DOGS

I really hope it works out for you.

my dog seems to alternate roughly 50/50 between friendly and playful Labrador charm offensive and very annoying, dog reactive shouty thug. It's really annoying because I can't predict how he will react to other dogs apart from certain friends of his that he has played with since a puppy. I used to think he only he only get's aggressive with big dogs as a lot of his play buddies are cocker spaniels and the daft fucker kept trying to start on a Great Dane (a really gentle and lovely one as well) but sometimes he acts like a dick with smaller dogs as well. I was in denial about this problem at first and his behaviour was getting me into trouble. But now I only let him off the lead when I'm out in remote places where I can see other dogs approaching from a big distance.

The only thing I have really learned about when dogs get into it is that the humans have to stay calm and keep it casual. Years ago one of my dogs was attacked. I got into a shouting match with the owner, and the dog that was attacked never liked to stop on a walk after that. If I stopped to talk to anyone, he would get really anxious and start barking loudly until we walked on. And with Kitt, who chases big dogs and won't come back, I used to get extremely frustrated and annoyed, until I realised that this was what had caused Bruno to start attacking big dogs, where he never used to. He obviously just figured if he could drive the big dog away, Kitt wouldn't get into trouble and I wouldn't get angry. So now I'm very careful not to get angry, even if everyone is being a dick, and it has helped. Kitt got chomped by a narky dog about a year ago, and neither I nor the other dog's owner got thick about it, and now Kitt stays away from that dog, but he isn't traumatized or anything.

yeah it took me a long time to learn about the value of calmness in fraught situations with humans and dogs not acting civil, lol. You need to remember that if you get angry yourself even if the other dog owner is acting like a prick then it still isn't a proper response and isn't going to do any good for the outcome at all. It's always so good when another dog owner is calm and not a complete dick in these situations. Someone who understands that not all interactions between dogs can be perfect, and there is no need to start yelling as a first response.

when I say it took me a long time, my last dog was such an angel I never had cause to think about this stuff.

RIP to our Lulu Baloo, she was the best dog. She came when we called her the first time we walked her and never had to be on a lead after that (except beside the road, obvioulsy). She never ever chased horses or cats, and once got such a fright when a rabbit ran past her that she had to hide behind me for a minute. She never wanted anything more out of life than a ball and some other dogs to run around with, maybe a bit of a swim, and then a sofa to cuddle up on when the day was done. She never cared about children, just treated them like tiny adults. She accepted every foster, cat or dog, who came into our house. She became arthritic quite young, which then led to her falling and having a bad back injury when she was only seven, and her mobility has been deteriorating steadily since then, with her pain levels increasing year on year. Recently she started falling down a lot, and for months now her "walk" has been me driving down to where we used to walk, taking her out of the car for a five-minute totter and a sniff (timed to get a few biscuits from passing dogwalkers, of course), then taking her home again. She had been pooping in the house for a long time because she had no nerves in her back end, but lately had started wetting her bed too. Once she stopped eating anything but chicken, we knew it was time. She was just the greatest dog.

rip lulu. ;_;

aw RIP ♥️

just gave my dog some pets in honor of Lulu

it's such sad news, she sounded like a grand old dame.

She sounds lovely, I'm so sorry!

Our Sally is getting to that point (my parents almost made the decision on Monday), so this is going to be a tough time for us.

just gave my dog some pets in honor of Lulu

It's definitely what she would have wanted.

Thanks, all.

this very pissed up guy who is normally quite placid was walking past my house and asked if he could come into my garden and say hello to my dog. I know his mother and know he has been suffering from depression since his 17 yr old Springer Spaniel passed. It was all awkwardly ok until I noticed him pinching my dog's paw until he whimpered. I said what the fuck are you doing to my dog here, dickhead?. Got no response and he carried on talking as if nothing had happened. I thought, right - it's time to get this fucking weirdo out of my space. I started with polite hints that he ought to fuck off now, but then he started being reasonable for a few minutes and then after a short period pinched my dog's paw again until he whimpered again and I seriously warned him this time. That was the closest I've got to punching someone in decades.

my dog bit my thumb last week - blackened nail and some blood minor injury. It was a reaction bite to me pointing at him and aggressively telling him not to eat something dodgy he had picked up in the park. It's typical that he'll bite me for being a concerned parent but not some rando psychopath who is squeezing his paw

The squeezing the paws bit is really weird. A neighbour visited my house once with her husband, a man I didn't really know. She had two big dogs of her own, though, so I figured he was fine with dogs. Our dog Cody jumped up to greet him and he decided he didn't like this, so to "teach" Cody, he took his paws and squeezed them hard. Cody cried out and wet himself (because he was that kind of dog, and also he had arthritis in his paws). I was so shocked I didn't immediately kick them out. I did say "don't do that," and he said "oh, it's just to teach him not to jump up". I immediately ushered the dogs out of the kitchen into the living room and shut the door so he couldn't do them any more harm, and we had a stiffly polite cup of tea at the kitchen table and then they left and I never spoke to them again.

