Do you like this story?
Lab analysis: How healthy are Labrador retrievers?
By Kim Campbell Thornton
July 14, 2008
Labrador Retrievers have ranked first in American Kennel Club registrations for 17 years straight, so I think it’s probably safe to say that most of us probably know a Lab (hi Kobe and Phoebe!), grew up with a Lab or have a Lab. Breeds with that level of popularity often fall victim to health problems related to poor breeding practices. The Labrador Retriever Club is conducting its first health survey–open to all Lab owners–in more than 10 years, and I recently interviewed veterinarian and LRC health chair Fran Smith about the club’s goals for the survey and Lab health in general.
A health survey is a snapshot of a breed’s physical condition and provides information about the direction the club might want to take in funding health research and improving the breed as a whole. In addition to age at death and cause of death, the LRC is asking owners whether their Labradors have experienced skin or ear problems, seizures, bloat, lameness, ruptured cruciate ligaments, collapse or staggering during exercise, or vision problems. Smith hopes to hear from Jane Q. Labowner as well as John L. Breeder, so she made the survey simple and straightforward.
“It’s been proven with health and behavioral surveys that if they take more than five minutes to complete, people just don’t do them,” Smith says. “It was designed for simplicity and to get very basic information about how long Labradors live and what the people who own them think their problems are.”
So far she’s received just over 1,500 responses–a tiny percentage of the tens of thousands of Labs in the country, but better than the 200 responses to the last health survey a decade ago. The two main problems in the breed, based on survey results, appear to be lameness–from ruptured anterior or cranial cruciate ligaments–and behavior.
No one is surprised that Labs have problems with ACL and CCL tears, but when it comes to temperament, this is a breed that is supposed to be kindly, outgoing, eager to please, and never aggressive. Smith says she sees more shy Labradors than in the past, as well as some that are aggressive toward people. She attributes aggression toward other dogs to a lack of socialization.
“I think many dogs don’t get socialized to other dogs and therefore never learn how to have good dog manners. So what people may be calling dog aggression may instead be the dog’s lack of familiarity with how dogs interact and retaliating out of fear. It doesn’t excuse it, but that may be the problem.”
Another factor may be that people don’t let dogs be dogs. They often lack an understanding of how dogs act and communicate among themselves. Dogs don’t get many opportunities to play in a group, and when they do, their actions are frequently mischaracterized by their owners, she says.
“Many people, as soon as two puppies start doing their slam, bam and snarling, think that’s a dog fight. The other thing I think we see is that people inadvertently train a lot of these behavioral issues. With shy dogs, whether it’s noise or people, as soon as the dog is afraid, the first thing the person says is ‘You’re okay.’ That teaches the dog that fearfulness is the behavior you want. I see that with all breeds of dogs in my office every day.
Fat Labs are a common sight, but the survey doesn’t include a question about obesity. Smith doesn’t think a condition that’s caused by people overfeeding and underexercising their dogs belongs in a survey about Labrador health. She does, however, take issue with the use of the Labrador outline in body condition scoring charts.
“Our breed standard requires a level underline, so for a conformation Labrador Retriever to achieve the silhouette that would allow it to be at a perfect body condition score, you would have to starve it. It’s a big bone of contention for me as a breeder when they use the Labrador on those charts.”
The survey, which has no end date, is on the web site of the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals.
In the doghouse: While reading my weekly car porn, er, Autoweek, I ran across a photo of a giant Beagle with steps leading up to its rear end. Billed as the world’s biggest Beagle, it’s a bed-and-breakfast in Cottonwood, Idaho. Well-behaved dogs with responsible people are welcome guests. If you’re in the area but can’t stay the night, check out the chain-saw carvings in the gift shop.
[Update from Gina: I've added a picture of the 2004 Gundog Group winner from Crufts. I was ringside when this dog won breed. He was astonishingly, oustandingly, shockingly fat. I also see show Labradors at low-level hunt tests. I worry that on hot days they'll have a heart attack. You don't see show type at the high-level tests ... you see field type, which could be an entirely different breed.]
Share & Enjoy
|
Facebook
|
Twitter
|
Google Buzz
|
Digg
|
|
Technorati
|
StumbleUpon
|
Delicious
|
Email
|
Home
“Fat Labs are a common sight…”
Yes, especially in the show ring. I have taken in other handlers’ Labs for breed before and they sound like pigs as they galumph around the ring, fat rolling all over their backs and overstuffed bodies, trying to get enough oxygen to keep up the pace. It’s awful.
Comment by slt — July 15, 2008 @ 5:15 am
Yeah, my sympathy for a show Lab breeder whinging about the body-condition charts depicting a Lab that’s actually in correct body condition is, you know, boundless.
The Labs I see competing in field trials, hunting, as SAR dogs, detector dogs — they all possess a waist. And are in true, genuine hard working condition. Actual healthy, fit working dogs.
My brother’s middle-aged pet Lab — not overfed, gets some exercise — has a waist.
“Level underline” is pretty transparent code for “we like ‘em morbidly obese.” Watch the video of the Lab judging from Westminster if you have any doubts.
It is not a feature on any real working Lab I’ve ever seen. A really hard-muscled Lab charging through the underbrush is a force of nature. Any resemblance to the “correct” blimps winning blue ribbons is purely semantic. I wish the public was more exposed to the images of fit working Labs, so they could see what their typically overfed and underexercised family pets were capable of being.
Don’t get me started on Rottweilers in the show ring now …
Comment by H. Houlahan — July 15, 2008 @ 7:28 am
You know, I like to see real world, pragmatic explanations for the various features called out for in any given breed’s written Standard. I wonder what the “real world” reason is for the “level underline” v.s. a more normal looking tuck-up? (I actually went and read the AKC breed standard for the Lab to see if it was there, and sure enough, it was. So now I wonder why?)
