Labradors...

pogface

pogface

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 April 2012
Messages
415
Visit site
Have posted in dog area... But I know more people view in here :-)

Thinking of getting a Labrador, well in all honesty, I've already picked him ;-)

I'd like to hear people's experiences... Good, bad, positive, negative, do this, don't do that, horror stories, life changing stories... Anything will be appreciated.

Thank you!
 
I have 3 of them. Lovely dogs, intelligent, clever, faithful, what more can I say! Downside is they are greedy and prone to weight gain and will eat anything. Mine are aged 12, 8 and 18months. 2 black ones and the youngest a chocolate. All been easy to train and the pup great. She comes with me to the yard every day and loves it. Go for it...
 
I am on my third golden lab and started off with them in childhood. My first two both came along at the age of 2 and both had terrible separation anxiety - destroyed houses whilst on own. My third, who is 4 soon but still very much the baby of the family, does not do that but has 2 other dogs for company. I would never have a lab on their own, or if I did, I would take them to work with me! I do adore them though, terrors or not, they are just wonderful dogs. they like to chew though so give them chew toys from puppies - all mine have kongs full of chicken or cheese etc when I go out which keeps them occupied. I think the rotties are good company for her though as they just sleep when I am out so she does too.

The possible house destruction is overridden for me by their wonderful characters and temperaments. I have never had a moments worry with children with any of my labs. My first two rarely barked, this one never shuts up....still love her though lol
 
HBM1 said:
I am on my third golden lab and started off with them in childhood. My first two both came along at the age of 2 and both had terrible separation anxiety - destroyed houses whilst on own. My third, who is 4 soon but still very much the baby of the family, does not do that but has 2 other dogs for company. I would never have a lab on their own, or if I did, I would take them to work with me! I do adore them though, terrors or not, they are just wonderful dogs. they like to chew though so give them chew toys from puppies - all mine have kongs full of chicken or cheese etc when I go out which keeps them occupied. I think the rotties are good company for her though as they just sleep when I am out so she does too.

The possible house destruction is overridden for me by their wonderful characters and temperaments. I have never had a moments worry with children with any of my labs. My first two rarely barked, this one never shuts up....still love her though lol
Click to expand...

Bad luck with your chewy labs HBM1, our family is on our 5th and we've never had a 'destroyer' yet. The odd shoe/sock/dog bed yes, houses no.

Go for it Pogface, best family dog ever. Imagine your lovely lab running along side as you hack around the countryside.....
 
All the labs ive ever known are lovely dogs. Weve got one wwho we rehomed when he was 3 and massively overweight and underloved. He is the most wonderful dog and great with our 17 month old. We had them as kids and both lovely dogs. Would be sat on, fur pulled and trodden on and they just liked us and let us get on with it.

Max is also very easy to train. This is because he will do anything for food. They are very greedy dogs and we did have issues with our old dog stealing food. Also they can have bad joints. Hips etc and i have known friends dogs have ops on hips and knee joints in middle age. However they have recovered well.

One of our friends dogs has hip displasia and he came from a well known breeder and both paremts had good hip scores. You can be unlucky i suppose. Thinking sbout it though i have known loads of labs and they have all been lovely dogs. We have said that we don't think we would ever have another breed. Looking to get another in a year or so before Max gets too old to tollerate a yoing dog, but will be keeping an eye out for another older dog as ours took quite a bit of time to train as puppies. Not sure its any more than any other dog though. Nevr had another breed.

Good luck with your puppy.

And pics please!!
 
Last edited:
We've never had chewing problems either. Even the pup we have now hasnt. We occasionally give them the hide dog chews but the big thing with them is exercise. Our pup plays in the arena with others of a similar age, running laps, they tire out and she sleeps most of the afternoon.
 
This is what you'll like like after the first few nights, be warned !!

percy28aug12008.jpg


but this is what it's all about ...

percy28aug12004.jpg


Percy is our third black lab, and we would never be without one now - such kind, loving, gentle (!!) dogs.
 
I love Labradors one of earliest memory's is waking up in a dog bed with a lab we have three now the good they are team player they love to part of a group they are funny happy dogs and despite what some say they are clever especially the girls .they are happy to walk for fifteen miles or sleep by the fire depending on what you want I never want tobe without one .
The bad they are often destructive when young they chew. They cast like nothing else on earth the hair rolls though our house like tumbleweed if I let my cleaning guard down .
Go to puppy classes with him and then dog training mine enjoyed that and it made me spend time with them on their own ( there's a lot of dogs in our extended family )
The do nots I see you have got a dog never let him learn to stray we were given the first dog my OH and I had together as he strayed so much in his former home he was a great dog but the straying was challenging.
They love mousing and ratting .
Love swinning and rolling and carrying stuff ,often your underwear just when people come to door.
When puppies they do chew shoes always funnily the ones you like one once chewed the pocket off my Favorite coat while I was in loo .
Get ready for one of the best friendships you will ever have.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
Be warned, they steal! But if you call in an excited voice 'what you got there, bring it' they just can't help but bring you their thievings!

