Posted on 07/14/2005 7:15:45 AM PDT by libstripper
Not too long ago, Labrador retrievers were considered a tad exotic. In the 1950s, the sporty mid-size breed was a suburban rarity, popular mainly among upper-crust Anglophiles who liked the idea of owning a dignified hunting dog. Today, however, Labs are the Levi's jeans of purebred dogs. They've topped the American Kennel Club's list of registered canines for 12 years straight. And not just topped, but dominated: The number of registered Labs is nearly three times the number of golden retrievers, the second most popular dog on the list
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
>But the fact that ANYbody could even THINK this is exactly why I hate the "evil pit bull" legislation. In order to get the unpedigreed mixes, the legislators think it's a good idea to let the gummint pick up and destroy anything that somebody says looks like a PBT. And since the idiots tend to gravitate to government employment . . .<
Bingo, AM. Some years ago, I rescued a purebred, but pet quality Papillon out of our local shelter. A stray, it had been logged in by the clueless animal control (read dawg-catcher) officer as a "Rat Terrier mix".
And this person makes her living with dogs. Sigh.
It was the first nudie picture in general circulation. Even though the young lady is extremely modest and nothing is showing, she created a SCANDAL in PARIS of all places. Which of course created a demand . . . and she became the first pinup calendar.
My girl will similarly inch into the shallows rather than go leaping in. But once she's in, she swims like a torpedo boat . . .
Every Corgi I've ever meant has had a fabulous personality.
He's totally untrained (I just love these idiots with untrained 120 pound dogs) and his modus operandi is to wander the neighborhood to visit with everybody. But he has one bad habit - he's a little bit bossy, and he will walk up and bark rudely at you in your own front yard.
He did that once too often in the presence of my Lab. She always places herself between me and any other dog, but when he looked me in the eye and went "WOOF" she didn't say a word, just flew at him and put him on his back. He lay there submissively while she spit Golden ruff out of her teeth, then they were right back up playing and sniffing again.
He knows now not to diss her mama . . . at least not in her presence (when she's in the house, he'll still WOOF at me.)
I've only had a Papillion and two Shelties. All took a piece of my heart with them when they passed on.
A neighbor had a Golden Retriever. The dog was the talk of the neighborhood. She'd send him to the small, neighborhood market-about 2 blocks away- with an envelope in his mouth.
In it was her money and what she wanted. They would put her change, and her items in a bag( small-nothing big) and the dog would carry it home. The best I have ever seen is when our street had flooded after a heavy rainstorm and we saw that dog coming back from the market holding a gallon of milk by the handle.
He was a sweetie, but no one could divert him from his 'delivery' service. Not even cats.
Only in N'Awlins!
What is actually happening is that the Lab knows that I'm a little peeved, and the German Shorthair is too dumb to understand anything more than that I told her to sit and stay. :) I'm 99% certain that it was just the GSP who dug the trench, but I thought I'd make both of them sit there for a minute as punishment.
The lipstick one is a classic. I get the feeling that the GSP is the ringleader in a lot of the trouble. Am I right?
Well, she's the cause of the vast majority of the trouble around here, though I wouldn't call her the ringleader. She's still a puppy basically, currently about 19 months I think. She has caused me many hundreds of dollars in damage to the back yard, chewing up irrigation hardware like it's candy. And at 100+ degrees a plant doesn't last long without irrigation. And our yard is so big that I just can't always keep up on what's not getting watered until it's too late. Last year I lost a lemon tree and two apple trees because she ate the irrigation hoses. And much more... (count to ten) ... it's a miracle I haven't killed her... but FINALLY she's aproaching two years old and becoming an adult.
The Lab did her dirt when she was a puppy too, but our yard then wasn't one twentieth the size of what our yard is now, and so there was just so much less available for her to do to get into trouble. The thing I remember most about the Lab being a puppy is that she liked to dig holes right next to the patio and shoot the dirt onto the concrete... usually just before company was coming. :)
He's charmed the socks off my inlaws. We couldn't be happier. He's a little strange looking, though (it's the proportions...).
