Chocolate Labs, and what we know about them

What makes a Lab chocolate?

A Lab comes out chocolate when it gets the brown version of the color gene from both parents, as long as it isn't also yellow. Brown is recessive, so a Lab with a single copy stays black and carries brown unseen, while two copies turn the black pigment brown in the coat and in the skin.

That is why a chocolate has a brown nose and brown eye rims, which is just what the breed standard asks for, and its eyes may be brown or hazel. The color itself can range from light to dark.

What can two chocolate Labs have?

A chocolate mama and papa can't have a black puppy, because neither one has a black copy of the gene to pass on. Every puppy gets brown from both sides, so the whole litter is chocolate unless both parents also carry yellow, and in that case some of the puppies can be yellow.

Any yellow puppy from a chocolate mama and papa has a brown nose, because two copies of brown change the nose and foot pads from black to brown even under a yellow coat. A chocolate bred to a black has chocolate puppies only when the black parent carries brown, and our black Lab guide explains how a black can carry it.

Do chocolate Labs live shorter lives?

One large study of Labs seen by vets in the UK found that they did. Among the dogs whose deaths were recorded, chocolates lived to a median age of 10.7 years, against 12.1 years for all the other Labs together.

The same study found ear infections and hot spots on the skin more often in chocolates than in blacks or yellows.

Why isn't known for sure. One possible reason is that chocolates carry more skin trouble through their lives. Ask about the health of a chocolate puppy's parents, and dry your Lab well after a swim, since regular swimming may raise the risk of ear trouble and a damp coat may encourage skin problems.

Are chocolate Labs harder to train?

What has been found is mixed, and the strongest claims don't hold up. In one survey, owners rated chocolates as more excitable than blacks and a little harder to train, and the likeliest reasons were each dog's training and experience and whether it came from working or show lines.

A later study set out to test the idea that chocolates are harder to train, more hyperactive and more aggressive, and it found no sign that chocolates are more hyperactive or aggressive than blacks or yellows. It did find training scores a little lower in dogs carrying more copies of the brown gene, whatever their coat color, and that still needs to be confirmed.

Is a silver Lab a kind of chocolate?

Silver is often sold that way, and some silver Labs have been registered as a shade of chocolate, but the breed club disagrees. The silvery shade comes from a gene that lightens chocolate brown, and that gene has never been part of the Lab. Breeds such as the Weimaraner carry it in every dog.

Registration papers on their own don't show whether a Lab carries that gene. Ask whether a chocolate puppy's parents have had the DNA test for it, and our Lab colors guide explains why silver isn't counted as a Lab color.

Do we raise chocolate Labs?

We do, and chocolate is one of the three Lab colors we raise, alongside black and yellow, and all of them are bred with the English style in mind. We are working toward health testing every one of our mamas and papas. As each parent's certificates come in, we post them on that parent's own page.

Families can reserve a chocolate by gender and color when the litter is born, and the final pick comes at 4 to 5 weeks. Mention chocolate when you apply, and if no chocolate litter is due, the waiting list holds your place. A $200 non-refundable deposit holds a place on the waiting list for a litter that has not been born yet.