labsrule

That's a bit rude, a full on teenage Wei is not for everyone. Finding the dog that is suitable is all that is needed. I dont know about that... I'd probably be pretty defensive if it was my breed too. The dog is only behaving exactly the way you would expect a dog of that breed and age to act. The OP made a mistake in choosing a Wei (or any large breed, high energy dog) if she cannot/does not want to deal with that kind of behaviour. But no point in flaming now, the deed is done, she is returning the dog and I think she has learnt her lesson too. I disagree, just because one individual of a breed does not suit a situation does not mean the OP shouldn't have a dog. This dog also sounds as if it has not had a lot of groundwork put into it before the OP took it on, if it had it could well have been much more suitable. I agree with that, the dog sounds as if he has had very little groundwork. The dog then becomes a double handful for someone else. A lesson which should be learned by everyone is that taking on a juvenile dog of a larger breed, from rescue means the dog is probably going to need extensive work, particularly if it is over 10 months old but not mature. That's the lesson, not that there is any fault with the op. An out of control dog is a problem with little kids. Fact of life. It is extremely difficult to obtain a well trained dog of this age from rescue, because it is only rarely that owners surrender them if they are perfectly behaved. So, what you are getting is a dog which has problems, and which is going to have more slotting into a new and different home and lifestyle. It is suffering grief and loss because it doesn't have its old home, it has a whole new routine, rules, people to learn, and if the behaviour wasn't excellent to begin with, these problems are combined with an urgent need for the dog to be trained. A big ask, imho. I agree Jed, I see too many of my own beloved breed being rehomed between the ages of 10mths to 2yrs by which stage they have become a real handful and relegated to the backyard with minimal contact from the family, as the owners haven't put in the required work and training to manage these youngsters and meet their needs from an early age. When adopting a youngster who more than likely will come with a troubled past, due to the previous owners neglect in many areas of the dog's life, there has to be a real commitment from the new owner to provide the required training and work hard to meet the needs of their new youngster to ensure they develop into a happy and well adjusted adult.

I reckon that I could throw out all my current 7mth old lab pups toys and replace them with brooms, dustpans and brushes, ballpoint pens, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard boxes and he would be in heaven My bad knee was playing up on me yesterday after I had taken one of my boys for a walk, so I was using an inside broom as a bit of crutch and guess who was hanging off the end of it My lab pups have always LOVED the brooms and everytime I bring one out, there has been a lap pup attached to it :D If I sweep inside, pup goes outside, if I sweep outside, pup goes inside If you find a solution let me know

This poor dog has not been given a chance to settle into your household, a week is a very unreasonable timeframe to judge a dog by who is being rehomed . It is a big upheaval for a dog when it is being rehomed and it needs a couple of months to settle in properly in its new home and be given a chance to adapt. I understand your concerns about your young children and this youngster's energy levels, but I think your expectation that this poor dog would slot perfectly into your family and his new environment within a week is very unfair. If in the future you are considering trialling/adopting another dog, then whatever the breed or age of this dog, you need to do some research on the breed and be committed to allowing a couple of months settling in period for a new dog. Some rehomed dogs settle in quickly and others need more time.

Excellent idea I will take 2 please

Those poor poor dogs :D this just sickens and disgusts me - RIP :D my heart goes out to their devastated family ;) My daughter who lives on acreage has two beautiful dogues (male & female) and they have the most awesome temperament and are truly beautiful dogs who are just wonderful, gentle giants who are just fantastic with my young grand daughters. I spend a fair amount of time with these dogs and this story distresses me greatly ;), and I can only imagine what the poor dogs owners are going thru . The perpetrators (murderers) of this horrendous crime are despicable, lowlife scumbags and oxygen thieves and I hope they meet a terrible fate. RIP

From my Pets First Aid book: Open the mouth and carefully sweep from side to side with your finger to see if you can feel and dislodge the object. Be careful not to push the object further into the throat or to get bitten. Check for a bone lodged on or between the teeth or jammed over the hard palate. Pull the tongue forward, removing any object, vomit or foreign material present. To avoid getting bitten, only do this if the animal is unconscious. If this is not successful in dislodging the object, administer a "sharp blow" with the flat side of your hand between the shoulder blades, or use both hands on either side of the chest. Carefully sweep the mouth with your finger again to see if you can dislodge the object, if it has not come out on its own. Once the object is dislodged, check for the ABCs: Airway - does the animal have an open airway? Breathing - is the animal breathing? Circulation - Is there a heartbeat or pulse? initiate CPR if needed and get the animal to a veterinary hospital at once.

