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THE ENGLISH RETRIEVER - restoring the wavy coat
By David Hancock

    Our native breeds of gundog have had mixed fortunes over the last century, with some minor spaniel breeds likely to disappear, but the Pointer and the Curly-coated Retriever are also lacking numbers, if KC registrations are an indicator. Our handsome and appealing Flat-coated Retriever is holding its own, with well over a thousand being registered in 2015 and again in 2016. The Golden Retriever has comfortably exceed this, with over 7,000 a year, whilst the Labrador is way out in front with nearly 34,000 in 2016. The Flat-coat isn't likely to be spoiled by over-popularity as some pedigree breeds have been. The main threat to gundog breeds however lies not in numbers, great or small, but in misguided attempts to change their historic type. The Clumber Spaniel, for example, has been bred to be too heavy for spaniel work, with contemporary specimens being twice the weight of their more distant ancestors. Both the Golden Retriever and the yellow Labrador fanciers have allowed the white coat to enter their ranks - and that will take some breeding-out, as it surely must be if breed-honesty is respected. We have permitted too the Labrador to come in all shapes and sizes and different coat textures. The show ring too has promoted passing trends or fashionable fads - passing them off dishonestly as the real thing, with some well-heeled kennels shamelessly pushing their own 'brand'. But gundog breeders are not alone in this.  

   Over the last one hundred years especially, we have been more than careless, and certainly more selfish, in the way in which we have elected to change type in working and sporting breeds of dog so that cosmetic appeal has been rated higher than utility. By utility I mean the ability of a breed to perform its designed task, ahead of any flashy appearance or 'adult-puppy' appeal, for unthinking owners. Sighthounds without the physique to run are soon spotted but gundogs unable to withstand the elements are less easily identified, especially now that most are just pets with no working outlet or test. Sportsmen need gundogs that are equipped physically to function in all weathers and apart from a sound anatomy for this, really suffer if they don't possess a weatherproof coat. From extremes of wildfowling to simple picking-up, a gundog breed requires a protective jacket. But I regularly see gundogs with poor coats, coats that would punish them on a harsh winter dawn, with half a gale blowing and the rain coming down in stair-rod cascades. The worst ones I have seen have been in that handsome breed - the Flat-coat. The setter cross in this breed sometimes rears its head, mainly in the head; the Borzoi cross has thankfully been bred out very effectively but there is a distinct lack of 'wave' in the modern breed's coat.

  In 1878, the black wavy-coated retriever had to have a coat that was set close, wavy and glossy; by 1938 the same breed, now called the Flat-coated Retriever had to have a coat that was as dense and flat as possible, and now expected to be of 'fine to medium texture', yet again with no mention of any need to be waterproof - in a retriever! At the start of the 20th century this breed was thicker-coated, longer-backed, more like an early Newfoundland and less setter-like. Do any of these things matter? Are today's gundog owners so uninformed that they simply don't know the field requirements in their breed? At the start of the 20th century, 'Wildfowler', a much respected gundog authority, spelled out the requirements for a successful wildfowling dog: "...the dog has to learn so many more things than other breeds of dogs. He must stay ready for flighting, remain still in a punt, he must never open under the strongest temptation, never jump up, never be excited, obey signs implicitly, hunt when told and keep to heel when ordered...be tender-mouthed, very keen-nosed, strong-constitutioned, plucky, swim for ever, and stand hard winters with equanimity." The ones I see today just could not do such tasks. Breeding for the flatter, less wavy, coat has neither improved the weather-proofing or the ability of the coat to shed water in the shooting field.

    The breed owes a great deal to early pedigree breeders like the Shirley family of Ettington Park, H Reginald Cooke (who ‘collected’ Flat-coats from gamekeepers at an unprecedented rate), the Phizaklea family and Dr Nancy Laughton with her ‘Claverdon’ kennel. Cooke and another famous owner Harding-Cox exhibited dogs with noticeably longer backs than today's specimens. The shorter-backed dogs are said to look flashier but must be less effective as working dogs. But the founding breeders have bequeathed us a splendid breed but what must always be a utility breed, one respecting its function. The Flat-coated Retriever breed is one I have long admired and when I was younger mourned their absence from the shooting field. It has been good to see a small renaissance of their working qualities. They were once every gamekeeper's first choice. Combining handsomeness with intelligence, they have never been spoiled by over-popularity.

