labsrule

Thanks thats awesome!! I did come across that link but it just looked like an article and not a place to order off (I get lazy sometimes to read things properly ) So do they send you a paypal invoice or something for you to pay via? *Excited* OK this is the link to their product listing and pricing and I think you have to order by contacting them thru their Contact Us option or email to: [email protected] Product List & Pricing Below is the the detail I received in the email from them in response to my email.

Synflex is available in Australia thru this crowd OZ Synflex Supplier as I actually contacted them back in October about putting my boys with arthritis on it and I was enquired about the container size and dosage for my boys. I thought I might try it myself as I am on Glucosamine for a bad knee Did you order it directly from the US to get it cheaper or did you not know about dogcancer.net.au being the Australian distributor. I actually forgot all about it as I actually placed an order for a new tub of Jointguard a few days ago, but I was originally planning on trying the Synflex when I had used up the container of Jointguard. I have had my boys on Jointguard for a few years now and they also have 6monthly Cartrophen injections. I may order some of the Synflex anyway and maybe try one of the boys on it and myself http://www.dogcancer.net.au/dog-arthritis-synflex.php

Quite frankly I don't give a sh*t what it is grounded in, my dog was ATTACKED end of story

My dog was attacked, pure and simple and it pisses me off that people think otherwise just because he didn't suffer obvious physical injuries. - definition of "Dog Attack" below followed by the link to the Council I lodged the complaint with. I sure as hell am not going to stand around thinking "oh are they just being bullies or dominant or playing rough" when they are jumping all over my boy, biting him around the neck, latching onto to his ear, pulling him down and rolling him, then latching on both ears and dragging him along the ground, meanwhile biting his legs, belly and neck. If that doesn't constitute an attack I sure as hell don't know what does. Dog Attacks http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/residents/...hip/dog_attacks

The techniques advocated by the trainers are fine and is one I would use myself if ever any of my dogs was attacked by a single dog. However, when your dog is being attacked by multiple dogs like what happened to my boy being attacked by 3 dogs and they have a f*ckwit owner that stands around and DOES NOTHING and has no means by which to control his dogs, you will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to save your dog. I hope you never ever have to experience a situation like this. I will make sure I carry something with me at all times now that will be effective on another dog(s) if I am unlucky enough to experience another multiple dog attack on any of my dogs. If any of them are attacked by a single dog, then yes the wheelbarrow technique would be the first one I would opt for as this has been posted about many times on DOL over the years, so I knew about. However if this technique didn't work or multiple dogs are attacking and there is no owner around or a f*ckwit irresponsible owner who does nothing to intervene and get his dogs under control, then I will do whatever I need to do even if it means injuring or killing another dog to save my own dog.

