suziwong66

You got that right! Our breeder imported a dog, that came from fabulous lines and was a lovely example of labradors, to introduce into her breeding stock. First mating with one of her bitches (who in turn came from great lines and had ticked the health test boxes) resulted in the entire litter having overshot jaws. He was desexed immediately and sent off to live with the breeders daughter as their family pet. It was a devastating blow to our breeder's breeding program. Mother Nature can be cruel.

In our high street there are no grass verges and if Wilbur needs to go, he needs to go ....and he'll go anywhere (he once did a poo in the waves at the beach :laugh: ) It doesn't matter where he goes, waves included, i pick it up. If it's on the footpath, i use a doggy wet ones and wipe the path, after pickup, so there is no left over smears etc. I have no problem with dogs doing their business in public, i do however have a problem with owners not picking up after their dogs.

Honey a Great Dane writes a fabulous blog with some excellent training YouTube videos etc that her human, Hsin-Yi puts on Honey's website. Honey's website is jammed packed full of great information from training to diet. Honey is a fabulous example of what a Great Dane can achieve in spite of the labels that are put on the breed re trainability.

i use kibble for Wilbur; he goes nuts :laugh: but then he's a Lab and not fussy about any food on offer.

We have a male lab and his pee kills the lawn too. I don't use commercial products; instead i hose the patch where he wee'd...of course this only works when he's taken out for a wee at night or when i happen to catch him during the day when i'm outside with him. It's helped a lot with the lawn issue but i realise it's not a solution for everyone.

When i was about 10, i was taking our desexed toy poodle, Dudley, for a walk. I sat down at the local oval for a rest and Dudley walked behind me a peed on my back! The little f**ker cocked his leg like i was a freakin' tree :laugh: I'm not sure if it was a dominance thing or not; it certainly could have been since Dudley's general behaviour in the family gave the impression he was head of the household. :laugh:

Wilbur loves his Bob-a-lot; goes nuts when anyone picks it up to put kibble in it. We also have the Kong wobbler but it's not as heavily weighted in the base as the bob-a-lot is and doesn't bounce back as well.

As an educator of people, i've noticed this at obedience classes too. They may well be fantastic dog trainers but are less than adequate in their people education skills which incorporate all (and more of) the factors you mentioned.

The puppies were apparently free and the fee was for transport. Transport costs using an international pet carrier can be explained by saying the parent company is located overseas.

Keiran; German Shepherd we lost at 10 years from suspected heart attack. He wanted out for a wee break. We went out to the back yard to let him in 15 minutes later and he was dead in his bed. Casper: Labrador Retriever, 14 years. He'd been struggling with incontinence for the year prior to his death, but the straw that broke the camel's back for us was when he lost the use of his back legs; we made the big decision to give him his wing.s

If you are doing large quantities i'd suggest you consider a commercial grinder/mincer. Butcher supply companies and also Italian grocers/markets are the two places where i have found larger grinder/mincers more in line with commercial grade. I've had experience with two domestic mincers/grinders that have sausage stuffer attachments but i'd be hard pressed getting chicken carcasses into the chute without cutting them down first.

We've had a long history of flying both adult labs and lab puppies across the country. When we were a military family we chose to fly our lab Casper to every posting without any issue. Prior to that we flew an adult German Shepherd dog to new postings; again with no issues. Wilbur (8 months) flew to us from Melb when he was 8 weeks old; again no dramas. Me thinks your friend was given some 'crazy' advice :)

If you teach your pup to target your hand with their nose you can then transfer that behaviour (when established) to the bell then shape that behaviour each time you go out to toilet with pup. A clicker would be an excellent training tool.

Wilbur is my bubba and i'm his mumma; crazy as accused :laugh: . I have 5 children of varying degrees of furriness (two of my boys are now departed): my first a GS boy Keiran, my second miss22, my third miss19, my fourth a yellow lab Casper and my fifth, Wilbur a choc lab. Wilbur is oft told to 'go to dad' or 'go to sissy' :D

i'm seriously considering trying to desensitise Wilbur to strangers on the street; mainly because everyone wants a pat, he gets lots of attention and eye contact and now thinks it's his right to lunge and approach anyone and everyone for a bit of loving. I would like to be able to walk down the street without him automatically veering to passers-by for attention. Most people ask for pats, some don't; i usually address those that don't. i'm wondering if he's less interested in people, then (hopefully) less people will be interested in him...probably not though.

are you after an inside or outside dog bed? For an inside dog bed i made a doona cover for want of a better name and then filled it with thrift store single bed bed-liners, woollen blankets cut down to size etc. One side has a 100cm zip to make stuffing it with blankets etc easier. I guesstimated the size based on what i thought a full-grown lab would need laying flat. I used whalebone cord for the top and bottom and a light-stretch hounds tooth napped fabric for the side and heavy cotton for the bone appliqué. It's fully machine washable.

there are some listed on eBay.

onya Barney!!! way to go!

Mita, do you cook it or grate it into their food raw? I dice the sweet potato and cook it in the microwave. It's a staple part of their main meal every day. I also keep some of those cooked dices in the fridge. The girls will eat them like treats. thanks :D

Mita, do you cook it or grate it into their food raw?

Wilbur will eat anything (including iceberg lettuce)...he has just discovered the fig tree is bearing fruit and he's taken to eating the fruit he can reach. I don't think i've ever seen him turn his nose up at any fruit or veg.

Mine has no shame either, although when he poops on walks he first has to lift his leg to pee and them starts pooping while one back leg is still in the air i'd REALLY like to see a video of that; it would be hilarious

Wilbur has NO shame. Last week he pooped on the sidewalk of our local high street shopping area while we were walking to a cafe :laugh: A few months ago he pooped while he was in the water at the beach; it had to be a sight watching me trying to catch his floaters in the waves

We have taught Wilbur to pee/poop on command. The ante-cedent for this behaviour is putting his lead on; so i can give him the command when we are out or before he gets in the car. Normally Wilbur doesn't have access to the front garden, but i make him evacuate there before he gets in the car or leaves the front yard for a walk. Even when i'm taking him outside for his last evacuation of the night, i still put his lead on. It also allows me to control his behaviour at night when i take him; on a lead he can't run off and play instead of evacuate. Hope you find a solution to your problem

Sorry smisch, but that's bollocks!!!!!!! DID ANYONE SEE THE TO ME!!! Mentioned in that sentence I never said it was true but from discussions round the ring and with a few other people and meeting other over a number of years that was my own personsl conclusion, my aunt had bred and been involved wirg labs for a number of years and i had never seen the behaviours associated with the yellows but as I said it was TO ME.. And before anyone asks yes she was a registered breeder only ever had 2 litters as she didn't end up getting a bitch from either to continue her line by which time she decided there were enough people to breed labs so she stopped.. Like I said jmho about what I think. With all due respect, the claim "to me there is a genetic marker with this colour they tend to be more crazy than your average lab" is your opinion; as you have suggested. However, you used "as discussed there is a reason why guide dogs don't have them in the mix" as supporting evidence to your "to me" claim. The supporting evidence was not presented as 'in your experience' or 'i think that's why guide dogs don't have them...'; the evidence was presented as factual using the guide dogs as the key supporting fact. Additionally, the supporting evidence presented as factual isn't factual. I'm not being a smart ass; merely attempting to give you some understanding of why myself and others refuted your claim. :) Perhaps what you originally communicated was not what you actually meant to convey?