The Flat-Coated Retriever isn’t regarded as a “head breed,” per se, but it does has a “one piece” head that is unique to the breed. Long, clean, and free of exaggeration, the sleek head has a muzzle with an unexaggerated and minimal stop that makes life easier for a dog that carries birds in its mouth for a living, so to speak. Both sides of the law, it’s said, relied on the breed’s prowess in this area. English gamekeepers needed a dog that could find and retrieve birds that might have been overlooked after a driven shoot, but poachers also needed a dog to find and retrieve those birds, albeit in the middle of the night. Law-abiders and lawbreakers alike often found that the Flat-Coated Retriever was the dog for the job.

Flat Coat Retriever print by Rob Christensen is available here for purchase