THE WEST OF ENGLAND LABRADOR RETRIEVER CLUB

About The Club

The West of England Labrador Retriever Club was founded in 1966 primarily to serve the five counties of the West Country - South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Cornwall, Devon and Dorset although membership from all parts of the UK and abroad are very welcome.

Advice and help is always given freely to anyone wishing to learn more about our breed. Advice is also given with regards to buying a puppy, breeding your bitch, and finding a suitable stud dog. There is a list of suitable stud dogs, all of which are hip scored and hold current eye certificates which are available from the Secretary. There is also a good up to date puppy register run by the club which are puppies bred by members, and are thoroughly vetted. The club holds two Open Shows a year and one Championship show where both members and non-members are welcome to enter. Up to five Field Trials (Novice and Open Stakes) are organized a year. In addition to this a Water, Cold Game, Novice, Puppy, and Open Working test are held once a year. Further details of shows and trials and tests can be found on their pages.

AGM REPORT 2010:

6th May 2010 News - West of England Labrador Retriever Club AGM
Report by Paul Davey
We had a very successful meeting of the West of England Labrador Retriever Club AGM at the Wyndham Arms at Kentisbeare near Collumpton on Sunday.
Both the show & working side of the club were well represented. After an excellent lunch Patrick Ridge, a local specialist  orthopaedic veterinary surgeon, gave a fascinating & very informative talk on common limb conditions affecting the labrador. He started on elbow dyspasia which he explained was actually several different conditions but the commonest in labs was fracture medial coronoid .There were some very good photos & videos taken during arthroscopy to explain the diagnosis &  surgical treatment
Next he discussed Cruciate disease and again explained that it was not simply a rupture of the cranial  ligament but involved problems with the joint surfaces & minisci( miniscal tears often being the most painful) .
Hip Dysplasia was next .It is now thought that laxity of the joint results in abnormal wear &  distortion of the femoral head & acetabulum. He told us about the Penn Hip scheme that is based on measuring this laxity . Apparently the BVA  are interested in further assessment of the scheme as they think it has some merit.   It is however very expensive (£400ish) but on the other hand can be done from 16 weeks so it may have its place  in the BVA/KC scheme in due course.
He finshed with some general advice  on managing and avoiding  these conditions especially keeping  weight down.He said that working dogs should have a warm-up & warm-down just like athletes. If a working dog shows signs of a problem stop him immediately & rest him so as not to exacerbate it.
There followed several questions from the floor and more anecdotes. Patrick has a Springer that he takes beating & retrieving so it wasn't just a vet's view.
A very good day.