Special Care for a Special Dog

I just realized I forgot to mention something that really added to the care we were able to give Shadow and also helped relieve us of much of the stress about worrying about him. So . . . I plan on remedying that right now.

As our wonderful dog got older, things happened (just like they happen to people). He'd hurt his leg or his paw or rumble with a neighborhood dog (we live in the country) and get injured. Since we lived so far away from a vet, we were often not sure of what we needed to do. Should we ask for the vet to make an emergency trip into the office to examine Shadow? Wait until the next business day and take him in? Or just do what we could and wait it out?

But we discovered this wonderful online service that let us contact a veterinarian professional and receive an answer back within a few hours. This relieved us of sooooo much pressure. Let the experts do the triage and tell us what to do next.

The service did not cost much and included a $4.95 trial contact. Board certified vets were on hand to answer our questions.

Although we didn't have to use it, one of the greatest features was the ability to upload pictures to aid them in their diagnosis. Great, huh?

Anyway, if you'd like to check it out, click here.

It made us feel so much better when we didn't know where to turn for professional advice.

Wish they had the same thing for people!

Choose Your Family Pet Wisely

Image by onlinewoman via Flickr

Well, ..

Hello there and how have you been for the last few days? My husband and I share this laptop so I haven't had access for a bit. But IIII"M BACK.

I thought I would get on my soapbox pertaining to getting the right pet for your personal family situation. I know, first hand, how easy it is to get the wrong animal and then have the need to get rid of it somehow. It really doesn't matter how many times you tell yourself this is "just" a dog (or cat, or bird, or fish,or boa constrictor, etc), you still feel that stab of guilt. You feel like you are abandoning this creature simply because you don't happen to like it anymore.

I suppose that could be true of some people, but mostly I believe if the animal had been the right choice in the first place then the situation would not even be presenting itself. So if you are considering adding a pet to your family, please proceed with caution. We all know how captivating puppies and kittens are. Personally, I don't get the allure of snakes and all things that creep and crawl, but to each his own, right? As for birds, I'm no expert but I know my Mom liked canaries so what can I say. Maybe?

However, what I do know about (in spades!) are the consequences of getting the wrong pet!!
Boy, can I tell you some stories!!

Oh, OK, if you insist. Cheesh, you guys are pushy. hee hee So. let's see. Once upon a time our family was petless. Our kids were young and, of course, wanted to be otherwise. At the time, my husband was pastoring a small church and we were renting a little building near a trailer court. One of the families had a new litter of kittens (only one of many I suspect considering all of the stray cats in the area) so I blithely sauntered over "just" to see them. RIIIGHT! They were about 4 weeks old, ( just at the cutest stage, you know) and there was one little calico female ( did you know all calico cats are female? interesting, huh?). When I was a little girl, we had a calico "Momma Kitty" who had 2 kittens. One of her kittens was a big black tomcat that was with us for quite a while and was a very good cat (almost trained ha ha). Anyway, I had very warm and cozy memories of calico cats. I couldn't resist.

So, we took the little cutie home and within a week our entire house was overrun with fleas. Oh, did I mention that cats are not very agreeable about taking a bath? So, the flea bath I tried to give this little"cutie"was a total disaster. Water everywhere and, what to me, appeared to be a
gazillion fleas still on that little body, and in the water, and all over me, and, still, all over the
house. Needless to say, we made a decision pretty quickly that a mistake had been made and we had to do something about it NOW. Anyway, long story short, we took her to the pound and then a few cans of flea bomb later felt relieved and just a bit (guilty, ridiculous, silly, STUUPID-take your pick). Never again. yeah right.


Then there was the time we thought it would be a good idea to get a puppy for each of our kids.
(That would have been the chicken killer and the "ugliest"dog ever born). One of them went to the pound (our daughter's, the chicken murderer). We did, in fact, keep Trooper until he died at a ripe old age. (even though he was esthetically challenged) He was a good dog.

