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My laptop is away for repair (8 months old!) making email contact very difficult. Please contact us on 07921174597 until this message is removed, Thank you.
Labrador Retriever Puppies
Beautiful black female Labrador Retriever pup available to a new home now. Both parents have excellent hip scores, both elbow scored at 0, both with a current clear eye test and both GPRA clear. Basic training started. Please call us on 0792 117 4597 for further details.
Golden Labrador Retriever (Goldador) Puppies
Beautiful black bicth puppy available to a new home. Strong chunky puppy, excellent temperament, typical of the breed. Both parents hip scored at 3:3, elbow scored at 0 and with a clear current eye certificate. Basic training started. Please contact us for details. You may wish to read more about the Goldador or Golden Labrador Retriever by clicking here.
Planned Litters
For further information please click 'Planned Litters' or contact us on 07921174597. If you have contacted us by email recently and received no response please either resend your mail or telephone or text as we are experiencing broadband problems.
Is Your Dog Overweight?
The PDSA has warned that within two years over 50% of dogs will be overweight. The latest Animal Wellbeing (PAW) report found more than a third of dogs are obese and that figure is set to soar. If your dog fits this category, act now! Put him/her on a weight loss diet, increase his exercise and stop feeding any treats. Overweight may be cute and cuddly, but it’s a serious threat to health and drastically reduces lifespan. According to statistics, a slimline dog lives an average of two years longer than an overweight one.
If your pet is carrying a few extra pounds, PDSA's pet slimming competition, Pet Fit Club, could be the answer. Click here to be taken to details of the PDSA Pet Fit Club 2011/12
Click here be taken to Purina's article on Overweight Dogs. This will lead you to a Body Condition Chart which will help you assess how overweight your dog is.
21 Top Walks for Dogs
Nice to see Druridge Bay included in this list of twenty one top walks for dogs. If you live within reasonable travelling distance, do pay a visit it's a wonderful place to walk. Click here to view the list of walks voted favourites. Interesting that County Durham didn't receive a mention.
Shallowford Golden Retriever at Stud
Shane, (Golden Deneside Zeus from Shallowford) is now available for stud. Hip scored at an excellent 3:3, elbow score 0, current clear eye certificate and with 25 champions in his pedigree. Shane has a wonderful, gentle, true to breed temperament and is a proven stud dog, producing strong healthy, pale coloured puppies. Please note that only bitches that are hip and elbow scored, have a current clear eye certificate, complimentary pedigree and excellent temperament will be considered.
Recent Shallowford Hip and Ebow Scores
Shallowford Star Girl (Golden Retriever) scored 3:5 hips and 0 elbows, Shallowford Blues Belle (Labrador bitch) scored 3:3 hips and 0 elbows.
Puppy Play Biting and Bite Inhibition
All puppies bite, it is an important part of their development. Click the link for advice on how to teach them to bite gently. How to handle Puppy Play Biting and Bite Inhibition.
Microchipping Survey
Our online survey should only take a few moments of your time, we would welcome a response from anyone with an interest. Once data has been collected, comments will be passed to the Kennel Club and the British Veterinary Association, both of whom are strongly advocating the compulsory microchipping of dogs. Here at Shallowford we firmly feel that implanting a chip into any animal should be a choice.
Please click here for our Microchipping Survey.
Many thanks to all of those who have completed our microchipping survey. Of the answers so far received (14 June 2011):
o 88.9% of owners said their dog/puppy was microchipped.
o 12.5% of owners say their puppy/dog has so far suffered an adverse side effect to microchipping
o 37.5% of owners would not have had their puppy/dog chipped had they been informed of possible side effects
o Only 25% of owners feel they were given full fair and balanced information about microchipping. 62.5% were not given any details at all of the possible side effects.
Please click here for further information on microchipping.
Pets As Therapy
Pets As Therapy is a national charity founded in 1983. It provides therapeutic visits to hospitals, hospices, nursing and care homes, special needs schools and a variety of other venues by volunteers with their own friendly, temperament tested dogs and cats.
