The Labrador Retriever did not, as his name implies,come from Labrador, but from Newfoundland, although there is no indication of by what means he reached the latter place. However, in 1822 a traveller in that region reported a number of "small water dogs" and said: "The dogs are admirably trained as retrievers in fowling, and are otherwise useful.....The smooth or short haired dog is preferred because in frosty weather the long haired kind become encumbered with ice on coming out of the water."

Early in the nineteenth century the Earl of Malmesbury reputedly saw one of the dogs that had been carried to England by fishermen and immediately arranged to have some imported. In 1830 the noted British sportsman Colonel Hawker referred to the ordinary Newfoundland and what he called the St. John's breed of water dog, mentioning the former as "very large, strong of limb, rough hair and carrying his tail high." Referring to what is known now as the Labrador, he said they were "by far the best for any kind of shooting. He is generally black and no bigger than a Pointer, very fine in legs, with short, smooth hair and does not carry his tail so much curled as the other; is extremely quick, running, swimming and fighting....and their sense of smell is hardly to be credited...."

The dogs were not at first generally known in England as Labradors. In fact, the origin of the name is shown in a letter written in 1887 by the Earl of Malmesbury in which he said: "We always call mine Labrador dogs, and I have kept the breed as pure as I could from the first I had from Poole, at that time carrying on a brisk trade with Newfoundland. The real breed may be known by its close coat which turns the water off like oil and, above all, a tail like an otter..."

The Labrador gradually died out in Newfoundland on account of a heavy dog tax which, with the English quarantine law, practically stopped the importations into England. Thereafter many Labradors were interbred with other types of retrievers. Fortunately, however, the Labrador characteristics predominated. Finally, fanciers, desiring to stop the interbreeding, drew up a standard so as to discourage crossing with other retrievers.

There is a stud book of the Duke of Buccleuch's Labrador Retrievers which made it possible to work out pedigrees of the two dogs that did most to produce the modern Labrador, Mr. A. C. Butter's Peter of Faskally and Major Portal's Flapper. These pedigrees go back as far as 1878.

In 1958 the U.K. introduced the title "Show Champion" as up until that time, when looking at an English pedigree, if a dog was designated as a champion, you knew he must have qualified in the field as well as on the bench. However, since 1958 there have been multiple "Show Champions" without any proof of working ability being necessary.