Chocolate labrador puppy.. coat too light?

[Gundoggal]

I bred a litter of chocolate labradors... we kept the only girl of the litter as we have always had girls and didn't want to change it... her dad is a very good looking boy and has done well in the ring.. and her mum has had sucess every time we have gone to shows (but havnt really had the time to take it seriously).. anyway when i told a judge that i know that i hadnt kept one of the very dark puppies she seemed a bit dissapointed..
she is not reeeeally light brown at all, she has very good bone ect.. and nice brown eyes.. but why are the darker coats favoured amongst chocolates in the ring???

[Canyon Labradors]

I don't know, but they are. I ended up keeping two boys from my litter, one is lighter and one is almost black if you look at him quick but he is brown. I had 3 of the super dark guys and they were always head-turners.

I am not sure what color the "light" brown is that they say judges don't like because when I look at my Jack and then I look at dogs like his dad Joey or Dauber, they are that same brown.

I am showing them both this weekend, so I'll let you know if Jed turned more heads just on his color alone because he isn't as much of a dog as Jack is.

[Gundoggal]

she is about the same colour as the dog in the picture above ..

2 of her brothers were very dark... one was an absoloute stunner!

[Canyon Labradors]

This is the difference in color of my 2 litter mates...

[Carrollfamilylabs]

Wow Jen- He really does have a dark coat... but looks like a thick coat as well.

We had a litter of Chocolates here last year and the coat color did range from a lighter chocolate to a dark chocolate. Our keeper from that Litter lives with my sister in North Carolina and is considered a darker chocolate and has done pretty well in the ring and she could use some more bone on her as well.

Good luck at the shows..

[imported_Iamalabrador]

Sometimes if it is a puppy coat or they are coming out of coat it will be lighter. I would look harder at the color of the coat when the adult coat is in and the pup is fully in coat.