Since its beginning, over 23,000 P.A.T. dogs have been registered into the scheme. Today there are currently over 4,500 active P.A.T. visiting dogs and 108 P.A.T. cats at work in the UK. Every week these calm friendly P.A.T. dogs and cats give more than 130,000 people, both young and old, the pleasure and chance to cuddle and talk to them.
Sick patients often feel isolated and even the most withdrawn seem to open up and let the barriers down when their regular Pets As Therapy visiting dog is around. These dogs bring everyday life closer and with it all the happy associations for them of home comforts. The constant companionship of an undemanding animal, that gives unconditional love, is often one of the most missed aspects of their lives. Pets As Therapy was formed to help make this loss more bearable and speed recovery.
Research continues to validate the very real value of this daily work undertaken in the community by voluntary Pets As Therapy visitors and their dogs that work amongst those of us most in need of a little extra boost in addition to medical skills and nursing care.
If you have spare time and would like to learn more please click Pets As Therapy for further information.
Spaying or Neutering
If you are considering spaying or neutering your dog, please take the time to read this article. It provides both positive and negative information which I consider every pet owner is entitled to know, before making such an important decision.
Please click here for - Long-Term Health Risks and Benefits Associated with Spay / Neuter in Dogs.
Shallowford resigns from Accredited Breeder Scheme
Shallowford has resigned from the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme. Please click here to read why. Our dogs will, as previously be hip, elbow, eye and Optigen tested but results of hip and elbow tests will be assessed by an experienced, independent, qualified radiologist and not the BVA panel.
Puppy/Dog Insurance Survey
We would like to be able to advise new puppy owners about the best insurance available for pets but feel that you only really find out how good a policy is when you need to use it. We would welcome your comments about the insurance company you use for your pet. Please help by completing our short questionnaire.
Please click here to be taken to the survey.
To date one of the most recommended policies is MoreThan standard policy, with the PetPlan premium policy coming a close second. The cost of a MoreThan policy makes it extremely good value. If you have experience of any insurance policy or any comment regarding this statement, please do let us know by completing our questionnaire.
Health Survey of Labrador Retrievers Born after Jan 1st 2010
The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Centre for Integrated Genomic Medical Research at the University of Manchester, Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool and The Kennel Club are jointly running one of the biggest surveys into dog health ever seen in the UK.
The project aims to collect information about the lifestyle of dogs (such as exercise, feeding and general health care) using a website, www.dogslife.ac.uk, to enable the study of how these factors may influence the health of dogs.
Owners of Labrador Retriever puppies are being requested to enrol onto the project when they transfer their puppy's registration with the Kennel Club. Subsequently, owners will be asked to report information about their dog's health and lifestyle on a monthly basis for the first year of their dog's life, using the website. The data collected will be analysed during the project to identify lifestyle factors which are associated with an increase or decrease in the risk of disease. Ultimately, its is hoped that this information can be used to give advice to dog owners which will enable them to reduce the risk of their dog developing disease, simply by changing the way in which they are looked after.
The study has been funded by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, and is recruiting Labrador Retrievers which have been registered with the Kennel Club and whom were born after 1st Jan 2010. Please visit www.dogslife.ac.uk to find out more.
Shallowford hopes you will support this project and is encouraging families homing one of our Labrador Retriever pups to take part.
Shallowford Blog
Recently started - Shallowford Blog (please click link to be taken to the blog.) Mainly more pictures of our dogs.
Follow Shallowford on Facebook
If you own a Shallowford dog or puppy, please post your favourite pictures on our Facebook page. You can also add a link to a website.
Excellent Advice Sites
Anyone new to the world of Labradors may wish to check out Labrador Forums or Lab Health for useful information from people passionate about their dogs.
Disclaimer
We genuinely care about our dogs and their breeds. Our site is particularly aimed at prospective owners new to the Labrador or Golden Retriever breed and as such we have kept the given information basic. For more in depth research there are many informative internet sites. Please note that between breeders opinion does vary to a degree. If you spot any obvious mistakes or would like to make a comment about site content, please use our Contact Form.