Dudley labs- thoughts?

Question

Yea, I know the dudley question probably gets brought up a bit, but I was bored in my genetics class and doing some hypothetical lab color crosses.  Yea, I know, super nerd.  Anywho, my conclusion is that dudley coloring is a naturally occurring, homozygous recessive combination, and therefore is simply going to crop up in a certain percentage of the population (more or less, depending on color crosses).  

Dudley coloring is a breed fault, however, and I'm wondering why. It's not like albinism, which is a mutation.  It's also not like the "fatal white" genes in many dogs, which can cause serious health problems.  The only reason I can think for it to be a fault is that if people were to breed more dudleys, they'd become prevalent in the breed quickly, because a dudley bred to a dudley will always produce a dudley, thus narrowing the genetic pool.  The same thing can happen with homozygous black matings though, and that practice is, if anything encouraged because it ensures black offspring, which are desirable. 

So, if the likelihood of producing dudleys is so high (25% with either a yellow factored chocolate or chocolate factored yellow cross), and it's not detrimental to the health of the dog, why is it a breed fault?

Would you as a breeder choose not to breed dogs that give such a high likelihood of producing dudleys?

Labman · Accepted Answer

There is a lot of politics involved in breed standards.  If you can get the breed club to vote in standards your dogs meet and others fail, then you benefit.  So somebody with some power in the breed club didn't want to compete with Dudleys.

12345 · Answer

I suspect it has more to do with the simple fact that the breed standard was written long before people knew anything about the genetics and the cause of the dudley.  
I also believe that chocolates weren't desirable or acceptable (if I recall) for a long time either. And there are many who still feel they are inferior. 
I am interested to see if anyone with a strong knowledge of the history of labs will answer.

ETA -
If I were a breeder, i wouldnt' worry about breeding dogs that *may* produce the trait if they were breedworthy dogs.  If a dudley was produced, a dudley dog can still work (and working ability would be important) and still be a functional dog.  I can still possibly get breedworthy dogs out of the litter.  But I would not intentionally breed a dog with a DQ trait, whether it is relevent or not to health.  When we start picking and choosing which parts of the breed standard are important and which can be ignored, we are starting down a slippery slope.  Would I be opposed to changing the standard? No.  But as long as it is part, I would follow it.  That's just my view on it.

JenVT · Answer

I think it goes back decades when there was an idea (almost a superstition but not really) that dudleys were not as good in the field.  It doesn't make sense to me but it's sort of an old wives tale in the breed so those who wrote the breed standard decided that dudleys should be DQd.  I've never had the opportunity to test the theory myself.  I do know that my sister has a dudley yellow and she is a freak lol.

Coley · Answer

I suppose it is considered a disqualification for all the reasons you mention.  A nice yellow lab with dark points is simply more attractive in appearance and if dudleys were allowed we would loose that entirely. 

If I was breeding this breed, would I breed two dudleys together?  Absolutely, if the dogs possessed great temperament, good health and top knotch hunting/working abilty, I would breed for those traits first and foremost to color.

? · Answer

O.O

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Dudley labs- thoughts?

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