Very very interesting! We are only just getting to know Benny and vise versa. Association? After I let him out before bed he comes in and jumps straight onto his sofa. I lock up, go to the loo downstairs and then the kitchen for a glass of water and he stays put on the sofa. I then put the lights out except the hall light and he lays there watching as I open the stairgate and up to bed. he wouldn't do that when he first adopted us but would be at the stairgate whining, then I started leaving him a Kong before escaping now he is cool about it. In the morning I have a coffee downstairs and he puts his front paws and head on my lap for a cuddle. As soon as I'm up he runs ahead of me to the side door wagging his tail. Yep thats where we go and get him dressed for his walk. When I get home from work he does the same with the side door for a walk with the whole family but only after I've been upstairs and changed. Also when I'm going to work he doesn't hog around the front door but stays back without any fuss. These are all things we do the same everyday. It's funny though that he knows he is not allowed on our sofas unless invited when a blanket is on there and even then he doesn't always except the invitation. But, every morning when I go down he is lying on our sofa!! But thats ok as we leave a blanket on it now for him at night and let him get away with it. :D He sits before his meals and I raise my hand up to him and say stay....and he does until I drop my hand. But I have now discovered that I dont need to speak, just raise my hand. If I raise my hand any other time he will sit!! Hope it works like that when I let him off lead :D

Very very interesting! We are only just getting to know Benny and vise versa. Association? After I let him out before bed he comes in and jumps straight onto his sofa. I lock up, go to the loo downstairs and then the kitchen for a glass of water and he stays put on the sofa. I then put the lights out except the hall light and he lays there watching as I open the stairgate and up to bed. he wouldn't do that when he first adopted us but would be at the stairgate whining, then I started leaving him a Kong before escaping now he is cool about it. In the morning I have a coffee downstairs and he puts his front paws and head on my lap for a cuddle. As soon as I'm up he runs ahead of me to the side door wagging his tail. Yep thats where we go and get him dressed for his walk. When I get home from work he does the same with the side door for a walk with the whole family but only after I've been upstairs and changed. Also when I'm going to work he doesn't hog around the front door but stays back without any fuss. These are all things we do the same everyday. It's funny though that he knows he is not allowed on our sofas unless invited when a blanket is on there and even then he doesn't always except the invitation. But, every morning when I go down he is lying on our sofa!! But thats ok as we leave a blanket on it now for him at night and let him get away with it. :D He sits before his meals and I raise my hand up to him and say stay....and he does until I drop my hand. But I have now discovered that I dont need to speak, just raise my hand. If I raise my hand any other time he will sit!! Hope it works like that when I let him off lead :D

Hi everyone. Just another update. Benny had his snip Two weeks ago. All went well and he soon got used to his elizebethan collar!! Wrecked the first one as nothing was going to stop him getting where he wanted. I let him off the lead on our walk a few days ago in a field of corn where we walk through the cut out path which is a public footpath. He went about 50 yards ahead and came back on recall. Over the last couple of days I've let him go longer and today we did the whole walk in the fields( I put lead back on when on roads) off lead and he didn't run into the hedges like he tries to when on lead. He runs off and runs back and you can tell he's happy to be free but likes to be back in my company. A little bit stubborn on recall as I sometimes have to call him several times. But then even if I dont call him he checks back to see where I am so I make sure I have a treat held up in my hand. We were using tea treeoil and olive oil to treat his elbow that was a bit rough and sometimes bled a bit. But the vet recommended intensive care cream and that seems to be even better. Still pulls like a train though but thats ok as I have been using a Halti harness with a training lead around my waist and another lead connected to the front to steer him.

Hi Ade That's wonderful news. I'm so glad things are going so well with Benny. Just a suggestion for the times when he is a little stubborn on recall - I would call once, and if he ignores you just walk in the opposite direction. It sounds as though he isn't too confident about wandering off a long way from you at the moment - which is why he regularly 'checks in' - so this may do the trick. :D

Hi Elaine, I'll give that a go. I'll do it when there are Two of us so one can keep an eye on where he goes if he doesn't follow my new direction. When you say he may not be confident about wandering off. Does this mean he could get more confident and wander off?

