Labrador Families

We have been a Lab family for over 2 years now and it is amazing how many other Labrador families we have met along the way. The one thing we have noticed is the amazing similarities between these families. Whether they owned just one Labrador Retriever or more, the dog owners all have the same sort of personalities. We are laid back people that love nature, are easy to strike up a conversation with, and make sure we spend quality time with our dogs. Sure, the Lab is a highly attractive dog breed and some people don't understand how much time needs to be spent with such a dog, but those of us that have welcomed them into our homes (and gotten through the rough initial stages) don't regret for one moment bringing the Labrador Retriever into our homes and hearts.

One other thing I have noticed is that Lab owners are either drawn to one specific color of Lab or make it their life's quest to have at least one of each color. As you probably have already guessed, we are partial to the Chocolate Labs, even though we still think the Yellow Labs and Black Labs are handsome as well. It is funny because there are no differences in personality or intelligence based on the color; actually it is only the color of their coats that make them different. (Anyone that tells you that chocolates are not smart are selling you a load of stuff!) Each is highly dignified and has a great personality. It makes me wonder why there are some of us that just seem drawn to a specific color. What do you think?

Sulking Doggy

Dakota is just not happy! You see, Dakota's daddy has had to work late the last couple of weeks due to a new project on his desk. If Dakota could only get her paws on it, she would hide it from him so that he would be home and spend more time with her. Alas, the project is at work and Dakota still can't drive.

So what does she do? She sulks around the house. When daddy leaves for work in the morning, she lays down and looks up at him, with those Sad Sam eyes, before he heads out the door. Once her and Cheyenne get fed at 5pm, she will then begin her drama queen act. It is as though she has ants in her pants. She will keep readjusting herself while she is sitting, going back and forth to the front window to stare out of it, walks away from me when I try to pet her, and barks at every sound because it may just be daddy. If he doesn't come home until 8pm, she will continue this behavior for 3 hours. She actually walks around, sits down, and huffs; as though she is put off by his disregard of her feelings. Bad daddy for making Dakota wait for him!

Missing without leaving

There are 16 days to go before we leave our dogs and I am starting to get sad. Sure, we are leaving on our first overseas adventure to Europe but, we will be gone for 17 days. I hate even being gone a couple of days from the Lab Brats - heck, I even miss them when they are at doggy daycare.

Infatuated with our pups? No. Just that when you own a dog retail business and work from home, you come to form bonds with your pups that make it difficult to part ways. I know I shouldn't get sad since the girls will be in great hands. Our younger cousin is going to pup and house sit for us the entire time we will be gone. The Lab Brats will not need to leave our home and will have more attention showered on them in those days then they will know what to do with. Even our family members will be stopping in every other day to give the Labs even more attention and love. It will be like doggy heaven at home!

The last time my husband and I left was for 4 days. When we returned, our Labradors didn't want us home and didn't even recognize us. They were in the backyard playing away with our cousin when we arrived home and they barked hysterically at all. It took a couple of minutes for them to realize who we were and then it was all love and kisses. I could only imagine what the reception will be like after 17 days. Even if they will be too busy to miss us, we will still miss them.

Cheyenne Leg Injury

Cheyenne is hurt! Yesterday the Lab Brats came back from doggy daycare and they were exhausted. It was only upon taking the dogs out for a potty break after dinner did my husband make a very loud statement of Cheyenne's injury.

She has a long scratch on the inside of her back right leg that doesn't look like it really broke the skin. As it turns out, she got this from daycare. Is she in any pain? Nope! You must realize that Cheyenne is our little tomboy and doesn't flinch at any minor injuries. This seems to be just a bad scrap that could have easily come when wrestling with other dogs. If Cheyenne didn't yelp, then the handlers would have never known she got hurt. Since it is doubtful that Cheyenne even lagged in her playing for such a minor injury, I doubt anyone would have noticed. So, a little clean up of the area and keeping an eye on it, so as to not have it get infected, should do the trick. That doesn't make it any easier though. I just hate when my babies get hurt!

