Brindle Labrador Retrievers

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Have you ever seen a Brindle Labrador Retriever? As far as I know I have not seen one in person. Although, I’m not too sure I’d recognize a purebred brindle Labrador retriever even if I saw one.

Just about everyone has heard of the Labrador Retriever breed. And I’d probably say that most people know the common colors of a lab: yellow, black, and chocolate (brown). Of course, there’s a lot of variation in the yellow coloring from a very light white color to as deep as red/copper color.

However, have you heard of or ever seen the other Labrador Retriever coat colors? A few months back I wrote an article about Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers. The coloring is very similar to a Rottweiler or a Doberman Pinscher. One of our guide dog puppy’s in training, Egan was black and tan lab. If you want to see a picture of Egan take a look at the article on Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers.

Brindle Labrador Retriever

The second unusual color variation in the Labrador coat color is brindle. As I mentioned in my previous article the brindle coloring is seen less often. Labs with brindling have tan speckling on their forelegs, muzzles, and chest.

Here at Puppy In Training we were lucky enough to receive some pictures from one of our readers who has a couple brindle Labrador Retrievers. Here are the photos I received:

Waiting For Her Treat

Good Down-Stay!

Learning To Retrieve

Here’s what Maia and Tora’s handler had to say about his two brindle Labrador Retrievers:

“Maia’s reddish/brown on black is more dramatic. Each leg has a different pattern. Her inner thighs have yellow hair as does her butt area. At 8 months I began training her to hunt pheasant, quail and chukar. Often times she will hold a strong point and I have hunted her with some professionals and she holds her own. Tora’s a chocolate with yellow markings on he muzzle, across her chest and on each leg. Her brindling is more uniform than Maia’s. At nearly six months she swims like a fish and retrieves very well. Soon we’ll go to the fields with a couple of birds and begin training in earnest.”

It’s interesting to see pictures and hear about the unusual color variations in Labs.

As you all know I’m working with my current puppy, Derby in hopes that he will someday be a guide dog. Raising a guide dog requires a specific training program as we prepare our puppies to lead their blind handlers in many different places and situations. One thing that caught my interest after reading the short snippet about Maia and Tora the Brindle labs is that they are being trained as hunting dogs. As with a guide dog I’m sure a hunting dog has a strict and specific training program. I would be interested to see exactly what kind of training a hunting dog goes through.

If anyone has any other pictures of brindle labs I’d love to see them. If you train hunting dogs I’d be interested to hear about how a hunting dog is trained. What do you think of these Purebred Brindle Labrador Retrievers?

Here are some more articles on Purebred Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers:

Brindle and Black and Tan Labrador Retrievers

Black And Tan Labrador Retrievers

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43 Comments

  1. I’m happy to find this site, I researched a lot about brindle labrador here in Brazil and I didn’t find anything I’m about to adopt one.

  2. While they may not meet the breed standard, and cannot be shown, brindling DOES occur in purebred labs. It is the result of a recessive gene, so both parents have to carry the gene for it to be expressed. It is horribly irresponsible to assume that there must have been an interloper somewhere.

    I learned a lot in a real hurry when our stud, a gentle giant of a black lab with a long and rather proud pedigree, was bred with a sweet chocolate, with an equally wonderful temperment and lineage. Nine pups in the litter, and four demonstrate brindling. These are 100 percent lab pups, with good breeding. The brindles are absolutely adorable. The first two pups to be spoken for were brindled. It was his second litter, with the first throwing eleven beautiful, homogenous colored pups. (No brindling.)

    I don’t know if the brindled pups will be registered, but I know they have been a hit, and all of my research these last few weeks, comes up with no other known health risks or predispositions.

    Brindled labs are unique, and come pre-camoflauged for the duck blind!

    Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but

  3. I have a lab puppy that is 12 weeks old that we were told is Brindle but I have showed other people and they say that he looks like he is Lab and Rottweiler mixed. How can I tell and how can I send you a picture to see if you can tell.

  4. Now I’ve grown up with black labs. I had never heard of or seen a brindle lab until about three weeks ago. Our neighbor had lab puppies and told my son he could have his pick. My son told me he picked out a really cool one that had all the colors. So I had to go check it out. The Neighbor told me she was what they call a brindle lab and he said he had never seen one either. Then he had another pup that was black and tan. He told me he researched that and those labs are breed as seeing eye dogs. Anyway the pup came home today at 7weeks and has already made friends with my 6 month old daughter. She seems to be a very well tempered lab. My son is looking forward to training her to pheasant and grouse hunt.

  5. We’ve had a chocolate lab now for 5 years. I’ve been told by two different vets that we do have a 100% Lab Retriever. We were hesitant at first because he has very short tiny black stipes here and there, almost like a brindle, but he’s mostly brown all over, his nose is also brown. Everything about him from body structure to his personality screams Labrador Retriever and the lady that sold him to us said that that’s what he is. I’m glad I found this site because I wasn’t sure if this was possible. thank you all for your facts and comments

  6. I have a brindle retriever. He is 9 months and he is a dark brindle all over. In his litter there was 2 goldens and a black.

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