My big Chocolate girl ("big" = 43 pounds) at her first AKC Hunt Test. Passed with flying colors.
Posted on 01/15/2007 4:42:58 PM PST by ExpatCanuck
We just picked up a beautiful black Lab puppy (9 weeks old as I write this) last weekend. He is devilishly handsome and too smart for his own good right now - hopefully the brain power will serve him well when he has the capacity to use it responsiby (the same descriptoin and hopes apply to my 2 human kids :)). He has a hunting dog's pedigree and is a purebreed, and I am reluctantly considering the neutering option for him when the time comes. Any suggestions from experienced dog owners would be greatly appreciated.
My brother-in-law (the website on post 43) is almost to the point of turning down MinPins for behavior modification because they are just too stupid.
My dad was a B-52 pilot in the '60s. I learned ALOT about Curtis when I was growing up.
I always walk my dog with a prong collar. He is good most of the time, but if he decides to do something or sees: food, a cat; a bird; another dog; or a rabbit, I want to have a fighting chance of holding him.
My big Chocolate girl ("big" = 43 pounds) at her first AKC Hunt Test. Passed with flying colors.
woof
Sad but true. You just have to love them for what they are (or aren't.)
LeMay invented the euphemism "morale bombing" and near the end of his life was interviewed and was asked when the Vietnam War could have been won. His response? "Any two-week period you care to name."
LOL the deer don't mind. But I had one Lab a few years back that put the fear in people. He was a very high spirited Lab and loved to bark at anyone who came up the driveway. He would bark at them right at their car door be it meter reader, UPS, mailman, or one night a K-9 officer who came because our phone line had went berserk and called 911 unknown to us then went dead. He had his dog I had mine. Both were barking their heads off and I finally yelled loud enough over the dogs to tell the cop we were OK.
One day I had dropped nearly a full months supply of Xanax on the ground and didn't know it. He ate the bottle at least 50 .5 MG pills. My son in law called his boss who was a vet and he was laughing saying the dog would be OK. It didn't even slow the old boy down. LOL.
tell me about it. Our Shih-tzu is dumb as a post but she makes up for it in cute. She grabbed one end of the toilet paper roll the other day and ran around the house until the roll was empty.
Bebe is beautiful, and is housebroken. Other than that, she barks at the same three squirrels that are always outside the house, five times a day.
The one really great thing she did was housebreak Tinker the day we brought him home. She's 5 pounds, he was a 30 pound 7 wk old puppy, he followed her right outside to the potty corner of the yard, and has never made a mistake since.
She was very bossy and jealous of him, for about 30 minutes, but her maternal instincts (she's fixed, never had babies) took over, and she groomed him, and ever since they've been very close. She's 9 yo now, also very nice with kids.
Lemay and Patton. Two guys who had a clue.
My sister and b-in-law (again, post 43) have a yellow Lab and an Austrailian Shepherd who is a two time world champion herding dog. Problem is, the Aussie is smarter than the Lab. The Aussie herds the lab into the bathroom and won't let him out. You feel sorry for the Lab but it is just so funny.
Mine is eight, and fantastic with kids (my son is nine and always has friends over; she love them all.)
Ours took 9 months of careful training to be housebroken. She'll come on a whistle, but that took a long time, too.
She's good with kids, and she housebroke our mastiff when he was a baby, other than that, really really dumb. But she's like a little black shadow...
OH! I forgot--she's a great mouser! When we got this house a year ago, it had mice. She has a bell on her collar, so it wasn't easy, but she got three of them. I think that's what they were bred for, originally (about 400 years ago in Germany).
She is a PISTOL! I had forgotten how rambunctious my now 5-year-old Shelley was when she was new! We had our first obedience class tonight - and Ruby had a LITTLE trouble holding Sit-Stay. Just a LITTLE.
Candlewood Rock 'n' Roll Ruby.
Now for advice: (1) LOTS of exercise (2) Obedience instruction IMMEDIATELY and FOREVER (3) Get your dog into some performance discipline, whether it's agility, hunting retriever, flyball, rally obedience, whatever. Labs need a JOB. (4) LOTS of chew toys - teach "Good Chew" and "No Chew". Both my dogs love the big Nylabones, they taste great, wear down slowly, and have nylon fragments inside that keep their teeth clean.
As far as the neutering -- unless the dog is EXTREMELY well bred AND you're going to get heavily into hunting retriever, I would go ahead and neuter, with this caveat. I am VERY sorry that I spayed my first dog - she has turned out to be a fabulous dog who's well on her way to a Versatility Certificate in AKC. She has two Excellent titles in Agility and one Hunting Retriever title and working on her second one. She could get her CD title today (we just haven't signed up for a trial) and we're starting her in tracking. She's very well bred (her mom is from the same kennel we got Ruby from) and whenever she's at a trial people are always asking "When are you breeding her, and can I get a pup?"
If I had known THEN what I know NOW, I wouldn't have spayed her. At least wait until you have an idea what you're going to do with the dog and if he's something special.
"Congratulations and good luck.
Crate training is your friend.
Invest heavily in pig ears, it may save your furniture.
Walk early and often, tired puppy is a good puppy.
Be the boss."
You can ignore everyone else. TR nailed it. I've had two Black Labs and we currently have one Lab and a Basset Hound. This advice works well for any breed. We'll have more labs in the future, I'm sure. They're the best. :)
You must have raised yours very well...minpins carry grudges, and if they are ever mistreated, they can be very mean.
My dog develped a bad case of "happy tail" with the tip of the tail becoming raw due to banging it against walls, doors, funtiture, etc. He was a combination pure bred golden retriever (mother) and a black lab fence jumper who got into the mother's yard one day to do the deed.
Thanks for the ping! Never miss a chance to brag on the "Lavatory Deceivers."
My dog develped a bad case of "happy tail" with the tip of the tail becoming raw due to banging it against walls, doors, funtiture, etc. He was a combination pure bred golden retriever (mother) and a black lab fence jumper who got into the mother's yard one day to do the deed.
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