Unfortunately my beautiful black lab youngster (14mths) was attacked a couple of weeks ago at the dog park we go to on a regular basis, by two staffies and a large black shepherd cross all from the same family that I had never seen at this park before. We have always had such a great time at this dogpark as the dogs we have encountered there have been great and so have their owners. My boy and I were the only ones there at the time this f*ckwit owner arrived with his dogs and he had no leads with him. My boy is extremely friendly and sociable and is not an in your face Labrador at all and never jumps on other dogs, never humps them, is never rude to them and is just extremely good with other dogs, both large and small and just loves to play chaseys with other dogs where they all take turns at chasing one another at great speed. Anyway these dogs came running straight to my boy and surrounded him and then my boy and these 3 dogs all ran off playing chasey as that is what my boy loves doing the most. My boy was running back towards me and the two staffies were really crowding him and when he wasn't too far away from me the two staffies who were on either side of him started jumping all over him and biting him and as I was going over to them one of the staffies grabbed one of my boy's ears and pulled him down to the ground by his ear with the help of the other staffy who was all over him and biting him and when he was down on the ground, the shepherd cross got in on the act as well and the staffy wouldn't let go of his ear and they had rolled him on his back ;) . The other staffy then grabbed his other ear and both staffies then proceeded to drag my boy along the ground on his back by the ears whilst the shepherd cross was trying to bite his stomach and legs. My boy was yelping and of course the moment the first staffy grabbed his ear I had already rushed over, so by the time my boy was on the ground being attacked by all 3, I was in amongst it screaming at the dogs, booting them, punching their heads, wacking them with the metal clip on the lead trying to poke them in the eyes and grabbing any part of them I could as I attempted to try and get my boy on his feet as he was in such a vunerable position on the ground . I don't know how I managed it, probably sheer adrenalin gave me the strength to help my boy get back on his feet and by this time the two staffies had let go of his ears but all 3 of them were still trying to bite him, so I was swinging everything at them to get them away from my boy and finally their f*ckwit owner comes over and asks so innocently, what happened. What happened I screamed is your fu*king mongrel dogs attacked my dog and you did fu*king nothing and you and these mongrels should not be allowed in a dog park. Meanwhile I managed to get my boy on the lead and briskly walked him to one of the gates with the 3 mongrels still crowding around us and hassling my boy all the way to the gate. The owner obviously had no way of controlling them as he had no leads with him I just wanted to get my boy home safely so that I could check him all over for any physical injuries, particularly the ears and around the neck and stomach as I was sure there would have to be puncture marks in his ears at least. After a thorough going over I could not find anything sign of injuries and he didn't appear to be tender to touch anywhere and there was no blood anywhere and he seemed his happy normal self in the car ride back home and he bounded out of the car when we got home to greet his two mates and seemed happy as Larry and there was absolutely no change in his behaviour. After I had been home for about 10minutes and thinking about what happened and getting angrier about this idiot and his dogs, I decided I would go back to the dog park, on my own, as it is only about 7-10mins drive from my home as I wanted to get this guy's car rego details. When I got back to the park it was empty as he probably knew he was in the shit and probably took off as soon as I left. I took my boy out for his daily walk the next day and watched him intently for any sign of anxiety/fear when any other dogs came into his view and he was just his normal silly excited self. :D On the Monday, I contacted the relevant Council and laid a complaint about the dog attack and I received a letter from them acknowledging my complaint and they rang me a couple of days later to tell me that their ACOs would do some random checks on this dogpark to see if this fu*kwit owner and his dogs are there. I didn't try to get any info from this owner at the time as I just wanted to get my boy out of this park asap and safely away. During the course of the week on his walks and outings he got to meet a number of dogs, both new dogs and some local dogs he has met before and he was his normall happy self with all of them showing no anxiety/fear, in fact no difference whatsoever in his behaviour . A week later I took him back to the same dog park and when we pulled up to the park he was beside himself with excitement, like he normally is :D and there was no hesitation from him whatsoever about going into the park and started immediately playing with the lovely dogs there and got to run himself ragged with his favourite chasey games. I took him again on Sunday and same thing, had a great time with the lovely friendly dogs there. During these two visits I warned the other dog owners about this f*ckwit owner and his dogs. When these dogs started attacking my boy, my strong protective instinct just took over to get in there and help my boy, particularly once they pulled him down to the ground and rolled him. I was too angry and worried about him to be scared of the mongrels attacking him and would do whatever was required to help him. I honestly believed at that time I would have killed one of them to save my boy and I believe my boy's size and build and lack of fightback protected him from any injury as a smaller or slightly built dog could have been seriously injured or killed by these mongrels. My boy is just so beautifully natured with an awesome temperament and not one dominant bone in his beautiful body and these mongrels were like a gang of thugs and bullies picking on a soft dog who was an easy target :mad I have the Council's animal management after hrs and bus hrs numbers programmed into my mobile now so if I ever see that f*ckwit there again, I will be rining the ACOs straight away. Since that incident, I have been thinking about what I could arm myself with to help protect my boy if he is unfortuante enough to be attacked again whether it be in a dog park or just out walking and capsicum/pepper spray did cross my mind as I want something I can carry and conceal that is effective on dogs. Can you actually buy capsicum/pepper spray in Australia and if so where can you get it from as I have googled it but cannot find any actual places to purchase it.

