Hi

Just joined today as I am a great lover of labradors of all colours, but I have come across a couple of beautiful chocolate ones and my family have two black bitches of who one is 17!!  A grand old lady indeed.

I would absolutely love to own a labrador but unfortunately our position is far from ideal at present due to having to move next year into rented accommodation which would be limited as some don't welcome pets and both my husband and I work full time (my husband works nights so that may not be such a problem).

I would hate to go through life not having the pleasure of owning a labrador and would like general advice from experienced labrador owners.  Any labrador we would have would be a pet and not working.

I hope that we would get to have one at some point as it would receive endless love.

From avid labrador fan

Rachel

Hi Rachel and welcome :)

Have you looked into adopting at all ?
There will be somebody there at all times as your OH works nights so hopefully that shouldn't be an issue.
There are many places to rent that do allow pets so it is just the case of finding one that suits you !
Labs are very sociable dogs and love attention but also love to snooze ! :) They require quite a lot of excercise and also benefit from mental stimulation as they do get bored and that results in destruction, normally chewing :rolleyes::rolleyes:
I have had Labs for 18 years now and love everything about them :D I currently have a 4 yr old called Moose and a 3yr old called Dudley, both chocolate bitches :)
Good luck and do hope one day you will get a Lab as I am sure would make super owners :)
You are doing the right thing by researching more information before you committing to taking the big step of becoming a dog owner  :)

Hiya Rachel,
Just read your post and it reminded me of me a couple of years ago! I am not an experienced lab owner but we've had our black lab Kobi for over a year now, like you we agonised for ages before getting our pup as both me and my husband work full time. We live in a small house with a small garden so not ideal I suppose but we wanted our lab so much that we just made lots of sacrifices! For the first 8 months or so it was difficult having our house destroyed! But we made sure every moment that wasn't at work centred around the pup. As he got older it got alot easier as we could take him for much longer walks and he had a longer attention span so we could tire him out really well. I have been working at home since Christmas and am going back to work in April and I was so suprised when I started staying at home because all Kobi would do in the day was sleep, labs are indeed great at snoozing! He still only just surfaces around 5 in the evening when my husband comes home. So I would say that if you are willing to put in the effort then they are absolutely worth it, but you do have to wear them out everyday, mentally and physically!

I hope you come to a decision you are happy with!

Sarah

How about fostering? or as Lucy said rehoming. THere are plenty of older labs looking for a home and to be honest so longa s they get 2 good walks a day and can spend as much time as possible with someone they are happy. My first used to come to work with me and spent up to 14 hours a day in the crate in the back of my van. Of course we stopped for loads of walks etc during the day, but he was happy as larry so long as I was near by. Now they are grown up I swear they have sleeping competitions with the cats :rolleyes: 20 hours sleep in 24 is perfectly possible

Hi there,

This may or may not be of any help, but our friends have a 8 month old chocolate lab, he's a very clever dog, and to be honest he possibly wasn't the best choice for his first time dog owners. He was chosen because he was the most out going of the litter and whilst after reading some great articles posted by someone on here I'm reluctant to say he's a dominant dog  - but he really is!! They've only just started taking him to classes, so he's a bit of a hooligan, but he's really responding well to the right training he's now getting. So, despite not being a lab owner myself, I would still say ensure you get the right dog, get into a regular and positive training routine straight away and echoing someone else here make sure he gets enough mental/physical excercise.

On another point we saw him last night for the first time in about a month and he is MASSIVE . And I mean MASSIVE. I had to ask if they's swapped him for another dog!! The lady at the training class says that he's likely to put on another couple of stone (he's all legs at the moment) so whilst all labs aren't that big, it's reiterates the importance of making sure you get the right one. A another friend of mine has a black lab, and she's the softest thing you'll ever meet and much smaller than Henry - just goes to show the variation,

Hope this helps,

Karen