Labrador Health

Labrador Health

Recommended screenings for breeders
The Breed Club recommends three:

- Screening of hereditary eye diseases canines (retinal degeneration, retinal dysplasia and cataracts)
It must be carried out by a specialist veterinarian.

- Hip dysplasia
Hip dysplasia is a genetic disease transmissible to offspring. Source of early, more or less severe destruction of the joint, the clinical manifestations can be very significant and disabling. It is therefore essential that dogs intended for breeding be screened.
The club advises breeding only with dogsdogs rated A, B or C.

- Elbow dysplasia
Elbow dysplasia brings together 4 types of problems which can exist in isolation, or be associated to varying degrees:
  • the non-union of the anconeal process
  • fragmentation of the medial coronoid process
  • osteochondrosis or osteochondritis dissecans of the medial humeral condyle
  • joint incongruence.
As part of radiographic screening, we seek to highlight the presence (or absence) of these conditions, as well as the presence (or absence) of signs of elbow osteoarthritis, which are in almost all cases related to elbow dysplasia.
Reading the images makes it possible to define five stages:

Grade 0 = Normal elbow
SL grade = Limit stage, almost normal but elbow with very slight defects.
Grade DC1 = Mild osteoarthritis.
Grade DC2 = Moderate osteoarthritis and moderate alteration of bone tissue.
Grade DC3 = Severe osteoarthritis and significant alteration of bone tissue.

In Germany for example, it is strongly discouraged to breed dogs from Grade DC2, even unilateral.

Labrador sterilization
- There sterilization has become over the last 20 years a pcommon rat and highly recommended by veterinarians. It is unfortunately common to see, from the booster vaccination of the puppy at 3 months, veterinarians proposing sterilization before the first heat for young females and sterilization of the male before puberty.

Sterilization should not be automatic!

Today it is recommended to wait for the end of growth, that puberty has passed and that hormones can allow normal development, particularly of organs such as the vulva, which if malformed leads to chronic vulvitis or vaginitis but also of the skeleton. A cause and effect link has been demonstrated for the increase in the percentage of dogs affected by elbow dysplasia for puppies sterilized too early.

It is therefore better wait until the 2nd or even 3rd heat before considering sterilization of the female dog.

Furthermore, the mental maturity of dogs pass through steroid hormones. Early sterilization can therefore reduce the Labrador's learning phases.

Sterilization can also result in:
a increased risk of obesity which is all the stronger for the Labrador,certain cancers, of the incontinence and orthopedic conditions.

Think carefully before making the decision!




The head of the femur must be

perfectly integrated into the pool


Attention, a puppy registered with the LOF does not guarantee that the breeders have been tested, these tests are unfortunately not obligatory!


If the x-rays of the breeders have been taken and read officially, their results are reported on the puppy's pedigree for each parent and you can now also consult the tests carried out on the breeders on the dog center database.https://www.centrale-canine.fr/lofselect

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