Silver Labs, real or "designer"?

So there is this new color of Lab, here in Canada. they're colored like a Weim. Curious if any of you Lab people know anything about the color... any I've seen sure dont look like what a Lab should. Are they actually Labs? or are they a mix? (designer dog) I've seen 4 now, and none of them have been registered, so I have no clue if they're actually Labs. People who have them say they're bred from a chocolate.... I've talked to a few dog people, and no one seems to know (except the people who pay horrific prices for them!) ....I am really curious

Designer - have never seen a pic of one that actually looks like a Lab .... and so many of the pics of them are in funny light - they have to be registered as chocolate .....

are they actually labs tho, no mix in there? they can come from 2 registered purebred parents? (CKC here)

There's some stuff about silver labs here but I was under the impression that you couldn't DNA test for breeds because they are all the same species? Hmmm...

They are not purebred. They are Lab/Weim crosses. Not necessarily straight 50%/50% Lab/Weim crosses, but there is definitely Weim in there. "Silver" Labs can all be traced back to one kennel that used Weims.

The dog's on this site actually LOOK like Labs, so there are obviously purebred Labs that are silver..... good to know! I'm still curious about the ones that I've seen tho... that look nothing like Labs.... and aren't registered. I wonder if there is a breeder around here breeding so-called silver labs using a Weim? make money on the trend? hmmmm food for thought!

I went further on their site and looked at their photo gallery.... most of the dogs on it are fat (pet peeve of mine) but that's beside the point. some of them looked very fine boned and narrow headed... that would never pass an akc show.... I wonder.....

There are NO purebred silver Labs. Labs come in three colours and three colours only -- black, yellow and chocolate. Anything that claims to be a Lab in anything other than those colours (excluding mismarked dogs -- they are rare, but happen), isn't.

See:

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/silverlabs.html

I would suspect that silver Labs were a combination of a Labrador and a Weimaraner - they ALWAYS have the diluted D gene turned on (dd). This combo would produce a dog that would essentially look like a lab and if bred to a chocolate lab then the results would look and most likely act like labs (due to the Weim also being a gun dog and having a vaguely similar build and temperament when compared to many other breeds) - and the dilute gene could be "turned on" because of an introduction of this dilute combination. The resulting offspring could carry this - silver breeders comment that all silver puppies come from a silver x silver cross, and silver x chocolate give either silver puppies or chocolate puppies that carry silver. This would agree with the D gene hypothesis - two parents with dd would only give a d gene and the puppies would all have dd and would therefore be silver.

I always thought they were a cross... they just recently entered my radar on something to research.... I do that once in a while. I could never own a Lab of any sort.... but I love them... at least what they SHOULD be none of this 100lb huge massively built dogs that are psyco hyper, as what we see most of now... at least in my neck of the Canadian woods

THAT answered ALL my questions! thank you Labradork! btw I was being a bit facetious in the comment you quoted lol.... another designer dog!

Yes, I know what you mean. I remember going to vets years ago and being shocked at seeing the most enormous Lab. It was almost the size of a Great Dane, obese, chocolate, but most definitely a Lab.

I'm sure you would change your mind if you ever my sweet boy though!

nope my mind would never be changed... or well my health wouldn't.... as much as I love Labs... they make me very sick. Labs are my worst dog allergy... I can deal with long single coats, curly coats, and wire coats, but double, triple and short coats are an absolute NO NO.... unfortunately! I do have a lab cross tho... well I think he is anyway. Lab x Terrier. he has a wire coat, shortish, but I have no issues with him. I will have an asthma attack to prolonged exposure to labs (playing and up close stuff) but I do love a good ORIGINAL lab, and I am sure your sweet boy is amazing! you know... there are literally thousands of labs in my city, I've prob. only seen a handful of them at a healthy body weight. 99% of them are fat, same with Rotties.... why do people do this to their dogs!

and you cant tell me they all have health reasons for getting that way... as someone tried to point out to me once! I had a dog with Hypothyroidism... yes she got fat, but once on pills and a good diet, she lost her weight.

People deny that they have anything to do with Weimeraners, strange that because 99% of the photo's that you see of supposed Silver Lab's have Weimeraner's ears and heads!

I'm certain that they are crosses, especially as it was something that we never came across here in the UK until recently.

You can get tan pointed labs as well
Becky

Wow! I haven't seen one of those! I'm assuming they're a mix at some point too?

Well all breeds were mixes at some point way back in their beginnings but the odd tan point crops up every now and then!
Becky

As do black and tans in my two breeds but they are extremely rare. Pom's we've had for 30 years and only had one and the Spanish had for 17 years and had two in the same litter (though they were brown and tan) we found out later where the line was that brought this in the Spanish. They were very cute though.

I have never seen a silver lab.

well if they havent got weimaraner in them i'll eat my hat ,i've had wiemys for 25+ years and you only have to look at the ears ,eyes and expression,to me its just another doggy con