What is a Dudley Labrador?

A Dudley Labrador is a Labrador Retriever with a pink or liver-brown colored nose, eye rims, and paws due to a lack of black pigment.

They are essentially yellow Labs that have lost the ability to produce the dark pigment that gives Labs their dark features.

This is due to a recessive combination of genes (eebb), which prevent dominant dark pigment from forming and the recessive brown pigment genes instead show. Dudley Labs also often have pale-colored eyes – typically yellow, blue or teal.

They are purebred labradors, whereas silver or diluted labs have a dilute gene, which can sometimes be associated with health concerns like color dilution alopecia (CDA).

They come from six parental color combinations:

1. Black Carrying Chocolate & Yellow: EeBb bred to a Black Carrying Chocolate & Yellow means a puppy has the probability to not inherit black pigment 6.25% of the time (Dudley eebb)

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2. Black Carrying Chocolate & Yellow: EeBb bred to a Chocolate Carrying Yellow: Eebb means a puppy has the probability to not inherit black pigment 12.5% of the time (Dudley eebb)
   

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3. Black Carrying Chocolate & Yellow: EeBb bred to a Yellow Carrying Chocolate: eeBb means a puppy has the probability to not inherit black pigment 12.5% of the time (Dudley eebb)

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4. Chocolate Carrying Yellow: Eebb bred to a Chocolate Carrying Yellow: Eebb means a puppy has the probability to not inherit black pigment 25% of the time (Dudley eebb)

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5. Chocolate Carrying Yellow: Eebb bred to a Yellow Carrying Chocolate: eeBb means a puppy has the probability to not inherit black pigment 25% of the time (Dudley eebb)

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6. Yellow Carrying Chocolate: eeBb bred to a Yellow Carrying Chocolate: eeBb means a puppy has the probability to not inherit black pigment 25% of the time (Dudley eebb)

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The name “Dudley” is derived from the town of Dudley in Worcestershire, UK, where this trait was first observed in bulldogs.