Dog chewed brake line on our truck.

[IndyIan]

How many folks actually use their labs for retrieving something? We had a golden retriever growing up but I now see that she was a bit mentally messed up, and my sister now has another that is the same, afraid of everything, sometimes aggressive with their food, eats garbage and chews on stuff. I guess more labs and retrievers are now being bred more for house/companion dogs but there must be better breeds for just having a dog around.
We have a couple of Maremma's and they are bred to guard livestock and that's what they do. They aren't perfect and not having to house train them made life simpler for the first year, but they aren't meant to be in the house and don't come in. We had to work a bit with them to do their job well, but even with us as new working dog owners, it didn't take much.
Anyways, I think if people picked dogs for their bred purpose, not for what they look like, they could save themselves a bit of aggravation...

 

[rockinmywaypa]

I sort of agree with indyian but with this disclaimer all dogs are not true to breed characteristics. We had a wonderful perfect maremma that was everything the breed is supposed to be, then I bought one from a breeder near you that, at a year and a half of age started killing and eating newborn lambs, some a week old. Be more carefull of the breeder and don't assume every dog carries the breed characteristics.

 

[IndyIan]

I sort of agree with indyian but with this disclaimer all dogs are not true to breed characteristics. We had a wonderful perfect maremma that was everything the breed is supposed to be, then I bought one from a breeder near you that, at a year and a half of age started killing and eating newborn lambs, some a week old. Be more carefull of the breeder and don't assume every dog carries the breed characteristics.

That's true too, but odds are the dog will probably be mostly true to the breeding characteristics. Ours came from farm where they happened to have a male and bought a herd of goats where the female maremma wasn't tame but went into the trailer with the herd so they got the dog too. So there is no breeding program that produced ours, just a farmer with a pair of dogs... For working dogs I don't even really think "breeders" are a good thing anyways unless they just select for working characteristics. Sort of big, loud, low maintenance, able to enjoy the odd -25C night, not aggressive with people or animals, stays with the herd, and barks at predators, is all they have to do.
Coloring, proportions, blah blah blah, coyotes couldn't care less.
Maybe someone could come up with the ideal house dog? Not too active, healthy size and structure, no weird mental traits. I guess that's not exiciting though.

 

[Soundguy]

How many folks actually use their labs for retrieving something? ...

we do..

frizzbee's, tennis balls, sticks, stuffed animals.. old shoes. anything we throw.. they go get and bring back to us to throw again.

before we put up the package drop box for ups, the dogs would fetch them too.. of course if we weren't there, after they fetched them, they'd chew em open.. thus the addition of the drop box..

 

[IndyIan]

we do..

frizzbee's, tennis balls, sticks, stuffed animals.. old shoes. anything we throw.. they go get and bring back to us to throw again.

before we put up the package drop box for ups, the dogs would fetch them too.. of course if we weren't there, after they fetched them, they'd chew em open.. thus the addition of the drop box..

I do kind of miss the retrieving part, I tried a couple times with our dogs and they will sort of do it once with alot of encouragement, then look at me like I'm stupid when I threw the ball again... On the other hand, some friends bought a son of a champion yellow lab, and it would not quit retrieving, or hounding you to throw something, or jumping off a dock into the water until its pads were bleeding. It was just too hard wired with too much energy to be a good house pet IMO. They liked him but when kids came over he had to be put somewhere else.

 

[Renze]

I sort of agree with indyian but with this disclaimer all dogs are not true to breed characteristics. We had a wonderful perfect maremma that was everything the breed is supposed to be, then I bought one from a breeder near you that, at a year and a half of age started killing and eating newborn lambs, some a week old. Be more carefull of the breeder and don't assume every dog carries the breed characteristics.

When the TV series "Lassie" ran, everyone wanted border collies. When Disney's "101 Dalmatians" was out, everyone wanted that. When the German TV series "Kommisaris Rex" about a German Shepherd policedog was broadcasted, everyone wanted German Shepherds. Later Malinois became popular because of some TV show.

