Some Special Lab Stuff!

This page is dedicated to the Labs I love so much.   I'm not a great "author", so I have linked to, or posted other's work, with credit to the authors.  Another good site to visit is Caleb's Corner.  Many of Walt's poems have made their way throughout the web, but that is his REAL home page.

What's Better Than Puppy Breath?
You Know You Love Labradors When:
And don't forget to Praise Him
From Midnite to Winfree
Labrador Angel Theory
Free Baby to Good Home
A Year Ago Today
A LabraPledge
Smiles & Screams
My Story - By Puppy
HTTP://WWW.LABLOVER.OUCH **
**Note:  This is not the only great story on that page, check them ALL out.

And don't forget to praise Him
Donated by Carrie

Our black Lab puppy, Duke is 13 weeks old and our son Travis is 6 years old. Last week while Travis and I were in his bedroom, Duke came in and picked up one of Travis's socks. He had just taken off his socks and shoes and had set them down on the floor beside him. Travis jumped up and tried to pull his sock out of Duke's mouth. I reminded him that he needs to say "release". We have been training Duke to drop things that he picks up by using that command. So Travis says "release Duke, release" and Duke did so.   Travis started to go back to what he was doing, so I reminded him again that when the puppy does what you have told him to do you need to praise him.

Travis looked at me very puzzled. After a couple of seconds, Travis looked up towards the ceiling, closed his eyes and said," Thank you God for letting Duke let go of my sock."

Well I got such a kick out of that I laughed so hard Duke ran down the hall and Travis got mad at me. After I stopped laughing I took the time to explain that there are two kinds of praise, praising the Lord, and praising a dog.

I hope you think that was as cute as I did.

From Midnite to Winfree

written by Kiera at calikoBird@aol.com
Note:  Do not copy this article without permission from the author!

I was born today.  I’m a black lab, I have a nice mom  that feeds me well and keeps me warm.  I have been with her for six weeks now and I am now weaned onto food of my own.  A person came over our house today, pointed to me and said “I want that one.” I didn’t want to leave my mom and brothers and sisters but I thought positively that these would be good people who would feed me and love me.  The lady that was there with the man and two kids picked me up.  She brought me to the kitchen and we sat down with me on her lap, the two kids and man standing around me petting me and the lady talking to who takes care of my
mommy and all the puppies.  I was having a good time with all the good people petting me and they said they loved me so they brought me home. 

When we got to my new home the little boy brought me into a room and told me that this was his room and that he was sharing with me, he also told me that my name is Midnight.   For the first eight or nine months everyone treated me very kindly and nicely.   I am a good dog that doesn’t do anything bad in the house, I don’t dig, I don’t bark, bite or jump
on people.  Still after I was full grown and not a cute little puppy anymore they all started to be mean to me.  They started hitting me for no  reason.  They beat me constantly.  I didn’t receive enough food or water.  Then they got a new puppy and tied me up outside with no food or
water and a chain on my neck that hurt me whenever I tried to lay down.  I didn’t revive any food, love and only got water when it rained.  type tests with pass urine test or urine testing for alcohol

A couple of weeks after I was chained up out there all of the people left with the car packed up and the puppy was with them but they left me behind.   A couple of days passed and they never came home so I decided it was safe for me to leave.  I pulled real hard and I hurt my neck but the chain broke and I was free.  I left the yard and I ran around.  One person called me over so I went over to her curiously.  She pet me and hugged me.   I felt real good that someone finally cared about me.  She
brought me to her house and gave me food and water.  I spent the night there and then I left and went to a school nearby.

There was alot of kids that hugged me and alot of mothers that said “It’s nasty, get away.”   There was also one kid that came and pet me.  I then heard the words, “Can we keep her?”  Her mother said “We’ll bring it home and feed her and give her water.”  They took me home, fed me and
gave me water but told me that I had to stay outside because of the other animals that they have.  Even though I had to stay out the girl stayed with me and played with me and pet me.  We played for about  two hours then a man came in the yard and I think I scared him because of my size but the girl told him abut how she found me and asked him if she could keep me.  The man (which was her dad) had no response but he did walk over to me. I was a little frightned that he would hurt me but he was kind and only touched with a loving hand.  He then turned around to the girl
again and said “We will look for her owner and if in about two months we don’t find them we can keep her.”  The girl and I were very overjoyed and then her father told her not to keep her hopes up.  They then brought me into the house and I found out that the little girls name was Kiera and the man and woman were named Mom and Dad.  There was also a boy who
didn’t really care for me but wasn’t mean to me either, his name was Timmy. Kiera  called me tramp because she said i reminded her of a dog that looked just like me. 