Cold Nose in the . . .

Dogs do the funniest things. Sometimes these acts of "normal" behavior for them can turn into the most embarrassing of situations. For us, it is Dakota's need to greet everyone with a cold nose wedged into their privates. She doesn't just sniff the front or rear end of people to see who they are or greet them; she has to use all 83 lbs of her mass to shove her cold wet nose as hard and fast as she can into the unsuspecting stranger's nether-regions.

She isn't just checking to see if you smell good. Dakota checks your clothing, what you had to eat last and your DNA coding. It is all with the most honorable of intentions and she remains highly friendly when doing so. You just have to wonder if the strangers are more taken back by the shock of when she does this to them or when they realize how hard we are trying to contain our laughter.

Dry Patches on Elbows

"She is getting old" says my husband. Dakota is not getting old! She is not even 2.5 years old; that is far from old! His determination of old are the small rough dry patches developing on Dakota's elbows. Such patches do happen with age but that is because, through the years, dogs lay down. These are calluses. Just like humans get them from rubbing against something too much, dogs get them as well. Dakota's calluses are simple - they are caused by rubbing against concrete too much while she is laying out in our yard and sunning herself.


Dakota does not stay still - she is in constant flux. When you move, she moves. Well, think about a dog rubbing its elbows against a hard surface continuously; every time she gets up and down. That is sure to cause some rough marks on the elbows. This though, should not be occurring at such a young age - at least not as far as we are concerned. To us, it means she is laying down too much instead of playing or laying on natural growth such as grass or even dirt. Such is the life of a city dog.


Of course, I use this as an excuse to buy a lake front home even more! That way the Lab Brats get their water, Dakota lays down on natural turf, and I get the home of my dreams. My husband thinks I am just pulling at straws to get what I want. So what! If it makes the dogs happy while I get my dream home then hand me that straw!

What a Good Dog!

The separation worked! Cheyenne and I headed to the vet yesterday for her routine Bordatella vaccine and Dakota was left at home to sun bathe herself. At first, Cheyenne wasn't sure about leaving Dakota and poor Dakota couldn't understand why I wasn't putting her collar on her to go "bye-bye". However, in the car, Cheyenne was a sweetheart and she became even sweeter at the vet when a 3-year old little girl arrived with her spaniel and daddy.

Cheyenne sat pretty as the girl hugged and kissed her continuously. It was great because Cheyenne wasn't bothered by the other dogs nor pulling me to go and smell them. That is her normal behavior when Dakota is with her. Alone, she listened well, took cookies (dog treats) calmly, and loved all the attention she was getting from that little girl.

And yes, the vet bill was quite smaller. Between the office visit and shot, we paid $55. Usually we walk out of there with a $300 bill and some new medications for Dakota's hip or something that Cheyenne is fighting (cold, eating something she shouldn't, etc). This time it was $55, a free sample of Science Diet food, and a couple of cookies - even one to bring home to Dakota so she received a special treat when we got home. I have to say that was the best veterinarian visit yet!

Lowering Vet Costs

Ever wonder how you go into the veterinarian for one thing and you leave their office with more things tacked on? After I called to schedule Cheyenne's Bordatella shot for this coming weekend, I started to think about it. Then it occurred to me how a small visit, with shots, can rise to over $300!

Simply: The other dog!

Whenever we bring one Lab into the vet, we bring the other along just so that she knows that she doesn't have to get poked and prodded each time she enters his office. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens - especially when it is Cheyenne's visit and Dakota is just along for the ride. You see, Dakota has hip dysplasia and even though she only has stiffness during the colder months, the vet just can't seem to keep his hands off of her once she enters the office. Sometimes, he will question something about her hip and mention that it is time for an updated x-ray. If she weren't there, the x-ray would wait until her normal appointment and instead of having multiple degrees of diagnosis over the year, she would have one.

So, this got me thinking and I have come to the conclusion that Dakota is no longer going to visit the veterinarian with us unless it is her appointment. With that said, here are some other ideas on how to lower vet costs.

