Only a handful of dog breeds can beat a Labrador at being a good family pet. This breed is easily one of the friendliest and kindest, and most importantly, it was made to love and be with humans.
That’s why Labradors have won first place on the AKC’s Most Popular Dog Breed list year after year since 1991. Have you ever wondered whether the color of a Labrador makes a difference, though?
Does a Labrador’s temperament, personality, or even physical features and health vary based on color? Or can you choose the color of your future best friend purely based on aesthetics?
Let’s find out!
Differences and Similarities Between Yellow and Chocolate Labs
Is there a difference between yellow Labs and black Labs? This is a question breeders and dog enthusiasts have had for many decades now.
One of the reasons this question pops up a lot when talking about Labradors is that people did start noticing differences in temperament between yellow and chocolate brown Labs.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much research on this topic!
Luckily, though, the wonderful dog community that some of you may be familiar with has been sharing its insights on the internet. That’s what we’ll be covering in the following sections.
Color
Okay, let’s get this part out of the way. The obvious first difference between the two coats is the color! The official Labrador colors according to the AKC are yellow, black, and chocolate.
The reason this is important to point out is that some new coats have been popping up in recent years, such as red and silver Labs.
These newer Lab coats (pun intended!) blur the lines between chocolate and yellow, but they’re pretty difficult to come by anyway, so we’ll be leaving them out of this comparison.
Yellow Labs have a yellowish creamy tint to their fur. They often have darker ears and black noses, though their noses may get a lighter shade of brown or dark pink in different seasons. Their eyes can be dark to light hazel.
Chocolate Labs have a deep brown coat and sometimes have mild “highlights” around their head, ears, muzzle, and eyes. Their eyes are usually a captivating light yellow, while their nose is typically brown.
Size
A purebred yellow or chocolate Labrador will have the same physical build and size. However, you might have seen some Labradors that have slightly different-looking heads, bulkier bodies, or thicker tails. These differences are not due to the color of their coats, but their type.
Labradors were originally developed in Canada and later separated into American and English Labradors over time. They’re slightly different physically, but they definitely have different temperaments. However, both colors are present in American and English Labradors.
Personality
There’s a lot of debate online on whether there’s any real difference in personality or temperament between yellow and brown (chocolate) Labradors.
A lot of people would say that yellow Labradors are smarter, more trainable, and calmer while chocolate Labradors… wear their richness on the outside! They’re said to be even more quirky and goofy than your average Lab.
Luckily, a study has been made about this particular aspect, though it should be taken with a grain of salt. Labrador pet owners were polled about the behavior, characteristics, and function of their dogs.
225 Labrador owners self-reported the personality and traits of their dogs. That means that their standards might have differed considerably from one Lab owner to another.
Out of 21 behavioral traits covered in the questionnaire, only “familiar dog aggression” or dog rivalry was statistically higher according to the dog color. Yellow Labradors were reported to start more fights with dogs they’re familiar with.
Otherwise, the research found no real difference in temperament between colors of a Labrador but found the more noticeable difference to be between working and show dog lines.
Health
This is probably one of the more heartbreaking sections of this article. The one difference that a large scale has confirmed is the health and longevity of chocolate Labs.
According to a study that reviewed a random sample from 33,000 vet patient records in the UK, chocolate Labradors were considerably less likely to make it past 10 years old, while other Labrador coats were more likely to live to 12 years old.
Yellow Labradors were found to be just as healthy as black Labradors.
The study didn’t explore the reason behind this gap, but it may have something to do with the fact that chocolate brown Labradors only make up 20% of all Labs in the records.
Considering the recessive genes these warm Labs have, this may indicate that unethical breeding practices are more common in chocolate brown Labs, such as inbreeding.
Chocolate Labradors Are Rarer
One key difference between chocolate and yellow Labs is their genes. Not only do dogs’ genes determine the color of their coats, but also how easy they are to breed.
Whether the color gene is recessive or dominant determines the probability of getting a litter of the color you’re breeding for.
Yellow Labradors’ genes can “mask” the genes of a chocolate Labrador, which means it can disable it if it’s present in the right combination.
In application, that means that yellow Lab parents wouldn’t have a chocolate Labrador. The other way around is not true. Chocolate Lab parents could have yellow Labradors if they have the genes for it and most likely will.
That’s why chocolate Labs are considerably rarer than the other two colors. In fact, it wasn’t very popular until the 1960s as opposed to black Labrador, which first became popular in the early 20th century.
The Takeaway
Lots of people in the dog community strongly believe that chocolate Labs are more energetic, clumsier, harder to train, and possibly more aggressive than your average Labrador. One study on this topic has debunked this, though.
Apart from the differences in appearance in the colors of their noses and eyes, there’s hardly any difference between yellow and chocolate Labs. The only recorded difference is that yellow Labs may be more dominant with familiar dogs.
Some research also suggests that chocolate brown Labs may not be as healthy or at least live as long.
Yellow and chocolate Labradors may have fewer differences than similarities, but they do have how wonderful they are as pets in common!