American vs British show lines - what´s the difference?

[blackandyellow]

What are the main differences between american and british / european show lines? Are the dogs very different? Is it OK to interbreed them (i.e. is it possible to develop a champion dog from a mix of bloodlines) In the US a european bred dog would not have the correct qualifications and viceversa?

Just wondering... both my dogs have british blood and a french cross in their pedigrees. In Mexico there are both american and british bloodlines and what I´ve noticed is that the brits seem to be a little shorter and have rounder bodies.

Question is really not about field vs show, I know field dogs are completely different, but many breeds (german sheperds, collies) are totally different in the US than in Europe (collies in the US are gorgeous in my opinion, compared to europeans, but german shepards seem the opposite)

[Canyon Labradors]

I think if you did a search on this site, you might find a few posts about this topic already!

[CaliforniaLabLover]

You're talking about American/United States-bred "show lines" vs. show-bred dogs from Europe?

[blackandyellow]

Exactly, the differences between show dogs on the US vs UK/Europe.

I´ll also do the search around and see what I find. My understanding is that the AKC standard allows for more height compared to the UK standard, but are there other differences in the reality?

[YellowLab]

One difference I've heard, but cant be sure of is that the European show labs tend to be more moderate, while in the U.S., especially at specialties, the labs tend to be more typey or bigger boned.

[MicksMom]

...My understanding is that the AKC standard allows for more height compared to the UK standard, but are there other differences in the reality?

From The Ulitmate Labrador Retriever, second edition-

Size, Proportion and Substance
British:
Ideal height at withers: Dogs 22-22.5 ins. Bithces 21.5-22 ins
AKC
Dogs 22.5-24.5 ins Bitches 21.5-23.5 inches. Any variation greater than 0.5 inch above or below these heights is a disqualification
Approximate weight of dogs and bitches in working condition" Dogs 65-80 pounds; Bitches 55-70 pounds

[Trickster]

There are some gorgeous photos of British show Labs here:

http://www.pbase.com/woodmist/formal&page=all

[blackandyellow]

Its amazing how strong those Rocheby lines are... I was looking at woodsmith saffron and thinking how incredibly alike she is to my Misha, then when I open the pic I see she also has rocheby blood...

here´s some (terrible) pics of my british blood mexican bred kids... so far what I´ve noticed compared to my friend´s labs (two girls but don´t know if they american) is that Misha is slightly smaller. In the case of Homer his body is very different, he´s very deep chested.

I´ll try to get stacked pics but its an impossible task...

[blackandyellow]

Here are some pics of Misha vs woodmist saffron... their heads are amazingly alike, and also their bodies but you can´t se misha´s very well on my pic

Here´s also a pic of dakross (don´t know his pedigree) who is amazingly similar to Homer... those brit cousins...

[windycanyon]

I had someone ask last weekend if my labs were English. Yes... and Swedish, and American and Canadian, and........... holy cow. I'm not sure that anyone can say their dogs are "this" vs "that" anymore.