I had a feeling this paw squeezing thing might be some "training technique" that appeals to cruel idiots, maybe even some some psycho dog trainers teach it. Like as if it's somehow more permissible and less brutal than hitting a dog or something.

sorry to hear about yr pup, trishyb.

if anyone did anything like the to my dogs i’d politely break their hands.

my best friend’s dad used to immediately bite his dogs on the ear if they did something really naughty but he never did it with anyone else’s lol

I was talking to this headcase window cleaner who told me he pinned down his Alsatian and bit his nose when he snapped at him. And apparently this normal behaviour is how you establish that you are the boss! He really thinks he's a dog nutrition expert as well was once giving me unwanted advice and this is someone who regularly feeds his dog human food like seasoned pork sausages, which can be absolutely toxic for dogs.

Widget has never had pork, because Americans generally don’t feed it to dogs. Relatedly, there are not as many cases of pancreatitis in American dogs.

I hold his paws all the time, though. They are around the size of a blood pressure bulb pump so you can see the appeal?

my brother got a puppy!! he's a King Charles (ugh) Spaniel named Jack. he is pretty much the Tazmanian Devil from looney Tunres, a walking vortex of chaos. their house is a disaster area. i love him.

my old roommate's girlfriend's girlfriend did that when she met my dog... "oooh he looks just like my dogs from back home in indiana", or iowa or wherever the fuck she was from. "they love it when you massage between their paw pads like this!" and my buddy was clearly not loving it. i think i asked her politely to stop and she insisted that he loved it. i couldn't fucking stand her, i ended up moving out of that apartment because the girlfriend was driving me nuts.

(minus one 'girlfriend's')

As someone who recently adopted a black lab (from my ailing mother-in-law, who can no longer care for herself, let alone a dog), I would not recommend one.

Our other dog is a pit bull/German short-haired pointer mix, whom we also adopted. She's probably the best dog I've ever shared space with. Great personality, excellent with kids, very loyal and protective.

As someone who recently adopted a black lab ... I would not recommend one.

hardest of hard disagrees there, they are the best

Tbf, he's relatively young (three years old), and has no experience living with anyone other than an old lady and a blind, deaf Dalmatian. But he's just kind of dumb, and he's way too aggressive (barking, not biting) towards my 12-year-old's friends.

And he fucking terrorizes our cats.

I don’t dig Labs in general unless they are trained well and have a lot of room to roam and explore. Otherwise they are awful.

Like the only lab I ever truly loved lives on an island in Maine and has hardly ever been on leash and is sweet as pie. But most dogs with that kind of life would be!

weird, my black lab mostly just wanted to be around me and eat whatever i was eating. by that measure, i think he had a good life, though i felt bad that he was stuck in a cramped apartment so much of the time. he was dog reactive and pulled on the leash, so walking him could be stressful. otherwise, he was calm, affectionate, and above all patient. i've never known such a patient dog. he was not a barker rolled over for belly rubs. he was very persistent, and convincing, at asking for food. lost interest in chasing animals after 2 seconds.

i used to do the trust exercise with him where you cover your hand in peanut butter and let him lick it off, such a sweetheart. i filmed it once dressed as a lion tamer 🦁

"he was dog reactive and pulled on the leash, so walking him could be stressful"

sounds a bit like my black lab, his behaviour has got me into trouble a few times but he can also be an absolute charmer. Also his obsessive scavenging can be a problem outdoors and his endless plotting to raid human food in the house is a constant challenge and source of amusement to me. He's such a handsome rogue I can never fall out with him for long. I recently read somewhere that pouring old vegetable oil into the soil in your garden is good way of disposing of it and contains minerals that are beneficial for the soil. Only I didn't realise it would mean he would spend 10 minutes licking the soil on the spot where I poured it every time I let him out in the garden, that's how bad his scavenging is so had to put a stop that method of disposal.

Black labs are meant to be out in the fields and rivers all day long. It's what they're built for. YMMV, but in general the younger ones in particular need a lot more exercise than people realize in order to be placid in the house. When we had one, he got an hour of off-lead running around and swimming a day, plus two shorter on-lead walks around our housing estate. He was an absolute pet in the house. His favourite thing was to hold your arm in his mouth when he was sitting beside you. A real gun dog.

Highly recommend getting the 12-year-old's friends to give him chicken from their pockets whenever they see him and the barking will magically stop.

