Greenstone Labradors

12/24/2024

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas filled with loved ones and wonderful memories.

12/06/2024

FIND YOUR LOCAL LAB CLUB NOW! NOW you can find the Lab Clubs in USA HERE!!! Each club will have a website and most have a FB Group so you can easily look them up.

Whether you are just entering the world of purebred Labradors, or have been a breeder, exhibitor and participant for many decades, joining your local Labrador club can be hugely beneficial to yourself, others and the breed.

NEW? If you are just getting your feet wet and need to learn the basics, your Lab club will be a great source for knowledge about the breed and many sports. Just find the closest club (most do meetings remotely now so you do not have to live nearby), reach out to introduce yourself and ask to attend the next meeting as a guest or get a list of hosted events you can attend. You will also make many friends and find a mentor to guide you. In the early days, having some friendly faces rooting for you unconditionally, as well as offering some useful handling tips, is so important.
ESTABLISHED BREED/EXHIBITOR? Your Lab club needs you! Your willingness to teach a or take a newbie under your wing will help the club prosper and the sport to carry on. No doubt a local club contributed to your dog knowledge as you were coming up through the ranks, so it’s important to pay it forward and help the club continue to sustain itself.

12/03/2024

Our boy got himself some mail from AKC today and he's now MBISS GCh Ch. Greenstone's Easy Does It (Easy). Such a good boy.

06/30/2024

06/08/2024

Brick earned a WCI title this past weekend at the HOTLRC Working Certificate Series. He gives all he has to give. Truly a special dog.

01/26/2024

Murph, whose footprints are those?

01/20/2024

Dangerous to dogs.

01/17/2024

Potential Health Implications of Early Neutering in Large Breed Dogs.

There has been ongoing research into the potential effects of neutering and spaying large breed dogs prior to them reaching “Puberty”, around 11-12 months in males and the first “heat” or estrus in females.
A recent research paper looking at samples of around 1500 dogs per group, specifically Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers, assessed the incidence of orthopedic diseases including hip and elbow dysplasia and ACL (Cruciate) injuries as well as several forms of cancer.
The results show a significant increase in the risk for orthopedic problems in both these breeds if neutered before sexual maturity. The cause of this increased risk is thought to be due to the effect that rising hormones have on long bone growth. The rise in estrogen/progesterone and testosterone with puberty in dogs induces closure of the growth plates in the long bones, stopping further growth. Dogs neutered before puberty don’t experience this rise in hormones and their long bones particularly continue to grow for a longer time resulting in greater height when growth does cease than their un-neutered counterparts.
This increased height changes the bio-mechanics of joint function and appears to cause some instability in developing joints leading to an increased incidence of orthopedic problems.
The effect on the incidence of certain cancers seems to be the most pronounced in Golden Retrievers and especially in female Golden Retrievers. The assumption is that hormones and especially estrogen have a protective effect or improve immune surveillance in decreasing cancer incidence. There appears to be no or minimal effect on increasing the risk of cancer in the Labrador Retrievers in the study.
The authors of the study also have soon to be published data on German Shepherds showing the same increased risk of orthopedic problems with neutering before puberty.
Although this research was directed at the 2 most popular dog breeds in North America we see ACL or Cruciate injuries as the most common orthopedic injury in all large and giant breed dogs.

Based on this information, we recommendation consider delaying neutering of Labradors until they are 18 months of age.

01/15/2024

The Labradors here sure do LOVE the cold weather. Assuming Labs everywhere in the USA are enjoying the temps?

01/15/2024

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