Hi! I've joined this forum today after reading so much that I love .... I don't have a labrador, but I do have a 12-week-old retriever/pointer/mole-catcher/watchdog - a Friese Stabij. The internet tells me that the Friese Stabij is one of the world's five rarest breeds. That's because they are 'jacks of all trades, masters of none', I guess, so other countries haven't embraced them. Here, in the Friesland area of the Netherlands, however, they are a very common breed, nothing like 'rare'. Some are a bit oversized however, and some are a bit aggressive ... which a retriever/pointer really shouldn't be, so I chose a shy little chap, with the thought that he might be more rewarding to encourage into living a town-life (as we do), than one who needs to withhold his personality all the time. In the past, however, I've always gone for very bold and pushy puppies, so now I've got to learn again about postive training a very different sort of dog. This is Willow: He is living with a (bold and pushy!) Boxer-X, and two cats, one of which keeps out of the way of dogs, and the other one who puts up with stupid dogs doing stupid things: I will look forward to meeting people and sharing things here.
Welcome - I just googled the Stabji and what a great looking dog! Great friendly faces! I have never heard of or seen the breed here in Canada.
Hello and welcome to the forum from Fred (3), Annie (1) and me here in the UK. What a beautiful puppy Willow is.
Welcome from Hattie 9 years and rescue boy Charlie 6 years. Always good to have new breeds on the forum. Looking forward to hearing all about Willow's training x
Hello and welcome from me and my three Labs - another Willow (black girl, 2.5 years), Shadow (yellow boy and Willow's litter mate, 2.5 years) and Luna (aka Squidge, chocolate girl, 6 months)
Hi there from me and Simba, a Labx. What a beautiful dog! I have never heard of a Stabji either. Looking forward to hearing more about him!
Hi and welcome from me and 3 year old girl, Harley. Willow is adorable. Look forward to hearing more about him.
Hello and welcome to the forum from Poppy and me, across the border from you in Germany. Lovely puppy you have there!
Thank you for the lovely welcomes. Today is a happy day because an event planned for Willow went so well: I decided to take him to see our local King's Day Parade; it's just a small one, but has a loud marching band, and tractors pulling decorated trailers (and carrying lots of children in costumes) and other processional things. I did wonder, though, if I was overfacing him, and this would all be too much. I intended to start from Very Far Away, and just go a step or two closer if/when he relaxed. It didn't happen that way. He was intrigued by the noise, and so we went to stand right beside it. Bands? Noisy smelly tractors? Chipboard castles? Children? Soap bubbles? All part of the normal world, apparently. I feel so happy because I'm reassured that all our previous 'going to see the world' trips must have been just right for him, and his acceptance/confidence has grown as I hoped. So far, it's all been 'in my arms' though. I'm intending to go right back to the beginning of step-by-step confidence-building once he's out on his own paws. And I'm expecting that confidence building to be quite a slow process!
Hello from Coco & me on the Isle of Man. Beautiful puppy - I had to google Friese Stabij too - what lovely dogs!
Welcome from me and Lilly up in Scotland. Hope you stick with us and share Willow's development and we get to see him grow up with the other forum dogs - he is definitely cute! jac
