I can't remember the first Labrador retriever I ever met, but I sure remember my first official Lab greeting. I'd stopped to visit a buddy one summer afternoon in his small house. He yelled at me to come in, then mumbled something.

Retrieving is in a Lab's blood. Whether in the wetlands or in the uplands, that's what they have been bred to do, and they do it well.

When I opened the door, his dog, 90-some pounds of chocolate Lab, launched himself from across the room and slammed me up against the wall, a tail wagging, face-licking dervish. My buddy was a step behind him, clutching at his collar. That's when I found out that what he'd been mumbling had been something like, "Watch out for the dog."

If I had to think of one word that describes these great, handsome beasts it would be "enthusiastic." I've seen all types -- field champions, senior and master hunters, top-notch and not-so-top-notch duck dogs, pampered pets that have never been near a duck, Labs as lean as greyhounds and Labs as round as beer kegs, and out of the lot of them, I can recall only one or two that weren't absolutely, unfailingly enthusiastic about the world and everything that went on inside it.

Here in Montana, our state animal is the grizzly bear, but if sheer popularity were the basis for the designation, Labs would beat grizzlies paws down. There's a reason for that: We have a lot more ducks and geese than the locals like to let on, and consequently a lot more serious duck and goose hunters. Certainly there are the Chessie, versatile and springer contingents, and those are all fine dogs, but here and everywhere else in this great nation, when it comes to waterfowl, waterfowl hunters come to Labs.

It's been that way for quite a while now. Wikipedia tells me that Labs, by AKC registration, are more than twice as popular as the next most popular breed. And in other countries, that popularity is even greater. Tiny Finland, for instance, a nation of 5.2 million people, has 426 Labs per million residents; the U.S., with almost 300 million people, has a paltry 36.3 labs per million -- and everyone knows how popular they are here.

Their friendly personalities, intelligence and versatility are why Labs are by far the most popular guide dogs in the U.S., and they also excel as rescue dogs, assistance animals, and as drug detection dogs for police forces.

They also seem to have an almost surreal ability to read their masters' minds. Endal, a yellow assistance Lab in England, was owned by Allen Parton, a chief petty officer in the Royal Navy, who received disabling head injuries during the Gulf War. When, on one unfortunate day, Parton was knocked unconscious and out of his wheelchair by a passing car, Endal is supposed to have pulled his master into a recovery position, retrieved his cell phone, covered him with a blanket, barked at nearby houses for attention, and finally run to a nearby hotel for help. That's an almost human level of intelligence.

The first Labrador retrievers originated on the island of Newfoundland centuries ago. A number of different breeds may have been in the original genetic soup: Newfoundland dogs, St. Hubert's hounds from France, water dogs from Portugal, and European pointing breeds, among others. By the nineteenth century, the first and second Earls of Malmesbury and the 5th and 6th Dukes of Buccleuch, all English, had established a breeding program that refined the modern Labrador as we know it today. Today's Labs have grown in popularity ever since, helped in part by books, uncounted hunting and training videos, and even movies, including the most recent, Marley and Me.