AnyaDogz

The thing that has stunned us the most is the intuitive nature. Sure most dogs learn words, few learn body language, subtle nuances and the quiet observations. There are times I swear Jack is listening and learning. He picks up things we didn't realize he learned. Its eerie at times.

Thank you all! Ironically had a moment today with Jack again. I accidentally left the side gate open and Jack decided to roam. In the past, our lab is the one to run, this time is was Jack. Ran out the gate close to panic, calling and whistling, and here he came running right to me. Belly rubs and what a good boy followed. Yea, so glad over the past 20 years, we've done our due diligence on recall.

Honestly it's been a grind. Five year grind. Gaining Jack's trust has been long and hard. Last weekend we had a hint of his trust while camping. This weekend we cut two mats from behind his ears and he layed quietly. He was suspicious and yet, he trusted us 100% for the first time. Absolutely 100%. Sorry, not sorry. Finally achieving that moment is amazing.

Thank you Journey. One of the reviews I read on Amazon mentioned hardwood floors and skating rinks!

The Show Sheen: by Equipet on Amazon? If so, horse or dog?

Will try all the above suggestions. He's six or seven so the change from puppy to adult coat isn't the issue. When we brought him home from the pound his coat was full of burrs, tangles and mats. It was an absolute nightmare getting everything out. We thought we were going to have to shave him at first, thankfully with a bunch of conditioner, clipping and time we were able to get him sorted. We felt soo bad for him but now other than behind his ears, his coat is gorgeous. Thanks for the suggestions!

Jack is having problems with mats behind his ears and they seem to pop up overnight. He is brushed regularly plus when we give him ear scratches we run our fingers through his fur but these stupid mats seem to happen overnight. Anyone have any suggestions? I know they are painful and they aren't exactly easy to cut out. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

We let the boys out for their evening constitution as per our usual post dinner routine. When we let them in, Jack ran into the house reeking of s**t. We are not sure which species, whatever it was, it was particularly fresh and extremely foul smelling. With a lovely, yet subtle hint of musk. Ahh bath time at 11 o'clock in the evening... what a fun, planned activity. Then the lab wanted a bath as well, because I'm sure all of you know, what's good for the goose is always better for the gander. Dogs...tell me again why we have them? Oh and the fur tomorrow is going to be of apocalyptic nature.

Beautiful big floofler! Jack dogs is 60lbs and not fat. When we asked our vet about his size he said it was unusual, he is just one of those big BCs. Enjoy that puppy hood while it lasts.

We've had the same Jawz frisbee for almost 20 years.

We've had at least one lab in our home for twenty years and all of them have shed about the same. The worst part of them is blowing their undercoat once or twice a year. Their outer coat rarely sheds, as that is part of their "waterproofing" and the soft downy coat keeps them warm while swimming in cold water. They shed the most in the spring and then again lightly in the fall. Most of the fur I vacuum up is border collie fur. As long as I brush our lab regularly, he doesn't shed much. Jack, on the other hand, sheds like crazy all the time. Brushing helps, he is just a shedding machine

It's funny mentioning the frito/popcorn paws because all of our dogs have had that but only when they are warm, cozy and sleeping. Otherwise, they smell like dog paws. A gentleman I worked with years ago who had 50 plus years breeding, training and raising labs always swore up and down that his dogs that smelled "muskier" were his smartest, easiest to train dogs. That included the paw smell. Dunno how accurate he was but I can say our first lab was very musky and he was the smartest dog we've had. We rarely bathe the boys but when we do we use Fresh 'n Clean. They smell wonderful for at least a week or longer. $6 on amazon. A good brushing regularly seems to keep the stink to a minimum.

