Hello from NJ!! I have been posting a bit in the puppy areas and just realized that I never properly introduced myself. My name is Denise and my husband, two children and I recently added a chocolate lab puppy to our family. It has been an adventure and a definite lesson in patience and embracing chaos on my part. We are big Zac Brown fans http://www.zacbrownband.com/ and when I found out our pup would be a choc - I knew his name had to be Zac. And it just fits him. He is smart and bitey - very bitey - which apparently is the norm. We got him at 7 weeks and now 7 weeks later, he is getting big (he has huge paws....), is housebroken (even occasionally rings bells on the door to alert us he has to go out), is responding well to crate training and obedience training. Our trainer says he is "rocket scientist" smart (HA!) i don't know about that - but I do know that he is fun to work with! I just wish the training exercises would carry over into other moments, like dropping items that he has locked his jaws on. I am so happy to have found this forum and site. Such great resources and information! ~Denise
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi and welcome from me and my golden lab murphy who's 20 months and soon to be joined by a black lab bitch who we are picking up next week so iv got all the biting to come again! This forum is amazing, the people are so lovely and helpful!! X
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi Denise....Welcome! By NJ you mean New Jersey? We have a friend in Kearney Good luck with the crocadog. We are thankfully past that - Lilly is a black girl now 4 and a half. Have fun on the forum jac
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi Denise! Welcome from snowy Andorra from me (Fiona) and my two reprobates, Willow and Shadow - 5 months in two days' time and past the whole crocodog stage. Fun as that was(!), I'm now enjoying not looking like a self-harmer
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi Denise and Zac... We're over in Idaho, and Bella is 17 weeks and milk chocolate! We're loosing front teeth rapidly, still waiting for the big ones to come/go. Lots of tug toys for her these days...seems to be keeping our skin intact pretty well.
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi there from snowy and cold Alberta...me and my 2.5 yr old LabX are just trying to stay warm....
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi from me and Obi (nearly three) in rather hot Canberra, Australia
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hello from another Chocolate lab Rolo, who at 6 months is still very bitey we live in Lincolnshire England. Kris
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi All! And yes - NJ is short for New Jersey...we are close to the shore. Snowbunny - HAHA! Yes - I do look like a self-harmer! (fantastic as a therapist! cringe) Sunsetpines - no lost teeth here yet...but boy are we looking forward to that! Zac's favorite toy is his Kong Wubba - we had close to an hour long tug game last night! My husband was complaining about the squeaking and I pointed out that he was not biting either of us... Rolokris - is Rolo neutered? I am wondering how that plays out in the behavior, if at all. And yes - we are COLD too! A whopping 8 degrees this morning!
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Bella likes her Kong wubba well enough....but it's not her toy of choice... For general wrestling, she goes for her camel For squeaky play...we have a kong purple hippo squeak which is her all time favorite for squeak and fetch games. Second place there is the squeaky tennis balls and the kong wubba. For tug toy...she has several rope toys, with her favorite being a pink one she got at Christmas with a GIANT pink tennis ball on one end, and a handle on the other end. She gnaws on the rope and tugs...and flings it around and slaps herself with it. Lost another front tooth last night...it might have been the last one of the little front teeth. Still waiting for the incisors and molars tho...
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi and welcome from me and 17 month old fox red lab, Harley We live in Bristol in the UK
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hi Denise....your puppy sounds lovely and I agree,very clever ;D x We have dexter out first ever dog ...a 2.5 year old yellow boy and we live in dubai although originally from the UK. Best wishes and welcome Angela x
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Hello fro Laura and Luka in SW france formerly So Cal. Luka is a handsome 20 month old yellow lab and thankfully we have graduated from the needle teeth and claws, past the forever jumping up phase, past the I will eat all your house plants and anything wood phase and he is now the most lovable, affectionate buddy you could ever ask for. Labs are the best. We can let him off lead in the woods and fields here and he does frequent stops to check where we are, looking back and comes straight away when called. It's my husbands first dog and well it's puppy love!
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Canela (my 18 month old chocolate lab) and I are from Jersey City, NJ!! Biting will get better (Canela nibbles) but then the jumping kicks in!
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Welcome from Pongo in South Wales! (And from me too....)
Re: Zac Brown (half choc lab, half crocodile) Thanks for all the welcomes! And another Jersey Pup!! At 17 weeks we are losing the needle teeth! Yippe! Countersurfing is tiresome, but we are working on it. Dinner time we simply put him in his crate with a bone so that we can eat in peace - and he doesn't seem to mind anymore - just a part of his routine. Now - if we could just curb his table surfing when the kids are sitting down to do homework! We have had to write a note that the dog ACTUALLY ate my daughter's homework. My son and I fished it out of his mouth and I taped the slobbery mess back together, but it wasn't pretty..
