Labrador People

[Remarkabull]

Hi guys, today a lady on FB was looking for a Lab breeder so she could ask a few questions about her recently purchased pup. There were no responses so I offered to ask for I found on here for her.

Story is as follows:

Pup was purchased from breeder down south and flown up 2 weeks ago (pup was 9 weeks old when flown). They have noticed that pup doesn't seem to be responding to sound at all (talking, calling, dropping things near pup and making loud noises etc). Their other dog has growled at pup in warning when it has been biting it's tail and it doesn't seem to respond to that either. Pup does respond to hand/arm movements. She has taken pup to vet and vet was less than helpful and didn't seemed concerned or interested in following up with it, was more interested in pushing to get pup desexed ASAP. I've suggested anew vet to start with and also to contact the breeder but as I'm not familiar with Labs I thought I'd ask here for any other advise/ideas.

[Seren]

That sounds worrying. I sure would be taking the little fellow to another Vet to have it checked out. I haven't heard of Labs having hearing problems but maybe a direct phonecall to a breeder locally would be of help. I have looked up a few breeders on the internet just typing Labrador Breeder Qld into google. Hope that the lady gets some answers, if not maybe have to brave it and ring the people who she bought him off and ask them did they know anything. Sad set of affairs whichever way as it would seem that the little fellow has hearing problems and that would be possibly a lifetime sentence. On that, it makes it hard what to do, he probably would go on to live a great life but would need monitoring for accidents because he can't hear a warning. I know that my little Lab lives by her ears.... they wiggle all the time she is awake.

Good luck, I will keep watching this post for the outcome, hoping that this lady gets some answers.

[The Spotted Devil]

I would be a) contacting the breeder, and b) organising a BAER hearing test. Where are they located? BAER machines are not common but they are around. The owner could contact the state Dally club for advice on where to find one as most breeders test. I haven't heard of deafness being common in Labs but it can pop up in any breed. Normally pups with unilateral deafness adapt very well and are difficult to pick up in the home but this pup could possibly be bilaterally deaf.

[Tapua]

First time I have heard of hearing problems in Labs. Definitely check with the breeder, ring the initial assessing vet if needed and definitely get the pup BAER tested. Get a second opinion from a more experienced vet. Where are you located BTW?

[suziwong66]

First time I have heard of hearing problems in Labs. Definitely check with the breeder, ring the initial assessing vet if needed and definitely get the pup BAER tested. Get a second opinion from a more experienced vet. Where are you located BTW?

I follow the west midlands labrador rescue (UK) on FB and they currently have a deaf labby girl that was placed in a home and is now a mascot for the organisation; she's currently doing rather well at retrieving

[persephone]

what colour is pup?

definitely make contact with the breeder!!

What a disappointment

[Remarkabull]

Located in Darwin, which in itself is an issue due to crappy vets :/

I'll pass on the replies.

[Dogsfevr]

we board 3 deaf Labs .

Phone the breeder as they may not be aware pup may have seemed very normal with litter mates & if not an issue in the breed as such not a problem you tend to look for like in some .

Maybe ask the show people in Darwin who they use vet wise .

[The Spencinator]

I've never heard of deafness being a labrador specific problem either but obviously it can happen. There must be a vet somewhere in Darwin willing to listen, they might just have to keep trying! Would it be worth putting a post up asking for recommendations for a Darwin vet? The couple of breeders I'm friendly with down here in SA would be very responsible if this puppy owner got back to them with their concerns, but I can't speak for them all!

[sandgrubber]

A decade back there were a few deaf Labs showing up in WA -- including one pup I bred. This appeared to be late onset, though. No one noticed a problem until the pups were more than a year old.

They do need to contact the breeder. Because Labs are so common, just about every disease a dog can get has been reported in a Labrador, but deafness is uncommon. Any decent Lab breeder would be very concerned.

And you folks in Darwin need to recruit a decent vet!

[Snippy]

My family bough a lab puppy about 19 years ago and we had similar issues. Turned out the puppy was deaf in both ears. The vet didn't seem all that surprised about it to be honest. the breeder wanted nothing to do with us or the puppy. We ended up moving her to a home where she would get special treatment. Unfortunately for our family at the time, having a special needs dog was not viable. It was really a sad situation we were all heartbroken. I remember it well, I was quite young at the time and my parents had been saving for a puppy as a surprise for us kids.