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NELL FROM LORD MALMESBURY
When the third Earl of Malmesbury, in 1887, gave his Nell 1886 to the Duke of Buccleuch, he wrote, "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 their having a close coat, which turns the water off like oil, and, above all, a tail like an otter.'' The tail of an otter is thus described in ''The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland", by J. G. Millais, Vol. II : The Otter (Lutra Vulgaris). "Body long, yet strongly formed .... " It proceeds, " The tail is broad at the base, narrowing towards the end, whilst at the upper part it is flattened horizontally. . . . An average adult male will measure 25 to 30 inches in the head and body and 16 to 20 inches in the tail. . . . '' From this description it appears that although the otter's body is long, his tail is about two-thirds of the length of his head and body. In the early years of the decade 1870-80, pedigrees were carelessly kept, and the pedigrees of Lord Malmesbury's dogs cannot be found earlier than the sires and dams of those given to the sixth Duke of Buccleuch and the twelfth Earl of Home. Mr. J. Steuart, Chamberlain to the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith, wrote some years later to the keeper at Hurn Court for earlier pedigrees, but in the meantime the third Earl of Malmesbury had died and was succeeded by his nephew, who took little interest in his uncle's dogs. His keeper could give no information further than a vague recollection about the coats of the various dogs referred to in Mr. Steuart's letter. The coats of black pure-bred Labradors have always been inclined to show a slight tinge of brown colour at certain times in the year. About 1892 two whelps were born liver-coloured, but such a thing has not happened for over four decades ; at any rate in the Buccleuch Kennel, where none have since been discarded for colour.
https://dai.mun.ca/PDFs/cns/TheLabradorDogItsHomeAndHistory.pdf