My friend has adopted a long-termer from a rescue. He's a six-year-old black lab with a murky history. She's had him for about five months, but now she is ready to let me meet him, which will mean her walking him past the gate of my house at a prearranged time. I will stand outside my house, greet her, ignore the dog, chat for a minute, then let them go on. That's meet one. Meets two and three, I will casually give him chicken from my pocket and become the magic chicken lady. Then meet four I will be allowed to talk to him and possibly look him in the eye. Man, the dedication of some people who take in dogs. I couldn't manage it.

my black lab apparently is a Drakeshead or roughly from that lineage of gun dogs or at least looks like that. I bought him from some plasterer bloke who bred his labs at home because I couldn't be bothered dealing with KC people. He's much bigger than most labs I see and hasn't got the stamina for all day countryside action. Just playing catch up with a mad springer spaniel for half an hour and he's knackered and will sleep for hours. I'd say a 3 mile walk is more than enough for him.

loads of black labs around our area. afraid I'm not really a dog person and would never own one but whenever I play golf in the early morning, like this morning for instance, will spot at least 6 or 7 during the round. golf course next to a forest must be heavenly for them and it does make me happy to see them bouncing around as long as they don't bounce up on me. if they do I find standing stock still and ignoring them usually works and most owners are relieved if you don't make a big deal of it.

only problem seems to come when they bark at people riding horses which tbf I've only witnessed a handful of times.

got a nice pic of my dog touching noses with a horse, but he might have barked at them once or twice when he was a pup.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP_H-kXX0AYRZ3D?format=jpg&name=medium

might as well

Awww.

Widget (a whippet, and small for a boy) is intimidated by black Labs and saves his angriest barking and lead pulling for any he randomly meets. I attempt to mitigate his behaviour to onlookers by reining him in and calling him a wanker, so at least they know I also find it unacceptable. However, he is fine off the lead apart from an initial ‘challenge’ to determine whether the retriever before him is The Enemy. Two related problems:

RNIB walk a lot of guide dogs through my neighbourhood because their offices are nearby. You can imagine what Widget thinks about this, and he also despises the other guide dog type - any shepherd breed.

Rupert Everett lives around the corner from us and recently added a black Lab to his household.

there is this lovely white whippet I see in the park who my lab is sometimes friendly with. The whippet is a bit skittish and was trembling once while Douglas cautiously approached him, but has got a lot braver since and will bark at him sometimes now from a safe distance, they are both as bad as each other. Can never predict if they are going to be friendly or have a shouting match.

Widget is bolshy as fuck, for a whippet.

Thanks for the advice, trishyb. He does get a lot of time outdoors, although probably not enough. He has bonded quite well with the other dog, which helps.

Honestly, we took this dog in as an act of kindness, and I want it to work. My son (the 12 year old, the only one still living at home) adores him.

Only I didn't realise it would mean he would spend 10 minutes licking the soil on the spot where I poured it every time I let him out in the garden

omg DYING 😂🤣😭
sounds about right.

that picture is gold! Douglas is indeed a handsome boy.

My dog is a black lab. He weighs about 80 pounds. He seems to attract a lot of barking from other dogs as well. He also pulls a lot on the leash and barks loudly at just about anything that he doesn't like (which includes trucks, delivery people, other dogs, construction workers, etc.) So he is kind of a pain in the ass. He also is an incorrigible garbage eater. He can smell a pizza crust from a block away and will dive into the gutter to grab one (usually dislocating my shoulder in the process). Very loyal and affectionate though.

lol they are such incorrigible fuckers when it comes to scavenging food. I have to keep mine on the lead in areas near houses where I know stupid people throw big piles of bread over the wall in spots where birds will never eat it because its in prime cat predation territory. So this bread turns into a disgusting mouldy blue mush and he will eat the lot of it. And pizza crusts, yes he waits until I am out of sight and does bin raids if he smells pizza crust in there. If he didn't make me laugh so much I would be completely exasperated with his behaviour.

Mine has now figured out how to bypass the strap we hooked to the basement door to keep him away from the cats' food and litterbox. They are now even more terrorized (and hungry). This dog has pushed me into an arms race; in addition to the baby gate I put up in the hallway to keep him out of the back of the house, I now have to install a cat door.

I'm sure I've shared the story of our emergency trip to the vets one night with our black lab foster who found his way into the food press and inhaled so much dry dog food so quickly that it completely blocked his innards and changed his body shape.

I do remember that one trishyb and have retold it to other ppl in the Lab network.

I was talking to this Lab owner who in desperation unscrewed her living room and kitchen door handles and fixed them back them upside down - lol, like that was going to defeat a Lab!

his behaviour has got me into trouble a few times but he can also be an absolute charmer. Also his obsessive scavenging can be a problem outdoors and his endless plotting to raid human food in the house is a constant challenge and source of amusement to me. He's such a handsome rogue I can never fall out with him for long.

This is my white Swiss shepherd to a tee. Her whole days are spent trying to win food of us with her dashing good looks and manners, or trying to steal food from us when we are unaware. She also will trust that absolutely anything we give her in her mouth is a treat (mostly as a toy), so me and my wife have a great time giving her our torn up envelopes, pumpkin ends, empty chip packets, cardboard boxes, for her to run outside with it immediately and try figure out what it is we gave her. Probably not the best for training but very good for entertainment.

I’m currently training for a marathon and my god the girl can run! Anyone have any experience long distance running with their dog? I have worries in the back of my head about seriously impacting her health with it, but placate this by telling myself I’m not running her any harder than she runs herself at the off leash dog beach (she goes hard). Any advice is appreciated

Squeezing dog paws is very poor. Holding your dogs paws at every conceivable moment though? Absolutely classic. Hold hands with my dog more than my wife these days