We have always rescued until we bought Orion (our lab) from a breeder. We wanted the experience from start to finish. A year after buying Orion, we rescued Jack. Haven't had a single person say a thing about buying Orion, but, meh, my response if someone did would get me banned from this board. In the future we will probably buy from a breeder again, as we would like a fox terrier and they are an odd enough breed in this area to make it nearly impossible to find one in a shelter. Or we may rescue again, who knows what the future holds. People can go pound sand if they don't like your personal decisions. As long as it has no negative impact on their lives it is none of their business. Live and let live.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Losing a pet unexpectedly has to be the worst feeling in the world. Years ago I was on a message board and someone had suddenly lost their dog and another person gave a lovely reply. I can't remember exactly what the quote was but here is the gist of it: this is the beauty of dogs. We bring them into our lives knowing full well they are going to break our hearts, yet we do it anyway. Most of us do it again and again with the knowledge of the outcome; their beauty, joy and love will forever outlast the heartbreak. No matter how many times we say "never again" the pull for unconditional love draws us right back.

We are leaving for vacation fairly soon so I've been looking into boarding the boys. Normally we board with our vet but we are looking for more human interaction, play time type of experience. Plus our vet is rather expensive so we are trying to be less expensive. A friend of mine always boards their dogs at one kennel and she loves them so I decided to send them an email to check on availability. They sent an email back immediately stating they had space and asked for all pertinent information. I responded with all the info they requested and I stated that we would like to see their facility before we commit to them. It's been almost a week and we haven't heard back. So my question is, was I wrong in asking to see the facility? Maybe I should have asked about that in my original email but I was thinking about availability first. I'm guessing that I ticked them off and it's time to look for another option.

I'm going to start by saying I'm in no way giving advice, rather I will tell you the story of Boo Boo formally known as Scout. After our first black lab suddenly passed away my husband and I made the mistake of rescuing another black lab too soon. We brought her home from the shelter with the expectations of her being just like Uther. She wasn't bad for the first couple of days but then the aggression started. First she would growl and snap at either one of us if we tried to pet her, then the food aggression started. She would gobble down her food then attack our other dog for her food. It became so bad we had to feed them in totally separate rooms with a door and we would literally toss her bowl down and run. I'm being dead serious. I walked with her for hours before feeding time and it was zero help. I'd bring that dog home so tired and panting that I was concerned I was over doing it. Nada. She was still extremely aggressive. (On the plus side, I lost a ton of weight) Over the course of the next few months she bit both of us multiple times, thankfully no one else simply because we kept her away from other humans and animals. By this time I had given up on walking her because it wasn't helping in the least. We considered taking her back to the shelter but we knew they would put her down and neither one of us could live with that. We took her in and by God, we were going to figure it out come hell or high water. While channel surfing one day, I stopped on an episode of Cesar Milan while he was working with an extremely food aggressive dog. Let me say right now, I'm not a huge fan of his training methods but that day he was a life saver for us. I took the time to record it so my husband could watch it too. We followed his advice to a T and over time the food aggression and the general aggression stopped. We started a routine where she absolutely had to sit and remain calm before we put food in her bowl. If she stood or acted bad in any way shape or form, the food went back into the container and we started from the beginning. Once she would sit calm for the food going into her bowl, she then had to sit before being given her bowl. If she deviated from this, the food would go back into the container and we started over. Also, she had to wait to eat until she was allowed to eat. We did a few other things but you get the idea. In the beginning it would take an hour or so before she finally got to eat. Over time, that became her routine and she followed it to a T. We still follow that routine to this day with our dogs. As I said it took a while but the agression stopped. And I mean stopped cold but neither my husband or I were completely comfortable with her. And I don't think she was ever completely comfortable with us. Fast forward a year, a dear friend of ours was at the house and he and her were having a total love fest. I mean she was rolled over on her back letting him rub her belly, giving him kisses and letting him kiss and pet all over her. Something she had never really done with us. We jokingly asked him if he wanted her and he said "yes but I know you'll call me in the morning wanting her back" Welp, we didn't call him back and he still has her to this day. He renamed her Boo Boo and she's an incredibly loving, friendly dog. She's all grey faced now, moves a little slower but you would have no idea what she was like so many years ago. Heck, he even taught her all kinds of tricks! They are a match made in heaven. To this day, I still tear up when I go to his house and she rolls over for belly rubs. It's like night and day. As I said at the beginning, I have zero advice to give but I want you to know there is hope. There is always hope as time and patience works wonders. Anyhoo, I wish you the best of luck. Have confidence in yourself and your puppy. Chin up mate, even the worst of them can be rehabilitated.

