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After we put down our last pup (at 14 yo) it took us four years to pull it together to get a new one. It is a ton of work, but one of the few that repays you in spades.</p>
<p>^I still remember when I was 8 years old, the night that we had to have my first black lab (Roxy) put down. She was about 14 at the time (which is OLD for a Lab), and she had grown a large mass inside of her hip. Unfortunately by the time we recognized that something was wrong and took her to the vet, it was at the point that she could not eat or drink. The vet told us that while they could do surgery to remove it, because Roxy was so old she would most likely die during surgery. My dad opted to have her put down and save her the pain of surgery.</p>
<p>Eerily, the night that this happened my family had just returned from Modesto, visiting my grandma, with a brand new black lab puppy. It wasn’t the same, but it sure was nice to have a puppy to cuddle with when my mom told us the bad news. We got the yellow lab two years later. It’s amazing how much happier dogs are when they have another dog to play with.</p>
<p>I remember reading in one of my favorite books…the girl had befriended a flock of sparrows, and her favorite one died. She had the following conversation with one of her friends:</p>
<p>“It hurts so badly when they leave.”
“I know. But think how boring our lives would be without them.”</p>
<p>Labs are great family pets. They have a higher pain threshold ( because they are fishing dogs and have to jump into icy water) so when small kids thrash them, they don’t generally react.
They will eat anything too.
We have a 14 year old black lab who is doing well- it took her about 5 years to outgrow puppy hyperness</p>
<p>Totally, EK…there are home movies of me and my sister each in those little walker things with black lab 1 laying nearby…whenever someone walks up to us that isn’t our mom or dad, she growls viciously at them. </p>
<p>She was also my pillow pretty often at naptime…definitely the family dog. I’ll almost definitely have one or two labs when I have kids (unless one of them or my future husband is allergic, which will be a sad day).</p>
<p>Love labs. Our 2 have been incredibly tolerant of little kids (and puppies), functioning as pillows ( yes, HisGrace FillsMe) and as hand holds as little fists grabbed at the fur to pull themselves up. Our first was neurotic and fearful of separation from “her” family; this second is completely secure in her place as the center of the universe. But the temperament is the same and is wonderful.</p>
<p>We are lab lovers also-have 2 females, a chocolate and a yellow. They are such characters and bring us so much pleasure. I joke that in my next life, I want to come back as one of our dogs. We spoil them way too much.</p>
<p>Another English Setter owner here. Has no setter instincts (scared of water) (and scared of ducks) but is big gentle couch potato.I love my dog <em>sniff</em></p>
<p>This is such a great thread. :)</p>
<p>My dogs spend most of the time inside, because they’re so destructive (they loooooove to wrestle with each other and they don’t care what they knock into). Sometimes, though, my parents will let them in…it’s always a nice surprise when I open the door as I get home from school and hear their nails clicking on the hardwood floor as they come to greet me. Although, the yellow lab hasn’t quite figured out how to stop on said floors yet (and we’ve had them a couple of YEARS now), so most days she ends up crashing into the dining table. LOL.</p>
<p>About 3 years ago we had to put down my first dog ever, a weimaraner that was just a month or so shy of her 15th birthday. I’d been telling my DH and my 2 girls for years that any day now something could happen. It started as a cough, a few days later was bad. The vet found a large growth. We took her home but on the way out the door, I asked the vet how would I know when the right time was. He gently told me that I would know.
About a year later I discovered Boykin spaniels and brought home a pup. He is MY dog - I tell DH, that the dog is the best man in my life! Several months later after an unexpected death in my family we rescued a 4 month old Golden Doodle. She is sweet but definitely has ADHA!Bounces off of the walls most days. You are so right, HisGraceFillsMe, having two dogs is worth all of the trouble. The only problem in my Boykin’s world is that he can not decide who he loves more - me or the doodle!</p>
<p>XD I know what you mean. I don’t know what the yellow lab will do when the black lab finally “goes”…and my dad says we’re not getting another because I’ll be in college and my sister is never home. (But odds are on mom will make him get another. XD)</p>
<p>We had to put our yellow lab down a few years ago. I miss that unconditional wagging-tail, love at the front door. She was a rescue dog, about 1 1/2 when we got her. The kids were small, 4 and 7 when we got her and she wasn’t really their dog. She was mine until we got the kittens in 1998 and then she became completely devoted to them. I would walk her down to the beach, the cats following in a little parade. They all slept together in the big dog bed in the kitchen.</p>
<p>These stories are great!</p>
<p>Scared-of-water-spaniel & parade-leading lab!</p>
<p>I’ve got to stop reading or I’m going to really want to get a new dog, now.</p>