Labrador Retriever Life Span: Are Retrievers As Robust As We Think?

The Labrador Retriever is the most common dog breed found in America owing to its friendly nature.

Of all popular dog breeds, the Labrador Retriever is undoubtedly the most outgoing and friendly dog according to the American Kennel Club. This dog breed has also proven itself to be one of the best with children and other dogs as well which might reside in your colony or your other pet.

Labrador Retrievers are found in three different coat colors namely black, chocolate and yellow.

Owing to their coat color, the dogs are identified as black Labrador or black Lab, chocolate Labradors or chocolate Labs, and yellow Labradors or yellow Labs. Some Labrador Retrievers also have white-colored markings on their body especially the yellow Lab.

An average Labrador Retriever has a height of around 21-24.5 in (54-57 cm) at the shoulder and weighs at 55-80 lb (25-36 kg).

Like various other dog breeds, the Labrador Retriever requires extensive physical workouts to keep its body in a healthy shape and disease-free.

Even though this dog breed makes a great housing pet that is friendly and likes to stay with its family, it is a very athletic dog breed and loves swimming, games of fetch, and other outdoor activities.

The versatility of the Labrador Retriever breed has made it one of the most breeds all over the world, especially in western countries.

Trained Labrador Retrievers often accompany people with health problems and physical ailments such as blindness and autism to provide them with some company and keep them happy.

At the same time, this popular dog breed is widely used in security agencies for detection purposes.

Additionally, this healthy breed also actively takes part in dog competitions and also is a pretty good hunting dog. When a breed of dog has such great qualities, no owner would like to see it pass away any day soon but Labrador Retrievers sadly aren't the longest living dog breed.

Most of the dogs of this breed succumb to health issues at a certain age, so let us take a closer look at the average Labrador lifespan and how we can possibly increase it.

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Labrador Retriever Lifespan

An average Labrador Retriever lifespan is around 12 -12.5 years but this figure changes depending upon whether it is a black Labrador Retriever or a chocolate coat Labrador or a yellow Labrador. It has been noted that the yellow and black Labrador Retrievers have a relatively long life as the chocolate Labradors live for 10.7 years on average.

There are a lot of factors that influence a dog's life span.

How well you take care of your canine friend, what its genetic history is, any diseases it had prior to its adoption by you, and any accidents it suffered from greatly influence the life expectancy of your Labrador Retriever.

For instance, a purebred Labrador inherits a number of qualities from the other Labradors and decides the body shape, the length of the tail, the coat color, and also its susceptibility to diseases.

As you go to adopt the dog, talk to your breeder about the dog's previous medical records for if in the future your dog falls ill, your vet might ask for the previous medical records.

These often help the vet in determining the issue at hand and also detecting the influence of any hereditary disease which might be acting as a catalyst to the health problem.

Unlike many other dogs, the Labrador pups have a very good body shape and structure.

Dogs that have either short legs or a long spine often suffer from arthritis and other bone-related issues in the latter part of their lives which takes a toll on their life expectancy.

However, Labrador Retrievers have an adequately proportioned body which helps them to stay fit accompanied by regular exercise.

Due to a good body shape, Labradors successfully avoid other chain reactions such as breathing issues and brain damage.

Additionally, Labrador Retrievers have just the right quantity of fur on their bodies which adequately protects them from harsh weather conditions and also prevents diseases caused by excessive fur at the same time.

Interestingly, it was earlier seen that chocolate retrievers have a significantly shorter lifespan than the yellow and black Labradors, researchers took some time to establish the link between life expectancy and the coat color.

It was ultimately understood that it is the genes of the breeding dogs which has introduced certain genes in some Labradors which make them more susceptible to skin or ear diseases which eventually shorten their life expectancy and the chocolate coat color here is just a recessive trait.

Labrador Retriever Health Problems And The Affect On Life Expectancy

Lab owners over the years have noticed that their pet has lived a happy and healthy life as long as it is disease-free but as soon as it develops some health problems it isn't able to recover very well and soon succumbs to the issues.

A similar observation has been made from a number of Labrador Retrievers where some dogs lived more than even 12 years when they had no health problems, but at the same time, some of them couldn't even live for 10 years owing to issues such as ear infections or dental problems or bone issues.

Other than the genetic factors which influence the life expectancy of these dogs, let us take a closer look at some of the health problems impacting the lifespan of our beloved Labrador Retrievers. Beginning with arguably the most common health problem Labradors suffer from is dental problems.

Studies have shown that out of every five Labrador Retrievers four of them are likely to be suffering from dental issues.

It begins with tartar buildup in the teeth and then moves on to decaying the teeth and the gums of our Labradors. Do not think that dogs can have dental problems only when they are in their old age.

When a dog is around one or two years old, it is likely to develop dental problems if its teeth aren't brushed properly.