This time last year, I introduced a 10 week old male lab pup, Tana, into my pack after I lost my beautiful 10yr old black lab boy, Fitzy, who I had raised from a pup. My pack consisted of two older black lab boys with the oldest, Thomas who at that time was 3 months shy of his 14th birthday and Tournie who at time was 11.5yrs old. I adopted each of these boys when they were 10 years old, and despite Fitzy being an only dog to this point, he welcomed these two boys into our family and they all got on exceptionally well from their first initial introductions at a park and pound to when I brought each of them home. Thomas, Tournie and myself had not met our new pup (Tana) prior to me bringing him home as I had my name down with the breeder to get a pup in the new year, but this boy became available and breeder asked me if I would like him and I said Yes despite the fact I had not met this pup and hadn't even seen a photo of him. The breeder had told me about him and gave a pretty good description of him and I trusted the breeder implicitly as I had already been talking to him a few times about getting one of his pups and he is a highly regarded and very well renowned Labrador breeder of over 30 years. It was actually very exciting meeting this little guy for the first time and knowing that he was coming home with me there and then and of course it was at first sight, and he was everything and more that the breeder said he was. When I brought him home and introduced him to Thomas and Tournie, pup was very excited and confident in meeting these two boys and within a couple of minutes he picked out Thomas to be his best buddy Tournie was a bit wary of him as I knew he would be as he has not been as tolerant of other dogs outside the family and he grumbled a couple of times at him, but Thomas was just wonderful with him as I knew he would be and I kept a very close eye on Tournie around pup. Pup just idolised Thomas and followed him everywhere, like his shadow, to Thomas's consternation at times In my family room I setup for pup a large metal crate and large playpen from a couple of sets of wire panels from Bunnings and I attached the playpen to the crate and left one of the doors of the crate open so he could access the playpen any time from his crate. He just LOVED being with the older boys though, so I gave him a fair bit of freedom out of the confines of the crate/play pen under my careful supervision as I worked from home and even when he was confined, he like to spend more time in the playpen than in the crate (his choice) and he would sleep as close as possible to the edge of the playpen to be as near to the other boys as possible, especially his beloved Thomas, who would quite often lay down close to the playpen. As I worked from home, I could monitor his activities with the older boys very closely, to ensure his safety and to ensure the older boys got regular respites from him . He was actually extremely good as a pup and wasn't as annoying to the older boys as a lot of pups can be. Thomas was so patient and extremely tolerant of him, too much so sometimes :p and I had to step in when Thomas wouldn't let him know enough is enough when he was dangling off his ears or trying to jump on him or nipping his legs or grabbing his tail. Interestingly, he never did this with Tournie as he was a very smart pup and already knew from the few grumblings that Tournie had given him, that Tournie would not tolerate this behaviour, so he never tried it on with him. Tournie however, was a great playmate with pup and would actually play for ages with him under my supervision and he never hurt pup during the course of their many vigorous playtimes . Whilst Thomas was his best buddy, Thomas wasn't a player (and who could blame him when he was close to 14 yrs old), but Tournie despite being very dominant and a bully, is actually like a big kid at heart and just loved playing with Tana and still does to this day. Despite Tournie being a great playmate and very good with pup most of the time, I did have a couple of incidents with him having a go at Tana. The first occurred about a month after Tana came home, so he have been around 14 weeks old when they were all laying in their favourite spot on a mat just outside my open plan kitchen waiting for me to get their carrot treats. I was just preparing their carrots and pup stood up and as quick as lightening Tournie jumped up and lunged towards him growling and grabbed him by the muzzle and of course pup was screaming and I quickly grabbed the bag of carrots off the bench and whacked Tournie on the head with them and screamed at him at the same time to let Tana go which he did straight away, I think more from the bag of carrots on the head than me screaming :p . I put him outside and Tana had run off to my office and was cowering with fright under my desk. Poor little bugger, I was so angry at Tournie as whilst I have no problem with an older dog disciplining a pup by growling at them, I will not tolerate them dispensing the type of rough justice that Tournie did with pup who was a lot smaller than him. I took pup to the vet later that day to get checked out as there was blood and some hair missing from just under and above one of his eyes. He was given a pain injection and antibiotics in case of any infection and he ended up with scaring around the eye from the missing hair, but the hair did all grow back and there was no physical scarring . When I took pup outside for toileting after this incident, he kept his distance from Tournie and when I finally let Tournie inside later, pup went straight to him and was licking him and they both lay down side by side and played and started chewing on sticks togethe :)r . There was another similar incident about 6 weeks later, but no damage to pup luckily and again pup kept his distance for little while, but went straight up to Tournie when I let him back inside. Since then, there have been no further incidents (10 months incident free) and Tournie and Tana are great mates and still play together a lot. I just love the relationship and interaction between my boys as Tana has the best of both worlds with the older boys as Thomas, his best buddy is his faithful "security blanket/comforter" and like minded greedy guts and Tournie is his playmate, stick chewing buddy, teacher of how to be a top guard dog (although Tana hasn't quite cottoned on to you have to bark very loudly as well as running around looking for intruders) and top dog of the pack who Tana looks up to. Tana has had a very positive affect on all of us and has made all of us a lot more active and has brought much needed cheer and lots of fun, laughter and happiness to my household, as I so immersed in the grief of losing my beloved Fitzy to cancer. Tana takes Thomas out to the chew on the bark on the tree trunks and nibble on the bamboo hedge and find some tasty sticks to chew on. He plays with Tournie and shares his toys with Tournie and they play tug with some of his toys and both go ballistic with plastic drink/milk bottles and he shows Tournie where all the tasty sticks are and is forever dragging in branches and sticks of all sizes for Tournie and him to share, side by side ;) The little bugger even got Thomas and Tournie addicted to the berries falling off the palm tree and the 3 of them were constantly hovering around the palm tree looking for/waiting for the fruit to drop. and it seemed that everytime I turned around pup was chewing on a berry. Much to their disgust I got the berries cut off and later I actually had the palm tree cut down ;) My advice is to make sure you have a crate and playpen for pup so that pup has a safe place of his own for sleeping, eating and restricting his movements in the house as well as giving the older boy some respite from crazy puppy antics. Always supervise interaction between pup and older boy and never leave pup alone with your older boy until pup is older, no matter how tolerant or wonderful your older boy is as a pup cannot defend itself if older boy either plays too rough or gets pissed at pup for whatever reason. I used to leave pup in his playpen where he had access to his crate as well when I went out for about the first month as as max I was out was 2-3 hrs. Then I started leaving him either outside with Thomas only and Tournie was left inside. If weather was too hot or cold for pup to be outside for the duration of my absence, then I would put Tournie in the front area of the house and Thomas and pup in the family room, but outside of his playpen/crate with access to outside and the family room was separated from the area Tournie was in by baby gates and barriers. If it was raining, I would put pup in the crate and puppypen, otherwise he would have access to outside and would have made a right royal mess in the rain and mud All my boys were extremely good with barriers/baby gates that I erected to puppy proof the house and they never tried to jump or climb over them, so when you puppy proof your house and create separate areas for your pup and older boy either inside or outside, make sure they are not barrier climbers/jumpers. Also it is important to not neglect your older boy and give him lots of attention and one on one as puppies are very time consuming and great time wasters. Also make sure that the older boy gets respite from pup as some pups can drive older dogs crazy with their puppy antics. Since I have had pup, I have walked my boys separately daily to give them one on one time, as well as taking them out in the car and on other outings separately for extra one on one time. I sometimes take two of them out together but I always feel guilty about leaving one of the boys home by themselves :D I have always fed my dogs separately so they can eat in peace without another hanging around, not that there is anything to hang around for as having Labs scoff their food that bloody fast, the other one wouldn't get a look in and they NEVER leave anything in their bowls or on the ground and both bowls and ground are licked clean Also just be alert when pup and older dog are together as things can happen in the blink of an eye and pups will always come off 2nd best if they are hurt accidentally or intentionally by the older dog. You will be able to make the judgement call on when your two will be able to be left alone together when you/your family are absent from the home. I made sure that before I left Tana alone with Tournie in the same area, that he had grown to sufficient size which would help protect him and by this time Tournie was well used to Tana and they were good mates. I could have left Tana alone with Thomas from day 1 during any of my absences, but that would have been unfair to Thomas as he would have had no respite if Tana decided to be a crazy puppy during this time as Thomas was too soft with him and wouldn't have disciplined if Tana annoyed him profusely. Being a multi-dog household you need to be alert with your dogs and prepared for anything as your pup and older dog adjust to one another and pup to her new environment. Don't force the issue, give them both however long it takes for the necessary adjustments and I hope your pup develops a wonderful relationship with your older boy and they become great mates as mine has with my older boys and hope she also brings your family as much joy as mine has. Sorry about the novel but thought it might be helpful to share my experience with you as introducing a pup into a household with an older dog(s) can cause a bit of anxiety as you can be never be 100% sure that it will work out and they will become friends because of the age difference.