There was two other animals, a dog named Dooba that told me this was her house and that I wasn’t welcome. There was also a little black cat that looked like she would be fun to play with, her name was Jasmin. The two months passed and sure enough my nasty owners did not claim me so the
words came out of the Dads mouth that I was waiting for all my life, “We can keep her.”  I was so happy that I could stay. Kiera’s uncle gave me the name winfree(he said it was because i was big fat and black.) Kiera was my favorite of the people and me and Dooba were becoming friends.
But, that stupid cat still annoyed me. 

A year passed and we were all still very close.  I found that I wanted to protect the girl and I did as much as I could.  I never thought that I would feel that way about a human again but she was very nice to me.  Me and Dooba were now very good fiends, but I still hate that stupid cat.
Today, Dooba told me she wasn’t feeling well, she was just laying around and wasn’t playing with me and acting like she normally does.  She told me if she left to be nice to the cat and keep watch over the family.  I asked “Why, you will be here forever” and she replied to me “I’ve taught you alot in the year I’ve known you but now you gotta learn yourself.”  About a week after that she got in the car with Mom and when Mom came home she wasn’t with Dooba.  I never saw Dooba again after that day.  The family was real sad that whole week and I tried to make them happier but I finally realized what had happened to Dooba and then I was the one that needed cheering up.  I remembered what Dooba said to me before she left.  I did look after the family as I always did but being nice to that cat was hard for me but I did it anyway, for Dooba. After I got to know Jasmin I guess she was alright, for a cat.   She told me stories about her and Dooba and a bird the family had named Chelsie.   Jasmin told good stories, some that were sad, some funny and sometimes she just went on and on about nothing.  

Today, when me and Kiera went for our daily walk, we went where we usually do, around the school but today when we got in the back of the school there was a big Doberman Pincher growling at us.  If I was alone I would have turned around and run, but Kiera was with me and I wanted to protect her so I tried to get at him.  Fortunately at the beginning of our walk Kiera forgot to take off my leash and she held me back from going towards him.  She pulled me back and we ran all the way home and the dobie didn’t move a muscle (Thank God!)   Me and Kiera are closer now, even more than imaginable.

Today is Christmas Eve and the family is happy and so am I.  It’s snowing out so me and Kiera go out to play, we ere out for about an hour then Kieras aunts,uncles,and cousins came over.   They were all very happy also.  There was about two  hours of talking about stuff that in my opinion is stupid when Kieras Aunt Sharon came in the room with a big box. Kiera opened it and was very very happy when she saw what it was.  It just looked like a big box to me but then I heard something I never wanted to hear.  She said, “Oh my God! I’m getting a bird!”  I went over to jasmin and told her, I also said that I didn’t want Kiera to get a bird because then she wouldn’t love me as much.  Jasmin replied, “Don’t be stupid, Kiera adores you and a little birds not getting the the way of that”  “ When they got Chelsie, they still loved me & Dooba the same.”  That cat had some good advice (for a cat anyway).  I was nice to the bird when it arrived, even though  I wasn’t so fond of it, Kiera loved it so I put up with it.  The birds name is Zazu and she does nothing but sit and scream but Kiera likes it so I put up with the stupid thing.  

Today we are leaving to go upstate.  I am the only one going with the family, the bird and cat are staying behind.  It was a long ride there with alot of complaining from Kiera about Timmy taking up all the room (as usual).  I always hated the ride up there and back but when we finally got there I loved it.  I never  needed to be on a leash.   There were horses to chase.  I was taking walks three times a day and Kiera spent more time with me outside.  I liked it upstate alot, there was a dog that I kinda liked that came and visited us sometimes.  His name is Samarie.

Unfortunately, there was the time we all had to pile in the car again with Kiera complaining, Timmy taking up all the room, bad music playing, me stuck in the back, and an occasional well deserved “Shut-up” from Mom.  

