Hello from a two-lab household!

Hi everyone! I've just joined, as I found the info on this site very helpful.

I live in a remote corner of northeastern Vermont, on a mountainside on twenty-five acres, with my two lab mixes: Burke is seven years old and a first-generation labradoodle - mother was a British field lab and father was a standard poodle. Bessie is a 3-month-old lab mix rescue - everyone who sees her swears she's a purebred lab, but her mother definitely has something else, smaller, mixed. Dad is unknown. Got her at 8 weeks. Everyone who knows me is asking why? Why burden myself with a puppy right now? I am the single mom of an autistic teen and my daughter just went off to college. (The answer may lie somewhat in that last bit.) I have wanted a second dog for some time, but wanted a rescue this time around, and this litter of puppies became available at a local shelter...and there you have it. I fell in love. But I still ask myself why every day, ha! (She's great, but puppies are a ton of work and Burke wasn't a chewer, so I was spoiled. I did have a great lab mix rescue that I got at 8 weeks old when I was 21, but the memories of chewed glasses and torn-up books are fuzzy.)

I've done lots of training work as I was hoping to have Burke work as a service dog for my autistic son. He did so in some capacity between ages 1.5 and 3.5, but he proved too high-strung, prey-driven and dog-reactive (after he was attacked while on-leash) for that.

Taking a more mellow approach with Bessie. My son is now 16 and we're focusing more on their relationship and her being a positive, relaxing, therapeutic being for him to hang out with. It's going well. She is a lot calmer and more mellow than Burke, too.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum from Fred, Annie and me in the UK.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my two, Willow and Shadow. It certainly sounds like you have your hands full! I'd love to see more pictures of them

 

Welcome from Cooper and me on Cape Cod, Massachusetts! You have 25 acres on a mountainside.....that must be a dream for your doggies! Yes,puppies are soooo much work but you will have so much enjoyment after they have gone through all the phases (peeing/pottying indoors,chewing, biting.......). And I am not kidding! Just bear with it,train as much as possible, keep her occupied. She will be a wonderful companion for your son and you.

 

Hi there from Alberta, Canada! Your place does sound like doggy heaven! Looking forward to hearing about their adventures in the wilds of Vermont.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum

 

Hello and welcome from me and my girl Mabel, in the UK.

 

Welcome from me, with Wispa and Tuppence. Do post some photos when you can.

 

Hi and welcome from me and 3 year old Harley in the UK. Harley comes to work with me a lot when I'm working with children and is amazing with them, especially the children with additional needs. She seems to just know that she needs to be calm around children and loves giving them her ball to throw, or just sitting by them giving paw / high five.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! I was typing this morning in the midst of a frenzy of puppy-energy as the two of them played and ran all over me and my couch, so I think I sounded a little less positive than I am about these two! I do love them both so much - and Burke has matured from a rambunctious handful to a sweet, loving, and still gregarious soul at seven years old. He loves people so much - so does Bessie!

We just had puppy class and exhausted her - she is so sweet and so very attached to me. Got to meet three other siblings from her litter and romp around with them quite a bit. They were adorable. She's the smallest (22lb at 3 months old, Dad must have been huge?). Someone said they're quite sure the father is a purebred lab, i.e. the family who surrendered the mom and pups (at 3 weeks) is pretty sure they know who the dad is.

Yes, 25 remote acres is great, but up here we try to combat Rural Dog Syndrome. My anxious guy Burke got it - basically, they get so used to being alone up here that they don't always have the best socialization with other dogs and people, and so used to quiet that any excitement/visitors are overwhelming. Burke is over-reactive to UPS, the mail carrier, and any visitors - he even barks at us when we return from being out, until we get to him.

So, tons and tons of trips to the city with Bessie for me this past month, and ongoing - trying to avoid that. Although I also did that with Burke - he went everywhere with me as he was in training to be a service dog. Maybe I just need more people arriving at the house often!

Anyway, happy to be here and happy to have my two sweeties. Bessie is a sweet, loving, super-attached gal and she is learning so fast! She was the star in puppy class for sure! I have been doing lots of clicker training, and she knows sit, down, and paw, we're working on recall, she turns to her name quite reliably, and she is generally quite well-behaved for 3 months old.

 

Hi there! A very warm welcome to the forum, to you and your dogs

 

Hi a warm welcome from a 3 lab household! We have a 7 year old..Casper, a 2 year old (3 next month) and a 8 month pup, Bramble. We are pretty sure Casper, who we adopted at 5 years old, was under socialised. He lived his early months in a very rural location, he gets over excited when the courier, postman, etc.. turn up

 

Ah hi to you,sounds like you are really enjoying your dogs and it's great to read Bessie seems suited to the needs of your Son X
Good on you putting the effort in with the city trips,it sounds like a bit of a trek but worth it.
Great to see you here x

 

Thanks again for all the welcomes! Here are some photos.

The day after we got her, 8 weeks and one day old:

2016-09-12_02-53-55 by bodhimama, on Flickr

Two days after:

2016-09-12_02-53-26 by bodhimama, on Flickr

A couple weeks later, so about 10 weeks here:

2016-09-12_02-52-06 by bodhimama, on Flickr

Burke and Bessie:

2016-09-12_02-51-11 by bodhimama, on Flickr

and just yesterday, 12 weeks and a couple days old (lots of light from the right-hand side on her coat

2016-09-12_02-48-56 by bodhimama, on Flickr

 

Lovely photos! Oh she's so shiny! I love Burke's distinguished beard.

 

Hello & welcome to Burke and Bessie and to you and your son.

 

Hi!

Burke is really beautiful, it seems like a Bearded Lab!

Bessie looks quite lab to me, at least for now. Anyway... Kudos to you, every dog deserves a good owner, and adopting has a lot of merit! I myself have a secret desire to have a second dog, and if i go that route, i might adopt too!

 

He's lovely my OH has a beard like that. Welcome to you all from me Moo and Rory

 

Thanks for the compliments and welcomes!

Ah, Burke's very poodle-y in personality, and is long and leggy like a poodle, too. And those ears are huge! I was just looking at his puppy pics compared to Bessie; he looks like Dumbo!

This was him at 8 weeks:

burke8weeks5 by bodhimama, on Flickr

And at about 5 months - note the "teapot tail":

Puppy in the wild. by bodhimama, on Flickr

His poor beard has been torn up quite a bit since that pic, from Bessie constantly biting at his face. Poor guy. He's been a good sport about it.

I was determined to adopt/rescue this time around, so when this litter of nine pups came available, I raced to get one, but I went from having the background thought for a couple of years, "I should get another dog before Burke is too old to relate to her," to bam, puppy at home! So the first two weeks I swear I had post-adoption depression! It was rough. And she was so bitey. She's calmed down a lot since.

I've been to puppy training class, included with adoption fee, and met four of Bessie's siblings. They all look SO much alike and so much like labs! She's one of the smallest; I would guess second-smallest in the litter. Some are a little leggier with bigger/floppier ears and longer faces, and most have white stars (she doesn't, just a little tiny bit of white on the toes), but otherwise, they all look very much like purebred labs.

 

There's a Labrador poodle mix on the park called magnum because of his huge fluffy moustache he looks wonderful