Labrador: The Story of the World’s Favourite Dog. Ben Fogle

guide dogs for the blind, by Customs officers for drug detection, by the police and the military for mine and explosive location, by rescue services, security guards and counterfeit detection experts as well as in a new field of medical detection. They carry out their duties with a sense of decorum. ‘Labradors set a tone for the occasions they grace. Their presence means that serious business is going on. The hazardous, often grim, North Atlantic scene seems a strange origin for these omnipresent participants in typically British occasions,’ wrote Stephens.

      I love that sense of decorum that is prevalent in Labs. It isn’t a nose-in-the-air kind of arrogance that some breeds exude, it is more humble. They hold up their heads with pride, assured of their loyalty and ability. Perhaps this is the reason why the Labrador Retriever has been declared the most popular breed in the United States for nearly 24 consecutive years. More than 60 years on, Labradors hold universal appeal which makes them the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership not just in the United States, but also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Israel.

      

      Inca, Inca-pinka, Incala pinkala, Pink, Pinky, Stink, Stinkalot, Incapotamus, Stincapotamus, Inca bazinka, Ink, Inky. Like most dogs, Inca had many names.

      I had thought about calling her Tatty when I first got her, but I eventually plumped for Inca, in part because I had known one other dog called Inca, a large black mongrel I had met while studying in Costa Rica. She had belonged to an English family that owned a macadamia nut farm in the rainforest.