When a much loved pet is diagnosed with a terminal illness it is quite simply the most shattering and devastating news you will ever receive about your beloved petl. To know that their life will be cut short by a terminal illness that no treatment will ever cure, maybe buy some extra time only, and that ultimately you may have to PTS this beautiful animal that you love so dearly is cruel beyond words. The emotional rollercoaster that you go on can turn your life upside down and inside out and hurt so bad that you feel at times you just cannot cope, but you do, as you have to be strong and be there for your beloved animal in their time of need. I went thru this last year when my beloved black lab boy was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma Cancer a few months before his 10th birthday and the pain I felt was unlike any I have experienced. I had raised him from a 16week old beautiful puppy and he was the love of my life and we had an extremely deep bond and to know that this aggressive cancer was going to kill him and that I would have to make the decision of PTS tore me apart . Life is just so unfair at times and the sadness of having a beloved pet with a terminal illness can be just overwhelming. I think I cried more in the 5months from my boy's splenectomy operation, subsequent terminal diagnosis and then his passing than I have in my entire life and I have had other great losses of beloved dogs and humans during my lifetime, but this boy was just very special to me and had such an impact on my life and I will never ever get over losing him, particularly this way I miss him every single day Just continue loving and enjoying your beautiful boy and take each day as it comes, and know that even though you may lose him and his time with you may have been short, it has probably been the happiest of his life and when his time comes you will be strong and be there for him and do what is right for him as that matters the most, even if it is the hardest thing you have to do in your life I am not sure if you have ever had to PTS any dogs before but I will try to find a doc that may help you on when it is the right time to make the decision to PTS which I received from the wonderful supportive holistic vet that was treating my boy along with his Oncologist. I organised for her to come to my home to PTS my boy when his time came :D and she was just so wonderful, treating my boy with so much respect, tenderness and care which I will never forget. I remember reading your posts when you initially took this beautiful boy on and the subsequent diagnosis of his illness and I thought how lucky is this beautiful boy to have found such a wonderful, loving Newfie home with you and your human and Newfie family to spend his remaining time in. He deserved nothing but the best and he got it and know what a wonderful time he is having with your family and that he got to experience such love, wonderful care and great times with his new Newfie friends when he has needed it most You just need to look at the photos of him having such a wonderful time with his playmates ;) Thinking of you during this difficult time

Great photos everyone I am very envious as I can never get a good shot of my 3 together, one of them always spoils it when I get them together for a group shot ;) and one of my boys is notoriously difficult to photograph, he hates it and he is most unco-operative ;) What a fantastic shot :D and here I am having trouble with try to get a decent shot of my 3 :D

I think you need to re-read this thread as you are obviously confused as to who these dogs belong to These dogs in kennels are actually AWDRI rescue dogs that they are obviously boarding until they can find new homes for them as probably don't have enough foster carers to look after all the dogs in their care. They want to take the dogs out to their Doggy Day Out to give them more exposure, so hopefully they can be adopted AWDRI - hope you guys have a great Doggy Day Out and hope you have success in finding new homes for your lovely doggies