I am much older now, I can’t walk very well but I push myself to go on everyday, because I love spending the time with Kiera.  Although Kiera still loves me she wants to get a puppy.  She said to me that she wanted one to keep me company and because she’s never had a puppy.  She also said that when they got me that I helped keep Dooba happy and active a little while longer and the she felt a puppy would do this for me.  I was a little leary of it at first, I thought that they might do to me what my previous owner did but that was very stupid for me to think like that.  They got the puppy.  It was a “poosh” and they named her Rigby.  Me and Rigby did become fast friends and the family still loved me just the same. Although Rigby did get in my way and wanted to be with me more than I wanted to be with her, I still loved her and I figured I once did it to Dooba so I let it slide just like Dooba did for me.  Another bad thing about Rigby was that she took up some of the room on the bed so that there wasn’t enough room anymore.  So Kiera slept on the floor.  I felt bad about her having to do that and I figured she let me have the whole bed for five years so I slept on the floor instead.

Rigby did keep me happy and active for a while longer but now a year later I just can’t take it anymore.   My kidney’s hurt and I can barely move.  Mom took me to the vet and he said theres nothing he can do and the he’ld have to put me to sleep.  He gave me a shot after I said good-bye.  I then found myself in a big, white, peaceful place.   I went to a big gentle man dressed in white and he asked me if there was anything he could do for MY family on earth.  I said “Yes, thank Kiera for loving me and fighting to keep me,  Thank Mom for bringing me home and giving me a loving hand, food and water, Thank Dad for training me in a kind way (unlike my other owners) and for letting me stay, and Thank Timmy for not
hitting me even though he didn’t like me too much, he was still nice.”  The big man replied “They already know, you thanked them for the good life they gave you when you gave them so much unconditional love.  Is there anything else you’ld like me to do ?”  I asked if he could help Kiera and the family through this time and if the knew how thankful I was that they turned my life around and made it worth living?”  He said “Yes I will definately help them through this time and the do know your thankful.  Is there anything else?”  I said “Yes.   Could you make my first owners better people and make them not treat living things as toys?”  He said he would try his hardest but that the final decision came from them.  He then asked if I wanted anything else.  I said  “No.   Thank Him for everything He’s ever done for me like giving me my loving family.” He said, “You may now cross the bridge, everything on the other side is peaceful and you will never feel pain again.”

I crossed the bridge that was the colors of the rainbow and on the other side everything was in fact peaceful and beautiful.  I looked around for a while then I saw Dooba.  I called her name and were reunited.  I was very very happy.  She introduced me to the man who was taking care of her and all of her buddies.  She said that the man was Kiera’s grandfather.  He said that  he would take care of me also until one of the family came for me.  Although it was very peaceful and beautiful I still felt pain.   He said I wouldn’t but I wasn’t with my family and I missed Kiera.   Her grandfather told me that she would soon enough be with me together, forever, once again.  That made me feel a little better though I still think about her everday and I’m sure she does the same.  I hope she lives a long and happy life along with the rest of the family but I also hope shes with me again soon. 

This is What It's All About.

The following was posted on America Online by ChicagoSno@aol.com and reprinted here with permission. 

The spastic ball of yellow energy that greets you at the door as if to say...OH MY GOD!!
ITS YOU!! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN??...WAIT RIGHT HERE I'LL GET MY THROW TOY AND BE RIGHT BACK!!!!!!.....  The big yellow head that rests on your lap as you ponder things that weigh heavy on your mind...looking up at you as if to say.. "yanno...a good game of fetch or a 15 minute wrestling match would make you feel better"...The eyes that look at you and say I would lay my life down for you if you asked.... The cold wet nose that pokes you in the eye socket in the morning..the face that is  looking at you as you open your eyes...TAKE ME OUT NOW!!!!!!....  The dog that retrieves for you and sits with the bird looking at you as if to say.."this is what you mean right?...the soft pet on the head and kiss on the nose when your hunting buddies aren't looking..with a soft voice that says.."your a good boy...yes you  are"..an 80 pound lab that jumps up on the bed when we lay down at night that looks at us like.."ok..one of you has to move over"...and we always do... LOL...The big brown eyes that look at you and say.."Why does that damn cat keep hissin at me?".."all i wanna do is make friends"...The look from across the blind when you just missed 10 ducks with every shot that says.."yanno..if your gonna wake me up at 400am to come out here, the least you can do is hit something" ...and you find yourself..a well educated adult man looking at a dog and saying out loud..  "oh shut up...lets see you do it"..and knowing...if you spent the time he probably could...LOL...Seeing your dog at the bow of the boat..standing proud..ears flapping in the wind..barking at every passer by as if to say.."yep..this is my master..hes a terrible shot but man did we have fun"...People forget that the animals that we keep ask very little...love them...comfort them...and raise them right...and for the next 15 years or so..(God willing)...you will have the purest form of love and loyalty matched by no one or nothing...

