 