I certainly agree with what your saying labsrule. I am not a first time dog owner but Mokha was my first labrador. Even now that he is a couple of years old he is so different to my rough sable collie girl "Lady". She would never have even thought of some of the things Mokha has gotten up to. So I was actually more confident with my first dog breed (collie) and am still getting the hang of these labradors. I am loving every minute of though,I would hate to deny a family the joy of a labrador just because they were a first time owner. I think education as to what to expect is more important. :D hey I have had Labs for many many years and they still surprise me with what they can get up to. Just when I think I am over being surprised by these scallywags, they pull another rabbit out of the hat I remember saying when I got Tana, my new lab pup last year that after Fitzy, his predecessor, who was the biggest scallywag Lab that I have ever had that nothing that Tana does will ever surprise me after Fitzy's antics . How wrong was I ;) You got to love the Labs though as they have such fertile creative imaginations and life is never boring with these extremely lovable and very funny rascals

Hmmm from some of these posts makes you wonder how many of us managed to get it right as first time dog owners on the breed's we chose, long before the internet was around to do all the required research and learn as much as we could about about our breeds and raising dogs. ;) . Whether or not we were brought up with dogs didn't make us dog experts and perfect owners of our first dogs, we all had to start somewhere and experience made us all the wiser (well some of us anyway ) and learn from the mistakes all of us have made along the way. Heck I am still learning new things with my current Lab youngster The average owner is not a dog savy Doler ;) and does not think like us (not sure if that is good or bad ) and sure some of them should never have dogs and will never learn from their mistakes and are bloody irresponsible dog owners, but a lot of others do an ok job (maybe not to the DOL standards , but an OK job all the same) and they and their dogs lead a happy life. Saying that groups of dogs like large dogs, gun dogs, working dogs etc are not suitable for first time owners is preposterous and denying some great homes to these type of dogs. Yes Labrador puppy and adolescent antics can be a bit of shock for first time dog owners and even for some first time Labrador owners who have had other breeds and some people cannot cope with them and dump/rehome them. Others will muddle through and their dog may or may not come out ok at the other end and yes unfortunately some poor dogs suffer due to their inept owners. Yes too many prospective Lab owners expect their new Labs to come trained like a guide dog without putting in the required effort and Yes a number of Lab owners do not meet the needs of their Labs and some of these owners seek help and make the necessary changes and others do not and never will be able to meet the needs of their Labs ;) . However, many more do, and some first time dog owners do a fantastic job with their labs and conversely some experienced dog owners do an awful job with their labs as they don't understand the breed and fail to meet their needs. I would rather a first time Lab owner is judged on whether or not they could meet a Lab's needs, rather than be ruled out because they are a first time dog owner .

Apologies Troy...I think we can bin this thread, none of it is helpful or has a point. A lot of the topics on the forum don't have points. Don't participate in a topic if you feel that way about it. The funniest post in this thread ;)

I would chuck out the remaining dry food then. What you might like to also try, given that he has vomitted so something has upset him is to put him on boiled/grilled chicken and steamed rice for a couple of days. This is "bland" food and shouldn't upset his tummy and you should feed small (say 1 cup of chicken/rice combined) frequent meals 4-5 each day so his system isn't overloaded with 2 normal sized meals, but rather the same amount spread over 4-5 meals and then say on the 3rd day start slowly introducing some dry from a new bag back into his diet by mixing it in with some chicken and rice and gradually over a few days increasing the amount of dry and decreasing the rice & chicken until he is back 100% on dry. This would probably be an ideal time to swap him over to adult dry food. The ideal transition over to adult food is by combining puppy and adult but to save you having to buy another bag of puppy food you can actually swap them straight over as Labradors are pretty robust dogs and any food is good food as far as they are concerned Also you will be mixing it in with the chicken and rice anyway to start with so it is not like you are giving him 100% new dry food only. If you have any concerns about swapping straight over, then just buy a small bag of the puppy food to mix with the adult food and chicken and rice and slowly increasing the adult and decreasing the puppyfood until puppyfood is exhausted.

My lab youngster is due for his 1st annual in January and after that I will be titre testing and he will only ever be vaccinated if I ever have to kennel him in the future and cannot find a kennel that will accept Titre testing. I have found a kennel here in Sydney that does, but if I relocate I may not find one. My older boys no longer get vaccinated and I will not kennel them during their remaining time anyway, so there would be no need for any further vaccinations for them.

Loss of appetite for a Labrador is something to worry about. This coupled with his vomitting this morning, I think you need to take him to the Vet to get checked out as he is not well, poor baby.