It used to amaze me when I was a kid..watching my grandfather..a big.. intimidating looking man...turn into a high pitched talking..gentle wide eyed kid when ever he would work with his dogs...and he told me something that has never left my mind..he said "Son..(spitting out that nasty chewing tabacco nonsense)..see them dogs right there?...those are the only living things that will give you 100% and ask for nothing in return"....he may have been an uneducated farm boy...but he was the smartest man I have ever known.....Please remember people..Dogs onlyknow what you teach them..be patient and understanding..and never..ever..blame a dog for your lazyness..
                                                         Mark & Eva
                                                         Ty..(yellow lab)
                                                          Robin..(The walking
                                                          sneeze factory)

Smiles & Screams

THINGS MY LABBOY DOES THAT BRINGS A SMILE TO MY LIPS...

• follows me wherever I go

• sleeps with his head or some part of his body always touching me

• captures and plays (or should I say tortures) a found ant on the floor

• the funny sound he makes in his throat when we play fight

• his affection for dirty socks and underwear

• how he automatically goes in his crate without asking when he knows I'm about to
  leave the house

• lets children and anyone else for that matter lay all over him

• how he still stretches out and lays like a puppy with hind legs flat out

• rolls on the grass in the sun on a beautiful morning

• scares the hell out of my mother-in-law

• how he barks at our iquanna

• the way his ears perk up and he cocks his head when your talking to him

• the way he insists on trying to play with my husband when a good golf match is on

• how he sighs with pleasure when anyone in the family smothers him with kisses
  and hugs

• knows how to use the knob on the water cooler when there is no water in his dish

• the way he just plants himself on my feet when I'm standing at the stove cooking or doing the dishes

• the way his liquid soft brown eyes turn to you for affection

• the way he runs away from little dogs with a big bark

• the way his face looks when he's swimming with a stick in his mouth to shore

• how he got my husband, who swore he would never let a dog sleep in his bed, let him sleep every night right between us

• when he immediately takes your spot in the bed when you get up with his head on
  your pillow

• the way he lays one of his favorite toys on your lap dripping of lab
  schmootz

• the way he has grown up a little and doesn't chew everything in sight anymore

• just the way he looks so damn healthy and handsome all the time
  -and on and on...
  
  THINGS MY LABBOY DOES THAT BRINGS A SCREAM TO MY LIPS...

• ate my linolium floor

• ate the cane out of my kitchen chairs

• ate countless pairs of shoes, books, my daughters stuffed animals, newspapers, underwear, socks, rugs, furniture, tissue, remote controls, oh, especially the cusion on my couch, need I go on?

• steals dirty clothes out of the slot in our hamper

• runs after my daughters friends who are afraid of him

• the way he insists on playing with me when I'm into a good book

• how he tries to chew my office chair (like right now) when I'm at the computer and he wants attention

• the way he has me better trained than the other way around

• the horror I felt when I thought he really hurt himself when his collar caught on the
  base of our coffee table with the glass top . The glass top went flying and he was
  flying all around with the base still attached to his collar

• the horror I felt when he tore apart a plant of mine that had just
  flowered after I had waited 3 years for that flowering
  
  OK, SO THE POINT? WE ALL NEED A LITTLE SCREAMING TO REALLY APPRECIATE THE SMILES IN LIFE, ESPECIALLY LIFE WITH A LABBY!
  

A LabraPledge

I will not eat the cat food before or after they eat it.

