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 ...
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In my old neighborhood, a family had a pair of lab/newfy's. They were as tall as horses and outwieghed me. Great dogs, but too much to handle. Full raingear slobberguards and hearing protection were a must.
Sad thing, after the puppy stage, they were largely ignored in a 12x12 pen. I hate that.
Judging by the dogs I see when walking my new Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy around the neighborhood, in a few years people are going to stop mistaking the Bijon Frise for Toy Poodles and start making that mistake the other way around. I pass three houses with Bijons less than a year old every day.
Nothing against purebreds, but it's been my experience that the mixed breeds are the best in terms of temperament and personality. This is true of cats as well. Somehow the mixes tend to get the best of the breeds they come from.
But if I was going to have a purebred dog, I would go for a lab, golden retriever or a beagle, and not necessarily in that order.
This article is a LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
German Shorthaired Pointers are the absolute FAVORITE for any person with a brain!!
Very sweet pooch.
Yeah, that's why I don't like "dog parks". (rolling eyes emoticon) Amazing what people think is funny or amusing or what they shrug off in these ridiculous venues.
About four years ago we moved into a smallish bungalow with a not large fenced yard. We went to a Pet Adoption gathering seeking a smallish dog.
LOL. There was almost nothing but Lab mixes there. Along with being sweet dispositioned, it also appears that they are horny fence jumpers! ;-)
We had to go back a second time, but we did luckily succeed and adopted a little Cairn terrier. I've had dogs all my life, but he's the sweetest and cutest!
That's just plain creepy.
(that's, "BiCHon" ;-) )
Darn Right!
I always figured our's was part greyhound because she's so fast, small, and skinny.
We kept on trying to get her to eat more until the vet told us she was her perfect weight. The vet said too many people overfeed their dogs.
No, I'd guess that's a coon hound/Richard Gere mix.
Last time I went to the pound at least 3/4 of the dogs there were labs or lab mixes. There are plenty around to love.
"first, a lot of the public view (and fear) German Shepherds as "police" or "guard" dogs, and second, German Shepherds bond very strongly to people and the program is difficult on them because first they form a strong bond to their puppy raiser, then to their trainer when they go back to CCI, and then to their eventual handicapped owner."
Yup, Shepherds are very much 1-man dogs. (And 1-woman.) Or at least, 1-family.
As for the "fear" - I think that's great. People SHOULD have some fear and respect of all things a blind person. Criminals would love to take advantage of a weakness like blindness. Shepherds would be great for keeping them away. They won't be much scared of any "yella" Lab!
My sister's dog slobbers a lot as well. He also sheds like crazy. He's nine now and they adopted him about three years ago, so he's pretty mellow. And he's an inside dog.
I don't see the point in owning a dog if you're going to keep them locked up in a pen away from the family all the time.
Don't feel bad, our Lab loves water (baths, the hose, wading in the pond) but won't swim. Well he did once, when he fell in a pool, but even a perfectly delicious stick just out of range won't get him to swim. He'll just wait for it to drift to shore.
We're looking for a canine swim instructor...
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