Chabrador

The Chabrador is a designer breed dog, an intentional cross between a Chow Chow and a Labrador Retriever. Although the Chow Chow breed was not given their name until they were introduced to England in the 18th century, these dogs are actually an ancient breed from Asia. We can’t be certain how long ago these dogs originated or whether it was in China, Siberia, or Mongolia, although dogs in written accounts and artworks that seem to depict Chow type dogs date back thousands of years in China. They were employed as temple guards and as hunting dogs, skilled at scenting and pointing, and had many names. They were first imported into England in the late 1700’s, listed in the ship's registers as curiosities or curios and given the name Chow Chow. The Chow breed gained popularity in England throughout the 1800’s and by the early 1900’s had gained popularity in the United States as well, enough to be officially recognized by the AKC in 1906. Although the Labrador Retriever is not as ancient as the Chow Chow, they are not exactly newcomers to the scene. The earliest ancestor that experts can agree on is the St. John’s dog, a 16th century water dog that became extinct in the 1980’s. The St. John’s dog had a short, oily coat, making it as at home swimming in the water as it was running on land. These dogs worked alongside the fishermen on the coasts of Newfoundland and, like the Labrador, they were retrievers. They specialized in diving deep into the water to retrieve nets, ropes, and even fish, rather than the retrieving water fowl as the Labrador does today. It was in the 1800’s that James Harris and Walter Scott, both of which had been breeding the St. John’s dogs to be gun dogs to retrieve fowl, met while out shooting. Mr. Harris made a gift of two of his male retrievers to Mr. Scott, who then bred them to his own dogs. The resulting canines were the ancestors of today’s modern Labradors. The Chabrador is typically calmer than the Labrador Retriever and more outgoing and friendly than the average Chow, although each dog is an individual.