Result ? All these breeds became in-bred, i know a Malinois that gave birth to two nests of pups, when the 2nd nest was born, 6 out of 8 from the previous pups were put down before they were a year old. Many Malinois are just sick dogs, unpredictable with kids, visitors and even their owners...

Another relative breeds sheep: Some folks from town walked their dog (rare breed, they paid 1600 euro for the pup) and both times they let it walk free and it chased sheep. this relative called his brother (game warden) who is licensed to solve this: they just blew a hole in the dog with a shotgun, owners called the police but after showing the game wardens registration and telling the story, the police told the dog owners realised that THEY had a problem...

 

[glkingar]

We have a golden retriever/poodle mix. We love that dog. We mainly chose the dog for his temperment. We have a 10yo daughter with Down Syndrome so it had to be able to put up with some abuse. When she gets a little rough he will give her a soft mouth to give her a message and she stops. We have always chosen the runt of the litter too. We have had good luck with them as far as house pets. The other is he doesn't SHED.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Gerry

 

[chucko]

Our lab would chew everything I want to give the dog away and almost to the day when that dog turn 2 it became the best dog in the world. Almost like someone flipped a switch

 

[boggen]

i honestly do not remember much problems with dogs through out my life, having any major chewing problems. exception one pea ant. that hiked his leg every were. never could break him.

well i take above back, have hit pet stores and larger stores, and have came across deals for dog toys from any were 50% to 75% off. bought a bunch of them. mom she hits garage sales a lot. and will get small stuffed toys, for only a few cents to a couple bucks. the pups will destroy them, and pull stuffing out of them. granted it is a pain in rear picking up all the stuffing in yard to floor covered rooms of stuffing and torn up toys. but figure it is cheaper than getting new furniture, and repairing things.

in past have used dads long boot length socks (old ones) and took other sock out of the pair and pushed it into the other, then tied a knot. as a cheap toy for dogs.

part of the time, they purposely bring me a toy that has not been shredded all the way up. so they can play tug of war. to tear the toy up enough that they can pull the rest of the stuffing out of.

have had better luck using chewy treats, (not milk bones, or other crunchy or hard treats) and tear them up into little pieces, just enough so they can taste it, and not large enough that they really need to chew it in half before swallowing it. for training the pups. tend get cheap doggy treats, and a variety of flavors. and mix things around. to keep there interest up of what type of treat they will be getting.

have had to do a few boring wait games, "ignoring the pups" so they go do there thing (tearing things up or doing something they are not suppose to be doing) and wait for them to actually start get into the bad act. then get on them. normally getting them to sit, then getting them to lay down to point i can roll them over on there backs. so they know they are in trouble and end up in a submissive position.

i tend to buy a good amount of raw hides of different flavors, flat sheets of them vs raw hide bones. and give them enough to a point they chew on them when they want to, or chew up a toy. vs something else.

i also end up buying cheap tennis balls, but need to keep on eye on them in first few months. so they do not try and eat them as they shred the balls up. after that, i just toss them and let them have at it.

dog ropes, i use as well as toys, some times i undo the knots so they can pull the ropes apart and tear them up. other times i leave one so they can play tug of war. needless to say they are all pretty ugly looking ropes now. but still useable.

i have finally found a bouncy ball that is not rock hard rubber, that does bounce and dogs are not able to tear into pieces. wish i kept the wrapping and bought a couple others. it is one of there favorite toys.

a cheap hard plastic kids swimming pool, (they will tear it up) but getting them in it when they are young and tossing some sinking toys in the bottom. and just having enough water so they dive there heads under water. has helped a lot. both in getting pups use to water. but also a way to cool down, vs them digging holes. and getting colder dirt on surface of were they can lay down.

just wish the initial 1st year of being a pup was quicker. at times it seems like a non stopping battle that never ends. 2nd year of age. seems to be much easier. both in training and them learning and just growing out of being a pup.

 

[Soundguy]

Our lab would chew everything I want to give the dog away and almost to the day when that dog turn 2 it became the best dog in the world. Almost like someone flipped a switch

seen that alot. our lab mix used to climb the fence DAILY.. one day.. stopped and she never did it again. now you can leave the gate open and she won't leave the yard. befor ethat.. she's be out EVERY day.

weird..