A few years back “silver Labradors” were all the rage. Actually, silver Labs are chocolate Labs with a gene that dilute the hair color, making it appear silvery. The gene is more widely known in weimaraners and dobermanns, where you have blue and Isabella dobies that are actually diluted black and “red” dog. Many dog experts believe the “silver Lab” got its color from an outcross with a weimaraner. I even read some wag who believed the gray color came from an outcross with the Norwegian elkhound, which was crossed in the Lab when it became a show dog. However, elkhound gray is not the same color as this diluted liver.
The dog above is a long-haired weimaraner, not a silver flat-coat. If someone wanted to create one, this is the dog that would be used for the outcross.
There is a relationship between the Weimaraner and the German pointers, especially the short-hair and long-hair. In Germany, many Germnny pointers are solid liver. If one had the dilution of color gene, it would look a lot like a smaller weimaraner.
However, the weimaraner is actually descended from big game hunting hounds. After all the big game was killed off in Germany, they then bred it to be an HPR breed. The Germans have this thing about having extreme versatility in their hunting dogs, which would explain why they did this.
