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Last August a friend of my wife gave us a 7 week old lab pup. Mother and Father were both from "good blood lines" and trained. Went and saw both Mother and Father work and went home with the pup. This is my first foray into training and the world of labs and started training. Read every book I could get my hands on and talked to others who have dogs.

Went and worked her with some friends and their labs yesterday morning. Get home and she pulls up lame so I call the vet and he says lay off a day or two. Went shooting this afternoon and let her out when I got home. She was tearing the yard up like always with no limp. Bring her to heel and throw a dummy. I send her and she throws dirt and grass ten feet in the air leaving to get the dummy. I think great, just a pulled muscle. She overshoots, like she always does, and puts on the brakes. Her hip gives out again.

Talk to the vet and he starts asking questions about her blood line and kennel. Like I say the dog was given to us and I have no idea. He says it may be hip dysplasia and at only a year old the outlook is not good. I start researching on the internet and call the people who gave us the dog.

Now for the part that pisses me off. THE OWNERS TELL ME BOTH MOTHER AND FATHER HAVE HIP DYSPLASIA. Why the Hell would you pawn a pup off on someone who you know is going to invest money and TIME in trying to make a hunting dog if you know this. Further, THEY KNEW BEFORE THE DOGS BRED.

I know the first thought is the dog was free, so what. Or if I wanted to get a dog to start working, I should have gone to a reputable kennel. Both valid points, but, these were people whom my wife knew and represented both mother and father to be fine and both had been sent for training.

It pisses me off that they had no thought for the dog. I have spent a year working with this dog and she loves to go out and retrieve. She has been sentenced to a life of pain and misery.

All this may be premature and the vet tells me after X-rays that all is well.

STILL PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!

I can understand your anger, Seymore. It sounds like the people who gave you the pup were more interested in making a $$ from selling the pups than furthering the breed. That is disappointing, and it would be hard not telling those folks so. The pup is the one hurting the most from their decision.

Seymore,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. It is even sadder that they did not take the betterment of the breed into consideration.

Brad

I agree 100%, man that would piss me off too. It is not just the money that you spend buying the actual pup, but the time and money that goes into training. It is not fair for the dog either. The dog probably knows and loves to work and make you happy - now if it is hip dysplasia, that will be taken away from the dog also. Man that is sorry.

If you buy a pup for $500 and train it to be a finished hunting retriever that initial $500 will wind up being the least of your investments. Genetically inferior puppies sell anywhere from free on up to $1000 or more, so do your homework before you get/buy.

And yes, it is sad that someone intentionally bred 2 dysplastic dogs.

The question now Seymore is: Are you going to do the responsible thing and get your dysplastic dog neutered?


(Note: I haven't looked in a couple of years, but last time I checked the OFA website the statistics on Labradors applying for OFA hip certifications and being denied had dropped drastically over the past 20 years. That means that responsible breeding of Labrador retrievers has nearly eliminated hip dyplasia among OFA certified litters. Do the responsible thing: don't invest your time or money in Lab puppies whose parents are not both OFA certified, and neuter non-OFA certified dogs.)

That sucks..what exactly did the folks say about your pup and the breeding of 2 dogs that had hip issues?

http://www.offa.org/hipstatbreed.html?view=2

Checkout the number of Labs applying for certification compared to other breeds...WOW. Percentage of Labs qualifying as "excellent" nearly doubled from 1980 to 2002. Percentage of Labs failing went from 14.2% to 10.3%.

I wish they had the numbers for all dogs qualifying with Excellent or Good.

Seymore,
After re-reading your post I would make the following reccommendations:

If you are not sure about her potential I would reccommend having her speyed ASAP so as to avoid the risk of an unwanted litter. Given that both her parents are dysplastic I would strongly consider speying regardless. A speyed female can hunt/test/trial 365 days a year (no heat cycle), and unlike a male she won't be distracted by other hot females that might be in the area.

If you are confident about the dog's hunting potential then be certain she has dysplasia - go to a Vet that specializes in OFA xrays and have her X-rayed - it will cost $100-$200 and the dog will need to be anesthetised to get the best picture. The OFA will give you an official opinion at 12 mos of age, but an OFA-experienced Vet can opine just as well. If she's dysplastic I wouldn't invest anymore time/money as she will probably continue to experience chronic pain during training/hunting - she'll probably make someone a great pet companion. If she's not displastic she might turn out to be a good hunting companion.

Sorry this happened and good luck.

h2o_dog wrote:The question now Seymore is: Are you going to do the responsible thing and get your dysplastic dog neutered?

She was speyed at three months. I never had any intentions of breeding her to begin with. We just wanted a good dog to hunt and be a family pet.

Some good news from the vet. The X-ray shows her left hip is not seated as well as he'd like which is only one of five characteristics for "classic hip dysplasia". This doesn't mean that she want develop further problems down the road, but, is not the dire predictions given last night. The hip she was favoring was her right hip. He is of the opinion that she pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in that hip since it is opposite the hip showing on X-ray. She had full range of motion and was in no distress when he flexed both legs with neither joint dislocating.

I am to lay off for a week and give her anti- inflammatorys.

He showed me an X-Ray of his lab that hunted 'til she was 11. Both hips were involved and looked absolutely horrible on X-ray. The point he was making is that all is not lost.


I still don't think I need to run into the folks that bred this dog right now. All may turn out fine, but, it is still not being responsible.

Well that is definately a little better news. Better than the first post for sure.

seymore wrote:She was speyed at three months. I never had any intentions of breeding her to begin with. We just wanted a good dog to hunt and be a family pet.

....all is not lost.

Thank you for already doing the right thing, and also glad to hear that all is not lost.

Good Luck and keep us informed.

Sorry to hear about this Seymore. But, it sounds like there is better news now. Miss Penny may be temporarily down, but maybe not out for the count.

Hey, if she can just go fetch a few ducks per hunt, that should take care of your needs.

Po Monkey Lounger wrote:Hey, if she can just go fetch a few ducks per hunt, that should take care of your needs.

Ouch!!!! Now that hurt and was completely uncalled for.

I would Definitely notify AKC on the MOM and DAD. If the LAB breed is to survive and maintain a good standing in Americans eyes, people MUST be responsible.

Say it cannt happen....ask a cocker spaniel buff......almost impossible to find a good one, because of over-breeding.