Or, how about the time we thought Ginger, our first dog (Lab/German Shepherd mix), needed a friend so we got Taps, the neurotic white German Shepherd, (we picked her because she was hiding under a chair, good reasonable choice right?) who also ended up at the pound.
I could go on and on. I could even tell you tales about how our kids seem to have inherited this "leap before you look" tendency when it comes to those cute little fur faces but surely you get the idea by now. (Probably from personal experience) So my word of wisdom in these situations is "DON'T DO IT". Just step back from that little doggie pen and take a deep breath and think about what that cute little furball is going to be 6 months from now and what sort of personality is he liable to develope. Then click your heels together and say "There is no place like home as we now know it and do we want to change that right now" and then take another look at the puppy. (This is based on the supposition that you have already researched the dickens out of the breed you considering).

Got to go for now but more on this subject later. TTFN

Related articles by Zemanta

• Lost Dog Finds His Way Home (doggies.com)

The Family Dog

Image by Qole Pejorian via Flickr

Hi Ya
Now that is what I call a Family Dog!! Just look at that face.

That gentle, everything is fine here, got it under control, trust me look is pretty much the same across this wonderful breed.
The thing about it is that this animal means it. Ha Ha
This guy is calm and will probably sit right by his Mistress as long as she sits there with her baby. If the baby cries, he will check to see if everything is ok. If he is trained, he will go fetch whatever Momma needs or if he isn't trained he will probably pace the floor or go see if Daddy is home. From my experience, this breed does not like to see unsolved problems. Once everything is fine again, they will settle down too.

I have seen this breed with 2 or 3 little ones (of the human persuasion) lying on him, crawling all over him, or using him as a pillow without so much a twitched whisker. If the child happens to pinch or something that hurts just a little, he might lift his head and see what is going on but will just lay back down. Like he says, "No problem, trust me."

Of course, there will always be an exception to the rule. Statistics would prove, I'm certain, that once in a great while a glitch will happen and a "bad dog" will appear in any breed. But trust me in this, you will not often run into one of these "glitches" with this breed. I believe that is because you have started with Labrador Retriever/Golden Retriever genetic mix. That, my friend, is,indeed, a match made in heaven. See you later.

TTFN

Day 3 Groovy Grooming

Image via Wikipedia

You know, one of the most fun and satisfying thing you can do with your dog is grooming him. Bath time became a fairly peaceful activity for Shadow and I. He was a big dog. In his prime he was about 100 pounds. When he was young, that was 100 pounds of flexed muscles ready to spring right out of the bathtub. Quite exciting. HA HA However, as he got a bit older,he would jump in the tub by himself (aaah that worked much better) and stand still for me to scrub him down and then rinse of the suds.

Brushing was good too. He would almost go to sleep as I brushed all of the loose hair from his coat, and there was a lot of it. Labs, for those of you who aren't familiar with the breed, have a double coat. The outer coat is oily and rather coarse since they are swimmers and the inner coat is finer and softer for insulation against water and the elements. Therefore, my currycomb type of grooming tool always came away full. There were times when I could easily fill a supermarket plastic carry out sack with this activity.

And, oh, those toenails! You really need a special nail clipper if you trim your dogs nailsyourself because it is quite easy to clip into the quick if you aren't very careful. When it began to sound as if we had a troop of tapdancers in the house as Shadow walked across the hardwood floors, we knew nail clipping time had come once again. Sometimes he would chew his nails and trim them himself but that was not a good plan. He would end up with cracked and chipped nails that could end up being painful. So be careful with this grooming job and get a good pair of clippers. Do some research for the best.There are a bunch out there and they are not all good.

Just to touch on one thing more, lets look a the ears. Floppy-eared dogs are notorious for getting ear infections of various types. Just to name a couple, a type of fungal infection and ear mites.
Both of these problems can be kept at bay if you learn to clean the dog's ears. If you lift the flap and look inside the ear and see what appears to be dirt, it could be either of these problems presenting itself. Both of these situations cause quite and odor which you will not mistake once you find this problem in your pet's ears. My suggestion is if you find this, go ahead and take the dog to the vet and get them cleaned out really well and treated. Then get the vet to show you how to clean the ears yourself and what he suggests as a good and safe cleanser. That will get you off on the right foot (or paw, if you will).