Based on my experience, I would recommend a dominant black male labrador would probably be your best bet in terms of scaring potential intruders as big black dominant labs can be very scary, they have deep barks, they are large and can be pretty intimidating and in my experience I have found they are normally pretty protective/terrritorial of your property and their family and will always alert their family to anyone on their property. Everyone laughs about Labrador's guarding/protection ability, but not me as some of my Labs have proved themselves very capable in this area. My black lab boy (Fitzy) who I lost last year to cancer was a supremely confident fairly dominant dog who was extremely protective of me and he proved it on more than one occasion, including bailing up two police officers who came onto my property in response to my panic alarm which I inadvertently set off. He bailed them up halfway up my drive and I could hear all this shouting and my boy barking madly and I flew out my door and looked down the drive and here was my boy going nuts at these two coppers he had bailed up and they were screaming at me to get my dog under control, which I did very quickly and I got a real telling off from them Here they were coming to help me and my boy bailed them up, not good, but he perceived them as a threat as they came running thru the gate and started running up the drive, how was he to know they were coming to assist stupid me who stupidly inadvertently set the panic alarm off Another time I had a landscaper come around to give me a quote and after a chat and him patting and playing with my boy he said he had to go out to his ute to get some paperwork, so I went back inside and my boy sat at the top of my driveway (his favourite position where he could see everything) and next minute he is going off and I hear the guy yelling out to me at the gate. My boy had bailed him up when he tried to come back inside the gate and couldn't believe it as during our chat a few minutes earlier I told him he was a very good guard dog and very protective of me and my property and he was joking around and saying yeah sure love, he will probably lick the burglars to death and he got such a shock at the change in my boy when he tried to come in the gate when I was inside. If I was outside with my boy and I was able to see who was coming in the gate it was never a problem as my boy "knew" they were allowed in the gate. If however, I was inside or outside but out of view of the gate, then my boy did his job very effectively :D I went on a 6month travelling holiday up to the gold coast and sunshine coast with this same boy and he stopped an intruder breaking into a holiday rental property I was renting as I was sound asleep and next minute, he let out this almighty very deep, ferocious sounding bark which I hadn't heard before and he scared the daylights out of me and I jumped out of bed and I could hear footsteps just outside the french doors on the verandah of the bedroom we were in and he jumped in front of me and kept on barking then sat right in front of me almost on my feet in with hackles up and in a protective stance and next minute I hear footsteps running down the outside stairs He wanted to go outside so I let him out and he raced down the stairs and around the property and I heard the gate slam shut and I called him and he came and lay down across the top of the outside stairs which was the only access up to verandah all around the house and he remained there for hours. My current top dog of my pack, Tournie who is my middle black lab boy who is 12.5yrs old and is very dominant. He like Fitzy, ALWAYS alerts me whenever someone is on my property and he also has a very deep scary bark and has scared many people that come to my front door :D He also doesn't seem to like adult males particularly, getting too close to me when we are on walks, so I either move off out of their way or make sure I have a strong hold of him if I have to walk past any adult male(s) as his hackles go up and he starts sneering and moving towards them in a bit of menacing way. At home, any noise he perceives as a threat he barks at and when I let him out he rushes around and patrols my property with my youngster in tow If he is the car and I am parked anywhere and someone comes close to my car, he goes off and one day I ducked down to Petbarn to pick something up and was only inside for a few mins and I had left him in the car and left the windows down about a quarter of the way, it was a fairly cold day but I always have the rear windows open if any of the dogs are in the car. Anyway I had just paid for what I bought and I heard my boy going off as my car was just out the front and I go out and here is this couple at the rear of my car looking pretty worried and I asked what they were doing and they said they saw my boy sitting up in the car and they thought they would put their hand thru the window and pat him because they also have a Labrador so imagine their surprise when my boy reacted the way he did :D They were actually lucky he didn't bite them, gave them a fright more than anything as he lunged towards the open window when the hand came in and he was growling and barking and carrying on. They actually apologised to me for upsetting him and couldn't believe how protective he was of the car. When Fitzy was alive, these two boys worked very well together in the protective stakes and would bark in unison and each would be out patrolling different sides of the property and sometimes Tournie would rush out and Fitzy would rush over to me and sit directly in front of me like he did on the night of scaring the intruder away. When my black lab girl, Cassie was alive she was also extremely good in alerting us if anyone was on our property and she chased a guy off our property one night. On another occasion I had been out with some friends and came home at some ungodly hour in the morning and I was sound alseep and she started barking and was pacing up and down in front of the lounge window and sticking her head between the vertical drapes as I could hear her and I thought it may have been a cat as quite often the neighbours cat would come on to our property. Anyway because I got home late I was too buggered to get up and check what she was barking at, much to my regret :D because my car was stolen overnight as I had parked it out on the street. Obviously she heard it being broken into and alerted me and stupid me didn't check it out. Hard lesson learned that night and ever since I have always got up and checked whenever any of my labs have barked at night. Luckily I got my car back a couple of days later, had been used as a joyride. My current oldest boy is no guard dog, never has been He has always been quite content to keep on sleeping or not even bother to lift his head to check what is happening when the guard boys have been barking Anyway he is now close to 15 yrs old (in March) and has also lost a lot of his hearing, but he is a pretty soft gentle boy, so not in his nature. My youngest boy (14 months), I am unsure of how he will go as he doesn't have a dominant bone in his body and whilst he has a very loud bark, he doesn't actually bark when people come onto the property, but he is always up and running with Tournie the moment Tournie starts barking and he rushes out and around with Tournie. Will be interesting to see what happens with Tana when I lose Tournie as living by myself I have always felt extremely safe and protected with Fitzy and now Tournie as I firmly believe that both of these boys would have taken/would take on any person trying to physically harm me.