Yes I love puppyhood as well, despite all the hard work and anxious moments :D . The rewards of helping shape that beautiful, adorable scallywag puppy :p into a happy and well adjusted and well behaved adult are worth all the hard work I love seeing them develop and change over the years and to be able to reminisce about their puppyhood/teenage years, the good the bad and the ugly I didn't think I would ever own another puppy again at this stage in my life, but after suffering the huge loss of my beautiful 10year old black lab boy, Fitzy to cancer last year, and reflecting on the absolutely wonderul life that we had together and the extremely deep bond between us, I decided I wanted to experience that kind of relationship with a dog one more time in my lifetime. My beautiful new pup, Tana, who is now 6mths old, came to live with me on 5/12/09 at 10 weeks of age. I wasn't actually planning on getting my puppy until the new year 2010 but after a few conversations with the breeder, he told me they had a beautiful 10 week old black lab boy available and asked if I would like him rather than wait for the next litter. I didn't know it at the time, but this boy was born on 28/9/09 the day before my beloved Fitzy was PTS on 29/9/09, so whilst I was preparing to lose the love of my life , my new love was being born Tana has been an awesome pup in all regards and I love this little guy so much He is a typical Lab puppy full of excitement, energy, confidence and the joys of life, all of which I so love about Labradors However, he has not been destructive at all and all of his toys are totally intact with no signs of any mutilation Only thing he has ever chewed on in the house was the corner of the TV stand and I nipped that in the bud with spraying on some "stop chew" and he never touched it again or any other furniture, including pillows for that matter. He has also never nipped me, or any of my family including my grandchildren aged 5yrs & 18mths and has never been boisterous or over the top with them as well. He was fantastic with his toilet training and was fully toilet trained in less than 2 weeks and he has also been has been excellent to train and picks things up very quickly He has a very soft mouth with fantastic bite inhibition and as greedy as the little bugger is , he never snatches food/treats from my fingers/hand and I have been able to get things out of his mouth without any nipping/biting and this includes bones, which he has the propensity to try to swallow whole without first chewing and this has resulted in an emergency trip to the emergency animal hospital and admission to hospital next day I got a wonderful demonstration a couple of days ago at how soft his mouth is, albeit the demonstration was thru a naughty antic of counter surfing I had just been supermarket shopping and had put everything away except a carton of a dozen eggs which I had left on the bench. I was in my office and heard him jump up on the bench so I raced out and here he was walking away with the carton of eggs in his mouth dangling at a precarious angle and I had to be careful not to frighten him into running outside with his prize or tell him to drop them so I followed him calmly, talking to him and calling him over and he came over to me with the carton in his mouth and I put my hand on the carton and told him to let go and he did and I expected at least one or more eggs to have been damaged, but there were only two small holes in the carton and not one egg was damaged Tana on first day at home - 10 weeks of age Tana at 11 & 12 weeks of age Some recent ones of him

OK I will give these a try and see how it stakes up against our favourite ball of all time I will take 2 medium & 2 large thanks

Too cute :D

Hi RPMgirl - I would not recommend that you get a Lab as you prefer an outside dog. Labs are extremely closely bonding dogs and need to be included as part of their family and be allowed inside. Labs left outside tend to be ignored in far too many cases and they end up being left to their own devices, getting up to all sorts of mischief and then become out of control and unmanageable for their owners. Despite families best intentions of interacting with their outside Lab, it fails to happen enough and the odd time it does, the Lab is too exciteable and boisterous, which can be frightening for children and overwhelming for adults, so they tend not to want to interact with the Lab more and more, to the point that the poor Lab is then ignored and excluded from family interaction. So many Lab youngsters find themselves in rescue, pounds or being privately rehomed because their families have failed to meet their social and training needs. It never fails to amaze me how many people have totally unrealstic and unreasonable expectations that their adorable Lab puppy will develop into a happy, well trained and well behaved Labrador when it has had minimal family contact and interaction and minimal or no training . Also some Lab owners who do keep their labs outside majority of the time, may allow them inside the odd time and then have this very unrealistic and unreasonable expectation that this poor Lab who has spent the majority of its time outside is going to be this perfectly behaved Lab inside They get frustrated and angry with the poor dog because it is highly exciteable and running around inside, jumping on people and furniture, chewing kids toys, shoes, etc and possibly toileting inside. The dog doesn't know any better as it hasn't been brought up inside and doesn't know the rules of proper inside behaviour as it has never been exposed to them and shown how to behave inside. Needless to say, the poor dog doesn't get to experience much inside time after shocking and frustrating the family with its unsastisfactory behaviour when it has been allowed inside. In my personal experience of being a lab owner of many years and knowing of too many instances of families not meeting the needs of "outside" Labs, I do not believe the Labrador will be a suitable breed for you.

