What is the best dog breed in the world?…I found the answer!

It's no secret, I think Labradors are one of the greatest dog breeds in the world. I can't not throw in the Labrador Retriever into the mix. Labradors. The Labrador Retriever. The Labrador. Labrador. The Labrador. But I wondered if that was just me, so I asked some of the best dog trainers in the world which breed they thought was the best. Labrador Retriever. The Labrador Retriever. So the huge question this left me with is, why is the Labrador the best dog breed in the world? I started by looking into the incredible history of the Labrador and discovered their lineages can be traced back to the St John's Water Dog from the island of Newfoundland and that's the dog that started their amazing journey across the Atlantic to here in England. And it was in the harbours of Poole where the Earl of Marlsbury realised they'd excel at duck hunting and when he later met the Duke of Bucklew, he sent him with two of his dogs, Ned and Avon, to his estate in Scotland which became the foundation for the Labrador we know today. So for me to get to the bottom of this question, I knew I had to travel to Scotland to find out more. But it's not just about coming to Scotland, we need to find one of the best dog trainers in the world that are training Labradors for their original purpose, the reason that they were bred. For us to be able to answer this question of What is it about a Labrador, that natural instinct that you want from them that you're then shaping? Yeah, so it's a desire to retrieve and the desire to please their owner. So when you combine the two things where they really want to retrieve and you're really happy that they're retrieving, it doesn't get any better than that for them. There's lots of other natural ability things that we talk about with gundogs like game finding ability, marking ability, they're all big things as well, but it all starts with their desire to retrieve and their desire to please their owner. And as somebody that's bred Labradors, when do you start seeing that? As soon as they can walk. Really? Yeah, yeah. As soon as they can physically pick things up in their mouth, they'll be doing that. What is the difference for you between Showline and Working Line? Because I've had some people that have a level of expertise in the dog field they'll say that there isn't a difference between Showline and Working Line and I'll scratch my head of like, have you spent time with them? The Working Line Labs are definitely higher energy. I think they're more intelligent as well. They've been bred for their intelligence, for their stamina, for their drive. The Show Dogs have been bred because of how they look. Yeah. So physical performance hasn't come into it. One of the unique things about Labradors, specifically the UK Working Line Labradors, they have got what you call the on-off switch. Okay. So providing you're stimulating them properly with work and training and plenty of exercise, then they will switch off and they can chill out and be a good dog in the house. What would go wrong with a dog like this in the wrong hands? Is that kind of a common theme you've seen? There are a lot of dogs that have got a lot of intelligence and a lot of drive. You get a lot of chewing problems, bad recall. Once you do let them off, they're like, oh, we've got to go and burn energy. We've got to go and stimulate ourselves because we're not getting stimulation from our owner. Have you come across much aggression, bite incidents with Labradors? Personally, I haven't. I've never had any bites at all from any Labradors. I've never known anyone personally that's been bitten by a Labrador. Do you think that's breed related? I think a lot of that's breed related, yes. Yeah. Because my answer is when you make the mistake and you have to come to me to fix it, I would rather be fixing a Labrador than you made that mistake with a Malinois or an XL Bully. And again, people get upset with that viewpoint that there isn't that big of a difference between breeds. My experience of when Labradors go wrong, they don't go that kind of wrong. Yes. And I'm like, OK, well, I can fix a lot of the issues where they have gone wrong, which again is no excuse to get one. But I do believe there'd be a lot less problems if people got more Labradors. Yes. People aren't getting mauled to death by Labradors. After seeing their abilities in the field, it wasn't just an incredible experience for me, but it gave me loads to think about in terms of why these dogs that are so capable also make the best pet dog breed. So then is the Labrador the best pet dog breed? And if they are, then why? Now, having that incredible experience and having time to really think about it, it has confirmed to me that the Labrador is the best pet dog breed. But the reason why is different from what I initially thought, because I now truly to my core believe that the Labrador is the best breed by accident. They weren't designed or developed to be the best pet dog breed, but they happened to become so because of what they were actually bred for. Now, let me explain. First of all, they were bred to be able to work as part of a team of dogs. That means the dogs that were bred for and were selected in their working capacities had to be great with other dogs. They didn't want dogs fighting. They wanted dogs to be able to get on and be in close proximity to each other. For us as pet dog owners, that means Labradors tend to be amazing with other dogs. They were bred and selected to have a soft mouth. And as pet dog owners, that's only ever going to be a good thing for us. Whilst out hunting, they needed to be incredibly intelligent. So again, that was bred for working roles. But for us, it's amazing because it makes training them an absolute breeze. Hunters wanted their Labradors to be what they call steady in the field. That means they wanted a dog to be calm and quiet whilst they were out hunting different game birds. Again, great for the hunter, the reason that they were bred. But for us, it's wonderful. It means that we get Labradors that can be calm, can be relaxed, which makes amazing pet dogs. Labradors were selectively bred with examples that were desperate to please their owner, have that innate desire to please their owner. When people took them out hunting, they were much more successful with them. Again, a benefit to us as pet dog owners and pet dog trainers, not only are they incredibly intelligent, but they also have a high desire to please. We put those things together and it's no surprise that they're one of the easiest dog breeds to train and one of the dog breeds that is easiest to train to an incredibly high level on and off the field. But Labradors were also bred to be reliant on handler instruction. Hunters knew that, yes, their dogs needed to be incredibly intelligent. They needed to have all those other amazing traits that we've just talked about. But there are going to be times where they need to instruct their dogs on where to go, how to go, how to retrieve, what to retrieve. And for them to do that, they need to be looking at the hunter. They need to want to please the hunter, but want to follow instructions from them as well. Again, we bring that back to our purposes, paired with that desire to look up to us for guidance and direction. It makes them one of the best pet dog breeds. So is it then any surprise that a breed that was bred for all of those amazing traits that then accidentally means that they want to look up to us for guidance and direction. They want to please us. They're incredibly intelligent. They're bred to be steady. They're bred to be able to get on with other dogs. They're bred to have amazing bite inhibition, so that they very rarely turn out to have any aggressive tendencies. That we are left with not just one of the best working dogs in the world, but one of the best pet dog breeds in the world. So, as always, when in doubt, get yourself a Labrador.