I have just returned from one of my walks with my middle boy and we were both drenched When we left our house the sun was shining, five minutes later it was pissing down so me and my boy had to huddle under a large tree at the start of one of the reserves we were walking to. Thought we would wait it out as it has been so changeable, so figured it would probably stop in a few minutes. Ten minutes later it was still peeing down and my boy was giving me a "WTF are we doing out in this rain mum" look but at least huddled under the tree we weren't copping the full brunt of it. When it eased slightly we made a dash to some undercover seating in the reserve, but by this time we were soaked, hair plastered to my head, clothes soaked, had to take my glasses and put in my pouch as didn't have anything dry to dry them with ;) After 10 minutes undercover it stopped raining so off we went and continued our walk, as I figured we would probably start to dry out as the sun started coming thru again. I was able to walk my youngster this morning in between showers and whilst there was a couple of light showers during our walk, we didn't get that wet from the light showers, but my youngster got a good soaking and very muddy by cooling down in some puddles by lying down in them, dragging himself thru them on his tummy and then rolling around in them (typical lab ) after a play session on the fenced in cricket oval with his new SWF buddy he met last week. His buddy's owner was laughing at my boy's antics in the puddles and was saying thank god his white boy didn't copy my boy at least with my boy being black you don't see the mud as much and being a short coat he is very easy to clean, so I don't mind too much when he is frolicking around in the puddles as he has so much fun . Yesterday was the only day I have been unable to get any of them out for a walk as it just rained constantly and pretty heavily but all the other days that is has been raining consistently including today, I have managed to get one or two out for a walk, so have been rotating them. I play a lot of indoor retrieving games with my youngster to keep him occupied awhen the rain keeps him indoors for extended periods, but he is actually pretty good and does chill out a lot with the older boys and if he misses a day's walk for any reason, he is still very good, but I probably would be pushing it with missing consecutive days Off to put a load of wet and dirty dog towels in the wash.

;) and here I was shaking my head at the amount of mud my youngster got on himself this morning when he found some lovely muddy puddles to lie down in, drag himself thru on his tummy and then rollover in to cool him down after an energetic c play session with a SWF mate of his in the fenced in cricket oval in our local reserve on his walk this morning. At least he is black and his coat is very easy to clean, but I have gone thru that many towels these last few days either towelling him and his two mates dry or cleaning mud off him due to the copious amount of rain we have been having . He won't get bathed until this bloody rain goes away as I know exactly what will happen when he is nice and clean

Great pics and a beautiful dog and so wonderful she has found her niche in life

Hopefully they are not selling live animals

Very interesting doco and that border collie was AMAZINGINGLY CLEVER and very interesting experiment about those wolf pups being raised in a human environment. Only thing was though that the plight of those poor foxes saddened me with rows and rows and rows of those sheds containing elevated cages that the poor things were in and they had been doing this type of study for 50 yrs so one can just imagine how many thousands of foxes had been subjected to that cruel housing and captivity and I am sure we can all surmise what inevitably happened to them. ;) Felt very saddened for the tame ones that they were breeding essentially as pets as they were very affectionate with the humans and whilst some of them were housed with humans as part of the study and possibly beyond, I bet the majority of them spent their pitiful life in those horrible cages :p To me personally the plight of those poor foxes overshadowed the doco as I can't get the picture out of my head of all of the rows and rows and rows of those large sheds containing so many foxes held captive in those awful cages ;)

I feed turkey drumsticks and wings to my youngest boy (14mths) regularly as part of the raw component of his diet and he loves them and has never ever left any of the bone as he is such a guts he demolishes every single bit of the bone of any of his RMB which in addition to the turkey drumsticks and wings are chicken frames, chicken wings, beef brisket, lamb neck bones and kangaroo tails. I don't feed them to my oldest boy (14.5yrs) but have fed some smaller ones to my middle boy (12.5yrs) and he also eats every scrap of them. All my boys eat every bit of bone they are given as I don't give them any of the very large marrow type bones so there is never any bone shards and bits of bone to pick up :D This is the beauty of having Labradors as they will eat anything and everything and lick the bowls and ground clean :D