On a tangentially-related note - does anyone know the history of the teased-up butts they groom into Old English Sheepdogs for the show ring?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 15, 2008 @ 7:46 am
It’s amazing to me what people will overlook in their own dogs/breeds. I have a friend—who should know better—who can’t see that her Golden is fat. She was complaining about her mother-in-law always telling her that the dog needed to lose weight. I was thinking, ‘Well, she’s right.’
Comment by Kim Campbell Thornton — July 15, 2008 @ 8:04 am
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 15, 2008 @ 7:46 am
Not a Lab expert (or even a Lab technician, hehe) but I think of Labs as being very square in appearance and also being built like a boat. They were designed to be water dogs, not land retrievers so they can swim great (using that broad underline like a boat bottom) but they don’t cover ground like a Setter would. Even so, the squareness should come from a well muscled dog in lean, hard condition - not from flab and fat!
Comment by slt — July 15, 2008 @ 8:13 am
I added a picture. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 15, 2008 @ 9:15 am
Comment by slt — July 15, 2008 @ 8:13 am
“Not a Lab expert (or even a Lab technician, hehe)”
Okay - the puns are getting REALLY thick in here! Even so - since I AM a Lab technician (rather than playing one on TV) that was spew-worthy!
You owe me a new monitor!!!!!!!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 15, 2008 @ 9:55 am
Note on the “disappeared” post: I’m going to check on it. Thanks, Nancy.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 15, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Dr. Smith actually is also a hunt test judge here in MN, so she’s been exposed to plenty of the working style Labs. The field lines have their share of orthopedic problems more related to structure than weight. Would be nice to see a happy medium…properly built dogs in proper weight.
Comment by Katie Bruesewitz — July 15, 2008 @ 11:08 am
I don’t pay much attention to dog shows, so I’d wondered what was meant when I read here about how fat show dogs had become. Now I know. Here I’d thought you were overstating the case, but clearly not — that dog is in no shape to even play hard, let alone work.
Comment by Eucritta — July 15, 2008 @ 11:19 am
Pat - How about a paper towel? I’m on a budget here!
What’s funny about the photo Gina put up is that when I first saw it, I thought “Well at least they found a photo where the Lab isn’t AS fat”. Then I read the description, hehe.
Comment by slt — July 15, 2008 @ 11:54 am
Funny thing, when I saw the picture, I thought “Well, that one is not as fat as a lot of them …”
It’s true, we really, really are NOT exaggerating. Watch and weep: http://video.westminsterkennel.....?id=217241
The bitch being handled by the little girl really did make me want to cry, in particular.
They were designed to be water dogs, not land retrievers so they can swim great (using that broad underline like a boat bottom)
So’s how come the dogs that actually perform that function — the ones out there retrieving from water — all have waists? As do goldens and Chessies and IWS and PWD and (wait for it …) flatcoats?
How’s come the barge-shaped show Lab wasn’t around 30 years ago? When did a pickle-barrel suddenly become the “correct” structure?
I used to have a Yahoo photos folder with pictures of Labs — old breed standard and ring champion pics, old and current pics of working Labs. Up until 30 years ago, they looked basically the same. Unfortunately that folder disappeared when Yahoo photos did, and I don’t have time to reconstitute it.
Basically, they all look like the Labs here: http://www.ponderosakennels.com/photos.htm
Comment by H. Houlahan — July 15, 2008 @ 11:56 am
The gist of what I get from Lab breeders is basically that they don’t want the dog to look like it did in decades past because that would mean they weren’t making “progress”.
Comment by slt — July 15, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Good to know. I’m making REAL progress personally, then, since I have seven inches and 100 pounds on my darling little grandmother (passed away in ‘95).
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 15, 2008 @ 12:33 pm
Chris Zink has a lot to say on the subject of breed types requiring obesity in the show ring.
The Westminster video = room full of fat dogs!
Comment by K. A. S. — July 15, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
How many of us have heard comments in the show ring about our very fit retriever dogs that they “need some groceries”? Makes me crazy. Damn Flabradors.
Comment by Deanna — July 15, 2008 @ 7:11 pm
Well, too many humans in this country don’t “need some groceries” and seem to be overfeeding/badly feeding their dogs, too. I would imagine that anyone in shelter work has seen what I have, abandoned, decently-kept, but overweight dogs, like our fairly regular guest “sausage labs”. No wonder vets tell people not give their dogs people food. Look at the garbage people eat these days and give to their pets. I hate to think what it does to the dogs. Yuk.
The lab folks need to “progress” to what is best for the dogs, not their egos.
Comment by Susan Fox — July 15, 2008 @ 7:59 pm
They were designed to be water dogs, not land retrievers so they can swim great (using that broad underline like a boat bottom)
Um. Yeah, because like, all boats are barges … *headdesk.*
Comment by Eucritta — July 15, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
“The gist of what I get from Lab breeders is basically that they don’t want the dog to look like it did in decades past because that would mean they weren’t making ‘progress’.”
*****
Well, indeed. The longtime breeder who sold me my first Scottie, a dog so badly afflicted with Scottie cramp that he can barely walk, had emblazoned on the paperwork generated by her pedigree program the legend “Striving to improve the breed.” This is a woman who denied ever having seen cramp—or any other problem—in any of the puppies she had produced over 30+ years. Denial is a powerful thing, and it has powerful consequences for both pedigreed dogs and the people who love them
Comment by Lisa — July 16, 2008 @ 5:35 am