Thanks! The sleekness is due to not feeding her much and exercising her extensively -- our vet is an agility person herself, and she's one of the few vets who recognizes that most field bred Labs are skinny by nature. Most vets will let Labs get by with too much weight on.
But the shiny coat is due to her food. She had some trouble with dry coat and dander as a puppy, so we put her on Breeder's Choice Avo-Derm dry kibble. She gets the Avo-Derm skin and coat supplement sprinkled on her food as well.
I'm not much of a health food nut, but this stuff is great. The food has avocado meal and fish oil in it, and the supplement has flaxseed meal and a bunch of other vitamins in it. No preservatives, no corn or wheat. Good stuff.
She catches them fairly often - and she has gotten three squirrels (who probably were just as surprised as she was) and a couple of bunny wabbits. Fine with me (other than the bunnies).
Isn't that an undocked Corgi?
I LOVE corgi's..have had them for years. At present I have two I adopted...her owners got divorced and dropped them off at the pound- imagine that? (I'm on the corgi rescue list) Corgi's are hilarious..always laughing at something..often their owners...they're also extremely bright, curious and loving. They do shed a LOT..could make corgi pillows .
My lab experience was wonderful also- my son chose her at the pound- mix of akita, chow, shepherd and lab. The dearest dog that ever lived ;)
Same here. She sleeps between my wife and I at night and if one of us disturbs her beauty sleep she'll give us a quiet low pitched grumble.
During the day she'll bark at something (she hates metallic balloons tied to mailboxes) or somebody so we'll come and see what it is. If it's nothing we'll say "ok, thank you, we see it, now lay off". At which point she'll go back to the window and softly growl and groan. (that'll show 'em).
I never knew labs were so protective.
I have a field bred Springer and have had some coat issues with her which are pretty much cleared up now. I think I'll try the Avo-Derm supplement. Is it hard to find?
Sorry- didn't see the earlier post.
My cousin has had 3 corgis. They are all characters. Too long to hold in your lap tho, squirmy.
Her first was a street rescue- the 'Tramp' of the apartment complex. He impregnated one too many pedigreed dogs and the complex wanted to hire bounty hunters. She took him in-and he took over. Loved parties. It was a fight to keep him out of the leftover appetizers and liquor in glasses after one. He got pretty smashed once and we took a pic of him lying among the party refuse, with a wine bottle in his paws .The ultimate 'party animal'.
The one she has now goes to the local doggy Mardi Gras parade- ' The Krewe of Barkus'. He's not into costumes, but he met a female Corgi in a pink tutu who flirted with him. The pic is priceless.
Every one has been Mac Gregor the Great- 1,2 and 3- but they've all been scrappy and funny.
There's two varieties...Welsh Corgi and Pembroke Welsh Corgi.... one with a tail and one without. I never know which is which. ;~D
I don't now about the lab part being the reason he was so protective. My brother has a purebred yellow lab and she is no guard dog. LOL! However, I don't think she would allow anyone to hurt her family.
I think dogs are protective of their owners just naturally. My Harm who is a Malamute/Husky/Lab mix is very protective of me. He is a sweetie pie, but he is 85 pounds of pure muscle. He gets between me and any strange men who come to the door, too. I had a date once with a fellow I met on line. Harm realized before I did that the guy was up to something. He had him pinned against the wall in the foyer. LOL!
My favorite Corgi moment was a Corgi that belonged to a friend who was doing AKC obedience when I was showing my lab.
One of the obstacles they have you do is heeling around two people in a figure 8 pattern. The dog should pay attention to the handler and not be distracted by the two people acting as pylons. They will ask you to halt a time or two as you go around and the dog should sit in the heel position.
They called halt when the corgi was coming around the person to the left... the corgi first took the opportunity to pee on the "pylon", and then sat. Ears perked, not a bit of guilt.
The lab is smart but it took me a while to figure out how she learns best. The lab is totally food motivated. The GSD is not.
Sasha
Ginger
Thank goodness! I wish they all were like that.
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