Much to the surprise of many people who meet a yellow Flat-Coated retriever, yellow is one of the three colors a Flatcoat comes in. Way back in the history of the breed, a black coat was preferred by the breed’s founders.  Later, a liver-colored dog proved itself in the field and liver was accepted as a color.  

One concern, of course, is that a yellow Flatcoat resembles a golden at first glance; however, if you read the standards of both breeds you quickly will see that while their coat color is similar, they are not the same in structure. Side by side, there is no confusing the two. 

The Labrador retriever has had a similar esthetic preference.  Ask many Lab fanciers and you will find that yellow or chocolate are not preferred, except by those who can recognize beauty beyond the coat color. 

Some argue that the yellow is not as nice structurally as the black and liver. Since liver has become an accepted color, breeders who focus on breeding to the standard have produced some stunning liver-colored representatives of the breed. The first few liver Flatcoats that I met did not have the rich-looking coats of their black brethren, and I was not fond of either that or the lack of type in the dogs that I saw.  Since then, however, breeders have worked on improving both the quality of the coat and the breed type of the animals they are producing. In recent years, I have watched lovely liver Flatcoats win some of the top awards in conformation, and in silhouette you would never have known they are liver. 

When liver first was accepted as a color in Flatcoats, it took education for people to understand and accept that liver dogs are indeed Flatcoats.  In the same way, it will take education to let people know that yellow Flatcoats are a part of the breed just as much as black and liver dogs are.  Education, however, is something that Flatcoat owners are accustomed to; how many times do you tell someone what your dog breed is, and they say, “a what!?” Take away the color of the coat and you still have a Flatcoat through and through that is every bit as worthy of being a recognized color as its black and liver littermates are. It’s past time to allow the yellow coat color to be recognized in all aspects of the breed and added as an allowed color on the breed standard.

If you are like me, and others who agree, please sign the petition in support of the yellow-colored Flatcoat.

If you are a flatcoat fancier please include your involvement in the breed in the comments.