minxy

I voted loose in the backyard. I can't leave Kyojin in the house because we have two indoor cats and I don't want to risk it, regardless of how well they get along. (Wouldn't do it with any dog). But he's also safe in the yard and doesn't get bored. I have him inside with us when we're home, which is the majority of the time as I only work a few hours a week and OH's a shift worker and most of his hours are at night when I'd be home no matter what.

Of course. There is no way that I could have comfortably carried Kyojin in to the vets, crated or otherwise.

Kyojin used to wake us up around 4.30-5.30am for months. Gradually over time he would let us sleep longer, but it probably took about 6 months for him to start sleeping in. He was pretty good at going back to bed for us most of the time though.

Its funny you should mention that, when i was at training school last friday our trainer was going through all the different breeds of dogs we have and one bloke had a black lab :) When he was asked why they got a lab the guy said cos they are a cuddly family dog. Trainer then said ok cool, do you go hunting ect and guy had a completely blank look on his face and was like ahh nooo. Trainer then seemed miffed, as if to say why get a hunting breed when u don't hunt. He has gun dogs and does sports with his so i guess he thinks dogs should still do what they were bred for? I do agree to some extent, but then we would have chaos lol Too many labs hunting and the sheep would never rest with all the GSDs haha That's a little bit difficult when your breed was used to hunt bears :laugh:

Yep black too can bleach we have seen it in the poodles, they can go a greyish kinda colour..Okay here we are we have the timeline of the coat colour picture 1 was Jan 2011 about a month after I got him, pic 2 was march 2011 theres already a difference, and then the final pic was in full show condition in may of 2011 - we won a neuter in group that weekend :D Wow, that's an amazing difference! Could definitely see the sun bleaching in the photos you had on Facebook. The dark chocolate is such a beautiful colour.

Does sound steep 8 months not weeks?? Chocolate isn't 'rare' persae, is it? Age shouldn't matter, $3500 for a Lab is ridiculous! $1000-$1200 I would think Chocolate is about as rare as blue staffords, they're not popular in the show ring, so they don't tend to get bred for that reason, but then they became the craze That's phenomenal.. I know the main registered lab who was chocolate who I was showing was $900 or so.. Chocolates aren't rare at all these days but your right they don't show as well as they are a PITA to keep in condition due to their colour sun bleaching.. It took me many months of conditioning to get him back to condition to hit the ring and even then he still looked strange. Next to a younger. Chocolate who had been Uv protected his whole life... To me there is a genetic marker with this colour they tend to be more so crazy then your average lab.. As discussed there is a reason why guide dogs don't have them in the mix.. I loved the boy I was showing but never again would I go chocolate.. I'd be curious to hear this pups breeding if it's a "big named" lab breeder the people might think they could warrant more charging for it Oh that's really interesting Smisch, I had no idea about the sun bleaching! Don't suppose you or anyone has any photos of a lab with it?? You have my Facebook.. I'll link a pic here when I get on my pc but there are a few photos in flab and friends and he is a really pasty colour I'm talking like orangey-creamy brown Sweet, I'll check that out now. Ta!

Does sound steep 8 months not weeks?? Chocolate isn't 'rare' persae, is it? Age shouldn't matter, $3500 for a Lab is ridiculous! $1000-$1200 I would think Chocolate is about as rare as blue staffords, they're not popular in the show ring, so they don't tend to get bred for that reason, but then they became the craze That's phenomenal.. I know the main registered lab who was chocolate who I was showing was $900 or so.. Chocolates aren't rare at all these days but your right they don't show as well as they are a PITA to keep in condition due to their colour sun bleaching.. It took me many months of conditioning to get him back to condition to hit the ring and even then he still looked strange. Next to a younger. Chocolate who had been Uv protected his whole life... To me there is a genetic marker with this colour they tend to be more so crazy then your average lab.. As discussed there is a reason why guide dogs don't have them in the mix.. I loved the boy I was showing but never again would I go chocolate.. I'd be curious to hear this pups breeding if it's a "big named" lab breeder the people might think they could warrant more charging for it Oh that's really interesting Smisch, I had no idea about the sun bleaching! Don't suppose you or anyone has any photos of a lab with it??

Originally we were looking at getting a Husky. They fit most of my requirements, but as I was researching I started to become a little unsure about how I felt in terms of the escape artist nature that some have. So I was working out what needed to be done to secure our place and whether it was going to be too difficult or not. I eventually came across Akitas somehow when I was looking online and knew straight away that they were perfect for me, an even better fit for us than a Husky.

No, I wouldn't even contemplate putting my dog to sleep without exhausting all other options first. I don't believe in just giving up, especially not on family.

Oh gosh, Oscar is tiny. Fingers crossed he's all okay. Let us know how you go at the vets.

You can use whatever you want, but I use drop for lying down, and down if he wants to put his paws on something that he shouldn't.

This is what I do with my Maremmas each week. It blows all the dirt out of them too. Don't use a Coat King. They cut the coat too much and it grows back spikey. Unfortunately it's just one of those things with some dogs. My female Maremma doesn't shed a great deal but the male sheds everywhere, constantly. I agree with this- about the dryer and the coat king. I will also add that I turn the dryer onto the house and blow dog hair out of my carpet- making it easier for the vacuum to pick it up :) Yea, we use our force dryer to blow out hair under/behind furniture too. :laugh:

That was awesome! Loved the Akita one too :D

Do you have a link to the one you bought? I could really go for one. Can't find it on there anymore sorry Esky, but I only paid about $80 for mine on Ebay and it's been brilliant.

Yup, I can't recommend a force dryer enough! You can get them on Ebay very cheaply. They are wonderful at getting out dead hair.

Hachi is such a great movie. Think I'll watch it again today :D Very sad for those who haven't seen it. I hugged Kyojin the whole time while watching it. I used to love the Beethoven movies!

That's really lovely to hear :)

I thought it was either dear/darling fiance

Lovely photos everyone. I like coming into this thread and seeing what everyone's posting. That's a really lovely photo SC.

Kyojin has excellent stranger danger awareness. But in terms of people he's actually met, there's only been one stand out who he hated. And that is because he picked up on both my husband and I really disliking the guy.

:rofl:

Kyojin's first weekend home with us, playing in his pool with "cousin" Mali.

Yup, she's definitely gorgeous!

When?