9781422279373

In the 15th and 16th centuries, in Europe, more than 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, dogs similar to present-day Labs were depicted in splendid Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese oil paintings, often standing next to, or lying at the foot of, the subject of the paint- ing—a person of noble birth. The 16th century was a time when European explorers traveled the world by sea, and traders regularly sailed back and forth be- tween continents. Fishing fleets crossed the Atlantic Ocean to trawl the rich cod banks off Newfoundland. On board ship, included as part of the working crew, were their working dogs. Did these dogs perhaps resemble the dogs from the noble European paintings, and were they the forerunners of the Lab?  The sea around Newfoundland Island is chilled by the Labra-

dor Current, which flows south from the Arctic Circle. Fishing in the cod-filled waters of the Grand Banks proved so plentiful that, over the years, fishermen from Britain, and later Portugal and Spain, settled for good at St. Johns in the southeast of Newfoundland. Of course, the work- ing dogs that traveled with them across the ocean stayed too. Over time, the settlers’ dogs bred with local dogs. Probably these local dogs had also arrived in Newfound- land via ships from various parts of the world. Two distinct types of dog evolved in the area, and 19th century writers talk of the Newfoundland Dog (similar to to- day’s Newfoundland, pictured on page 10) and the Lesser Newfoundland Dog, also known as the St. John’s Dog, ancestor of the Lab.

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