Labrador Dog Tips

The Labrador is a wonderful breed of hunting dog originally intended to fetch a human hunter's waterfowl after it landed in the water. They are terrific family dogs that enjoy being with their owners. The shortened term "Lab" supersedes "Labrador Retriever" as a simple, less wordy name. The breed is currently in its 19th year of recognition as the most popular dog in the United States.

  1. Health

    • The Labrador Retriever is a strong dog by all appearances, but the breed has taken numerous hits to it's health due to unscrupulous breeders. With popularity comes great expense, and unfortunately that rears it's ugly head in the appearance of soaring veterinary bills for hip dysplasia, bloat, knee surgeries, cataracts at very young ages, diabetes, cancer, cushing's disease and a variety of other illnesses mostly caused by overbreeding. A hardy labrador will be able to perform it's original duties of swimming, retrieving and roaming across wide, empty fields with it's owners. To lessen your dog's risk of these issues, always feed your pet a high quality dog food, avoiding over-feeding. Be certain to attend regular wellness visits with your veterinarian.

    Energy Level

    • Many people claim that Labradors have only a "medium" energy level. This usually equates to an hour or two of walking per day. Many Lab owners scoff at this as they know that this breed usually needs to consistently be outside. Labs enjoy digging and going for swims or a runs to maintain adequate balance and weight. There are a handful of canine sporting events that Labradors usually enjoy, which include fly ball, "big air" competitions, hunting, agility and, for high prey dogs, lure coursing.

    Training

    • Training a Labrador is immensely rewarding and can be a very easy task to perform. Not only are these dogs extremely eager to please, they also respond well to treat-based reward systems. Labradors are often willing to be the center of attention for visitors, friends and relatives with a little simple training. For more serious training, such as learning to retrieve and learning how to be a "gun dog" (a dog that does not show fear at the sound of a gunshot), Labradors excel as well. This breed finds learning exciting and will often find themselves in trouble if they are not educated thoroughly.