Here's a good grooming guide, one that I highly recommend that includes information on trimming nails, cleaning ears (see above, lol), and give your pet relief from itching an skin infections. I found it much more convenient to take care of my pet from home instead of carting him off to the groomer, the vet, etc.

That's it for today. Go give your dog a bath--it's a great way to bond with your pet and it is a lot of fun to watch them frisk about afterward. They obviously feel great!!

Catch you next time.

Day 2 Puppy Choice

Image by GillBates via Flickr

Hi again.

Well, that wasn't so difficult so I guess I will try it once more.

One thing you really have to keep in mind when you are looking for a new canine member of the family. Never. Never. Never go to look at Labrador puppies unless you are pretty darn certain that is the breed you want in your home. One look at those little puppy eyes and after watching them roughhouse with their litter mates and all is lost. Just look at those little guys. What's not to love? All of a sudden you will find yourself chosen by a puppy.

If you will note the title of my blog, Labs are Golden, you will begin to see how this twig has been bent. My husband and I had decided that it was time to get our 12 year old daughter a dog of her own. Our son still had his old "Trooper" who was a mixed breed (he has a story all of his own maybe to be shared at a later date).

Both of us were leaning heavily toward a Golden Retriever(they are really great,too). My husband, Richard, found an ad in the paper for puppies which were half Lab and half Golden Retriever for $25.00. That was great. So off we went to have a look see. We thought that we would be able to find a puppy that looked at least a little bit like a Golden Retriever out of this litter.

When we got there, we found all of the yellow ones were gone and only the black Lab-look-alikes were left. What had happened was this. A young boy had started a 4H PROJECT in which he planned to breed pure Goldens. Well, it seems the neighbors Black Lab had gotten loose and came to visit the young couple (as in canine). One thing led to another and a match not necessarily made in Heaven, but close as far as I'm concerned, occurred. So much for the 4H project.


Anyway, by the time we got there all of the Momma's characteristics were missing and the Daddy's genes were running and tumbling all over the place. Of the five or six puppies that were left, one of the little males came over and ran around our feet and finally sat down on our daughter's foot. We had been chosen. That is how Shadow came into our lives. I really have to say we never regretted it once for the next almost 17 years.

So, beware, if you are looking for a dog for the family, do your research online before you ever go to meet the puppies. Once you've met the little charmers the choice seems to have already been made for you by a little four-footed furball.

See you next time. Bye

Day 1 Introduction

Hello all you wonderful dog people. This is my first time to say "Hi" as a blogger so be patient if I pull any sort of terrible techno snafu as I expound on a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Labrador retrievers--Golden Labs to be precise. However, you just have to love them all if you enjoy this breed at all.

Let me begin (my husband said it was ok) by saying this blog is in memory of my best buddy, Shadow. He was almost 17 when we had to put him down. It still hurts even after 3 years but I'm certain there are a lot of you that can relate to that so "Here's to you, Buddy".

If you haven't hugged your Lab today go do it and tell him (or her) it's one from Ginny.

I really can't imagine a more congenial breed for anyone who wants a "companion". More than a small breed is capable (of course, this is all subjective but this is my blog, right?), the Labrador Retriever is able to share your life. They are always watching to see what you are going to do next and will jump at the chance to do it with you. They seem to reflect your every emotion. Feeling down? Look into your Lab's eyes and what do you see? There seems to be a sadness in his eyes and a slight frown on his brow. ( I mean that literally. Shadow would frown). Are you very happy about something? Look at your Lab and you will see his entire body on alert, tail wagging and a happy panting going on.

Labradors are easily trained to do many, many things (not just tricks) with and for people. They are wonderful service dogs. Hunting retrievers, you can't beat them. Need a family dog, Labs love kids and are very gentle and patient with little ones. Need a good companion for an older person, Labs are able to be calm and watchful while they live with an elderly loved one, (Probably not a place for a young puppy though.) In my experience, they are very anxious to please members of their family.

I'm going to stop now. Come back and tell me what you think of my "Shadow Blog" and maybe I will be brave enough to do it again.