labrador pups

[alan47]

My daughters black labrador has just had 7 pups, bred from another black labrador. There is 3 chocolate, 1 golden and 3 black. One of the black pups has a very small white patch of fur on its chest, just under its front left leg. My mum says its a throwback...What is a throwback?

[andy hughes]

It's an animal that has inherited one or more characteristics from further back in its bloodline - maybe grandparents or great-grandparents - usually colouring.

[alan47]

thank you. I imagine any unusual marking would reduce the asking price when selling the pup.

[Kingaroo]

As Andy says, a throwback is usually a person or animal who shows characteristics from a previous generation. In this case, the chocolate and golden pups are really the throwbacks because they got their color from grandparents or earlier.

I hope your mum isn't thinking of throwback as something valueless, like an undersize fish you would throw back into the river. However you may be right that non-conforming coloring could make a show dog or breeding dog less valuable. I have a friend who got a great price on a lovely Samoyed because its nose was pinkish instead of black.

[alan47]

Thanks kingaroo, that was really informative. My mum was meaning that a throwback was from previous generations, not valueless.

Having just found this site, I think its brilliant and is now top of my favourites list.

Thanks again 

[landie]

No you don't try to put it back where it came from. A throwback is a likeness of someone or something several generations previously.