The deal i had on a pup fell through, so starting looking again. Looking for opinions on American Breed verses British Breed, has anyone had both, is there a big differance in the two, what i am reading is the british is a slightly smaller breed and somewhat calmer. Anyone have any first hand knowledge on this matter?

I have the british breed. Small, excellent family dog that loves to hunt. To be honest, I could have either one. Labs are great dogs to own.

the americans are a I find have a lot more drive. With this comes hard heads and hyperness.

the british breed are more laid back and dont have the drive like the american breeds do. They still work but they do it with finesse instead of jumping 15ft through the air into the water like the americans do.


Idk how much you want to spend but you can get a dog thats bred with both the american and british bloodlines from Ace's Retrievers for about 1500 bucks

One barks with a funny accent.

My HD crashed but here's one of Sadie... I bought both of my labs from classiclabs.com in Chapel Hill out 290 from Houston just after the College Station exit.

http://www.geocities.com/choctawlabs/

This is where I got my Lab he is 4yrs old and is one hell of a pet and one damn good hunting buddy!!!
These are from the British line as well. I've also got a black lab from this same blood line. And I will half to agree with the statement made by T-Bubba about them being laid back! But Jake (the Yellow) he is a laid back dog but the drive that he has in the water is unreal!!! You but him in a boat and let the ducks start falling he turns into a machine. Same goes for the doves as well. Rafe the black lab I got he is only 4 months and I'm going to hunt him this yr and see how he does.

This is an email response I got from a breeder when I asked basically the same question, in what what was the difference between the American and British Labs.

The breeder is located around St. Martinville, La.
www.prizemyeyes.com is the website.

"My Labs have ancestors from U.S., Canada, Australia, England and other countries. Some field trial breeders breed their Labs super hyper which I stay away from since they burn themselves out before accomplishing anything. Don’t believe everything you read, I have top British hunting/show lines in some of my dogs and some with top American and I don’t see that one is better than the other."



"Some people who breed what they call “English” Labs are breeding them way too heavy with too heavy bone – I’ve seen judges stop dogs in the ring while chastising the handlers that the dogs look more like baby Newfoundlands than Labradors. I breed my dogs to be within the standard of the Labrador Retriever… I desire an intelligent, athletic, very healthy and proper conformation on my animals."

I have hunted over both breeds and it just comes down to preference. Like most people say on here, the British labs are more "laid back" than the American labs. If you have never trained or worked with dogs, a high powered or high energy dog can be challenging. Try to find a breeder who has the damn and sire on location so you can have a good idea of what the pup's temperament and personality will be.

My dog is a field trial breed and was really hyper when he was 1-2 yrs old. Hes almost 4 and still has a ton of energy. He's a great hunting dog but I also run hunt test with him. Only downside is his skinny ass gets cold when we hunt on cold days...

The term "British" or "English" lab is more a marketing ploy than anything else. Check out how the dogs are trained across the pond. Not as "gentlemanly" as we are lead to believe. Bottom line is find a breeding you like, check out the health clearances, and I don't care where they come from.

Do your due diligence.

Hire a mexican to go pick up your ducks...it will be cheaper.