Breed standard
for

Labrador Retriever
GROUP: 8 (C) FCIs BREED NO:  122

Country of origin:
United Kingdom

General Appearance :
Strongly built, short couples, very active; broad in skull; broad and deep through chest and ribs; broad and strong over loins and hindquarters.

Characteristics :
Good tempered, very agile. Excellent nose, soft mouth; keen love of water. Adaptable, devoted companion.

Temperament :
Intelligent, keen and biddable, with a stong will to please. Kindly nature, with no trace of aggression or indue shyness.

Head and skull :
Skull broad with defined stop; clean cut without fleshy cheeks. Jaws of medium length, powerful, not snipey. Nose wide, nostrills well developed.

Eyes :
Medium size, expressing intelligence and good temper; brown or hazel.

Ears :
Not large or heavy, hanging close to head and set rather far back.

Mouth :
Jaws and teeth strong, with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, I.e. the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Neck :
Clean, strong, powerful, set into well-placed shoulders.

Forequarters :
Shoulders long and sloping. Forelegs well-boned and straight from elbow to ground when viewed from either front or side.

Body :
Chest of good width and depth,with well spung barrel ribs. Level topline. Loins wide, short coupled and strong.

Hindquarters :
Well-developed not sloping to tail; well turned stifle. Hocks well let down, cow-hocks highly undesirable.

Feet :
Round, compact; well-arched toes and well-developed pads.

Tail :
Distinctive feature, very thick towards base, gradually tapering towards tip, medium length, free from feathering, but clothed thickly all around with short, thick, dense coat, thus giving « rounded » appearance described as « otter » tail. May be carried gaily, but should not curl over back.

Gait/Movement :
Free, covering adequate ground; straight and true in front and rear.

Coat :
Distinctive feature, short dense without wave or feathering, giving fairly hard feel to touch; weather resistant undercoat.

Colour :
Wholly black, yellow or chocolate, yellow range from light cream to red fox.Small white spot on chest permissible.

Size :
Ideal height at withers : Dogs 56-57 cms; Bitches 54-56 cms.

Faults :
any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded in exact proportion to its degree .

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum

Norwegian Showchampion 1958  

Norwegian Showchampion
1995