There are so many health issues for labs now. A post on the strangles thread got me to wondering....
These are the issues I am familiar with. I have encountered them or people I know have encountered them. If you have encountered others, please feel free to mention those as well.
Hip Dysplasia
Elbow Dysplasia
OCD
Retinal Dysplasia/Dwarfism
Progressive Retinal Atrophy
Epilepsy
Centronuclear Myopathy
Exercise Induced Collapse
Entropion
Strangles
Cataracts
Allergies
Overbites/underbites
Cleft palate
Megaesophagus
ACL/CCL
Innie vulvas
Missing teeth
Some of these issues now have DNA tests available to prevent problems. So, they have become easier to deal with. How about the others? What do you avoid like the plague? What doesn't bother you so much?
Please no ugliness on this thread. This is an important topic to discuss. Please just give your answer and reasoning. And if you are a breeder and think you will never encounter these problems...think again.

You forgot a pretty big one, TVD.

Having dealt with TVD that came from using an outside stud, I will try avoid THAT like the plague!
I think that is one of the most difficult things IMO to have to deal with. There is no surgery, no meds and they can drop like a fly in an instant.

I think it's very imprtant that breeders discuss potential problems in their lines so that other breeders can make educated decisions when using them, or can choose not to.

Dishonesty seems to be prevalant amongst many breeders and it's a darn shame. In my case, the owners of the stud denied this was a problem in their lines and so did the breeder of the stud dog when I approached them as well.
However, several other KNOWLEDGABLE/HONEST breeders were able to quickly point out where it was coming from when I discussed it with them. Too bad I didn't do enough homework beforehand or I could have avoided the whole thing in the first place.

Also learned that the stud dog mysteriously disappeared off their website since then...

Now please don't take this as bashing, it's not. Nowhere have I used names and I won't. I am not that kind of person. Just wanted to share my experience and point out that it's the dogs that pay the price of dishonesty in the end...

Patella luxation. Don't know how prevalent in the breed, but you asked for any that anyone had experience or knew of.

Thought of another one. Sometimes when we think health issues, we only think of those that show up in younger years. But add laryngeal paralysis even though probably more common in older years.

Thanks for those... TVD is more common in show lines than in field lines. Just as CNM and EIC are more common in field lines, but certainly present in show lines as well.
Luxating patellas...have heard of it but never knew anyone who had to deal with it.

I recently had a puppy with retinal folds in a litter I bred. Being quite upset and beside myself, I contacted my breeder for guidance on proper protocol in handling this sort of issue. I was informed to keep my mouth shut, not to contact the stud owner, and definitely not to contact puppy buyers. All pups went to pet homes and the puppy that was diagnosed had a very very slight retinal fold in each eye. I was taken aback to say the least receiving this sort of advice from who I thought was an honest and highly respected person in the labrador world. I am a very honest person and do not feel right about not disclosing this information. I am finding the politics of showing, breeding and the labrador world disheartening. I feel with this sort of advice, the health and genetic issues so many of us work diligently to rid this lovely breed of, will never be resolved. I was always under the impression that the responsible breeders, bred to better the breed. Certainly makes me wonder.

An earlier poster on another thread mentioned the fact that if it is an easy fix, then it would be ok to continue breeding... I think I would agree.
Joint and bone issues are difficult to fix....
Hip, Elbow, CCL/ACL, OCD, Patellas are problems I would most certainly steer clear of.
PRA, CNM and soon EIC all have tests so one can avoid those issues.
Epilepsy can't be fixed.
I've seen some terribly allergic labs at the clinic and I certainly wouldn't want to deal with that. Certainly not easy to fix. That is high on my list of questions for stud owners.
Overbites...which way would you go on that? Might have to pull a tooth or 2...
Entropion is an easy fix, but some look at it very negatively.
Cleft palate and megaesophagus took the lives of some of my very young puppies, but has it affected any older labs?? Just a litter issue that will always be there??

You made the choice to remain silent, no one held a gun to your head.It was your litter. Do not blame that choice on someone else.

Yes it was her litter but she was relying on HER mentor to guide her in that decision...

I would like to know why, if everyone loves this breed and wants to make healthier dogs, do breeder withhold bad OFA results?

I am searching for a stud for my girl and in my OFA search many times there will be 30 hips and 20 elbow clearences. WHY??????????

