Charlie – the family pet who inspired YuMOVE

April 24, 2019

This is the story of Charlie, the chocolate Labrador who inspired Lintbells’ founder to create YuMOVE, the UK’s no.1 veterinary joint brand*.

Dogs in the family

John Davies is the co-founder of Lintbells, and a love of dogs runs in his family. His parents had working collies that lived on their farm while his wife’s parents kept Golden Labradors.

“Charlie’s mum once ate a whole Christmas cake.”

The first dog that John got for his own family was Tasha, a chocolate Lab. She was Charlie’s mum. She was a great family dog, very gentle. But like many Labs, she was a bit on the greedy side and used to have a thing for stealing food. Once she ate a whole Christmas cake which made her very ill. She had to go to the vet straight away!

A mischievous puppy

Tasha had a litter of six puppies and Charlie was the runt, so the family decided to keep him. He was the smallest, but he was very mischievous, a little trouble maker. He was the first of the pups to jump out of the pen and escape.

He’d try to sneak into the living room and jump straight onto the sofa. He wasn’t allowed in there, but after a while the family gave up and he claimed one of the sofas as his own. Everybody else would be crammed on the other sofas while Charlie was sprawled out in comfort on ‘his’ sofa.

Chocolate Labrador on sofa

Running up hills is over-rated

Charlie was a real character. He loved to be around the family, but he wasn’t a big fan of over-exertion.

Every morning, John would go out for a run with Charlie and Pippa, the family’s little Welsh Springer. John, Pippa and Charlie would head off down a Roman road near where they lived in South-East Cambridgeshire.

But when they came to a particular hill, Charlie would walk over to the side of the road and lie down in a nice shady spot. He’d wait there while John and Pippa ran up and down the hill, then Charlie would get up and join them for the home stretch.

A back injury slows Charlie down

Charlie’s resistance to running was just laziness. Why run round in a circle when you can have a nice lie down? But when he was nine, Charlie suffered a slipped disc in his back and that’s when things really changed for him. He was operated on at The Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital at Cambridge University, and it was a very slow recovery.

Afterwards, Charlie was a lot less mobile. He couldn’t jump up on his favourite sofa, he’d struggle to get up from his bed and it was hard for him to walk across the slippery wooden floors at home.

It was distressing for the family to see him like that. They knew he was in pain, but he couldn’t tell them what was hurting. Charlie always had a bit of a sad face and now he looked even sadder.

Chocolate Labrador sat on grass

The hunt for a cure

John tried every pet joint supplement on the market on Charlie, but nothing worked. He and John Howie had already started Lintbells and created YuDERM, but now they began to search for something that would help Charlie to move more easily.

Together, they looked at the different ingredients that were clinically proven to support joint care. They discovered that Green-Lipped Mussels from New Zealand were something of a miracle ingredient, packed with Omega 3 which is known to soothe stiff joints.

They created a new formulation containing top-strength, high-quality Green-Lipped Mussel extract, Glucosamine to help build cartilage and Hyaluronic Acid to help cushion the joints.

The Labrador who was a guinea pig

Charlie had already been a guinea pig for YuDERM (of course, he wasn’t at any risk because it’s all made with natural ingredients) and now he led the way in trying out this new formula, which would eventually become YuMOVE.

The family first noticed a difference in Charlie after he’d been taking YuMOVE for about six weeks. He suddenly jumped up on his sofa. Everyone was extremely surprised, because he hadn’t tried to get up on the sofa for ages. He’d taken to lying on the floor instead.

After taking YuMOVE, his stamina and mobility improved and he was able to go out for much longer walks again. (But he still used to wait at the bottom of that hill. His joints may have felt more comfortable, but he hadn’t had a change of personality!)

Happy Chocolate Labrador

Helping 800,000 dogs all over the world

Charlie was a much-loved member of the Davies family for 15 wonderful years. He was already a special dog, but it’s extra special that he has the legacy of inspiring YuMOVE. In a way, it’s surreal to think that a joint supplement developed for a family dog is now helping hundreds of thousands of dogs worldwide.

Every day at Lintbells, customers tell us how YuMOVE has helped their dogs. We love to hear their stories, but we never take the success of YuMOVE for granted. We’re always on the lookout for innovations (like the new YuMOVE One-A-Day Chews) and make sure we only use the best natural ingredients and never compromise on quality.

Does your dog have stiff joints?

If your dog is showing signs of stiffness like Charlie, take a look at the YuMOVE range. It’s packed with ingredients that support long-term joint health and promote mobility, including the world’s top strength, cold-extracted ActivEase ® Green Lipped Mussel and Glucosamine for dogs.

Dogs love the taste of YuMOVE and it’s proven to work in just 6 weeks**.

YuMOVE gave Charlie a new lease of life. Why not try it and see what it can do for your canine pal?