Base colour
Wholly black, yellow or liver/chocolate
- Yellows range from light cream to fox red, livers/chocolates range from light to dark.
- Permissible: Small white spot on chest and the rear of pasterns
About the Labrador Retriever
Origin: Great Britain
- Typical life span
- 10-12 years
- Size
- Large — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 29-36 kg
- Female
- 25-32 kg
- Height
- Male
- 57-62 cm
- Female
- 55-60 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Retrievers - Flushing Dogs - Water Dogs
- Origin
- Great Britain
- Known hereditary risks
- 8 documented conditions, with the test for each
About
What is a Labrador Retriever?
Medium to large, strong athletic retriever with short dense coat and friendly outgoing temperament. Consistently one of the most popular breeds worldwide.
Labrador Retriever history and origins
Originated from St. John's Water Dogs used by fishermen in Newfoundland for retrieving nets and escaped fish. Further developed and standardized in England during the 1800s by English nobles for waterfowl retrieving
Labrador Retriever appearance and size
Males typically weigh 29-36 kg and stand 57-62 cm at the shoulder; females 25-32 kg and 55-60 cm.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Retriever
- Behaviour and temperament
“Good-tempered, very agile. Excellent nose, soft mouth; keen lover of water. Adaptable, devoted companion. Intelligent, keen and biddable, with a strong will to please. Kindly nature, with no trace of aggression or undue shyness”
Quoted from FCI standard n°122. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Large
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Retriever” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 4 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 3 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 2 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- 8 conditions documented
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Labrador Retriever
What you get with the Labrador Retriever
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Retriever”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Good-tempered, very agile”
- Low grooming needs, fitting for a busy owner — the coat is “Distinctive feature, short, dense, without wave or feathering, giving fairly hard feel to…”
What you are taking on
- 7 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in bones & joints and brain & nerves. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; UK Kennel Club Breed Health and Conservation Plan — Labrador Retriever (2020). One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Labrador Retriever
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged permissible.
Coat
Distinctive feature, short, dense, without wave or feathering, giving fairly hard feel to the touch
weather-resistant undercoat
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°122 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the breed standard says
- Size
- “Ideal height at the withers: Males: 56 – 57 cm. Females: 54 – 56 cm”
- FCI distinguishes an ideal from what is permitted.
Quoted from FCI standard n°122. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Labrador Retriever in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
Health & screening guide for the Labrador Retriever
Known hereditary risks for the Labrador Retriever breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
8 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Bones & joints
Hip dysplasia
Serious
Malformation of the hip joint causing instability and, over time, osteoarthritis. It is one of the top health concerns the UK breed clubs themselves flagged in 2020, with heritability estimated at around 0.3-0.4.
What to ask for
Hip score from a recognised scheme (OFA, BVA/KC or FCI) on both parents
Elbow dysplasia
Serious
A group of developmental abnormalities of the elbow joint causing pain, lameness and a predisposition to arthritis. The Kennel Club's own evidence base describes it as 'a well-acknowledged and serious condition' in this breed, and it was the breed's top-ranked health concern in 2019.
What to ask for
Elbow score from a recognised scheme (OFA or BVA/KC) on both parents
Brain & nerves
Exercise-induced collapse (EIC)
Serious
Affected dogs develop wobbly hindquarters or partial hind-limb paralysis after 5-20 minutes of intense, excited exercise. It is not painful but requires lifelong management around strenuous retrieving and play, and can occasionally be fatal if exercise is not stopped.
What to ask for
DNA test for the DNM1 gene mutation on both parents
Centronuclear myopathy (CNM)
Serious
An inherited muscle disease causing progressive weakness, exercise intolerance and swallowing difficulty from a few months of age in affected puppies. Carriers are unaffected, but an estimated one in seven UK Labradors carries the mutation.
What to ask for
DNA test for the PTPLA gene mutation on both parents
Eyes
Progressive retinal atrophy (prcd-PRA)
Serious
A progressive, incurable degeneration of the retina leading to blindness, usually starting with night-vision loss in early middle age. It is caused by a specific, well-characterised mutation in this breed.
What to ask for
DNA test for prcd-PRA on both parents
Hereditary/early cataracts
Serious
Clouding of the eye's lens that can impair or end vision. The breed's own health co-ordinators ranked hereditary cataracts as their second most important concern in 2019.
What to ask for
Eye examination under a recognised scheme (BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme in the UK, ACVO CAER exam in the US) on both parents, repeated annually
Skin & coat
Hereditary nasal parakeratosis (HNPK)
Monitor
A chronic but non-life-threatening condition causing dry, crusted fissures on the nose from a young age. It is not usually painful but is persistent and can be prone to secondary infection.
What to ask for
DNA test for the SUV39H2 gene mutation on both parents
Digestion & liver
Copper-associated hepatitis (copper toxicosis)
Serious
A build-up of copper in the liver that can progress to cirrhosis in middle age. Two genes affecting copper metabolism have been identified in the breed, and the condition can sometimes be managed with a low-copper diet if caught early.
What to ask for
DNA test for the ATP7A/ATP7B/RETN variants (e.g. Embark) on both parents
How long the Labrador Retriever lives, in the records
Median survival 13.1 years
95% confidence interval 13.0–13.1 years, from 16,155 recorded deaths among 43,182 dogs
Mortality hazard 0.8 (0.78, 0.81) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.
Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
Gallery
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Puppies
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No Labrador Retriever breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.