Re: Small Labradors Hi. Vespa was 19kg until she was about 2 and then put on about 2.5/3kg (of muscle I think) quite quickly. She seemed to develop an extra gear of speed and put on that extra bit of weight. I haven't measured her..she won't stand still.. :-/ She looks small but feels pretty heavy when she's standing on my head!
Re: Small Labradors [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=4698.msg58475#msg58475 date=1393879515] Penny looks very similar to my SILs girl only she is black. Same very slim body, ears nearly always back (although hers are smaller) and full of energy with an unstoppable passion for retrieving. Penny's ears look a little bigger though. Georgie has more of a whippet look almost than a lab, whereas Penny looks more very slim lab. Meant purely as a descriptor and not to offend. I think it just illustrates how different dogs sre within the breed. Penny is a very pretty girl [/quote] Penny would retrieve all day until she dropped from exhaustion if we let her! Her real passion is tennis balls but we're not allowed to play very much anymore because of her hips. She was bred to work and needs something to do, at the moment her job is learning. I wanted her to be an agility dog but I don't think that's going to happen. Thank you, I think she's beautiful, but then I would!
Re: Small Labradors Lauren, since she's not allowed to retrieve so much any more, but needs to work, could you re-train her to follow a scent? And do lots of searching for tennis balls, instead of running to retrieve them? It is the accelerating and braking that is bad for the joints, I think.
Re: Small Labradors Karen - the assistant trainer at my rally class suggested some sort of scent work might be a good idea but I would have no idea where to start! It's not even really something I knew existed. The trainers at rally love Penny and they say when we're doing the course she looks like she's working. She's taken to it so well and her work ethic actually reminds me of a collie - she picks everything up so quickly and she's a little bit neurotic!! I'm gutted my rally class is only a one term thing - I've been looking for a class that is every week all year but there is absolutely nothing in my area. It's all agility and flyball.
Re: Small Labradors Tracking is a great idea. You can get books to explain how to teach it e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Tracking-Dog-Glen-R-Johnson/dp/0914124048
Re: Small Labradors K9 nosework seems popular in the US: http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/getting-started-nose-work And I've been searching in the UK for classes: https://www.facebook.com/NoseworkUK It's something I'd like to do with Charlie, who can sniff out a sea biscuit from miles!
Re: Small Labradors Tracking is one of the components of working trials. It might be worth talking to your local working trials club and seeing if you could participate in that aspect only?
Re: Small Labradors [quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=4698.msg58431#msg58431 date=1393872388] Here Penny in all her teeny tiny glory [/quote] Dexter is a very similar shape and build but he is a whopping 22.5 kgs!in think he's older and taller though. I must admit I am currently building him up to 24 kgs ...I like him at 22.5 kgs but he suffers from a really sensitive tummy and has regular upsets .he only needs to have a day on rice and he drops weight really quickly,after the vomiting and diarohea bug that lasted 5 days last week,he went down to 20.9 and looked really skinny ( you could really see his ribs and feel knobbles on his spine really easily) I feel if I just get a little more weight on him he will have a bit of credit on the waistline for when he has an upset.....we were at the vets today and he is back to 22.5 kgs,my vet has always told me to feed him up a bit,when I told her that I'd finally conceded she was right ;D she cautioned. 'Yes but don't get carried away and make him too heavy'!! Blummin heck! I can't win!hes just having an extra 'lunch' meal of 75-100gs of kibble ,instead of me feeding him bigger portions of his 2 meals...let's see how He goes,he's back for a check up on Wednesday x
