[wwbirds]

Ebonstar Mack was an incredible chocolate but he was a recessive dog from a yellow male (Waldorf Hitech and a black female). The problem we see far too often is back yard breeders breeding for the recessive chocolate color and no brains or heart. The gene pool on recessive colors (YY) is very small and more often than not the people I deal with go looking for a brown lab (chocolate) without any or little regard for the dogs trainability or pedigree to work. Most often these are new buyers who do little but play with the dog until the dogs true colors come through at 8 -10 months and the wife says "either it is the dog or me". By this time the cute little chocolate is often a 60 pound mess of no manners. There are good chocolates out there but they are incredibly hard to find. In 10 years I have had one black for correcting behavior problems (admittedly caused by the new owners). In the past 5 years I have had 5 chocolates brought to me to address obedience/behavior problems.
The designer color breeders have a steady supply of uneducated buyers but if you want to train the dog yourself it is easier to find a biddable field quality black or yellow.