Black Drake
This photo of “Black Drake” comes from a 1903 text by William Drury called British Dogs: Their Points, Selection and Show Preparation. Black Drake was a descendant of Moonstone. From my reading of the Tweedmouth pedigree, Zelstone was the sire of Tracer and Moonstone.
The selection on retrievers in this book is quite interesting. This piece was written when wavy or flat-coats had essentially had to be black to win anything in a dog show. It is dismissive of liver and red-colored (“golden”) dogs. “Sometimes the cross of the Gordon, and even the Irish, Setter has been resorted to, as evidenced by the throw-back of red- or liver-coloured puppies.” It is from these odd reddish colored way-coats that the 1st Baron Tweedmouth developed his strain, which eventually became the golden retriever.
Drury also obtusely states that the curly-coated retriever “is doomed to practical extinction is a notable and an undeniable fact, which must be put down to the inevitable law of the survival of the fittest.”
Of course, that didn’t happen, but the curly is still quite rare.
One must remember that the flat or wavy-coated retriever was heavily promoted as a working retriever. It was bred to be easily handled and for really strong working characteristics.
The curly of that time period was like the show golden retriever of today. It had been bred for appearance and not for working ability, and the dogs were considered second rate. This reputation sunk the curly-coated retriever.
However, this poor reputation ultimately saved it, because the only people who owned curlies were people who actually cared about producing good ones. As a result, the breed has been preserved for its working characteristics, although I doubt that it will ever be popular as a working retriever. I should mention that this is the only retriever I’ve not seen (other than the Murray River curly-coated retriever, which doesn’t exist in the Northern Hemisphere.)
On the Labrador, it talks about using the flat-c0at and the Irish setter as outcrosses to improve it:
Of late years the Labrador has grown in favour, and though the writer has no personal experience of his merits, there are knowledgable sportsmen who swear by him, by reason of his alleged possession of all the virtues which a Retriever should possess. Many of these dogs have been carefully bred and the strains jealously guarded; but to the writer’s eyes they appear, for the most part, rather coarse and cloddy; so that the element of the Setter becomes a necessity, if the quality of the modern Retriever is to be maintained. But first get your black Setter – no easy matter forsooth; though the cross of the red Irish setter with the Labrador would probably produce a fair percentage of blacks. These could be crossed in with a high-quality, show, Flat-coated Retriever, and thus a fresh current of blood would be introduced, which not only would check the tendency to excessive inbreeding, but would probably increase the powers of scent, and induce that steadiness which, it must be regretfully admitted, is often sadly wanting in our modern dogs; for they are high-couraged creatures, and somewhat impatient of restraint.
The expert Drury consulted on that retriever section was Harding Cox, who owned several top flat-coats of his day, including Black Drake and Black Queen. All of his dogs had the word “Black” in their registered names.
Finally, the more I look at these contemporary flat-coats, the more I think that this dog is a long-haired Labrador.
