Thread: I need another Lab

Three dog tragedies in nine months - we are just about over Labs and having broken hearts - but we have to try again
We lost our Lab - Cruz last July - 9.5 years old and his heart blew out with a cancer
We then found a 14 month old Lab with similar background to Cruz - within a month he was limping - early signs of elbow failure so after two months he went back to the owner - she didn’t accept that he had a serious elbow fault - despite our reports from a top Vet Pathologist and a top Vet Radiologist who took one look at the x-rays that were taken of him for breeding at 12 months old - our Vets told us to get rid of him - our local council rang me a week or so later to say he had been picked up on the streets in Wellington and was in the pound - so the owner/breeder moved him on real quick to some other poor buggar - they don’t seem to realize the heart ache that it can cause - but it’s all about money - but we got a full refund
We then found a 16 month old Lab who was still with his breeder - he was their pick of a litter but was slightly short at the shoulder for breeding - they waited for him to grow a bit higher but he didn’t - he was such a lovely dog they couldn’t bring themselves to part with him - they vetted us and decided we would be suitable owners - so we have had him for six months - within a month he had skin problems - feet, ears, chin and anal - our Vets told us he was an allergy dog - we thought we might be able to manage it with steroids but we let him go back to his breeder last Monday to be re-homed somewhere safer - we are gutted, broken hearted and lost without him - the most wonderful dog I have ever trained - but he just couldn’t cope with the environment that I took him through while trapping
We are too old to train another puppy so we are looking for an adult dog - one year plus - we have always had male dogs but we would also look at a bitch and have her spayed
My Vet mate has always told me to stay away from pedigree Labs - but we can’t do it - we had four beautiful Labs and except for Cruz they all lived to old age - it has to look like a real Lab and have that wonderful Lab temperament - I wonder what is out there?