I have 3 large black male labs, two seniors (14.5 & 12.5 yrs old) who were both adopted two years apart and a lab youngster (14months) who was introduced as a 10 week pup a couple of months after I lost my 10year old black lab boy to Cancer last year. All my boys have got on extremely well with each other despite the fact that that when I had the 3 male adults they didn't grow up with each other as I adopted the two oldest when they were each 10 years old. My youngster has slotted into the pack extremely well, despite the fact that my middle boy who is now top dog after I lost my previous top dog to cancer last year had a couple of altercations with my youngster when he was a puppy and I was pretty pissed at the manner in which he dealt with puppy, as both times I was there and puppy did not deserve what my bully boy dished out ;) There have been no other incidents since and despite these couple of altercations, my bully boy has always been a great playmate with my youngster both when he was a puppy and still today now that he is an adolescent. My youngster has the best of both worlds with my older boys as the oldest boy is his "security blanket" (his great love who he bonded very deeply with from day 1) and top dog is his "playmate". I love the way my boys interact with one another and the wonderful changes that my youngster has brought to the pack and the fabulous way he relates to each of the older boys, he is such an awesome dog Foodwise, they are fed a super premium kibble as well as raw which I source in bulk from a chicken factory outlet, wholesale butcher and local pet supply shop and I normally buy the raw/fresh foods fortnightly alternating between the various suppliers as I don't have an overly large freezer, but I manage to cram a lot into it Not sure on the $amount over weekly/fortnightly basis, but the amount I spend doesn't seem onerous and I also stock up on kibble when it is on special, so I can go many months before I have to buy any more and their diet consist of approx 30% kibble/70% raw (youngster) 50% kibble/50% raw (senior boys). They also get whole raw eggs, yoghurt, cottage cheese, vegetables, sardines added at various times throughout each week as well as fish oil capsules and joint guard. Bedding - there are dog beds and the youngster's crate in the family room and beds outside on the patio as well, but they all sleep inside in the family room either on the dog beds or couch and sometimes the youngster will sleep in his crate as I just leave the door open and he can come and go as he pleases - they do play musical beds It is the first time I have had my bed all to myself for years as I have normally had a lab or two on my bed and it took a little while to get used to it, but I am really enjoying having the bed to myself . When I got pup I essentially set up camp in the family room, like I did with my previous pup for ease of toilet training as a lot easier to sleep very close to pup in his play pen or crate and have quick access to the back door to take him quickly out to the toilet every few hrs or when I heard him stir. When I finally moved back to my bedroom I did take pup to my room and sectioned off an area next to my bed as wasn't large enough for his actual crate, but he was pretty restless and missed his mates who were in the family room, so after a couple of restless nights, I moved him back into the family room. No doubt he will end up sleeping on my bed when he ends up on his own as I want to spend some time alone with him when it is time for my older boys to go to the bridge ;) Walking - I walk them separately as it gives them one on one time with me and having a youngster and oldies the energy levels are vastly different I am very fortunate that I live only a few mins walk to a large reserve and a number of adjoining walkways to give them variety in their walks. My oldest boys handle a daily walk no problems & look forward to and enjoy their walks as much as my youngster I have walked my youngster and my middle boy together, but it is a bit of a nightmare as my youngster gets so excited when his mate is with him and of course he is determined to be the leader and he is a strong little bugger, so can be a bit hard to manage him when I take them out together. I also take my youngster to the local dog parks as he just loves playing chasey with other like minded dogs and he is so good with other dogs and it gives him another outlet to run off some of that excess youngster energy . I also drive them to other parks for outings/walks to give them variety as well as taking them to the river or beach during the warmer months. When I only had two, or the 3 adults I would take them together, but with my current 3, I normally take them separately to give them one on one time and to also be able to focus 100% on my youngster plus I also feel so guilty if I have to leave one behind Vet Bills - I haven't really had to spend exhorbitant amounts on my current 3. The older boys have each had a surgery to remove a lump or fix problem with eyes and ear and have had the oldest undergo specialist diagnostic tests because of his excessive water consumption and each has had a couple of blood tests to check all is ok. My youngster is covered by pet insurance that I took out not long after I got him, but as the vet expenses have to be paid for upfront, I make sure I have adequate credit on my credit card for any emergencies. Whilst I absolutely love having my 3 boys, I will probably go back to one as I lose my older boys so that I can have some one on one time with my youngster. I have always been home with him as I have worked from home for the last few years and have now taken early retirement, so hopefully he should cope ok without a doggie mate, but if he doesn't, then I will probably adopt an adult Lab in need or possibly get an adult Lab from a breeder as a mate for him.

I have had my fair share of battle wounds from my dogs and others over the years. Been bitten by a couple of dogs that were not mine resulting in a nice little scar under my eye on the day my sister was getting married courtesy of my mum's Rottie which was actually my fault as I inadvertently scared her. Had a lovely GR sink its teeth into my hand, when I gave it a bone, ouch that hurt. Have nursed a few bruises from my own labs barrelling into me at great speed and had some minor scrapes and scratching and nipping from overexcited lab puppies, with the exception of my current lab youngster who has had fantastic bite inhibition and so far so good with not being barrelled into my him as he has pretty good avoidance skills when he runs at me at great speed Being around labs for many years, I am sure I will get to experience a "barrelling" from him at great speed at some during his lifetime :D My poor feet have taken a pounding from large labbies standing on them, particularly when they are excited (which is lots ) or when I am being mobbed by them My worst injuries have actually occurred when I have been out walking my dogs and not caused by the dogs themslves but rather from me not watching where I am walking and I have had a couple of falls, one of which resulted in a broken elbow (ouch ouch ouch), sprained ankles and I have also had a couple of twisted ankles by stepping into pot holes/uneven surfaces with the most recent being a twisted ankle on Friday which curtailed my walking activites for a couple of days. I have also tripped over long leads and had sore arms, shoulders, backs & discolated finger from over exhuberant labs on walks pulling when I least expect it Helps to have a sense of humour though as anytime I have had a fall when out walking a lab, they think it is a game and cover me in lots of licks and get on the ground and roll around all excited and whilst I have been in great pain, their antics have made me laugh . The falls also happen when I am walking a fair distance from my home or car so I have had hobble great distances nursing an injury whilst still trying to walk my lab who luckily sense that poor old mum is in a bit of pain and slow down accordingly ETA - lost count of the number of uppercuts to the jaw or nose I have received from when I have been leaning down to pat/hug/kiss them and they lift their heads up at the same time - labbies have bloody hard heads