April Fools

We have had April, our newly adopted rescue lab, for two weeks now, and we are having a blast with her. She is adjusting well, as are we. She seemed to adjust almost immediately, learning where her food and water are kept, what the "pottying" routine is, etc. We, too, learned how to manage two dogs instead of one, how to try to maintain Pepper as the alpha, and how to put away inappropriate things that April likes to chew. It's Pepper who has yet to make the adjustment.

Pepper is an interesting guy. At three years old, he's kind of mellow now, when once he was a crazy lab boy. He is not a barker. I don't know why, but he very rarely barks. He also rarely chases things like rabbits or squirrels, instead freezing in his tracks when he spots them. We certainly appreciate those traits, strange that they are for a lab. He also loves to play, but does not fetch like most retrievers do. He also does not like the playing into interfere with his afternoon naps. Apparently, he marches to his own drummer, but we're happy with his habits.

Along came April, though, and Pepper's world is now turned upside down. April is like the non-stop Energizer Bunny, never tiring and always looking to play. She bites Pepper's ears and legs, butt, tail, and private places that ought not be bitten. She shoves toys in Pepper's face until he joins in the tug-of-war which she enjoys so much, and she ALWAYS wins. She sits on his head, pins him to the ground, and puts her entire mouth around his neck. In short, she beats the stuffing out of him all the time...and he seems to love it. Despite Pepper's thirty pound advantage, he never gives it back to April. We're not sure why, but since they seem happy, we aren't interfering.

The one thing that we do mind is that April steals every single thing of Pepper's: his marrow bones, his rawhide, his tennis balls, and his cookies. In fact, April is so jealous of Pepper that if we are patting Pepper, she puts herself in between us so that we can't reach Pepper anymore. She's a stinker, but we love her.

And speaking of love, April has introduced us to a new way to express a dog's love: power kissing. She gives kisses with the force of a nail gun. We end up covered in dog drool, wiping glasses and needing paper towels to mop up. I know non-dog lovers will be totally grossed out, but we love it. In fact, we've had to try to reprimand her for trying to drill up our noses; even WE think that's gross!

So, here we are now - a two dog family who wishes we'd done the Labs4Rescue thing long ago. Pepper has a playmate, and we have a new baby. Pretty nifty, I'd say.

Gotcha Day

It's "Gotcha Day" at our house! We picked up the newest member of our family today - April! After a two hour drive to her foster family's house, we spent a couple of hours getting to know April and her foster mom and dad. They are fabulous, and we feel like we've made some life-long friends. Pepper and April play just like a brother and sister would, chasing, poking, biting, rolling, stealing... They adore one another already, and we are just so very happy.

Check out the pictures, and tune in soon when I'm awake enough to write some more.

Rescue Me

Our boy Pepper is three years old now. He's so much calmer than when he was a puppy, but he's still a lab. That means that he still has an inborn need to run like a maniac and play hard each and every day. While we are at work or activities or wherever we go, Pepper is bored. Granted, labs sleep the better half of the day away, but when they are awake, they enjoy being active and engaged. For that reason, we made the decision to get another black lab, a sister for Pepper.

We originally contacted the breeder from whom we got Pepper. She has been in the breeding and showing business for more than twenty years, raising champions, winning dog show trophies, and truly committing herself to the betterment of the breed. We trust her and love her dogs. The thought of "raising" a puppy again, however, was not the attractive part of getting another dog. Potty training, crate training, leash training, obedience training, and so forth just doesn't have the appeal it once had. We thought about the alternative of getting an adult dog who needs a home, and then we loved the idea once we looked into it.

Our first thought was simply to take a dog who had been retired from the breeding program, but since none were available at the present time, we looked into the idea of a rescue dog, and are we glad we did.

We hooked up with a rescue site (http://www.petfinder.com/), and the coordinator of that area's lab program gave us some startling information. She said,

"I work from the southern end of the rescue. In my local pound, the dogs are only allowed two days to get out (adopted). If they are not out in two days, they are euthanized in a gas chamber by large amounts at a time. Last year in my city alone, 6200 dogs were euthanized. There were 4000 labs, adults and puppies, euthanized out of that number. It is heartbreaking to know that this is happening and I cannot save them all. (The dog we are interested in) was a lucky one. This is all due to the fact of people not spaying and neutering (their pets). So, I am very against breeding when we have labs dying daily, at least until we can get this population problem under control. When I have to go to the pound and know that I only have room for one or two dogs, it is so hard to walk those kennels and know that I am deciding their destiny, and the ones left behind are always bearing down on my mind. It is so not fair for these dogs, but they do suffer because the humans have failed them. I know that this is not the side that most people want to hear, but it is reality."

After learning that, we were certain that going the rescue lab route was the right choice.

Pepper is being neutered tomorrow. We didn't neuter him when he was younger because the lab expert and co-breeder of Pepper at our vet suggested that we wait. She said that if he wasn't behaving improperly, then why put him through the surgery? Also, because Pepper is really, really gorgeous, she thought we might want to look into breeding him at some point. While we, ourselves, didn't want to get into the breeding thing, we told her that she was welcome to take him for a week or whatever and use him if she wished to breed him. Once we learned all about the lab rescue world, though, we made an appointment to neuter Pepper immediately.

To help us to not feel guilty about our decision, the rescue coordinator said,

"We definitely suggest neutering. We do not adopt to families that do not spay and neuter their pets. It is a benefit to your pet, as well as assisting with the big picture. For male dogs, the biggest benefit is the prevention of prostate cancer. It also prevents unwanted behaviors and aggressiveness towards other male dogs. He might not show signs of this now, but it is likely this could be your future."

Our vet told us the same things, and also added that labs can get anal tumors later in life, and the "cure" for these is to neuter the dog. All things considered, we are certain we are making the right decision.

I'll keep you posted on the surgery and progress of our rescue lab situation. Thanks for reading!