First of all I decided to buy this book because I red lots of good thing about this book on other forums.

Unfortunately this book wasn't as well. My main problem is the history : there are 10 pages about the early origin of the breed. You can read 4 versions, but all different, so it is not usefull. There is only 24 (eleven) pages on the english history in this 320 page book ! There are only a few old photos, but there are tons of photos about the today labradors. After the usa history there are 30 (!) pages nothing but photos ! But why ? If i want to buy a book with nothing but lab photos i choose an other one !

There is only 5 pages about the show scene with usa lab photos. But dont expect any usefull info here, no advices about how to show your dogs, no "tricks", there is nothing about how to set up your lab to the show, and so on.

Also, there are lots of unusefull pages about general dog stuff, what can be usefull for a doctor, but not for a breeder/owner. And there is only some sentences about the real breeding, with no photos, as usually.

The book is missing a good description about the labs (why choose this dog, are they good with the ppl, etc).

And the biggest problem : this book is very usa-type book. If you like the very-very easy to read books, with 90% usa infos, and very limited english informations, this is a book for you. But if you want a real lab book, i recomened to choose a different one.

This book was recommended by the breeder whom I acquired my Labrador companion. I found this book to be very thorough and precise. Some of the text did become overwhelming for an average fancier such as myself. Overall, this was a GREAT material for those who truly loves the breed!!!

In my opinion, this book is the best of the books on this breed published in the last 5 years. It is an extremely comprehensive book. People deeply interested in the breed would probably appreciate some of its points more than those who are "just looking."

In particular, this book has a lovely, detailed overview of what exactly we do know about the development of this breed in the 18th and 19th century. She does not attempt to formulate a single theory out of the information, but presents it, contradictions and all.

This book also goes over the basic show and field history, as one would expect of these types of books. But in addition, there are detailed chapters on the versatility of the Labrador Retriever. Extensive chapters on Search and Rescue, Narcotic detection, Guide dogs and the amazing variety of other things Labrador Retrievers can do. Sports are covered as well -- there are chapters on obedience, tracking and flyball.

There are also some extensive chapters on health problems in this breed.

The book is very well edited, cohesive and comes highly recommended for those who are seriously interested in the breed. The only way to improve this book would be to add more pictures (of which it nevertheless has a decent sampling of).

As you can tell, I enjoyed it quite a bit.