The history of our wonderful breed is nicely explained in a book by Nancy Laughton, “A Review of the Flat-Coated Retriever” published in 1968. Although long out of print, copies can occasionally be found through used book stores.
Early breeders of domestic dogs were particularly striving to improve the working quality of their dogs. Not until shows for dogs began in 1859 did breeders begin to seriously consider structural anatomy in relationship to work performed. At first shows were for sporting dogs only. Man has been modifying dogs by selective breeding and this has produced many different breeds of dogs over the years. If selection is purely for show in a working breed, it becomes detrimental to its working ability. At the time when Nancy Laughton published “A Review of the Flat-Coated Retriever” in 1968, she felt that as the Flat-coat was intended to be a dual-purpose dog, the rift between show and working Flat-coats was very small.
The Hey Day of Flat-coated retrievers was around the turn of the nineteenth century when he was considered supreme as a Sporting Dog and attended many shooting trips. However, in 1902 the Kennel Club accepted the Labrador first as a foreign breed and later as a variety of retriever. Although Flat-Coated Retrievers were once the choice for a shooting dog, eventually Labrador Retriever and Golden Retriever numbers began to surpass the Flat-coats. Some say this was due to Labradors and Goldens becoming more dual-purpose dogs. This trend appears to continue, at least in the United States.