You can see them thinking 'poop' when you take it off them ;) :D
Click to expand...

We've got a cleptamaniac too - can't walk past a shoe or anything and stores it all in his bed. When builders left the bedroom doors open the other week we found three wellies, two sandals, two shoes, a bikini, a dustpan and all the blankets from the cat's beds in his bed, with him on top with a "dunno how they got here" expression!

Beware that although they are the most wonderful dog, they are not the old plod everyone thinks they are, especially the working type. Both of ours were given away - one was my friend's sister's two year old dog that they hardly walked and was fat as a pig and really strong (weighs 6 stone when fit..). The other was from a lab rescue and had had four homes in the first year of his life. He looked like the andrex puppy but had the character of Tazmanian Devil. He took a bit of training, but became a wonderful dog. We live on a farm, so they can run and run in the fields. They both adore to swim and will jump in any water they see.

They are also the only dogs I've ever insured as I have friends with labs and they are all at the vets with various issues and ops, so I got scared! So make sure hip scores etc are done.

Do have a look at labrador resuces. If you're in the north, www.homealabrador.net is where we got ours from, as did a few friends. They do a great job and are lovely...

ps, my avatar shows ours...
 
Have had 4 labs in my life, two male and two female. The first was a pure bitch and she was my childhood partner in crime, the second was a pure dog and he was a nightmare, couldnt walk him or keep him at home at all and he ended up running away cause he broke every chain/collar/gate/door in his way. He was just a monster. We had got him from the pound and they didn't tell us anything about him and we knew why! Third was a collie cross and was my teenage partner in crime, she was truely amazing. third was a spaniel x and he again was amazing.

i love labs i really do, males can be very ott though.
 
Agree with all the swimming references, in her day mine was an awesome swimmer and the beach was her favourite place. Also did some spectacular dives off jetties into lakes, used to draw a crowd, she was quite something :D
 
Billie1007 said:
Bad luck with your chewy labs HBM1, our family is on our 5th and we've never had a 'destroyer' yet. The odd shoe/sock/dog bed yes, houses no.

Go for it Pogface, best family dog ever. Imagine your lovely lab running along side as you hack around the countryside.....
Click to expand...


in fairness to the dogs, the first a lovely girl, was abandoned at my uncle's boarding kennels so we had her. No idea what had happened to her before that. the second, a boy, was sold by his breeder but returned by his owner, again, no idea what he had been through in the meantime. I loved them both though and just adapted to their behaviours and worries. My little girl now doesn't eat the house, though did work her way through a chair leg when little. she does have a thing for cardboard though but if chewing that is all she does I dont mind so much. :D
 
equi said:
Have had 4 labs in my life, two male and two female. The first was a pure bitch and she was my childhood partner in crime, the second was a pure dog and he was a nightmare, couldnt walk him or keep him at home at all and he ended up running away cause he broke every chain/collar/gate/door in his way. He was just a monster. We had got him from the pound and they didn't tell us anything about him and we knew why! Third was a collie cross and was my teenage partner in crime, she was truely amazing. third was a spaniel x and he again was amazing.

i love labs i really do, males can be very ott though.
Click to expand...

Your pure dog sounds a lot like our lab that would run away at any opportunity and would often return a few days later - the amount of dog warden fees that we paid was ridiculous, he could get over a 6 foot fence... everytime we paid the fee Mum always said 'not paying it next time he will have to stay there'. One time he was caught by a warden and they named him Moss as he was covered in green moss and gunge (swamp swimming?). We loved that dog, I remember Mum having him wrapped up in her jumper when she brought him home as a suprise, he was so small and all curled up - we thought he was a rabbit!

One day he went and never came back - he just would not stay in. We always hope that he didn't come to a sad end. We never found him :(

I often wondered if something else happened and Mum didn't tell us...

So, I don't suppose he was black?
 
Love the pictures! Nice to hear all the lovely stories of people's labs. There be definitely be some training going on. Have people always castrated their boys?
 
Mine have all been girls and speyed. I work at a Vets and we do get a lot of dogs, not just Labs, castrated these days. It does quieten them down especially with other dogs.

Forgot about the hair thing, yes they do shed a lot, my Dyson is forever on the go.!
 
