Bear

Bear was born here at Skylit Labradors, a fluffy little bundle to Zodi and Wakan. When he was born I thought "wow, what a great coat this puppy has" and as the weeks progressed, it seemed to become more and more amazing! By the time Bear was 4 weeks old I was no longer thinking it was just a luxurious coat; I was suspicious something else was going on with that coat!
The long coat gene is quite a rare gene in the Labrador breed. Most breeders don't genetically test for it because it is considered just a coat anomaly and is quite uncommon at that. I was however suspicious when Bear (as well as one of his brothers) grew such silky, luxurious coats. Long story short (or rather… “long!”), I did some additional genetic testing and discovered that Bear’s mother Zodi carries the long coat gene and unbelievably, so does his father Wakan (the outside stud I chose to sire Zodi's last litter)! Neither Zodi nor Wakan are long-coated themselves and neither had been tested for the gene before. The genetics lab says the odds of randomly breeding two normal coated Labradors together and producing long-coated puppies are about 1 in 60,000.
Bear is that rare!
As a result of Bear, I decided to test some of my other lines for the long coat gene and while it may be uncommon, it is in several of our unrelated Labrador lines!
But besides Bear's stunning longer and silky coat, he is also a very sweet, lovable and somewhat goofy, super-endearing Lab. His big eyes and poofy hair have given me cause to chuckle and hug him more times than I dare count... even from just weeks old. Like his sister and littermate Kindi, he has the amazing ability to just “melt” into you when you give him cuddles.
Bear started his breeding role at Skylit in 2021 and now lives with his forever family in Havelock North. I have future “baby Bears” stored so we may see more of his babies in the future!

Gender: Male
Birthdate: August 2019
Imported: No
Pedigree: Bear is the son of Zodi and outside stud Wakan. His pedigree includes multiple show and Field Champions as well as Hunting titled dogs. It is filled with the big names in the history of Fox Red Labrador Retrievers from Keepsake and Kellygreens lines. His sire’s side contains impressive sporting champions as well as hunting titled dogs.
Genetic Colour: eeBBDD (Yellow homozygous for black)
Perceived Colour: Fox Red
Splash (K): Clear
Long Coat (L): Bear is long coated

Hips: Pennhips .34L/.30R (Ranking him better than the current breed average of .46). OFA Fair (prelim)
Elbows: OFA Normal (prelim)
Eyes: Certified (2021)
PRA/PRCD: Clear by parentage
Heart: Normal
EIC: Clear
CNM: Clear by parentage
DM: Clear by parentage
Cystinuria: Clear by parentage

SK2: Clear by parentage

HNPK: Clear by parentage

Purebred Registration: Dogs NZ registered Labrador Retriever

BEAR’S Babies

2021 Zorro Litter (with Cairo)