Orsina Labradors

09/10/2026

🐾 💜

03/10/2026

🖤 🐾

Every now and then a litter of pure black Labradors arrives with one puppy wearing a small white patch on its chest, like a tiny medallion. Many people think it is a flaw. It is actually a whisper from history. 🐾

The Labrador descends from the St. John's water dog of Newfoundland, a hardy black dog that often carried white markings on the chest, chin, feet, and muzzle, a sort of faded tuxedo. As the modern breed was refined through the 1800s, breeders selected toward solid coats, but the old genes never fully disappeared. That occasional white chest spot is a living echo of the seafaring ancestor that started it all.

So while the show ring may frown on it, that little splash of white is really a signature from the past. 🌊

A reminder that today's sleek black Lab is only a few generations removed from a working dog on the cold Newfoundland coast.

17/09/2026

We loved having Fiona from Coffee and Hops for a visit again after all these years 🐾 🤎

05/09/2026

Happy Father Day to our Orsina puppy daddy’s
Merlin, Murphy, Teoak 🤎🖤🤎
And special heavenly wishes to Jingo and our own dearly missed Giovanni 🤎🤎
🐾

04/09/2026

Handsome Titan 🧡 (Orsina Firestarter) turned 5 this week. A Lyanna pup and very handsome 🐾

01/09/2026

Happy 5th birthday to Lyanna’s Fire litter 🔥
What handsome pups you have all grown up to be. Have a wonderful day with your family
Lots of love to you all
❤️ Scout
🧡 Titan
🩶 Jet
🩷 Rhea
🤎 Brooklyn

28/08/2026

Miss Maple (Orsina Let It Snow) ❄️ enjoying the festivities of book week today. Like her Granny Arya, Maple is a volunteer for Story Dogs and attended her schools book week parade. How fabulous does she look?! 👀
She is proudly sponsored by Dogs West and we are very proud of her continuing in her Granny’s paw steps 🐾

25/08/2026

Happy 5th birthday to Winters first litter 🎉
These cuties were little chunks from the day they were born, although they looked very similar their
personalities were so very unique to each individual and as always a joy to raise and nurture
Mable 🤍
Polly 🩶
Lucy 💙
Coco 🧡
Harvey 💛 and
Kenny 🖤
Hope you all have a wonderful day, will be thinking of you all 🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🐾

23/08/2026

Nearly every Labrador alive today can trace its family tree back to a tiny group of dogs on a few British estates in the 1880s. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

As the breed's Newfoundland ancestors were dwindling, a handful of aristocratic families stepped in to save what remained. Two dogs in particular, known as Buccleuch Avon and Buccleuch Ned, became foundation sires whose bloodlines run through the modern Labrador almost universally.

It means the breed passed through a very narrow gate. From that small founding group came the millions of Labs that now live on nearly every continent, in homes, in service harnesses, and out in the field. 🐾

When you look at your own dog, you are really looking at the far end of an unbroken line that once hung on by just a few carefully protected animals.