   Writing in the late 19th century, 'Idstone', who was a gundog authority in his day, described one with these words: "He was as black as a raven - blue-black - not a very large dog, but wide over the back and loins, with limbs like a lion, and a thick, glossy, long, silky coat which parted down the back, a long sagacious head, full of character, and clean as a setter's in the manner of coat. His ears were small, and so close to his head that they were hidden in his feathered neck. His eye was neither more nor less than a human one. I never saw a bad expression in it." An enchanting description, richly deserved. James Wentworth-Day, a demanding dog-man if there ever was one, referred to a Flat-coat in these words: "But Black Bess...was my father's dog, a magnificent flat-coat who shone in the sun like a raven's wing, who walked the grass with the gait of a queen. She was all good looks, good breeding and good heart." The references to a long silky coat, clean as a setter's in 'Idstone's' description hints at outside blood, perhaps that of a setter.

  In Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopaedia, the contributor invited to write on the breed stated: "Then certain breeders came to the conclusion that the foreface and jaws of the Flat-coated Retrievers were too short to enable them to retrieve a hare or a pheasant in style and comfort. With this in view they tried to lengthen the face by introducing Borzoi blood to their polyglot Flat-coats; the pedigrees of which contained names foreign to the hitherto jealously guarded Ettington records. The products immediately displayed narrow skulls and long forefaces, giving the whole head a "coffin-like" structure and aspect...the Flat-coated Retriever became a breed with long, narrow heads and weak muzzles...The damage had been done, and it took generations of careful breeding to eliminate the traces of this destructive experiment..."  Breeders of Collies could have done with such breeders! But other pressures came too.  

  In her book on the breed, Nancy Laughton writes: “One sportsman maintains that the chief stumbling block in breeding towards perfection of working stock in gundogs has been the obsession for the ‘sacred cow’ of ‘dual purpose’ by a majority of breeders. I am forced to agree with this now and believe that unless penal field faults are eliminated in Flat-coats and breeding is directed towards biddability, less excitability and the preservation of good temperament, we will lose that working reliability in the field for which the Flat-coat was renowned in the past.” The early Labradors certainly benefited from not featuring either at field trials or the show bench, becoming the sportsman’s dog rather than the fancier’s or the top trainer’s dog. We all admire a handsome dog; we all admire a field trial winner’s prowess; but most sportsmen require a dog with fundamental skills and a sound physique. To be called a retriever, every show dog should be physically capable of acting as one in the field – even if not required to do so. The KC’s ‘fitness for function’ campaign, now being strongly promoted, will perhaps achieve progress on this issue.  

   For me, in looks, companionability and sheer willingness, this breed is the supreme retriever. I would like to see it bred once again for utility, renamed as ‘The Wavy-coated English Retriever’ and placed at the head of our rightfully-revered retriever breeds – as our national breed. I sincerely believe it has the qualities and the history to justify such a distinctive title. This breed has never been spoiled by over-popularity, has a healthier genotype than some gundog breeds and has every right to be regarded as solely born here, developed here and fashioned here. We are not very consistent over claiming our native breeds; we have the English Setter, we have an English spaniel breed. Unlike the Germans we do not claim our Pointer by name. We credit an overseas place in our Labrador’s title, but elect to describe our other retrievers by coat texture or colour. But retrievers are a British invention and the Flat-coat is the soul of their development here. Our ancient wavy-coated retriever, taken to the New World by fishermen and colonists, brought back as the Newfoundland, deserves to be rid of the alien Borzoi and setter blood, and reinstated as our own - a renaming of this breed would achieve just that!