OV9

Knowing it is the right thing to do doesn’t make the process anything other than horrendous.

RIP May

RIP May

Ah crap. Sorry to hear that, but as you say , she’s not in any pain now.

R.i.p. May.

My thoughts with you and your family.

Thanks guys, it’s a strange feeling to be honest, sad she’s gone, happy she’s at peace

Sorry to hear about May. Definitely the right decision, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Dave!

New Addition

Meet Diesel, a nine week old black lab. We heard on Saturday about him being available and picked him up yesterday. It all seemed to happen so quickly, but getting a second dog is actually something we've been considering for a while.

Pics from the seller:
Diesel by mikeyb, on Flickr

Diesel by mikeyb, on Flickr

After picking him up:
Diesel by mikeyb, on Flickr

The journey home wasn't fantastic. He cried pretty much all the way. This was in contrast to the experience we had bringing Buster home - he slept all the way. I was concerned that this was the tip of a very noisy iceberg!
My other concern was how Buster would cope with the new addition. I didn't want it to change his character. Thankfully, after an introduction on neutral ground, they got on immediately well. Which was a good job as Diesel stole Buster's bed!
Diesel by mikeyb, on Flickr

A good sign a dog is happy:
Diesel by mikeyb, on Flickr

He eventually allowed Buster onto the bed too:
Diesel by mikeyb, on Flickr

The reason it was a spur of the moment purchase was the dog only became re-available on Saturday. A young boy had originally bought it but after 1 week had then put it up for sale, with a considerablemark-up in price. The breeder found out and shamed the lad in giving it back for a full refund. Not the best start to the dog's life.

ETA - not sure why the orientation of my photos are all to pot!

(Pics are flipped for me using android device. Look fine on iphone.)

2 dogs is the correct number. Labs are awesome dogs. Well played.

Black lab and a Cocker is most correct (although you got them in the wrong order obviously! )

IanF wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:56 pm Black lab and a Cocker is most correct (although you got them in the wrong order obviously! )

Change Cocker for Springer and I'll agree

Do you work your dogs Ian?

mikeyb wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 1:00 pm

IanF wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:56 pm Black lab and a Cocker is most correct (although you got them in the wrong order obviously! )

Change Cocker for Springer and I'll agree

Do you work your dogs Ian?

Pfft... next you’ll be saying choc labs are ok too!

I don’t work them, well apart from them keeping me fit! I did plan to take Hunter (cocker) beating but felt guilty leaving Henry out, and he’s a lazy shit ( with two titanium hips!)

mikeyb wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 11:18 am The breeder found out and shamed the lad in giving it back for a full refund. Not the best start to the dog's life.

He's in a happy home with a friend now though (well, until they fall out over the bed)

Excellent work there fella!

Demonstrates that not all breeders are unscrupulous tossers - some actually like their animals and go to great lengths to protect them from twats like the original buyer.

Was Diesel his original name or one that you gave him when you got him?

IanF wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:31 pm

mikeyb wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 1:00 pm

IanF wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:56 pm Black lab and a Cocker is most correct (although you got them in the wrong order obviously! )

Change Cocker for Springer and I'll agree

Do you work your dogs Ian?

Pfft... next you’ll be saying choc labs are ok too!

I don’t work them, well apart from them keeping me fit! I did plan to take Hunter (cocker) beating but felt guilty leaving Henry out, and he’s a lazy shit ( with two titanium hips!)

Haha!

Cockers are hardy dogs. There’s a few on the shoot I beat for. I’m starting to learn that both dogs need to be treat equally...!

nuttinnew wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:53 pm

mikeyb wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 11:18 am The breeder found out and shamed the lad in giving it back for a full refund. Not the best start to the dog's life.

He's in a happy home with a friend now though (well, until they fall out over the bed)

I know, it’s not nice. The worst thing is the lad is wanting to become a game keeper, so he will have other dogs in future.

They’re struggling to share his new toys, so there will be a big falling out over the bed if they can’t agree a compromise on that!

teacherboy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:35 pm Excellent work there fella!

Demonstrates that not all breeders are unscrupulous tossers - some actually like their animals and go to great lengths to protect them from twats like the original buyer.

Was Diesel his original name or one that you gave him when you got him?

Cheers

His original name was Ralph. I prefer two syllable names, so me and my girlfriend agreed on Diesel. Well, I wanted him to be called Hemi, the other half wanted him to be called Diesel. We compromised...

ETA- the breeder owns a horse riding school, so may explain the animal care/empathy

My next door neighbour has a MASSIVE old (very docile and very friendly) Rottweiler called Diesel, one of the fences between our gardens blew down on Saturday whilst I was out and my kitchen fitters were in fixing snags.

They both looked a little terrified as this huge mutt was standing at my back doors staring in!

My wife was very disappointed when the neighbours made a temporary fence to stop him coming over into our garden!

Diesel looks like a proper little dude, nice one!

We'd never had a lab until we had Jet as a pup and then re-homed him - he's an incredibly smart and devoted little dog, but has bags of energy so would be perfectly suited to life as a gun dog or something similar (I can see why he was too wired to be a Guide Dog though). He's fairly relaxing in to life now but definitely needs a whole level of other exercise compared to the others.

Guide Dog puppy Danny has just turned one and will soon be off to do his final training. We've no doubts he'll make the grade and go on to change someone's life.

Unfortunately Guide Dog Ben who qualified was knocked down by a car at the end of last year in Belfast while working. He fractured a front leg so has now got a plate fitted and was reassessed but is now (unsurprisingly) scared of cars so has been retired from active duty. Of course we agreed to rehome him as he's a lovely dog and still loves soft toys...



So now we have five. Its way past the crazy-dog-lady stage but my wife seems happy although she is walking them in shifts now.