These dental problems become life-threatening when your dogs lose their tooth are then in danger of getting their kidneys, heart damaged. It has been seen that a dog's life span can be shortened by up to three years owing to dental problems.

Infections due to irregular or absent vaccination schedule is another reason how Labradors can get their life span reduced.

Infections such as rabies and parvo are known to affect the health of dogs to a great extent, there can be several other infections too depending upon the area you live in. Keeping your dog vaccinated would reduce the chances of your dog getting infected by such bacterial infections.

Along with infections, obesity is yet another health problem in dogs that is under the control of dog owners.

Obesity is pretty dangerous for dogs, the absence of required amounts of exercise and other physical movements can lead to obesity.

Additionally, feeding high sugar and fat food is yet another reason behind dogs becoming obese from a young age. People might think it is cute to keep feeding their dog but forget that dogs are naturally not meant to live in homes rather roam in fields and thus require a lot of body movement to avoid becoming obese.

Obesity has led to joint issues, heart and back diseases in the long run.

Labradors do not have a lot of fortune when it comes to health problems, they are more susceptible to chronic liver diseases like hepatitis than other dogs.

At times, if these liver problems are detected at an early stage, they can get cured without a lot of hiccups. At times, even an operation isn't required, proper medication and a vet-recommended diet would do just fine but there are stages when the operation becomes a necessity.

All these health issues play a role in diminishing the life expectancy of a Labrador Retriever.

Labrador Retriever Breed Characteristics

Historically, the Labrador Retrievers were regarded as the fishermen's dogs for helping them catch fish. These dogs would bring fresh nets from one point to the other and also help pull the net filled with the catch.

The fishermen also took the help of these dogs in fetching ropes for them. However, over the years Labrador Retrievers have developed as one of the most complete dogs due to which they are now regarded as the most popular dog breed in the whole of America.

We can get an idea about the diverse characteristics of a Labrador just from the fact that they excel as athletic dogs taking part in competitions, children-friendly dogs to be petted at home, and dogs for security purposes all at the same time!

Whether you have chocolate Labs or yellow Labs, all of them more or less have the same characteristics and what doesn't change at any cost is this dog breed's loyalty and friendly nature towards its owner.

Owing to these lovable behavioral characteristics, Labrador Retrievers are often made to accompany people with physical ailments to keep them happy, motivated, and entertained.

At the same time, Labrador is a pretty healthy dog with bundles of energy, its muscular built and athletic body only helps it to run long distances without breaking a sweat.

Along with their athletic body, the Labrador Retrievers have a very powerful nose which makes them an excellent search and rescue dog.

Moreover, as soon as you combine all these characteristics of a Labrador Retriever with its courageous behavior, it turns out to be a great hunting dog as well.

Pet owners extensively adopt Labrador Retrievers for they are easy to train and then take part in various dog shows.

The agility and obedience of this dog breed are leaps and bounds ahead of several other popular dog breeds which can be petted easily at home. However, with the good comes the bad, the friendly nature of Labradors is often exploited by burglars.

An untrained Labrador might perhaps not even bark at an intruder at times which is undoubtedly one of the biggest characteristic drawbacks of a Labrador Retriever.

Additionally, these dogs are fond of food, they might not have any self-control in fact when it comes to mouth-watering food so it is the responsibility of the owner to limit the number of treats they give to their pet dogs.

Market available dog food is perhaps the best solution for avoiding obesity and keeping the dog in a good shape.

Common to all dog breeds but more so in Labradors, the trustworthy nature of Labradors is one of the best among all dog breeds.

Genes And The Labrador Retriever Lifespan

The average lifespan of Labrador Retrievers is around 12 or 12.5 years. Although this number can change depending upon its genes, whether they are pedigree dogs.

Every dog breed has certain pedigree dogs, pedigree dogs are those which are born from two dogs of the same species. These purebred dogs have similar genes to other purebreds of the same dog breed which also influences the lifespan of the dogs.

It is due to the genetic factors that the chocolate Labradors have a smaller life expectancy than the yellow and black Labradors.

The chocolate ones are believed to have an average lifespan of 10.6 years, the genes which are transferred during mating decide the average age of the dog. Although it can be increased to some extent depending upon how nicely you take care of your dog.

These genes also determine how susceptible the dog is to diseases as often Labradors succumb to health diseases before living their entire lifespan.

No matter the genes of the Labrador or how well it is taken care of, it is unlikely to live more than 14 years. Beyond this point, there are only exceptional cases where Labradors have lived for many more years as a handful of Labs have lived until the age of 16 or 17.

As a fact, the oldest Labrador that ever lived died at an age of 27 years and three months way back in 1963.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for facts about the Labrador Retriever life span then why not take a look at Labrador vs Golden Retriever facts, or Labrador Retriever facts?