We have a chocky lab, hes the thickest dog ive ever met, but very loving as well. Totally obsessed with sticks...& it cant be any stick it has to be the right stick, he drives me mad lol. Hes run into many things in pursuit of his sticks, including several walls, hedges & horses legs, how he hasnt brained himself i dont know.

100_1060.jpg


P1010117.jpg


P1010119.jpg
 
I have a 23 month old chocolate bitch, she will chew but the look she gives me means that she is always forgiven!!!

One thing I was told is chocolate labs are no good for working! that was until mine showed a field champion spaniel that she was an exception!

A mith also is that she may be chocolate but she does not melt in the sun!!
 
I love labs, I grew up with one. We were AWFUL to her, unbeknowst to my parents who would still be horrified by our actions. She was our pretend huskey/sled dog. A climbing frame, something to dress up, something to pull by its tail. My brother painted her green once. We'd feed her grass(!) and pretend she was our pony.
Now I realise how much we deserved to be bitten but she never snapped or growled or bit. We'd take her food away mid meal and she'd sit there and wait to be given again.
I am filled with shame now about it. Bless her.

Bad sides.
She did suffer badly from hip dysplasia, and had a heart problem so was always on a strict diet.
She was very boisterous as a puppy and young dog, despite my parents best efforts she did use to jump up at people,
Sadly she was cured of this after a horrible incident when thieves broke into our house one winter and she leapt up and got a wallop with what we think was a brick.
After that we couldn't leave her in the kitchen alone as she'd tear the place to pieces and completely panic but if she had roam of the house was fine.
She did love swimming and mud too!

THE HAIR GETS EVERYWHERE! We were still hoovering it up weeks after she had to be PTS when the hips finally gave out

I do remember several toys being eaten as well :(

I'd get another lab in a heartbeat if I was in the position to get a dog!
 
Last edited:
Mark Gilbert said:
I have a 23 month old chocolate bitch, she will chew but the look she gives me means that she is always forgiven!!!

One thing I was told is chocolate labs are no good for working! that was until mine showed a field champion spaniel that she was an exception!

A mith also is that she may be chocolate but she does not melt in the sun!!
Click to expand...

I was told the same about chocolates too, load of rubbish!! She has been very trainable. I only have to point at her basket and in she goes....clever girl!
 
IMO they are the best dogs ever. such big personalities :D we call ours fatty because he does like to take himself to the kitchen for a mid night snack. once he jumped up at the cooked and turned the gas on, the bloody thing! mum had a heart attack and now we dont have the dials for the gas. he used to be so energetic but now he's an old man (he's 5 ;) ) he is very lazy and does not like going for his morning walk before 8am!!

Hector:
580215_3673591888763_1797346998_n.jpg


photo.php


photo.php
 
Last edited:
Izzwizz said:
Mine have all been girls and speyed. I work at a Vets and we do get a lot of dogs, not just Labs, castrated these days. It does quieten them down especially with other dogs.

Forgot about the hair thing, yes they do shed a lot, my Dyson is forever on the go.!
Click to expand...

We have a two dyson clean ( means I had to empty the dyson twice) and four is normal and last week I got three off the bedroom floor alone well they were casting !
 
They are th best breed of dog I know and have met!
I have got one, which has got hip displacia and is gunshy - this is why we got him as he was no good to my uncle as a working dog. He also is extremely picky with food, he has got no 'problems' and is healthy, but he is just extremely picky!
The only fault with him is that he has been known to steal sausages off the table, there wa lamb, beef and chicken which were easier to get to as well!

Right now he is asleep infront of the wood burner :p
 
Izzwizz said:
I was told the same about chocolates too, load of rubbish!! She has been very trainable. I only have to point at her basket and in she goes....clever girl!
Click to expand...

Our choc is waaaayyyy cleverer than our yellow, who is a dunce! A loveable dunce, but a dunce!

Here are our two (on left) and my stepson's dog from his mum's....

summer2012054.jpg
 
We had many labs when I was growing up & I have had my current chocolate lab for almost 10 years, she is the most wonderful, adorable girl ever! She was a destroyer when she was a pup & a thief but those things are part of her character TBH, she's outgrown the chewing but she's still a bit of a thief!!!!
She was 8 years old when my daughter came along & she's been fantastic with her, even when Isla was a baby I had no qualms having the dog in the same room & they're best friends now!
They do gain weight easily & will eat ANYTHING but they also like to be out & about so keeping the weight under control isn't too hard. My girl has arthritis now so I would recommend cod liver oil or seraquin from quite early on.
My Labrador is the most amazingly gentle, kind dog ever & I would trust her with my life. Love her to the moon & back!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top