Labrador Retriever News

We bring you Labrador Retriever news from around the world:

19th July 2009 - South Korea

South Korea's customs service says it has deployed the "world's first cloned sniffer dogs" to check for drugs at its main airport and border crossings.

Six puppies cloned from a Canadian-born sniffer dog in late 2007 have reported for duty after completing a 16-month training programme.

The clones are all called Toppy, a combination of "tomorrow" and "puppy".

The customs agency says clones help to lower crime-fighting costs as it is difficult to find good sniffer dogs.

Only about 30% of naturally-born sniffer dogs make the grade, but South Korean scientists say that could rise to 90% using the cloning method.

 The new recruits are part of a litter of seven puppies who were cloned from a "superb" drug-sniffing Canadian Labrador retriever called Chase in 2007, officials said.

One dropped out of the training due to an injury.

"They are the world's first cloned sniffer dogs deployed at work," Park Jeong-Heon, a customs spokesman at Seoul's Incheon International Airport, told AFP news agency.

"They showed better performances in detecting illegal drugs during the training than other naturally-born sniffer dogs that we have."

The cloning work was conducted by a team of scientists at Seoul National University, who created the world's first cloned dog - an Afghan Hound named Snuppy.

The state-funded project cost about 300m won ($239,000; £146,000).

09th July 2009 - UK

A canine charity is using its dogs to help primary school children in a Dorset town learn to read.

The Caring Canines charity says the animals help build pupils' self-confidence, as unlike children they never laugh at stammers or mistakes.

The scheme, where the volunteer dog owner sits with the child and helps when they need it, has begun at St Michael's Primary School, Bournemouth.

Other schools have since expressed interest in the initiative.

Yorkshire terriers, Labradors and Shetland sheepdogs are brought in to the classroom for 45-minute sessions.

The charity is now in talks with Pokesdown Primary school in the town for four "book buddies" as part of an initiative to help children under 12 to improve their literacy skills.

Martin Ford, the teacher who helped introduce the scheme at St Michael's, said the dogs had helped motivate the seven and eight year-olds.

Julie Lankshear, from the charity, said: "Caring Canine dogs are all temperament tested to make sure they are suitable for the kind of work they undertake.

"These are specifically chosen for working with children.

"The scheme works because the dogs are non judgmental and patient which is a comfort to the child.

"They don't laugh at their mistakes or stammers, interfere or push them too hard which raises the child's self esteem, helps their self confidence as well as their communication skills.

"For the dogs, their reward is to be played with and stroked afterwards."

She said the volunteer dog owner sits with the child and assists when they need help or correcting.

09th July 2009 - UK

A dog walker who was knocked down and injured by a black labrador has failed to convince appeal judges to award her £160,000 in damages.

Patricia Welsh, 56, needed surgery on her knee after the dog collided with her in Wellbank, Angus, in 2005.

She tried to sue the labrador's owner, Neil Brady, but a judge ruled against her as it was "a pure accident".

Mrs Welsh appealed but the new judges ruled that black labs were unlikely to cause serious injury or death.


Former college lecturer Mrs Welsh was exercising her golden retriever, Cava, at a field near her home when the black lab called Ebony ran into her.

When she took the case to the Court of Session, the judge Lord Malcolm ruled against her and warned that courts must not contribute to "the creation of a society bent in litigation".

Lord Malcolm said: "In my view, what occurred was an unfortunate and unforeseen collision - it was a pure accident.

"If the law was to consider a labrador running in a field as something which is dangerous in itself, this would come close to making dog owners insurers in respect of all injuries and damage caused by their animals."

The appeal, heard by Lord Nimmo Smith, Lady Dorrian and Sir David Edward QC, was based on the liability of the keeper of an animal under the 1987 Animals (Scotland) Act.

The legislation provides that a person will be liable for injury or damage caused if the animal belongs to a species which is generally likely to seriously injure or kill or cause damage to property.

Sir David said the question for the appeal judges became: "Are fully grown black labradors, by virtue of their physical attributes or habits, likely, unless controlled or restrained, to injure severely or kill persons or animals?"

Ebony, a labrador bitch who weighed 25kg, was described as large, lively and boisterous.

She was considered excitable but not aggressive, although she did not always respond to commands to return to her owner.

Sir David said that Mrs Welsh's counsel, Colin MacAulay QC, had "sought valiantly" to persuade them that there was evidence to show that labradors could be dangerous.

But he said the appeal judges considered it "fell far short" of what was required to meet the legal test and the appeal was rejected.