Labrador: The Story of the World’s Favourite Dog

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The personal stories of Ben and Inca are unarguably the best parts of this book, hearing about his cheeky labs adventures are delightful and make you smile whilst reading. Ben visits Canada, discovers hair-raising stories of early Labrador exploits and uncovers stories of RNIB Labradors and Labradors at war, Labradors as working dogs and every other manifestation of the Labrador’s character. They are always there, offering a tonic to many of the ills of the world and we can learn a great deal from them. A nice mix of interesting history of the breed and a heartfelt story of a man and his first lab love. This book has two of my favourite things Ben Fogle and Labradors but I stopped reading after 150 pages.

No wonder he was fascinated by the amazing water dogs he discovered in nearby Poole – they were excellent at retrieving downed game from the flooded meadows – and he promptly started a breeding programme. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. I’ve even been woken in the morning by a happy Labrador holding my wife’s bra and my children’s shorts. Fogle is obviously more secure writing lovely anecdotes and stories over histories, so I would still like to read more of his books in the future!

Contrastingly, I did find the book very pretentious and the subtle snide remarks to other breeds were very off putting. When Lady Carnarvon, owner of Highclere Castle (used in the series) invited me to tea, her own Labradors were marching around the house.

I’ll never forget the joy and happiness on Marina and the children’s faces as we sat clutching armfuls of yellow and black labradors from a litter. This could well have signalled the end of the Scottish lineage of the Labrador, were it not for the third Earl of Malmesbury, who 'gave the duke a pair, descended from our own imported dogs' and the bloodline was continued when they were mated with the duke's dogs. I listened to it on audible and it was read by Ben Fogle himself, which really brought it to life, as I could hear his emotions when he spoke of losing his beloved Inca! He has presented numerous programmes including BBC’s Animal Park, Wild In Africa, Countryfile, Crufts, One Man and His Dog and Extreme Dreams. The late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, former chatelaine of Chatsworth, was Deputy President of the International Gundog League Retriever Society and a long-serving committee member.Dogs also bring 'germs' into the home, Ben said which is important, particularly for children who need to build up their resistance.