Hi there! My name is Malusen! It’s about me and my

big family of Labradors,

it’s all about!

Here is my dad’s true story about:

The Genesis of the Labrador

A creature as beautiful as the Labrador deserves to have its history and fate told to children and juveniles. Learn why the Labrador is the way it is – and that 4 miracles saved the Labrador’s ancestors from extermination.

My story about the genesis of Labrador is based on historical events and tells how it all began and ended for the dog. It starts with the English seasonal fishing for cod off Newfoundland in 1575 and ends in 1885 when fishing in Newfoundland turned into a bad business.

This is the primitive living conditions the first seasons fishermen in Newfoundland lived under, and it is here the St. Johns Water Dog is born in 1583. The dog’s life with fishermen at sea and hunters in the woods has shaped its many properties that the Labrador has inherited.

Newfoundland was rediscovered by the English navigator John Cabot in 1427. John Cabot named the place: St. Johns. He didn’t find any gold in Newfoundland and the discovery was quickly forgotten. The wealth though, was lying below sea level in the form of cod.

The British began seasonal fishery off Newfoundland in1573. Large fishing fleets sailed from ports in England in March towards New Foundland and did not return until the sea almost froze in November.

St. John's, a natural harbor in Newfoundland, was only a fishing station and was deserted in the winter, but in 1583 New Found-land is declared British territory by the English naval officer Humphrey Gilbert and the first winter settlements takes place.

The British and Portuguese fishermen were the first people who overwintered in St. Johns in 1583. The two teams were during the winter repairing all houses and fishing installations, so it was ready for the summer season fishing. It was a hard and laborious job far from home.

The Portuguese fishermen brought a guard- and mountain sheep dog; The Cao Castro de Laboreiro. The Portuguese had for centuries been breeding the bitches with the wolf to enhance the dog's characteristics.

When the Portuguese bitch is on heat, she is led into the forest and tied to a tree, to be bred with the wolf, just like back home in Portugal. The shepherds in Laboreiro had done that through centuries to enhance the dog's genes and characteristics. The great white arctic wolf lives in Newfoundland and this is the one cross-bred with the Portuguese bitch.

That is how the European dog got Arctic properties so that it could cope with the arctic winters in Newfoundland. Here the dog lived throughout 300 years with fishermen and hunters in St. John's. It is the beginning of the dog we know today as the Labrador.

The dog came with love to the lonely fishermen in St. John's. Every morning fishermen rowed out on the sea to fish and for 300 years the dogs joined them. They helped the fishermen to pull nets and lines and catch the cods that bounced off the hook or out of the net.

Cod fishing becomes a goldmine for the British and St. Johns grows from a deserted fishing station into a cozy fishing village. Every spring the season fishermen came to St. John's, and in the autumn the fishing schooners sailed back to England with the precious cargo of cod and fish oil.

The British becomes the largest exporter of dried cod to the European markets. Therefore the English king sends warships to Newfoundland to protect vessels, fishermen and catch from the pirates. Here are the warships at the entrance to St. John's

During a day the fishermen went out on the sea several times and back home with the cargo space filled with cod. Often the fishermen slipped in the slime from cod and fell into the sea, but then the dog jumped into the sea, swam to the fisherman and helped him back into the boat again.

The fishermen's task was to catch cod and bring it ashore. Here teams were ready to clean the cod. There were "headers", they cut off the head. There were "Splitters", they removed the guts and filleted the cod. Everyone in fishing family helped in the fishing process.

This is how a cod looks like when it has been through the hands of a "Header", then a "Splitter" and finally ended up with the "Salter". The salted cods and cods stacked up on the carrier boards, ready to be put out to dry on the many drying racks.

The catch of cod was big and everything that could possibly be used to dry cod on, were used. First you had the cod laid out on drying racks, then the cod were twisted and turned until it was completely dry. The process was crucial for the quality of the cod.

When the cod after a few weeks is completely dry, the cod is carried from the drying racks to the weighing unit and the warehouse. It doesn’t matter if cod is bone dry, it just needs to soak in water and boil, then it will be almost as big as before drying.

When the carrying team reaches the weighing unit the fish is weighed and quality tested and the price per read agreed. This is how the fishing families in Newfoundland earned their money on fishing in the large fishingbanks and the whole family was involved in the processing of cod.

The merchants kept the dried cod in large warehouses. Here the cod were sewn into large bags, so it could more easily be moved around. When the fishing season was over everything was packed in bags and brought on board the big fishing schooners and sailed to England.

The dogs were joining the fishermen every day in the fishing dinghies. They sat on the small seats in front and behind of the dinghy. In the middle was the hold. The dogs pulled the boats up on the beach in the evening and pulled the nets up on the beach when fishermen caught Capelin, as bait for cod.

The dog always gave a helping “paw” where there was a need for its help. It pulled small carts with freshly caught cod to the cleaning stations. It pulled fire woods and nets to the tar ovens and pulled the dried fish to the big stock and also brought the goods out.

In winter, the little wagon was replaced with a sled and then they pulled off with that. The St. John's Water Dog is an Arctic dog and the only Arctic dog that doesn’t belong the pointed snouts breeds, and it pulls as well as the Eskimo’s dogs.

Cod fishing went well on the Newfoundland and St. John's developed into a center of commerce with cod. Wealth increases and fishermen buy small plots for their houses where they keep livestock and grow vegetables, which they sell to merchants.

Over 200,000 people worked in the fishing industry, but in the mid-1880s, no one in Europe wanted to buy dried cod. The government decided to introduce sheep farming on the island. More than 4,500 sheep were bitten to death and the St. John's Water Dog was blamed.

The dog got in the way of economic development and should be exterminated. Each household were only allowed 1 dog. There were 25,000 fisherman's homes with each 3-5 dogs. The dogs should wear a dog tag 28 x 10 cm and name burned into the wood block and tax should be paid for the dog.

In front of the Colonial Building fishermen and hunters are protesting against the new law proposal that allows free shooting of stray dogs, trapping and killing dogs. Many officers simply refused to participate in the shootings, they left the police.

Fishermen and hunters gather for meetings in the harbor to talk about what can be done to protect the St. John's Water Dog. But eventually the fishermen and hunters had to give up. The authorities' violent force was too powerful and they silently had to watch the extermination.

The extermination was effecient! In 1908, just two females at 6 and 8 years remain in St. John's. They are immediately sailed to England and are part of the English breeding. In 1913, only two old males 11 to 13 years are left. When they close their eyes for the last time the St. John's Water Dog is extinct.

The last two St. John's Water Dog is found in a desolate area of Newfoundland in the late '70s. These are two old males 13 to 15 years. They are dead now and can never come alive. But St. John's Water Dog survives in England and in England the dog is called a Labrador.

In honor of Newfoundland's two world-famous dogs the Labrador and the Newfoundland Briton, the City of St. John's had made two bronze statues of the dogs measuring 1½ time their size. They stand in a memorial park in St. John's.

…. and how the whole story is put together you

can read about in my dad’s book

The Genesis of The Labrador

My father's desire to write about me and my

family does not stop here, he has written 30

books about Labradors. See them all at malusen.com

Oh, by the way! I forgot to tell you that my dad has

also created a new exiting learning universe for

children around all the funny stories about me and

the Labrador, namely

MALUSENLAND

Here Malusen will provide children

reading- and subject skills that can bring joy

and happiness into their world.

MALUSENLAND

In MalusenLand children can obtain skills through

games and compete-tions! Children will be lead through adven-

tures and have a great time, while learning!

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The Genesis of

the Labrador