Re: clipping/grooming What type of brush/combs do you all use? Is there a particular type or style? We've always used a slicker brush for our labs as it works wonders getting out their old down coat. So we have continued using it on Jack and it works well. I'm just curious more than anything.

Welp, I'm standing here watching Jack eat grass and I'm not stopping him. No signs of digestive problems and he just ate. Orion has now commenced grazing as well...Holstein and Angus experiment is beginning.

Interesting info...we will start letting them graze and see what happens. They do love green beans and other veggies but I've always thought of it as the love of table scraps thing. The fox terrier I had as a kid ate nothing but table scraps, whatever she killed and who knows what else and she lived to 16. Maybe it's that city dog versus country dog mentality. Our first lab was raised in the country and who knows what that dog ate when we weren't looking. Or maybe as we've gotten older, we have become way overly protective of the dogs. I suppose as long as they are healthy and happy, we are happy.

Both of our dogs love to graze, so from now on out our BC shall be nicknamed Holstein and our black lab Angus. We do discourage both of them from eating grass because I've heard that it isn't good for them. No clue if there is any validity to the claim but since it sometimes causes them to throw up, we stop it. I've also heard that grass eating is due to a vitamin deficiency, again I don't know if this is true or not. A few of our dogs have been grass eaters and a few have not been so IDK. As long as they aren't eating poo, I'm happy.

Hmm interesting replies. We've always had labs so keeping them out of water and mud puddles is the challenge. I'm glad to know this isn't just a Jack quirk or that he's had a potentially bad experience with water.

Oh good lord I can't imagine Jack needing hydrotherapy. That would be a total disaster. He's become such Diva. Where we started to where we are today is night and day. The one thing that has never changed is his hatred of water.

From the start we noticed Jack hates water, which is no big deal until it's raining and he needs to go out to do his business. It has been raining like crazy here in Ohio and he won't go into the yard. The sun is currently out but there is standing water and the grass is wet, so he won't leave the first step on the back porch. Poor guy hates to get his fluffers wet. I've tried walking with him in the yard but he has a thing about doing his business while on a leash. I know eventually he'll make his way into the yard but sheesh little guy, go pee!

Our first lab was Frisbee obsessive and I mean obsessive. We trained him to sit, lay, stay, shake, speak, roll over, beg and a few other tricks using that obsession. We always let him retrieve the Frisbee for a little bit (no training) for a couple of reasons: First and foremost to burn some of the energy off and secondly to get him into a rhythm. Once he was into a rhythm, we started training. We did not throw the Frisbee until he did what we were asking him to do. Unfortunately I can't tell you exactly how we did it, we just did it. But Uther was an exceptional dog, he learned tricks very very fast. For whatever reason he learned that the sooner he learned the trick, the sooner he got his Frisbee.

Pardon me, I do not mean to hijack this thread however since it is about biking with your dog I have a few questions. We do not have any wooded mountain bike trails in the area (all wooded trails are for foot traffic only) but we do have miles of paved bike trails very close by. We've been hesitant to take Jack riding with us because it is paved. He's somewhere between three and four, so I know his joints and muscles are fully developed. I'm not talking about taking him out and riding for miles and miles, heck we're not able to do that, but what would be a safe distance? We're concerned about the wear and tear on his paws and joints, we want to take him out with us and let him get some good exercise. I know to start slow and work our way up, I'm just curious if anyone has an idea of safe distances. Also, its not something we would do every day just three or four times a week. Thanks!