Lovely article. Worth mentioning that Labradors are descended from now extinct water dogs in Canada, but are technically British and were originally gun dogs. Of course they're incredible pets too.
I still miss our black lab, Shambles, died at 13 of cancer during Christmas lockdown in 2020. He also shepherded me back to dry land when we swam together - which was probably sensible as I'm a terrible swimmer.
Sorry to hear about Shambles. We have a black lab named Mars who just turned 8 and it's bittersweet watching him age. He's such a great dog, I'd never had a lab before him but he's made me fall in love with the breed.
I'm up and down this thread because I love labs. I want to comment that the lab breed is potent. All the things you love about them can be found in a mix too. We've got an almost 10 year old mix, hes a sneaky fucker but we love him dearly.