I have NEVER and will NEVER not give OFA permission to post results.

How are we going to fix HD and ED if we are not honest about results?

When researching results I do not have the time to call people and ask if they just did not do elbows or did the dog not pass. I take it as the dog has some kind of problem because everyone should be doing elbows.

I also think that if a dog comes down with a problem that both the breeder and stud dog owner needs to be notified.

I noticed in my research several stud dogs that were bred on prelims and then did not pass elbows. When looking on OFA most of the get now only pass either hips or elbows, very few passed both and these stud dogs are still being used WHY?

I know that you are supposed to look at the whole picture but with those results maybe it is time to retire the dog no matter how nice he is. I could understand if it was with the same bitch but those pups were from several different unrelated bitches.

We preach so much to the public about buying from responible breeders that do clearences and then those we are suppose to look up to are hiding bad results. To me this makes you no matter than the BYB.

Flame suit on Fire Away

See, I had a feeling this post would be lost and die off quickly.
No one wants to talk about this stuff!
They'd rather write a mile long thread about a MISSING TOOTH!!
Geez people, how sad is it when we, who are the only advocates for this wonderful breed, refuse to even discuss the very issues that threaten it

Ok, well let's reverse this conversation. How many people out there have the perfect dog? Do you exist? Is there a stud dog/brood bitch that has never produced anything negative? If you have had a perfect litter - no innie vulvas or overbites or missing teeth etc, stand up and tell us. I would love to breed to your boy or get in line for a bitch from you!

I never said that there was a perfect dog. But come on as many nice stud dogs out there why keep one active that seems to produce HD or ED in every litter.

No, I am not stud gog bashing. I have both bitches and stud dogs and will always release results good or bad.

Why do some breeder withhold results on OFA????

How are we ever going to make improvements if we are not honest with each other

If it is not there just figure it was bad and go on. There are so many nice stud dogs out there it is your choice. Don't think anyone is asking us to use their boys. Now in saying that, the next stud dog might have an even bigger surprise that never showed up until bred to YOUR female. We are all playing a big game of chance. We have to know that and be responible for the pups.
To the question of health issues, I think Seizure are a real scare to me. Want to stay miles away from anything like that.
Some things are just going to happen. Teeth, innies,
cleft.

How do you stay away from seizures when no one is honest about this in their lines?

Wow, someone is a bit defensive! maybe you have something you'd like to share????

"How do you stay away from seizures when no one is honest about this in their lines?"

... and when people ARE upfront about seizures they have discovered breeders appear to have the attitude that it won't happen to them!

I've discovered seizures in a line of dogs I had (I no longer breed that line, btw) and it's a common pedigree to linebreed on. I can't believe that I'm the ONLY person who managed to get a dog that carries that gene with so many using the lines.

I find that alot of people don't listen until it happens to them. More a case of reactive breeding rather than proactive breeding.

My practice (for 20 years now) is to screen the entire litter by an ACVO Diplomat between 7 and 8 weeks. The complete ACVO report bearing the signature of the vet is included in each puppy's packet when it goes to its new home.
Retinal folds is not a serious issue in comparison to many of the others, but I want to know what I have in my litters and it is only fair to provide the new owner with as much accurate information on their puppy as possible.
When considering upcoming breedings with my bitches, I always ask the stud owner if the potential stud prospect had an eye exam as a baby. Many times the retinal folds will not be detectable in a grown dog, and then will have a clear rating when there were indeed folds present at an earlier age.

I had an outcrossed litter that produced 3 out of 8 that had luxating patellas. Because of that problem...guess what? Torn ACLs in two of those dogs. All from that litter were shelved from breeding. Bred to 2 other studs of different backgrounds no patella issues. Hips and elbows beautiful on all OFAd dogs from each litter however. Several were done from each litter. I check knees on potential studs very carefully now and MUST see the dog in person and move too. I can spot a bad patella a mile away now. I am so scared of the epilepsy issue though. I wish there was a way to find out what lines to avoid or not to double on. It's all such a game of chance! Do the researchers really think they will have a test for it?

Isn't it sad how the word "Labradoodle" can prevoke a mile long thread and the words "health issues" and "breeding" get very little response...also my "TVD" thread gets one reply thus far.
very sad indeed...

This is why we will always have health issues, no one wants to discuss it.
Pity...