Your first dog:
why does everyone
say Labrador?
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Getting your first dog? Why does everyone point you to a Labrador? Everyone says it's easy to train. Yet it's also famous for never being full. Those two things are really one thing. It starts where the breed comes from.
Over two hundred years ago, on the coast of Newfoundland in Canada, fishermen kept a short-coated dog. When a fish slipped off the hook, it jumped into the icy sea and brought it back. It helped haul in the nets, too. The fishermen wanted a dog that worked with people and handed things back.
Later it reached Britain and became the Labrador Retriever. To retrieve means to fetch things back. For a beginner, it's like a driving school car. Steer clumsily, and it doesn't stall. Press the gas, and it goes.
That gas pedal is a little treat. Just how greedy are Labs? Researchers checked their genes. In about one in four, a gene that helps signal fullness is missing a small piece.
Without it, the 'full' signal is weaker, so they still want food after eating. Dogs with it weighed nearly two kilos more on average, and cared more about food. Here's the odd part: Labs chosen as guide and assistance dogs carried it even more often.
The researchers' guess: a treat is enough to teach it. Easy to train and always hungry are the same thing. Trainers call this food motivation. Those fingernail-sized training treats in pet shops run on it. The gas pedal is that one treat in your hand.
In Britain, the most common guide dogs are Labradors, Golden Retrievers, and crosses of the two. China's guide dog center in Dalian trains Labradors too. Leading someone through a crowded subway takes a dog that stays calm with strangers. But once that driving school car is in your home, there's more to it.
A parked car is fine. A Lab that doesn't run all day gets restless. An adult Lab needs one to two hours of activity a day. Same with that hungry stomach. Give in and hand over a few extra bites, and it gets fat.
Extra weight loads its hips, a spot where Labs often have trouble. For details, ask your vet. So 'beginner-friendly' means it forgives your clumsy start, not that it needs nothing from you. What breed was your first dog?
In one line
Easy to train and always hungry are the same thing: one treat, and it will learn.
That is why everyone recommends it. But the same appetite also makes it easy to overfeed.
It started out
on fishing boats
Like a driving
school car
Trainers call this appetite "food motivation." Those fingernail-sized training treats sold in pet shops run on it.
A gene with
a missing piece
Researchers checked Labradors' genes. In some dogs, a gene that helps signal "I'm full" is missing a small piece. Without it, the full signal is weaker, so they still want food after eating.
The researchers' guess: a treat is enough to teach these dogs, so they are more likely to be picked. It is a guess, not the whole story.
The most common
guide dog
In Britain, the most common guide dogs are Labradors, Golden Retrievers, and crosses of the two. China's guide dog center in Dalian, a port city in the northeast, trains Labradors too.
Leading someone through a packed subway takes a dog that stays calm around strangers. That steadiness is exactly what a beginner needs. Some dogs rarely ask people for help, like the Shiba Inu, and are harder for beginners to teach.
Once the car
is in your home
Quick check
Why are Labradors easy to train?
Their appetite is the driving school car's gas pedal: press it with one treat and it goes.
