How to Care For & Maintain Your Lab's Health

In This Section:

A Safe & Healthy Environment

Creating a Safe Home for Your Lab

In the yard, make sure that poisons and chemicals are out of reach and secured. The same applies for in the house: a common household cleaner or insecticide in the kitchen or bathroom cabinet can be harmful or life threatening to your lab. If your dog just ingested poison, bring him outside and administer 1 TSP (1/2 TSP for puppies) of salt on the back of his tongue, allow him to vomit, and call your Veterinarian.

Make sure your dog can't escape your yard. Check all fences and gates. If you can find a way for him to go under or over, fix the problem! He doesn't want to run away from you, but when you leave without him, he may want to go with you.

Is your pool or spa fenced? If not, Swimming Lesson #1 is: "How to get out." Do not leave him in the yard alone until he gets out on his own, from every corner of the pool. Remember, a puppy can walk right through an Iron pool fence!

Building a Dog-Run for Your Lab

Is your landscape damage costing more than you paid for the dog? If so, you need a kennel or dog-run: somewhere to secure the dog when you're not outside with her. You can call a Fence Contractor; you can order an expensive kennel from a tack or feed store; or you can drive down to your local MEGA home improvement store, and in the Fencing Department you will find something for the "Do-It-Yourselfer". Hmmmm, but what size do I get? There is this 6' x 6' x 4' tall thing, It has chain link roof, and they even have a sun-shade cover for it. Hey, its on sale for $99! Hmmmm...You kind get what you pay for in this decision. They also offer these chain link panels, 6' x 6' only $39 each, and a gated panel for $67. For $260 thats a 6' x 12' run, 6' high. Well, $260 is less than replacing the roses, but check the thickness of the chain link. If you can bend it with you fingers, the dog can too with one bite. Where are you going to put this new dog-run? What I'm asking is: what type of floor will it have? If it's out on the lawn, the lawn wont last. And what will the sprinklers do to it? If you you put it on the patio, there goes your patio! If you put it on the side of the house, will it be on dirt? Ok, now it's on dirt, and the dirt is full of bacteria.

Ok, Here's that solution

First, go down to the lumbar yard, and buy (3) pressure treated 2" x 6" x 12'. Cut one board in half. Use 2 1/2" deck screws and build a 6' x 12' frame (it will be 6" tall). Assemble the panels around the frame. Now dig 9 holes 14" round, 12" deep, evenly spaced inside the frame. Fill the holes and frame with WASHED pea-gravel. You will need 0.8 yards of pea-gravel. At the gardening supply store, buy a yard sprayer. Fill it with bleach, (or "ODO-Ban" from Sam's Club), and set it on the highest setting. After picking up waste from the gravel, spray the bleach, the follow that with fresh water (Make sure the dog isn't in the run when cleaning).

Inside, your dog will need fresh water and a dog house. If you get the dog house with a flat roof, not only can he sunbath on top of the dog house, but he can also jump out of the dog-run! However, I have yet to see a dog that can balance on top of an "Igloo" or "Dogloo." He will need a pad, or bed for the Igloo. If you buy an expensive bed for the puppy, she will be sure to shed it. I suggest carpet remnants. Cut 3 or 4 to shape. When they get nasty, throw them out and cut up some more.

OK! now you have a first rate dog run! Is this just for when you're gone? Or will this be a permanent habitat? If this is the new residence for your family dog, don't get a Labrador! At least not from us. Labradors want to be with you. Do not get a "trophy pet" and lock him up, out of site and out of mind. If that's the kind of pet you want, I suggest you get a fish!

Lab Health Concerns

Hip & Elbow Dysplasia

This is why we screen our dogs prior to breeding. Although, even if both of the breeding pair is clear, a dysplastic puppy could still be produced. Always remember, a dog with mild dysplasia can live a normal life, without any evidence of pain.

General Hip Dysplasia Information

The following info was found at the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals (OFA) website:

Hip Dysplasia is a terrible genetic disease because of the various degrees of arthritis (also called degenerative joint disease, arthrosis, osteoarthrosis) it can eventually produce, leading to pain and debilitation. The very first step in the development of arthritis is articular cartilage (the type of cartilage lining the joint) damage due to the inherited bad biomechanics of an abnormally developed hip joint. Traumatic articular fracture through the joint surface is another way cartilage is damaged. With cartilage damage, lots of degradative enzymes are released into the joint. These enzymes degrade and decrease the synthesis of important constituent molecules that form hyaline cartilage called proteoglycans. This causes the cartilage to lose its thickness and elasticity, which are important in absorbing mechanical loads placed across the joint during movement. Eventually, more debris and enzymes spill into the joint fluid and destroy molecules called glycosaminoglycan and hyaluronate which are important precursors that form the cartilage proteoglycans. The joint's lubrication and ability to block inflammatory cells are lost and the debris-tainted joint fluid loses its ability to properly nourish the cartilage through impairment of nutrient-waste exchange across the joint cartilage cells. The damage then spreads to the synovial membrane lining the joint capsule and more degradative enzymes and inflammatory cells stream into the joint. Full thickness loss of cartilage allows the synovial fluid to contact nerve endings in the subchondral bone, resulting in pain. In an attempt to stabilize the joint to decrease the pain, the animal's body produces new bone at the edges of the joint surface, joint capsule, ligament and muscle attachments (bone spurs). The joint capsule also eventually thickens and the joint's range of motion decreases. No one can predict when or even if a dysplastic dog will start showing clinical signs of lameness due to pain. There are multiple environmental factors such as caloric intake, level of exercise, and weather that can affect the severity of clinical signs and phenotypic expression (radiographic changes). There is no rhyme or reason to the severity of radiographic changes correlated with the clinical findings. There are a number of dysplastic dogs with severe arthritis that run, jump, and play as if nothing is wrong and some dogs with barely any arthritic radiographic changes that are severely lame.

General Elbow Dysplasia Information

The following info was found at the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals (OFA) website:

Elbow dysplasia is a general term used to identify an inherited polygenic disease in the elbow of dogs. Three specific etiologies make up this disease and they can occur independently or in conjunction with one another. These etiologies include:

• Pathology involving the medial coronoid of the ulna (FCP)
• Osteochondritis of the medial humeral condyle in the elbow joint (OCD)
• Ununited anconeal process (UAP)
• Studies have shown the inherited polygenic traits causing these etiologies are independent of one another. Clinical signs involve lameness which may remain subtle for long periods of time. No one can predict at what age lameness will occur in a dog due to a large number of genetic and environmental factors such as degree of severity of changes, rate of weight gain, amount of exercise, etc. Subtle changes in gait may be characterized by excessive inward deviation of the paw which raises the outside of the paw so that it receives less weight and distributes more mechanical weight on the outside (lateral) aspect of the elbow joint away from the lesions located on the inside of the joint. Range of motion in the elbow is also decreased.

Labrador Literature

Labrador Retriever

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