Ben of Hyde: First ever yellow lab
Ben of Hyde, registered in 1899 and seen in the photograph to the left, shows he’s a relatively dark color and until the 1940s, this was certainly the norm.
However, through the mid to late 1900s, lighter shades of yellow and cream became more fashionable and breeders sought to selectively breed for these colors.
Fox Red is not a individual color of Labrador retriever but is really a shade of yellow. Ben of Hyde was the first recognized yellow Labrador retriever born in the year 1899. He and other early yellow labs were dark golden or more accurately described as a ‘Butterscotch’ tinged with red shade. Their color was in fact labeled Golden until the British Kennel Club came to register and recognize them in 1903, and later the American Kennel Club in 1917. At this time Gold was not distinguished as a color and so it was changed to yellow. Over the course of the last century the lighter shades of yellow Labrador have triumphed over the original ‘butterscotch’, especially after WWII.
King George VI & Queen Elizabeth with their Dark Yellow in the 1920’s
The Fox Red Labrador isn’t a separately recognized color by the major kennel clubs around the world. It’s just one of the somewhat wide variation in shades of Yellow Labrador available.
They are a genuine, pure bred Labrador, with a history going back to the earliest days of the breed.
In the 1980’s the Fox Red shade of yellow were re-established by two English breeders
Pictured here is our English Labrador sire Chase who we were able to purchase and he has given us some of our most beautiful red puppies, both inside and out!
