Read quite a lot of it on the floor with a black chin resting across my knees - and if that sort of thing appeals to you and, as above - if you love the breed, you'll enjoy the book.

The breed has thrived for more than 100 years, resilient and adaptable, and I have little doubt that it will continue to thrive and adapt for another century. Not read any of Ben Fogle’s work before, but as a new labrador puppy owner myself, I found this book touching, moving, and amazingly educational. A Labrador wouldn’t dream of missing the opportunity to say hello and will always give strangers the benefit of the doubt.

The children have to take the dog for a walk everyday and clean up all the dog hairs, they take their responsibility very seriously. He has presented numerous programmes including BBC’s Animal Park, Wild In Africa, Countryfile, Crufts, One Man and His Dog and Extreme Dreams. Dogs also bring 'germs' into the home, Ben said which is important, particularly for children who need to build up their resistance. I have a Labrador of my own so I felt every word of this book and it made me feel so much more connected and passionate about the breed. In many ways it is the antithesis to the modern world in which we rarely talk to strangers and don’t know our own neighbours.

The historical account of the lineage of the Labrador and of the personalities engaged with bringing the dogs to the UK and the subsequent distribution of blood lines was really interesting but it rather ran out of steam thereafter. The son of a vet, I was surrounded by creatures great and small – parrots, rabbits, guinea-pigs, cats and, of course, plenty of dogs.

To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. They were originally fishing dogs, whose ancestors came from the Portuguese cod trawlers that worked the Grand Banks off Newfoundland in Canada (despite the name, they do not actually originate from Labrador, Canada’s northerly mainland region).

Sometimes it would be a tiny piece of ham dropped from a picnicker’s sandwich, or maybe an old crisp packet. So in recognition of the world’s favourite dog, Ben Fogle celebrates the loyal, companionable, honest and ever-hungry lab we all know and love. By the early 1880s the original Buccleuch strain had died out, just five or six decades on from the original purchases from the fishermen on the Clyde.The Newfoundland fishing fleet docked regularly at Poole Harbour in Dorset, with its catch of cod and other fish kept on ice in the hold. The history was full of names that didn’t particularly mean much to me, and I don’t really know what was happening. In 1879 the Prince of Wales established the first Labrador kennels at Sandringham and the dogs bred there continue to be firm favourites with the Royal Family, particularly the Queen. Generally about Inca: Apart from my parents' dog, Maggi was the only dog that Inca ever really liked. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Why the hell are we stopping migrants trying to smuggle themselves OUT of Britain?