I am the opposite, I hate seeing puppies in the window as it makes me so sad to see them cooped up there day after day on display and knowing these poor pups have come from questionable breeding practices (i.e. puppyfarmers, BYB's, disreputable breeders) and then wondering what sort of homes these poor pups will end up in as so many are impulse buys

Skruffy n Flea, I looked at Pet Resorts for my guys and I would not touch it. The kennels are old and dark, the dogs are kenneled with dogs they don't know over night :p It needs to be bulldozed and started again. By all means take a look and then you know but I was just so disapointed at the place. Try Calabash, it is 5 minutes up the road. Mine are going there next week and lots of my customers send their dogs and cats there. (They have the best cat run, wish I could have it at home) Not from what I saw and I have used this kennel for a few years with both the previous owners prior to Steve and Vickie taking over and then again a few times with Steve and Vickie as the owners. I always found these kennels to be light, roomy and clean, so am surprised in your assessment of them. I understand your concern about other dogs being in same kennel as your own, but whilst not ideal, this is quite a common practice for boarding kennels during their busy times. I also liked the fact that dogs were given a decent time out of their kennels daily to run around, socialise (if they were socialable) in the outdoor play area. I did however have an issue when two of my boys stayed there and one of them ended up with kennel cough despite regular annual vaccinations and they didn't tell me when I picked him up that they had had an outbreak of kennel cough at the kennels It was only when I rang them after my vet had confrmed my suspicions that my boy had kennel cough and they told me that clients were told of the kennel cough outbreak when they picked up their dogs, which was certainly not the case for me . However, as I mentioned in the other thread in General on this topic, I will no longer be giving my business to Steve Austin after his comments on this programme and his support of puppyfarmers I hope others will also boycott his boarding kennels and training facilities as I am sure there are many of us that were shocked, saddened, dismayed and angry at his support of puppyfarmers on this programme and I am sure he has lost a lot of respect and credibility in the dogworld over this.

I wondered about that. What did I miss? I saw the dog with the OCD, but the others with it looked ok. But I still couldn't see much difference between the ones at the raided farm, and Banksia. However, for me, the whole premise is wrong. If the whole premise is wrong, nothing you do after that is right. It's against the laws of nature, imho. And from there, we get to the way the bitches are treated. I don't approve of "modern" piggeries either BTW, and I feel more strongly about dogs. Dogs from pet shops/pf don't end up in the pound because they are bred in pf, they end up in the pound because the people selling them don't have any regard for them when they sell them, and they sell them to unsuitable people, and the dogs are not suitable, and then they end up in the pound. Many pups bred in puppy farms come with many issues and unsuspecting buyers of these pups from petshops find themselves with dogs of questionable temperament and or health and of course dogs who have grown a lot bigger than they anticipated and or have grooming requirements that they did not anticipate. All these issues contribute to dogs being dumped as well as the unsuitable or irresponsible people that they are sold to.

There is a thread in general re this topic, so believe these two threads should be merged.

The point about this claim is that it doesn't matter whether one single puppy sold in a pet shop ever ends up in a shelter. It is how that puppy is bred that is the major issue, as I see it. As someone said: if it has a uterus breed it. The animals suffer - that is the point that should be being stressed. At least "hybrid vigour" was raised. :D Of course it is about the way they are bred and the resulting problems that cause a lot of these poor dogs to be dumped in shelters and Steve Austin was disputing and in denial about the high dumpage rates of dogs from petshops (i.e. puppyfarmers) as he wouldn't acknowledge that these poor puppyfarmed dogs have issues due to the way they are bred and their environment .

