Brodick is a great big gloopy softy. Around wildlife he is very wired, he loves racing about playing and can get really wild playing with cuillin, but ninety five per cent of his life he is a gentle, affectionate sweet boy who loves people and loves nothing more than cuddling up on the sofa with me and cuilli. Apart from play barking at cuillin he has never barked in his life. Until new years eve! We were coming down off the hill and it was getting dark and standing stock still staring at us was a bloke dressed in black. Im pretty sure he was just a harmless walker but I started to feel a bit uncomfy and was about to turn round and go down a different way when there was a deep and blood curdling bark. I looked round in surprise to see Brodick, my big soft sack, leaping right in front of me and cuilli going absolutely balistic at this guy. Ive never heard him bark like this, really deep and he looked and sounded scary! I called him and he came back to me and stood close at my side but kept facing the guy and really barking at him. The bloke just turned and walked off. I was really really surprised at brods but I have to say not unhappy that he did this. He is normally brilliant with people, and I think he was really looking out for me here, and while I know Im supposed to be ' in charge' it was nice to feel that my big soft lad was willing to protect me....he got a pilchard with his kibble that night...
Re: Brodick The Brave Well done brodick the hero. My old lab Murphy once did a similar thing once and he was a big softy aswell.
Re: Brodick The Brave Good boy Brodick looking out for your family Hattie did a similar thing with a jogger that disappeared into some trees when we were walking off the beaten track, she raced off and stood by the tree with very loud and deep barks. I was pretty glad too as I am not sure what he was upto, but I picked up a big branch as was ready to let him have it if he had come out, but with bug fluff ball Hattie standing guard I reckon he legged it ;D.
Re: Brodick The Brave Well done, Brodick. May he have many pilchards!! They know just when to turn the big, brave barks on. Clare
Re: Brodick The Brave I'd love to say maybe my Charlie was protecting me from the foxes when he barked a couple of nights ago - he wasn't though, he was barking and legging it at the same time. He got a sardine anyway. He is still a baby (that's my excuse, anyway).
Re: Brodick The Brave [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3905.msg44925#msg44925 date=1388963038] I'd love to say maybe my Charlie was protecting me from the foxes when he barked a couple of nights ago - he wasn't though, he was barking and legging it at the same time. He got a sardine anyway. He is still a baby (that's my excuse, anyway). [/quote] Hee hee... well, maybe they are not always so brave! You know how, if ever faced with an angry cow moving towards you at speed, you are supposed to drop the dog's lead and let them save themselves, and thereby drawing attention away from yourself??? Let's just say that in such a situation, I know exactly what my brave spaniel does. He runs and hides behind me. Clare
Re: Brodick The Brave Bless that braveheart , taking a stance like that, talk about courage Sam also did a similar thing once ( and only the once ) , I never did work out if it was courage or sheer terror that had him rooted to the ground
Re: Brodick The Brave Clever man!!! Exactly the kind of thing you want (well, exactly what I would want!! )
Re: Brodick The Brave well done,....i often wonder would jasper protect me, i doubt it, he is way to soft
Re: Brodick The Brave Well done Brodick! It's nice to know our dogs will protect us if needed, or even just warn us of something. My partner sometimes works away for a night or two at a time and I used to get quite freaked in the house on my own - it makes strange noises and I get freaked easily lol. Now that Penny has grown up a bit she has started a bit of alarm barking. Most of it is stupid like barking when the oven timer goes off but when I'm he alone for the night I let her sleep on the bed with me and I know she would wake me and warn me if anything odd was going on. Although she's a tiny little thing (fully grown at 18kgs!) she sounds like a Rottweiler when she barks!!
Re: Brodick The Brave Good boy Broderick...gives you a bit of a scare when you come across someone you don't expect Dexter is no longer the tiniest Labrador on the Forum!He's lost his crown to Penny!she is truly a little dinky dot x
Re: Brodick The Brave How big (or small lol) is your Dexter? Penny is a working lab (though we have her as a pet) so she's slim and lean, obviously being a female makes her generally smaller too and I think she was probably these smallest of her siblings too! Her parents were average size but being working stock I think they tend to be smaller anyway?
Re: Brodick The Brave How big was penny at 8 weeks? Eevee is 14.75kg at 8 months and want her to get bigger - don't really want her less than 18kg fully grown. Just doesn't seem terribly Labrador like. Honey who is a total sappy old thing lept to my protection last year and it really surprised me. Made me feel so much better as we tend to walk in quite unpopulated areas so no one would hear me shout. I reckon that they can feel your fear.
Re: Brodick The Brave [quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=3905.msg45743#msg45743 date=1389305119] How big (or small lol) is your Dexter? Penny is a working lab (though we have her as a pet) so she's slim and lean, obviously being a female makes her generally smaller too and I think she was probably these smallest of her siblings too! Her parents were average size but being working stock I think they tend to be smaller anyway? [/quote] He's 22/23 kgs at 15 months....and is small framed ,lean and muscly ;D he's a working lab ,but with us as a pet .we'll meet his Dad in August when we are back in the UK and I've only ever seen photos of his Mum,working on a shoot,leaping over a hedge and running through streams ;D We sound wholly irresponsible buying our lab like this but his breeder is friends with friends of ours who have 2 dogs from him. We love him but I HATE it when people say to me,'What is he?Looks like there might be a bit of lab in there!' : Even last night we had friends round and one of them said he's really skinny isn't he?i hope I'm not seeing him wrong....I think he's perfect,you can see his ribs when he's standing but they are covered .he drops weight easily so I do watch his food really carefully...there are probably 2 Labradors I see in the park ( they are show line) that aren't overweight....the rest are all too heavy and most look stiff on their legs ....I don't think people are used to seeing a slim lab ......
Re: Brodick The Brave Yes! Most of the labs I see are overweight to some degree so when people see one that is actually the correct size they don't know what they're looking at!! I always worried that Penny was too small as a lot of the labs you see nowadays are huge great big beasts! (I had one in my kennels who was 45kg and not overweight...). After going to Discover Dogs and seeing the labs there that fit the breed standard I'm much more happy about Penny's size - the ones there were about her height or maybe only a couple of inches taller at the shoulder and her build - lean and not stocky. It doesn't just happen with labs, a lot of people these days are breeding dogs to be bigger than they are meant to be - looking at the Dalmatians and huskies in particular I was shocked at how small they are actually meant to be!
