My dad had Labrador Retriever puppies about six weeks ago. Okay, my DAD didn’t have them, his dog Maggie did. Maggie is a wonder of a beast. She does everything she’s told eagerly. She’s sweet and friendly and smart. Maggie is a hunting dog and I’m told she’s a champ at it, but she’s equally as obedient and easy to deal with in the house. She weighs about 55 pounds.
Sadly, there are only three puppies. Two of them are spoken for, and then there’s one left over for me. His name is Angus MacGyver. He’s black and has a wrinkled forehead and weighs about 6 pounds right now. I went home to visit my parents last week and I played with him. I got a little dog carrier so I could bring him home to Boston. I gave him treats and got books on dog training. I contemplated my space and determined that I was ready for the challenge of raising a well-behaved, medium sized dog in my home.
My dad’s friend Bill called me before I left and suggested that I’d better have a look at his dog Woody before I carted that puppy home. Woody is one of the little results of last year’s coupling of the same two well-bred, kick ass obedient wonderful creatures. He’s a full brother of MY little Angus.
Boy was I surprised when Bill opened the rear gate on his pickup truck and out bounded a 115 pound animal. Woody has a head the size of a large watermelon. His tongue is six inches across. His balls are like oranges. In a word he’s…well…rather shocking. Apparently, male and female labrador retrievers bear no relation size-wise.
But I love him! Someone tell me whether I should go back for him or not. Last night when I got home I cried because I had no Angus.
First of all, welcome back to the board SexyWriter; haven’t seen you around for awhile.
Secondly, I think you should go for it. My cousin and his wife have a VERY small apartment and have a huge German Shepherd, but he’s very calm (well, mostly) so it’s not really a problem. So what I’m saying is that if you feel so strongly about Angus (cool name, by the way) then I don’t think size should be an issue. Just my two cents…
My lab, Adam, topped 120 pounds. The tail never stops wagging, so if you have a low coffee table or other breakables that are at the tail’s height, you might want to rearrange yer stuff. Also, be warned that shots for big dogs cost double and triple what shots for small dogs cost. Plus, Adam goes through a lot of dog food.
Having said all of this…he is my secret agent spy dog and we will, together, one day rule the world.
Hey,**Sophie[/] does your dog slobber a lot? Because this big dog was out in the heat drooling buckets when I saw him. Quite amazing really.
I have a pretty BIG apartment, complete with a backyard, and easy access to big wide fields he could run in. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I want my doggie!!!
please go back and get him. If you have the time and the desire to care for him and give him the excercise and attention he needs, size won’t matter.
Besides, it’s not like he’s going to gain 105 pounds over night. You’ll have time to adjust your apartment to what Angus needs. And really, you knew you were getting a lab, which is a big dog. As far as living space, a 95 vs. 115 pound dog isn’t much different.
No, 95 vs. 115 isn’t bad. But the mother is about 55 pounds. I thought the male would be 60-65. I thought he’d look like his mother! That’s why I was so shocked and chickened out.
60 vs. 115 is another story entirely!
Now I just have to figure out how to get him over here!
You’ve got a backyard and big fields?? I think you should definitely get him then. If my cousin can have a big ass German Shepherd in a one-bedroom apartment, surely this wouldn’t be a problem. Yeah it’s more money but you obviously care enough about him to not let that affect you.
-Brandon
P.S. SW would you mind emailing me? I wrote you re: a prospective writing project and I don’t think it’s working. If it is and you just don’t care, just tell me to shut up.
Can’t you just throw a saddle on him and ride him over??
Sorry - can’t resist such an opening. I love big dogs, but they don’t have the corner on the slobber market. We have a dalmatian who’s under 50#, and when we put the microwave popcorn into the microwave, her drool generator goes into overdrive…
What the? My BEAGLE weighs 50 pounds. Seems like I’ve been hanging around fat dogs. I thought Labs were between 70 and 90 pounds. At least the three I’ve known have been. Wowza.
Having a puppy can be a real pain in the ass! But if you put
in the time and energy it is worth it. Ask yourself if you
want to take him for walks everyday after work, do you want
to clean up his crap in your yard, have dog hair all over the place, pay HUGE vet bills etc. etc. I have a 4yo male Boxer that I wouldn’t trade for the world but, that dosen’t mean he dosen’t piss me off once in a while. One last word of advice. If you get him crate train him from day 1. It may
seem a little harsh but it works. A friend has a crate trained Australian Sheapard and when she is out she will eat
couches (3), jump 8ft. fences and dig holes to China in the
back yard. ONe last thing you may want to consider pet insurance for your dog it could have saved me alot of money.