What really got up my nose with Steve Austin, apart from the fact that he supports the puppy farmers . was that he disputes the fact that dogs brought from pet stores end up in shelters and he was quite adamant in his denial about this problem . This from a guy who has been in the dog world for many years Well I think he shot his credibility to pieces tonight and has probably lost a lot of respect and hopefully business :D .

Yes I was extremely and unpleasantly surprised, so will be seeking out new boarding kennels if I have the need to put any of my dogs in kennels again as I certainly will not be giving my business to a guy that is the President of the Pet Industry Association of Australia and supporting the selling of pups in pet stores I have boarded My dogs at Steve's Pet Resorts Australia kennels in Dural a few times when I have had to go away, but never again after this revealing fact tonight. and hope others boycott and don't recommend his boarding kennels I don't think the report was hard hitting enough and that f***wit from Banksia Park puppy farm GRRRRRRR :D

As an observation, dog's water intake is a lot higher on dry food or commercial food than it is with raw meaty bones. What do you feed Thomas? He is fed a variety of Nutro dry (weight management), combination of finely grated and mashed raw and cooked veges, sardines, raw kangaroo meat, raw human grade mince, raw chopped up chicken breast or other pieces of chicken that I may cut off a whole chicken, minus the bone of course. I also add whole eggs, yoghurt and cottage cheese at various times. I also give him raw Salmon heads as a treat, even though they have bone, it is a very soft bone and he loves these as it gives him a chance to work that jaw of his :D My other labs normal diets are normally 60-70% RMB and 30-40% dry and I have at times changed them over to 100% dry (weight management) and veges if they need to go on a diet for few weeks and when any of them are on the dry and veges none of them have ever drunk anywhere near the excessive amounts of water that Thomas drinks. As the buckets of water are just outside the family room on the patio I can hear him sipping away and I always monitor his drinking before and after walks and before and after meals. Obviously I cannot monitor his drinking if I am out, but I just make sure the water buckets are full and during the summer make sure one of the clam pools if full as well as I also have a 6mth lab pup who likes to dig in the water buckets Sometimes Thomas would drink continuously if I let him and some of the pees he has seem to go on forever But hey he is 14 tomorrrow and in pretty good condition, so despite his bloat and drinking issue, he is doing remarkably well

My lab boyThomas who will be 14 tomorrow and who I adopted 4 years ago, bloated whilst he was a sniffer dog in the Police Force and he had a gastropexy and was saved and he was retired after this. Obviously, I don't have any history on him, but he has an issue with drinking copious amounts of water and I have to monitor and limit his water intake and I had my vet refer me to a Vet specialist as I was concerned about his drinking habit. He conducted numerous tests on Thomas to rule out any medical conditions and concluded that it was psychological rather than medical, as he had seen this in working dogs before. What I would like to know from the owners whose dogs have suffered bloat and had a gastropexy, do you feed bones of any description, as I was told from the outset no bones of any description for Thomas.

Ah so that is why it went poof I was reading it from when it started and was watching it disintegrate and thought when I finally went to bed that it may go "poof" overnight I must say though that I really sympathised with the OP for being confronted with a pup/youngster that was going to die at a very young age so she must have been pretty emotional, overwrought and angry about her situation . However, the thread could have been handled more sensitively, not just by the OP but by some other posters as well. :D

As if I have Labradors - one time though I must admit when I had two of them, I came close to it as was wondering what all the fuss was about when my boys wouldn't settle for the night when I was chilled out watching TV and they kept on coming up to me all the time and walking over to the door and walking around in circles and looking at me all the time Then I twigged OMG I had forgotten to feed them :D so rectified it quick smart I had had a bad day at the office and had a lot on my mind and obviously wasn't thinking straight, but they sorted me out .

Tks Erny - if I remember correctly, I think initially, the ultimate goal was to have a teaspoon sprinkled over his food, but because he was having side affects from the chemo, I was to start with a lower amount of say 1/4 tsp and then increase gradually up to a teaspoon if he tolerated it ok i.e. didn't worsen his diarrhoea or make him vomit. Unfortunately his 3rd and 4th (last) chemo treatments knocked him around badly, so I had to vritually stop giving him majority of supplements and ultimately stopped the chemo as his quality of life was being too heavily impacted.

