The Kennel Club

Breed Standard of Retriever (Labrador)

Published with kind permission from The Kennel Club

The Kennel Club © March 1994

General Appearance
Strongly built, short-coupled, very active; broad in skull; broad and deep through chest and ribs; broad and strong over loins and hindquarters.

Characteristics
Good-tempered, very agile. Excellent nose, soft mouth; keen love of water.  Adaptable devoted companion.

Temperament
Intelligent, keen and biddable, with a strong will to please. Kindly nature, with no trace of aggression or undue shyness.

Head and Skull
Skull broad with defined stop; clean-cut without fleshy cheeks. Jaws of medium length, powerful  not snipy. Nose wide, nostrils well developed.

Eyes
Medium size, expressing intelligence and good temper, brown or hazel.

Ears
Not large or heavy, hanging close to head and set rather far back.

Mouth
Jaws and teeth strong with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Neck
Clean, strong, powerful, set into well placed shoulders.

Forequarters
Shoulders long and sloping. Forelegs well boned and straight from elbow to ground when viewed from either front or side.

Body
Chest of good width and depth, with well sprung barrel ribs. Level top line. Loins wide, short-coupled and strong.

Hindquarters
Well developed, not sloping to tail; well turned stifle. Hocks well let down, cow hocks highly undesirable.

Feet
Round, compact; well arched toes and well developed pads.

Tail
Distinctive feature, very thick towards base, gradually tapering towards tip, medium length, free from feathering, but clothed thickly all round with short, thick, dense coat, thus giving 'rounded' appearance described as 'Otter' tail.  May be carried gaily but should not curl over back.

Gait/Movement
Free, covering adequate ground; straight and true in front and rear.

Coat
Distinctive feature, short-dense without wave or feathering, giving fairly hard feel to the touch; weather-resistant undercoat.

Colour
Wholly black, yellow or liver/chocolate. Yellows range from light cream to red fox. Small white spot on chest permissible.

Size
Ideal height at withers; dogs 56-57 cms (22-22¹/₂ins); bitches 54-56 cms (21¹/₂ins).

Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.