I will not burn rubber through the open car window into the fast food restaurant no matter
how good it smells.

The computers mouse unlike a real mouse is inedible.

I will stop trying to find the few remaining pieces of carpet in the house when I am about to throw up.

I will not throw up in the car.

I will scootch by bottom along the grass to rid myself of hangers-on.

I will not steal used sanitary napkins from the bathroom garbage.

I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc….

I will not eat other animals poop.

I will not lick my mom's face after eating other animals poop.

The kitty box crunchies are not food.

The diaper pail is not a cookie jar.

I will not wake mom up by sticking up cold nose up her bottom end.

When in the car I will not insist on having the window down when it is raining.

I will not drop soggy tennis balls in the underwear of anyone sitting on the toilet.

We do not have a doorbell so I will not bark every time I hear one on TV.

I will not steal mom's underwear and dance around the backyard with it.

The sofa is not a face towel. Neither is mom's lap.

I will not bite the officers hand when he reaches in for mom's drivers license and
registration.

My head does not belong in the refrigerator.

I will not play tug of war with mom's underwear when she is on the toilet.

I will not roll my toys behind the refrigerator.

The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

I will shake the rainwater out of my fur BEFORE entering the house.

from the Portsmouth-Chesapeake Obedience Training Club newsletter July 1998

A Year Ago Today

The narrow strip of land between the river and the railroad tracks is
less than a half a mile from a busy highway, but it is wild and mostly
unknown. Here the muddy waters of the Elk River flow into Humboldt Bay
and the Pacific Ocean.  In the fall, the estuary is home to a variety of
ducks, Canada Geese and Brant.  In the summer formations of brown
Pelicans ride on invisible currents of air and swoop low over the water.  Cormorants, gulls, big white Egrets, Snipe and host of small shore birds
make a living here.  A Great Blue Heron rules the estuary. 

A gray bearded man and his dog often come to visit.  It is a safe place
for the dog to run and play.

Today is a rare sunny day on the northcoast of California.  The man
sits on the river bank and rests his back against an old Redwood log.  The Heron fishes on the far bank.  From time to time the man lifts a pair of binoculars and watches the huge bird.  The tide is out.  An ocean breeze ruffles the water and stirs the pungent organic aromas of the exposed mud flats.  The dog, a year old yellow Lab named Chamois, plays in the mud and brackish water.  She hunts imaginary prey and runs from imaginary demons and swims to retrieve imaginary ducks.

The man closes his eyes, rests his head on the log and begins to smile.
He is remembering another yellow Lab named Cheddar.  A year ago today
he had to put Cheddar down.  She was nearly 16 years old.  It was her time.  He knew it!   But it had been oh so difficult to say good-bye.

Cheddar came into his life as an 8 week old puppy from a litter bred on a Kansas farm.   She was his best friend through a lifetime of
adventures.  They shared backpacking trips in the High Sierra, beach
romps and car camping on the Oregon coast, long days exploring ancient Redwood forests, swimming together in lakes and bays, and in the ocean.

He wonders how many times Cheddar retrieved a tennis ball.  “Musta
been close to a million,” he says out loud to the wind.  She’d ridden
126,000 miles in his yellow truck and another 90,000 or so in the red one.  She loved to ride in the truck and put nose prints on the windows and sleep with her head in his lap.  She is gone now but the warm memories are still vivid.

The man is almost asleep. He dozes and remembers Cheddar.  How he
misses that old dog with the gray muzzle and sad Lab eyes.  He loved
her so. He remembers the day a year ago when he stroked her head
for the last time as the chemicals injected into her blood eased her
passing and ended her pain.  Tears fill his eyes and trickle down his
cheeks.

The sound of panting and the merry jingle of dog tags signal the
approach of his new friend.  She is wet and muddy and carries a plastic
bottle in her mouth.  She plants her paws squarely in his crotch,
drops the bottle, gives him a slobbery sandy kiss, then sprints away butt tucking and cavorting as only a Lab pup can.   The old man watches the youngster and smiles.  She is fast becoming as dear to him as Cheddar.

He stands, brushes the sand from his clothing and wipes the tears on his sleeve.

The old man and the young puppy walk in the direction of the old red
truck ... the old red truck with Chamois’s nose prints all over the
windows.