Hmmm I feel your pain as I also have a 6mth old piggy of my own :D He is a Labrador and without shadow of doubt, he is the most greediest of all the Lab pups and adults I have owned, and that is saying something The little bugger's greed landed him at the emergency animal hospital about 3 weeks ago and he then had to be admitted to hospital at my Vet on a drip the next day. He scared the living daylights out of me as he swallowed big chunk of turykey wing as he was so impatient in trying to chew it down to a reasonable size. Because of his greediness I have always watched him like a hawk when I feed him bones of any description to ensure he chews and just doesn't swallow whole which he started to do with chicken necks and chicken wings I then started buying him large pieces of turkey wings to force him to chew them and he started off ok with actually chewing them and then started becoming frustrated that it was taking him awhile to chew them, so this particular night, he started chewing it and I was watching from inside, then when he settled down for a good old chew I moved away and then went back a couple of minutes later like I have always done and the turkey wing was gone Later that night, he started vomitting and he went and lay down in part of one of the gardens and I started walking over to him and called him and he came to me and was very unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and his body was starting to shake and he was looking very distressed . I rushed inside to get changed as was in my nightie and rang the emergency animal hospital to let them know I was bringing over and what had happend. I walked over to him as he was outside on the patio and he vomitted again virtually at my feet and brought up a big peice of turkey wing and was still looking very distressed , so I gathered him up and rushed him to the emergency animal hospital. They gave him an injection for his pain as he had been vomitting a lot and antiobiotics and the next morning I had to take him to my vet as he was still pretty unwell and they admitted him on drip and he stayed there for the day. Thankfully he recovered very quickly , but bones were off the menu for a couple of weeks :D Last week I started to reintroduce bones back into his diet and he still scares me with minimal chewing and lots of swallowing of big pieces Even when I give him a large beef brisket bone, he doesn't chew it down to small swallowable pieces like my other labs have done/do, he still manages to swallow what I consider large pieces He was the biggest of the litter so obviously was king of the food bowl I have always fed my Labs separately, so they can eat in peace without any of the others hovering about either waiting for leftovers which of course there are never any or trying to steal each others food. It doesn't matter whether he is fed first or last or fed from slow feeder bowls, there is always a race on with him to finish his food the fastest As greedy as he is, he has never ever snatched food/treats from hand/fingers and has been brilliant in this regard as has always taken food/treats gently. His bite inhibition is fantastic and I can remove things from his mouth, which I have had to do a fair bit as he drags in all sorts of things, including a half eaten dead rat and dead baby bird chic and he has never ever nipped/bitten me or any of my family or friends including my young grandchilren. He also has never destroyed or maimed any of his toys as they are completely intact to this day Also from day one I taught him to sit and wait for his food and only eat when I say eat and I can put a bowl of food down in front of him or treats on the ground in front of him and he will sit and look at me and wait for me to tell him to eat. I just have to continue monitoring him very carefully whenever I give him bones, as I don't think he will be changing his greedy ways anytime soon. :D As I have 3 Labs I never leave food/treats for them if I am out, so they only get food/treats under supervision :D

All my Labs from puppies to adults to adopted adults all love to retrieve . This is one of the things I really love about Labs as we can have so much fun with them and their natural desire to retrieve. My lab boy that I recently lost was the most retrieve obsessed of all my labs prior to my current pup and he would always have to have one of his favourite toys or balls in his mouth when he went in the car or for a walk or outing and always greeted me at the door with a toy/ball in his mouth. His most favourite outings were to the river or beach to retrieve his favourite ball from the water, or chase it along the sand as it combined two of the traits that Labradors were bred for, swimming and retrieving and I had such fantastic times with this boy with his strong love of retrieving . My latest Lab addition, my 6mth old pup that I got as a 10 week old has also been fantastic from day one with retrieving and he has also brought the retreival toy back to me virtually from day one without any treats as temptation He also loves tug games which I play on a daily basis with him along with his retrieving games. I have recently introduced him to the river and he did what he was bred to do, just started swimming instantly and on our next visit this week I will introduce him to retrieving the floatable retrieving toys I have for him. :D

Never and by the reading some of the posts in this thread, I probably won't ever have to, as one of the many "DOL POLICE" will probably do it before I even have a chance to consider it