Joint support for working Labradors

A working gun dog finishing a heavy season is a different proposition from a pet Lab who potters round the park — the joint load is genuinely higher, and that's probably why your vet flagged it now rather than waiting. Most arthritis products for dogs are either underdosed for a large active breed or too generic to match what's actually going on. Size, age, and how hard the dog has been working all change what's useful. Before I point you anywhere, can you tell me a bit more about what you're seeing? Is he stiff getting up after a rest, reluctant to jump into the vehicle, or just noticeably slower to warm up on a cold morning?

That's a really sensible place to be — catching it early, before you're managing pain rather than preventing it. Morning stiffness in an otherwise-sound working dog is a classic early signal, and cold-water retrieves put a specific kind of repetitive strain on the elbows and hips that accumulates across a season. At 34kg and still working, he needs a proper therapeutic dose, not a maintenance-level supplement. What does he eat — raw, wet, dry kibble? And is he on anything already, fish oil or anything like that?

Good — clean slate makes it straightforward. For a working dog his size and age at this stage, I'd go with YuMOVE PLUS for Dogs. It's the stronger formulation in the YuMOVE range, designed specifically for dogs with existing stiffness rather than purely as a preventative. It combines glucosamine and chondroitin at genuine therapeutic levels with green-lipped mussel as the core anti-inflammatory ingredient, plus hyaluronic acid for joint fluid. For a 34kg dog you'd use two tablets daily in the loading phase for the first four to six weeks, then drop to one. It's PAGB-approved, widely used by working dog kennels and vets in the UK, and at his weight the cost is very manageable. The key thing is the loading phase — a lot of owners skip it and then say the supplement didn't work. Give it the full six weeks before you judge it.

The supplement does the heavy lifting, but a couple of things amplify it. First, keep him lean — Labs carry weight easily and even two or three extra kilos adds measurable load on hips and elbows. If he's in good working condition he's probably fine, but worth keeping an eye on over the off-season. Second, on the days he's not working, steady low-impact exercise like lead walking or swimming is better for his joints than short bursts and then long rests. The cold-water work actually isn't a problem if he warms up properly — cold water reduces inflammation acutely, which is partly why working dogs tolerate a season better than you'd expect. Just make sure he's drying off and warming through after retrieves. YuMOVE PLUS alongside those habits and you're doing everything right at this stage.

Great choice — and the timing is spot on, starting in the off-season means his joints get the full loading phase benefit before next season begins. One last thing: if the morning stiffness hasn't improved noticeably after six weeks on the full dose, it's worth going back to the vet for X-rays rather than just increasing the supplement. Most dogs at this stage respond well, but it's useful to have that benchmark in mind.