Dog pics

[Slowpoke Slim]

Here are ours. 4 Labradors, all four are "rescue dogs", the chocolate and big yellow are from formal rescue shelters, the black and little yellow mix were "free" from individual people that gave them up/couldn't keep them/couldn't handle them. They each have their own temperament, but get along well together and have solidified into our pack. We spoil them rotten, every one of them has multiple food allergies, and the only combined food they can all eat is one of the most expensive ones.

It's the little yellow one (bottom right) that you have to watch. He's 100 pounds of mischief in a 50 pound sack. He's also the most expensive "free" dog I've ever had. With multiple vet visits + several emergency hospital visits (like the time he licked all the fresh flea/tick drops off of the back of the other 3 dogs and went into toxic shock and nearly died-we went back to the flea collars after that one), I stopped adding it up at $2K. Don't let him fool you, even in that pic, he's plotting his next caper.

This pic was taken the morning after we got him home from the ER after he poisoned himself. He walked right up and ambushed the black lab who was sleeping peacefully. Sure, he's back to normal, and my wallet was $1200 lighter... Sigh.

Here's the other 3, waiting (somewhat patiently) for me to come out and play with them.

This is our black lab when we first picked him up. Badly overweight and under played with.

Our "big" yellow. 100 pounds of pure heart and playfulness. Everything is a toy to him. Everything. Sticks, rocks, snowballs, truck tires. Everything.

Our chocolate lab (part Chesapeake, part lab). All the best temperament of both breeds. We got him from a no-kill shelter in Phoenix, he was returned to the shelter 3 times before we got him. Seems no one could handle him. Great dog, very keen to please, just needed some attention and kindness.

So yeah, 4 dogs, all labs (well, one mutant mix), and all spoiled rotten and living in our house.

 

[two_bit_score]

Great pics!

 

[TomSeller]

Here are ours. 4 Labradors, all four are "rescue dogs".

Thank you for rehoming these dogs. My dogs have always been death row dogs, I wouldn't have it any other way. Lots of work sometimes but a big win-win.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for sharing

 

[DieselBound]

Slowpoke, great pics. Labs are such wonderful dogs. We've got an industrial strength one- Lab + Mastif. You've got a long way before you can catch up to our vet bills! (two TPLO surgeries- that's about $6,500!)

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Slowpoke, great pics. Labs are such wonderful dogs. We've got an industrial strength one- Lab + Mastif. You've got a long way before you can catch up to our vet bills! (two TPLO surgeries- that's about $6,500!)

Hey DB, I'd prefer not to think of this as a contest!

:laughing:

And the little guy is only 2, so I'm sure there will be more incidents in the future.

Yeah, labs are my favorite breed.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Slim, my dog came from people "who couldn't handle him" also.

Seems like it's an all to often story.

My dog is a Shepard, a Shepard that would run away from you, he would back down and got so scared so often that even walking up to him would make him start peeing on the floor no matter how nice you sounded, something that took me a long time to understand and deal with.

For example, if I woke up and called him over and started petting him he would pee on the floor, when I was outside for awhile and came back inside, he would run over to greet me but clam up and start peeing, when he peed he was so scared of what I was gonna do he would start to wimper and cry.

Pointing it out made it worse, any correction I tried made it worse so I had to post on a dog forum for help, one guy told me to ignore it, don't even acknowledge it happened and let him outside, clean it up while he's outside and when he comes back in act like it never happened.

So that's what I did, I would have him greet me outside when I came home from work or I simply walked in, ignored him and just opened the door so he could be let out.

It took a solid 2 months of doing this for him to stop peeing himself when he's first greeted, he still does it now and then with other people, I have had him about 2 years now.

It took him a long time to start acting like a Shepard, I really had to play with him roughly and show him it's alright for him to stand up for himself and to be confident without being in trouble. Now we play rough all the time and he loves it but he knows to be gentle-ish lol.

When I first got him he's ears were never forward, they were always laid back with his tail almost between his legs.

Idk what part of him the previous owners couldn't handle, if anything they handled him a bit too much.

