Putting a “for sale” sign on a dog was one way to indicate its availability. So was throwing it into water and having it swim towards land, and that’s precisely how it was done in the mid 19th century in Poole harbor on the south coast of Britain. Poole had developed into a busy, prosperous seaport, and up until the mid 18th century,  dogs – mostly Newfoundlands and St. John’s Dog – were used to pull carts to deliver fish.

When that was made illegal, sea captains realized there was another way they could use dogs to make money, and that was to sell the dogs they picked up in Newfoundland and sell them in Great Britain. The import of dogs now became regular trade. Once the ships arrived in Poole, the dogs were transferred to a light, narrow boat called a “gig,” and rowed inland. Dogs thrown overboard and swimming ashore was the signal that they were for sale.  Mercifully for the dogs, British customs caught on and put a duty on the dogs, and once less profitable, the dog trade dwindled.

We mention this because those dogs were the ancestors of today’s Labrador Retriever.  It was the 2nd Earl of Malmesbury, an avid sportsman, who saw the potential in a dog that could retrieve birds on land and from the water. It was his son, the 3rd Earl, who changed the dogs’ name from the “Little Newfoundlanders” to “Labradors.”  News of the dogs’ abilities spread throughout England and to Scotland, and soon landholders with shooting estates started using them. The rest is history. The Labrador Retriever is consistently among the top ten most popular breeds in America, as well as in several other countries.

“Partners” by Paul Doyle
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