John Arrington and Chamois
June 28, 1998

copyright John Arrington 1998
Printed with the permission of the author.

YOU KNOW YOU LOVE LABRADORS WHEN;

*You have more dogs beds then guest chairs.
* You cancel your vacation to Cancun when you see the look on
their face as you're packing.
*You kiss your husband when he comes home from work with black
hair stuck in your lipstick.
*You'd rather smell puppy breath than a bouquet of roses.
*The Dr. asks you about the bruises on the back of your knees.
*You don't set the alarm clock anymore, the "thump, thump,
thump" wakes you every time.
*Or you wake up with a black nose holding a metal dish 1/2"
from your face.
*You never get to sleep in on weekends because, they don't
understand that concept.
*You thank them for bringing you the tennis ball that just
came out of the toilet.
*Or the dead squirrel, ( add your own word here..... pine
cones, snowballs, neighbors chickens,etc.) that they bring to your bed
in the morning.
*Rake the dog hair to the edge of the walls for insulation in
the winter.
*You sleep in the dog bed so you don't have to disturb them to
kick them out of your bed.
*Call your answering machine to leave your dog a message.
*Wear a miners lamp to make it to the bathroom at night so as
to not step on anyone.

Donated by TabrsHeidi@aol.com Author Unknown!  If this is your work, please,
contact me and I will give you credit.

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Subject: My Labrador Theory
Date: Sun, Apr 19, 1998 16:13 EDT
From: PSCFHines@aol.com  (Reprinted with Permission)

Ok all you Labrador lovers, here's my story... Until seven years ago, I was
a cat lover (still am). I was completely opposed to the idea of having a
dog - of any kind. Then my daughter, as a "surprise, brought home a
Black Lab puppy. It was either divorce, abandonment, or quiet desperation...
I chose the latter...

Over the past seven years, I have found the most extraordinary friend I
could ever hope to know; a beautiful,innocent, intelligent creature, who only wants to be my companion 24 hours a day.

Well, here's my theory--- Forget Travolta. Forget any human interpretation
of an angel you've ever seen. The Labrador is the embodiment all the virtues
we expect in what is considered an "angel". They are faithful, devoted to your safety, constant companions, ask nothing in return but love - (and the willingness to clean up the yard after them), and treat every creature (dog or otherwise) with kindness.

What other animal seeks out illicit drugs, finds lost people under avalanches
and collapsed buildings, guides the blind through the city, and willingly risks
life to defend those who to whom they are devoted.

If there is such a thing as an "angel" on the face of this all to cruel world we
live in, it must be those gentle, intelligent friends we call Labradors.

This... from a cat lover. God bless them.

Daner

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Free Baby To a Good Home

We just got a new puppy so the baby has to go. Two year old female, answers to the name, Chelsea. She is good around kids, doesn't cry too much, mostly potty-trained & weaned.
She has all of her shots and is free to a good home.

Believe me, we hate to just dump her off, but we are afraid she might hurt the new pup,
and we couldn't let that happen. What if the baby smothered the pup trying to stay warm? Worse, licking milk out of the pup's mouth? We really cannot take that chance. I know it
is an old wives tale about a baby stealing the puppy's breath, but the whole idea is really spooky.

A puppy could catch a disease from a baby! I mean, without that diaper, they tend to poop anywhere they want to. That is so unsanitary! What if the puppy got salmonella from the baby?

What really worries me is when babies get older, they tend to go out and start "hounddogging" around. Unless you lock them up they try to have sex with the neighbor
kid or worse, they get knocked up themselves!  Then you have another litter to tend with.
You can't even get them fixed like you can a dog. This is another reason we don't feel up to the ownership issues.

So I am trying to find a good home. I hate to take her to a shelter, but a parent has to do
what a parent has to do. When I think of all of the strays on the streets, well, it makes me really sad. When I think of how many of these kids end up being mass murderers or worse, dog killers, I almost want to throw up.

So if you are interested and you think you can be a good owner, please
drop me a line. Hurry, we only have one left!

This was emailed to me, with no known author.  Is this yours?  Let me know at Teresa@maro.net

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Interested in adding something here?
If so, send it to Teresa@maro.net

Last Edited:
10/31/02 12:07 AM