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English Chocolate Labrador Retrievers:
The English Chocolate Labrador Retriever is a strongly built,
medium-sized, short-coupled dog, possessing a sound, athletic, well-balanced
conformation that enables it to function as a retrieving gun dog. A Labrador
Retriever must be effortlessly well balanced, enabling it to move in
the show ring or work in the field with both confidence and grace. True
Chocolate Lab temperament is a hallmark of the breed.
Labradors possess that certain style and quality, endearing them immediately
to all.
The English Chocolate Labrador was originally bred primarily as a working
gun dog; structure and soundness are of great importance. Labrador Retrievers
are shown in working condition, well-muscled and without excess
fat, with good spring of ribs tapering
to a moderately wide chest. The English Labrador should never be narrow-chested;
giving the appearance of hollowness between the front legs, nor should
it have a wide spreading, bulldog-like front. When viewed from the side,
the English Labrador Retriever shows a well-developed, but not exaggerated
forechest. The English Labrador's hindquarters are broad, muscular
and well-developed from the hip to the hock, with well-turned stifles
and strong short hocks. Overall movement should be free and effortless.
The coat is a distinctive feature of the English Chocolate Labrador
Retriever. It should be short, straight and very dense, giving a fairly
hard feeling to the hand. The Labrador should have a soft, weather-resistant
undercoat that provides protection from water, cold and all types of
ground cover. The tail should be free from feathering and clothed thickly
all around with the Labrador's short, dense coat, thus having that peculiar
rounded appearance that has been described as the "otter tail".
The tail completes the balance of the Labrador by giving it a flowing
line from the top of the head to the tip of the tail.
The English Chocolate Labrador Retriever has much that appeals to people;
his gorgeous color, gentle ways, intelligence and adaptability make him
an all around ideal dog.
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