What a great looking Lab! Black Labs are my favorite. It's such a shame when their mind and body works but their joints don't and they are in pain. My first dog was a Black Lab female. She was 12.5. She was in good shape but something in her spine was causing her a lot of pain in her front leg. It was like a bone growth. We tried lazer therapy and swimming therapy but it eventually got too bad. She couldn't be sedated because she had a very bad reaction to being put under. Her heart stopped during a teeth cleaning when she was about 9. So whether we put her down or tried an operation, the result would of been the same.