Labrador Retriever

The Labrador never set foot in Labrador. It grew up on the docks of Newfoundland, where fishermen kept a short-coated water dog to haul nets and fetch fish that slipped the line.

British sportsmen watched it work. They shipped a few home in the 1800s and bred the finest gun dog in the field. The job left its mark. Webbed feet. A thick otter tail for a rudder. A coat that beads water like a raincoat.

Almost anything you ask of a Lab, it does well and gladly. Labs guide the blind and hear for the deaf. They sniff out explosives and the early warning of a seizure. They pull children from pools.

The genius is the mouth. A Lab can carry a raw egg across a yard and set it down without a dent. Add a bottomless wish to please and you get a dog that is almost embarrassingly easy to teach.

Off duty, it is pure appetite and affection. It will eat what it should not. It will lean its full weight on your leg. It will treat every visitor as a friend it has not met yet.

America agreed for thirty-one years in a row. The Lab was the No. 1 breed from 1991 to 2021, and it is still No. 2. Gentle, tireless, and sure the next good thing is coming. Usually it involves food.