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Black Lab

camofry

*Supporting Member*
I am thinking I would like to have a companion dog for the house and to ride in the truck with me. I have a chance to save a dog that the owner can no longer keep and just looking for a little info on them. It is a black lab, female (fixed)house broke,loves to ride,loves kids and is a little over a year old. I am alone most of the time , the kids are grown and the wife works alot . The wife dont like me out walking the woods and fields alone no more and Im thinking a dog just may be the ticket. At a year old there still may be a chance I could get her started on hunting sheds and wounded deer. Have some of you ever had a lab and what are some of the ups and downs for them?
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
Positives...loyal and people friendly.

Negatives... they are puppies and act like it until 5 or more years old.
 

Schu72

Well-Known Member
3,864
113
Streetsboro
Very active and smart. Mine loves playing frisbee even at 11 years old. Prone to hip dsyplasia. Get as much info on the parents as possible. They generally have a wonderful disposition, but can be agressive. Check the dog for food agression and ask if has been around kids and other pets.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
Jesse I've wanted to ask you about that...how does the routine work with him going to work and being in the field? That's something I'd to be able to do...just good obedience and good dog manners?
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,743
274
North Carolina
Beener and Shu hit the negatives and the rest have pointed out the positives.... Great dogs once you get them out of the terrible 2's..... They like too chew and nothing will be sacred, stubborn but if you work them and keep their energy focused on workouts and not what can I get into you won't find a better dog out there..... If you don't work them then all that energy will go too evil..... Been there done that..... Camo I'd go for it since you're mostly alone and have time too work her..... As far as shed hunting she'll probably take too it like water :smiley_clap:
 

Schu72

Well-Known Member
3,864
113
Streetsboro
Forgot to mention they like water! They will find it anywhere play in it, lay in it, hot or cold outside my dog loves it.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
I write more on this since I love the breed so much.

Labs can be playful, and I'd suspect that there's a chance you'll have to work through some behavioral issues from adopting a dog, but that'd be no different with any breed. I'd give German Shepard a close second, but I think labs are the smartest and most people-sensitive dog in the world - there's a reason they are used more than other breed as guide dogs for the handicapped (also bomb sniffers). As far as children goes, I remember clearly my baby cousin laying on her back, pulling her ears and poking at her eyes, nose, and snout. I'm not sure she even licked him. They are very friendly dogs.

As far as sheds, I think the goal would be to take advantage of their natural desire to retrieve, after all that is part of their name. A young lab that has an antler as a toy and that takes walks catching a retrieving an antler with verbal commands would turn out to be a good shed dog (if there's really such a way to train a dog to bring back sheds instead of sticks). Obviously they are duck dogs foremost, but also are used by some to hunt pheasants. I've rabbit hunted with a lab that went along and he was a bit of a pain in the ass though...

Can't think of a better dog as a companion and friend. It's been 4 years since we put our lab of 11 years down, and I still miss her everytime I go to mom and dad's, expecting that she'd be on the porch or within the front door greeting me. I only have 1 picture on my desk and it's not of a girl or my family, it's a lab.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Jesse I've wanted to ask you about that...how does the routine work with him going to work and being in the field? That's something I'd to be able to do...just good obedience and good dog manners?

He'll go 12 hours in the truck easy without getting out and there has never been an issue. So if I'm on the road and we never have a chance to let him out, that is fine. I usually stop at one of the boat ramps or stream access areas and let him play at some point in the day. If he goes to the office, he minds his business without any worries. You just have to get them trained...
 

huntn2

Senior Member
6,090
157
Hudson, OH
Love me lab and will always have one. Ruger (2.5 year old black lab male) is absolutely amazing with my son Landon (18 months). I could post pictures all day long of Landon trying to lay with Ruger, Landon sitting on Ruger, Landon pulling Rugers ear or stepping on his tail. I cannot give Ruger enough credit for how he handles himself around my son.

As others have said they want to run and retrieve. Therefore, exercise is key to limiting non desired behaviors.

2011-04-09 18.55.14.jpg2011-07-31 12.48.19.jpg2011-02-12 13.04.49.jpg

Little is as satisfying as watching these two interact.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Save the Lab, nuff said!

Yep, what he said. They are like any other dog in that if you don't take the time to train them properly, they'll be a royal pain in the ass. BUT, all that aside, a labrador is probably the best companion dog out there... and truly a do-anything-and-everything workhorse of a dog.
 

Longdraw

Junior Member
496
102
Central,Ohio
Great dogs,I am a sporting dog person,I have alawys had beagles but there are very few rabbits anymore so I got myself a lab for duck & goose hunting,mine just turned 10wks. and he is very mellow and already housebroken and retrieving



''Curran's photography''