Breed Health
The Labrador Retriever is generally a healthy dog, and a responsible breeder is screening their breeding stock for various conditions known in the breed.
The National Breed Club requires OFA hip, OFA elbow, annual ACVO eye exams registered with OFA, EIC (exercise induced collapse), and testing for the dilute gene (D Locus).
The National Breed Club recommends the following additional tests: prcd form of PRA, CNM (centronuclear myopathy), cardiac exam (basic or advanced), and a patella examination.
Why should you care?
What is health screening? Health screening involves testing dogs for various diseases that are commonly found in the breed. A responsible breeder wants to know whether the dogs they want to breed carry genes that could cause their offspring to suffer in the future. That being said, it is your responsibility as a puppy buyer to do your research. You don't simply want to know if the parents have had their health testing completed, you want to confirm the results for yourself, before you sign a contract or exchange any money. If you are buying from a breeder in North America you can confirm by searching the OFA's (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) database. Sometimes breeders won't submit some test results even if they were passing, annual eye exams are the most common results not submitted to OFA in my experience. If you run into this, the breeder should be able to provide you a copy of the veterinarian's report upon request - if they can't, walk away. Additionally, some dogs may have been imported and have foreign health tests. If this is the case, you need to decide if you are okay with the gamble of not knowing how that dog would stand up to our grading standards.
Some breeders choose to test dogs hips through PennHIP. PennHIP claims to have the most effective hip screening tool available for dogs and is a valuable resource. PennHIP is looking for different things than OFA, comparing the two is like comparing apples to oranges. PennHIP is mostly looking at laxity. Hip laxity refers to the degree of "looseness" of the ball in the hip socket. Studies have shown that dogs with looser hips are at a higher risk to develop hip dysplasia than those with tight hips. The hip scoring report that you receive will include 3 key parts: distraction index (DI) measures hip laxity - the inherent distance the ball can be displaced (distracted) from the hip socket, arthritis evaluation, and a breed laxity profile ranking - based on the DI your dog is ranked within its breed.
OFA, on the other hand, is opinion based and evaluates 9 different anatomic areas of the hip: craniolateral acetabular rim, cranial acetabular margin, femoral head (hip ball), fovea capitis (normal flattened area on hip ball), acetabular notch, caudal acetabular rim, dorsal acetabular margin, junction of femoral head and neck, and trochanteric fossa.
Say no to dilutes!
What is a dilute Lab? A silver, or other dilute color, Labrador Retriever is a mutt, pure and simple. The Labrador Retriever only comes in three colors: black, yellow, and chocolate. The D locus is the primary locus associated with diluted pigment and it has never been present in the breed. Although no one can prove definitively that the dilute gene was introduced by crossing with a Weimaraner, there is good evidence in scientific literature indicating that the Weimaraner is the only known breed in which the universality of dd is a charateristic.
Dilutes often have a multitude of health concerns, unrelated to the issues the Labrador is already prone to, the most common being color dilution alopecia, or CDA for short. Puppies are born with a normal appearing coat until the clinical signs manifest at 6 months of age or older. CDA will cause patches of hair thinning or loss and flaky and/or itchy skin, CDA alone does not put a dogs health at risk. That being said, there are secondary conditions that can be caused by it. The dog could develop scaly skin in bald areas, or small bumps or pustules associated with bacterial skin infections. CDA is not curable, but is usually able to be managed with medicated shampoos, rinses, and/or ointments for dry or scaling skin, or superficial infections. You veterinarian may prescribe oral medications, if appropriate, and evaluate what the dog eats. If you think your dilute dog has CDA, please schedule an appointment with your veterinarian!