AMERICAN LAB VS. ENGLISH LAB

Pictured above is an American Lab vs. English Lab Both Labradors are chocolate in color. Before we begin, to see our English Lab or American Lab puppies visit our puppies for sale page. Before we look at one or the other, let’s talk about both as either can be a very popular dog. As of the time of writing this article there is no official recognition by any organization of the dog breed difference between an English vs. American Lab. All Labs register either with the American Kennel Club, or the Canadian Kennel Club as that, Labrador Retriever.

The difference is such that the English Labrador Retrievers are more common across the pond in the UK. The American Labrador Retrievers are a more common dog in United States and Canada. In general Labrador Retrievers are one of the more popular breeds who are great working dogs. Depending on what qualities the breeder chooses to develop, this dog breed can be either great working dogs or family dogs. They are high energy or low energy dogs, hunting dogs, service dogs or compete at hunting trials. One type of Lab does not have more or less health problems than the other. Breeders such as ourselves genetically test for health problems ruling our common diseases that can be tested for. 

Both types of labs are a good choice for a family pet, service dog, working dog, family dog, or hunting dog. There are however some slight differences between the two that I will discuss American lab vs English below.

Our breeding program does not focus on the look of the Lab or the coat color. This is the primary difference between English vs American Lab retrievers. Because we breed to donate for service dogs our focus is on genetic health. As well, increasingly smarter dogs and middle of the road temperament. Though hunters tend to look for high energy hunting dogs or for field trials, our focus is on service dogs and family dogs. This focus is on dogs of energy levels that could best suit service or a family environment.

A breeder could continuously select high energy English labs to breed. Over time their bloodline would consist of those types of dogs. Or a breeder could select laid back American labs to breed. This would result in the opposite effect over years of breeding. Our dogs don’t need to win a dog show. They have to be healthy, easily trainable. They have a temperament that is not shy, not crazy but rather right in the middle. We can’t even imagine going to a breeder and choosing a dog primarily based on the look. Without considering health, intelligence and temperament first, you would be choosing art, not a responsive dog. It is worthy to note that many of our dogs are dual registered with the American Kennel Club, along with the CKC.  See more on our breeding program here. 

To make it very simple, the American Labs (of which most silver labs are) are in general a little taller, a little leaner and better suited for agility and hunting trials as they are more athletic. The English breed Labrador Retriever is thicker and a little shorter. They are the conformation labs that represent the breed standard or Show dogs. A show lab though can still be a good field dog if trained to retriever properly.

There is no clear line where an American Labrador Retriever stops and an English Retriever begins. So you can’t completely place a stamp on one or the other, rather one Lab might be more American Lab in certain ways and English Lab in others. Both have double coats and are the favorite breed among dog lovers.

It is said that many years ago hunters in the United States began keeping labs with longer snouts. This allowed them to more easily carry geese through the fields and return them to their owners. As well, the same hunters found that dogs who had longer legs could see the fowl over the corn stubble better which made them better at retrieving the birds. So The American lab developed out of a need for hunters to have success retrieving the game they had shot. I suspect that because there was just one standard that the American type lab has many different combinations of look. 

Here you can see one of our English retrievers in front of the wood pile. One of our American Labrador Retrievers is on the grass. What some call a Field Labrador is a dog who is somewhere in the middle. This is between the American Lab and a British Lab. As breeder, we will at times mix the two styles together or breed within the same style in order to achieve our breeding goals.

When choosing your Labrador Retriever I want you to consider that the important things should be health, intelligence and temperament. It doesn’t make sense to have a dog you love to look at if the vet bills are in the thousands, they are not easily trainable and end up eating your table legs, couch, carpet and walls. The important factors for you to have an enjoyable experience with your Lab for ten to fifteen years are that it listens to you and is healthy.

You will fall in love with who he/she is not how pretty she is. We normally don’t even talk temperament with our Labrador Retrievers anymore because we have been developing the bloodline for over 17 years. We have no ill tempered dogs in our stock. All are great with children, people with disabilities and other animals regardless of the English  lab vs American lab question. That is those trained and socialized properly. You can’t take royalty, raise them in a prison and expect miracles.

For the training side,  www.PuppyTrainedRight.com is where we start. The site is excellent at providing you all the information on bringing your puppy home, socializing it properly, training it in basic commands and housebreaking/crate training it. Their slogan is “Train, Don’t Complain.” We tend to agree.

So as you are conducting your research please take some time to figure out just why you are looking for specific characteristics in the Labrador Retriever you seek and how you plan to answer the English lab vs American lab question. There is no real answer to the question which type of Labrador is better: American or English. But if you are looking to show your dog, train your dog as a service dog, get them as a family pet, or compete in agility or hunting trials then you may want to have the best Lab for the job. If your Lab puppy search is for a family pet then there would be no need to have one lab over the other functionally.