Lab Boredom

In all my years dealing with Labs, I have learned something new just recently - there are stages to Labrador Retriever boredom.

Seeing as Cheyenne is on "rest" given her stretched ligament, playtime in our house has dwindled significantly. There has been hardly any play: no ball throwing, dog park going, bear fight romping, etc. About the only game we have been able to play has been the well-known Lab Brats game of "Find It".

Needless to say, boredom set in and it set in fast. First, we would get stares during those times of day where playtime is normally scheduled. After a few days the stares turned into pacing. The pacing became barking and "talking" in our faces while doing spins in the air to get our attention. A few more days passed when everything changed and this Lab Brats mommy became very concerned.

Cheyenne began sleeping all the time and when she was around us, she would hardly lift her head. Her crate became her normal place to hang out (on her own with the crate door open). Kisses became less as she hardly wanted to be around us.

At first I thought that maybe she was getting sick or her leg was really bothering her. So, I decided to test her and brought out her favorite squeaky for a few minutes of play.

Her eyes lit up, she danced the dance of a thousand Lab puppies while barking her frantic "throw it" bark. She was alive in there... longing for the moment when her favorite toy and her would become one again. The moment where she can run and be free... a normal Labbie.

No my friends, Cheyenne was not sick... unable to be a normal Lab due to her injury and tight activity restrictions... she was utterly depressed. I knew that dogs can have the normal range of moods such as humans but until that very moment, I had never witness desperate depression such as this... it is sad, never-wrecking and definitely unfitting to the Labrador Retriever dog breed.

My heart is most definitely looking forward to the day when the veterinarian clears her for normal play once again. She doesn't just deserve it... she needs it!