1) Only bring the one pet that the appointment is made for and leave others at home. Once the vet puts their hands on the other pet(s), you have a new office visit added to your bill.

2)Clip nails at home between vet visits. Each nail clipping can run you $12 so buy a pair of pet nail clippers and cut them at home. Then when you have an appointment for the vet, ask the technician to cut them very short.

3) Bring a list of ailments or questions with you to the vet's office. This will make sure that you don't have any return visits.

4)Don't be shy to call your vet with questions you have about your pet. You don't need an office visit copay to just have questions answered.

5) If you have an upcoming flea/tick treatment or heart worm medication to give and need your pet's weight, many local pet stores will have a scale that you can use for free. Some vets will charge you with an office visit even to allow you to weigh your pet.

6) Order your maintenance medications online instead of getting them at the veterinarian's office. The best place we have found for our Lab Brat's Metacam, Heartguard Plus, Frontline Plus, and Cosequin is EntirelyPets.com! The prices are unbeatable and you can usually find a discount coupon to use with them by going to CouponCabin.com and searching for "Entirely Pets". Sometimes the coupon is free shipping or money off your order and other times there are free treats with the order.

7) Keep your dog safe from harm and things it could ingest. (Trust me, this cost us over $1,000 in vet bills and surgery for Cheyenne last year!)

8) Feed your Lab a high quality food that will support its hips and joints as well as its overall health.

This list is just a tip of the iceberg but the Lab Brats hope it will help you lower some of your vet bills as well. Sure, Dakota will hate not going for a ride in the car with Cheyenne come Saturday morning but in order to save the expense, it is well worth it. Not to mention she will get extra special doggy cookies when we get back so I don't think she will be too upset.

The Great Hunter!

What do you do when your Lab takes off after a rabbit and becomes deaf to your "Come" command? Well, the first thing you do is not try to panic while getting your pup to return to you. Once you have the pup under your control, it is time to go back to training.

Yep! Cheyenne's AKC name, "Cricket's Great White Hunter", is one of the most suitable AKC names ever given. During our walks, the last block is off lead in order to help train both Dakota and Cheyenne to pay attention to me while walking. Dakota is wonderful at this and only recently did we start letting Cheyenne off the lead. Before this, we would let Dakota off lead for the last block of our walk and Cheyenne would remain on the lead. Now that Cheyenne is about 1.5 years old, it is time to get her trained as well. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting how much easier it was to train Dakota then Cheyenne. Dakota is a laid back and easy-going dog. Cheyenne is an energizer bunny on drugs. (*laugh*) Needless to say, they both saw the rabbit and as soon as I said "No! Leave it!", Dakota headed right back to me and Cheyenne kept going.

Lucky for us, it is between the houses and not a street. As I kept walking, I said very loud "Let's go!" and saw Cheyenne run back towards me. (I guess the rabbit was able to away) She was not placed back on the lead but instead given strict commands to say by me ("Tight" command) the rest of the way home. I guess it is time for her to go back to the lead... but I am thinking we don't need to go all the way back - maybe get a 10ft line or similar to allow her the space but not the full freedom. Let's keep our paws crossed that it works!

Crazy Dogs!

It is a great thing when you teach your dogs to only bark when people come onto your property. This is especially helpful when your house is so close to the street. However, it can backfire when you are having a yard sale.

Yep! You guessed it! We had a yard sale this weekend and the pups are now exhausted. In order to make things easier on them, we allows them access to the house and backyard so that way they could run in and out of the house to "greet" people. Alas, they just got louder when they got out of the house and it really didn't get them as tired, as quickly, as we would have hoped.

You have to realize that the Lab Brats are far from mean. It is just that they are Labrador Retrievers and want nothing more than L-O-V-E! If someone is here, it must be for them. It is always about them and never about us. If someone has a hand or two free, those hands should be placed on them or on a toy to entertain them. Yes my friends, they are 100% normal Labs. They love people and want to be with them all the time. Thank goodness we have another year until the next garage sale!