He's still a big puppy, he wants to play all the time, he loves to be chased and gets in running terrors lol

He turns 4 in April, he's full blooded, bought from petco as a puppy, the owners paid $1400 for him as a puppy and I was given all the documents on him. He was up to date on all his shots and vaccines, he was chipped but nobody registered the chip which my vet did for me, so financially they took care of him and so have I, idk why he acted the way he did when I first got him, I never contacted the people I got him from to find out, but it did take him much longer to "trust" me than other dogs have in the past.

He showed his teeth at his vet the last visit lmao, she was giving him a 3 year rabies shot and a few other things, she also drew his blood again to check for heart worm for the second time. Her assistant was with him for awhile in the patients room, as soon as the vet walked in he tried to hide in the corner of the room behind me, looked at her and showed his teeth lol, I was surprised he would remember he so vividly to get that kind of reaction, it was almost a year ago when he visited her last, the vets assistance held him and they gave him the shots and drew his blood, he never tried to snap at anyone but I was surprised. He went from happy and explorative strait to uneasy and agitated that fast.

He's now a well adjusted dog, he's confident and will stand his ground. He was 94lbs when I got him, the vet found he had worms in his poo so we treated him for that, the last visit he was 112lbs. He's the only dog I have had that is more interested in being inside around me than he is outside, I let him out and does his thing then barks to be let inside, if I'm back at the barn and he can see me he goes nuts and barks like crazy the whole time, if I leave him outside it's 1000 times louder lol. I can't let him back at the barn because no matter how much I train him he sneaks off to chase the cattle, every time so he stays up at the house with a wireless electric fence. I only used the electric fence for two months, he stopped testing the fence so I put the collar up and he's never taken off since.

I guess I haven't spent as much on him as others but he's been to the vet 4 times in 2 years, the last visit was over $600, he's given "heart guard" and "next guard" monthly, he's been tested for heartworm twice and two fecal tests, the second I still have to do, a follow up from the worm meds.

He's a great dog, his company means more to me than the money to keep him healthy, that's how I look at it.

I used to be one of those people that thought people that spent $1000s on a dog was stupid and had too much money until I got max lol, now I think to myself, how much joy would the money bring me vs max, I continue to pick the dog.

 

[jaydee325]

Here is my hansom Whippet, Dan.

We have 4 other Whippets too. They are all beloved members of our family.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

View attachment 510958

Our Beagle mix, Charlotte. Her nickname is Crackhead. Smart as a whip.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

BrokefarmerJohn,

Your story of Max sounds very familiar to our first Lab, a black mix we named Smokey. We adopted her through Petsmart when my daughter was born, and Smokey was guessed to be 10 months to a year old. She was terrified of everything at first, especially men. I could be sitting in the living room for hours, with the dog laying on the carpet, and as soon as I got up, she would bolt up and cower in the corner, shaking in fear. She (a lab) had no concept of "play". Just didn't know how to do it. It took years of positive attention and care for her to come around, but she finally filled out and became a true lab. She got over all of her fears and gained confidence, taking her rightful place as the "family dog". She never did get over her intense dislike for darker skinned men. It wasn't something we taught her or encouraged her to do, but she really disliked any man with a darker skin tone. We could only assume that her previous owners must have abused her and she remembered?

She used to like to lay across the door threshold of the front door if I had it open on a nice day. She could look out the windows of our screened in front porch. One Saturday afternoon she was laying there while I was at my desk working, and I heard her give a low growl and a stifled bark. Without looking up or out the window, I just reflexively said "Git 'em". Normally she would just stand up and bark then. But this time all I heard was toenails scratching concrete and she hit the porch screen door so hard she broke it loose from it's hinges, and I heard toenails on concrete again. Uh-oh. Bye the time I could get up and cross the room to look out the door, I could see her half way down the block, running full tilt, white teeth bared and snapping just inches away from the rear end of an obviously terrified young Hispanic male. All I could think about was this guy hurting my dog (lol), so I took off after them shouting her name as loud as I could. She stopped chasing him when they got to the next street corner and turned around and followed me the rest of the way home, wagging her tail. I'm telling her "good girl, good girl" the whole way home. We get back to our house and I see my buddy's car I was keeping for him next to my carport, and the drivers door is standing open. Nothing was taken, and I never heard a thing, but Smokey heard this guy and knew he didn't belong there.

She died of liver cancer at age 11. Broke my heart. I still miss that dog, she was a good girl.