Labs are terrific dogs. They are so eager to please and very, very sweet. My female mix is about 75-80 lbs. Of course, she’s a little overweight–should be around 60 to 65 lbs. is my guess. My neighbor’s dog (male) has to be well over 100 lbs. Be sure to take your baby to the vet early and discuss all the health issues big dogs can face, like bloat and hip dysplasia. He may want to put Angus on slow-growth formula food to help prevent the dysplasia.
I love puppy talk. Last night when I got home from work I was greeted by our 2 Brittanies-Buck and Lou AND the new kid in town Jake, a 3 1/2 month liver and white colored Brittany pup with an impressive pedigree and a desperate need for attention.
Jake’s daddy, Andy works with my husband and had recently divorced and moved into an apartment. It is obvious Jake has been very well cared for but Andy felt like he couldn’t give Jake all the exercise and attention he needed so he asked around who might want a Brittany pup. So my hubby ended up bringing Jake home on a sort of spur of the moment deal. I guess there’s always room for one more.
One look in those big brown eyes and I’m in love. He is just so damn cute–just like Buck but more puppyish and darker colored. Pictures of Jake to follow as soon as I get my webcam back up and running.
What did Bill feed him as a puppy?? According to this site frigging long URL - Coldfire
(wow, if the url doesn’t work go to http://www.aol.com and type pets into the search engine, it’s the 1st result) Labrador Retrievers are supposed to weigh a min of 55lbs and a max of 75lbs.
Also, according to the same site, though, Jababy’s beagle is/was 20lbs over-weight and ours about 8lbs over-weight(he’s a butterball, I admit) so you might want to ask a vet how big they’re supposed to get before panicking. I don’t think that being from the same parents will make them be the same size because they’re the same gender, though. Our cat had mostly female kittens (only one male out of the 7 kittens she had in the 3 litters before being spayed.) and we kept 5 of them through adulthood; they varied greatly in size, even within the same litter.
What Labradores are supposed to weight, and what they wind up weighing can be quite different, elfkin477. Breeding is a funny thing. Plus (like you said) they are probably carrying extra weight.
Sexy, my brother just went through the puppyhood of his Lab. She topped out at 65 lbs. The two Labs next door (who are males and do go hunting) weight in at 70 and 80 pounds. The “Big Lab” you mentioned in the OP might just have gotten all the “big genes” (possible) or could be a roughly 90 lb. dog carrying extra weight (more likely). 25 pounds? Yeah, 25 extra pounds. Labs are notorious for eating till their heads explode. And the traditonally have big… accoutrements. (You shoulda seen some of the casaba mellons we chopped off in the clinic, whooo-whee!)
I’ve got a Jack Russell Terrorist who weighs in at 9lbs. “Wait!” you say. “That’s not a dog, that’s an excaped mental patient in a dog suit.” Yeah, but the point I’m going for is, even itty-bitty dogs can be a great big pain in the butt. I had about the same amount of trouble with my itty-bitty dog as my brother had with his much larger dog.
It sounds like you really want this dog, and you want people to tell you you’re doing the right thing.
SexyWriter, you are doing the right thing by getting the dog you want. Puppy-proof your apartment, and give Angus plenty of exercise and obedience train from the get-go and you’ll be fine.
Labs are big dogs. But if you were willing to take care of the excersize needs of a 60-70 pound lab, you are prepared for the excersize needs of a 100 pound lab.
My family had a big golden retriever. We knew he was going to be bigger than the average puppy because we knew both his parents and his father was HUGE! But he started out small and grew to be just Gordy. Happy, loving, cuddly, silly boy Gordon Elliot.
Temperment is an important thing more than size. He’ll be a sweetie pie and your oversized lap dog. (Gordy always thought he was a lap dog.) Labs are good people.
You’re only concern is that he’s going to be big? Oh, go get him. 115 isn’t even all that big a dog. Just start training REALLY young, and don’t worry about it. The only real dogs are the working breeds that weigh in at over 90lbs, anyway - not those rats with hippy wigs that some people call dogs.
Of course, I’ve got great danes, so I might be a little prejudiced Seriously, don’t worry about the size. Train a little more, and be sure that the puppy bed is adequately padded, and you’ll be fine.