Hi - sounds like he is coming along really well! Glad it's all going well! We use the same trick as Elaine has suggested - we bob and weave across the park for a few minutes if someone didn't come back when they were supposed to! - just gets them focused back onto you cos you keep changing direction and might do something interesting and they might miss it! :wink:

Thanks guys. What a good piece of advice. It works!! I call him once and if he ignores me I turn around and walk the other way ( no not the handbag walk, lol). In just several seconds he's bounding back to me. He gets his favourite treat which is buttered toast soldiers. Today, for a while we did about 25 yards with him at my heel, looking at me, yes indeedy his full attention, for another soldier. It has always been difficult getting his attention when on a lead. Even with toast soldiers. Where going to go to a nearby beach on the weekend if the weather permits and let him off lead there.

aww bless him - toast soldiers! Whatever works - my friend carries a tube of primula cheese for her little wanderer! Glad it works for you - sometimes there are simple solutions that you just come across. A great tick our Trainer taught us for Finn is that if he isn't responding very well to his stop whistle was to throw his tennis ball or training dummy high in the air - the response is amazing because he immediately thinks you are going to ask him for a retrieve (which is all he lives for :roll:) and you aren't just asking him to stop in a negative way, because it's worth stopping! We never thought something so simple would work either! Hope you have a lovely day at the beach - we're off to Thorpe Park tomorrow and I'm very frightened! :roll:

Thorpe Park, lol. I dont do the rides anymore for they scare me too. Benny loves bread and toast. He's a rascal. My mandy cut her morning toast with jam into 4 pieces and left the plate on the sideboard. Benny was sitting near but was being good sitting and waiting. Mandy quikly turned around and put her phone on a shelf. Seconds later she turned back and Benny was still sat there with his 'I'm waiting mum just like asked me to, aren't I a good boy so deserve a piece of your toast?' face on. Awwwwwwww, Mandy thought you are a good boy. When she went to pick up her plate there were only 3 pieces of toast left. She looked at Benny, amazed at how quick he was and he just smiled, wagged his tail and licked the jam off his lips. :D

:lol: :lol: Cheeky boy Benny but if you aren't offering, you have to help yourself - the labs moto I think! :wink: Well I avoided the Extreme Rides like the plague but my hubby got dragged onto Stealth with my 14 year old - and had to sit down afterwards from the shock! Willow ate the last piece of our 11 year old's birthday cake on Thursday - and didn't even have the cheek to feel sorry about it! Cake box was licked clean and she doesn't even take herself to her bed in shame - still greets you with the same old big hello! Her worst 'pigging out' incident was a morning full of half of very large loaf of fresh bread, 4 scones (very dangerous with all the raisins in!) and when we arrived home, was on roll 2 of a 6 pack! She was extremely bloated and could hardly move and very lucky she didn't kill herself :twisted: Finn just eats plugs off your hoover! :roll:

Lol, Benny steals the hoover accesories and puts them in his bed. Suppose he is trying to disable it. Sounds like Finn is very clever and will be taking the fuse out next :D I have some more update pictures and a question. Everyone asks me what is my Lad crossed with and in the next breath you can bet that they will suggest a Bull Terrier????? It doesn't bother me but I have never had a lab before and am asking myself now. lol. What do you think? Is he a Lab or what?? Remember this boy? Just before we got him at the pound in Ireland. This is his LRRSE photo from the dogs needing homes page. Thin and out of proportion. Now on Independence day 2008!! 3 Months later. Cant believe it's only 3 months. Just took this one of him watching me posting his pics up, lol Bless him.

Benny is pure lab - of this I am positive! I think many people don't actually realise just how many different types of lab size there are. Benny looks to be the same sort of size as our Willow and she is what you would call a 'show lab' . These generally have a broader chest and head - tending to be quite stocky and muscular. The 'working lab' is bred much smaller and leaner and having a more pointy head - I will try and find one to compare our Willow with our old girl Bess. Bess was a much more lithe version of our chunky monkey - Wills isn't fat by any stretch but just so much more bigger than our Bess was! Anyway, Willow says hello to Benny - with a flutter of her eyes! I think you will agree they are very similar looking - down to their lovely pink noses! (Which in my experience is much rarer - most Yellow labs I have come across have black ones!)

I agree that they are all shapes and sizes :D My own black lab rescue Dexter is a bit pointy looking and has a white mark on his chest and people have asked me if he's a cross - but his breeder insists he's purebred. He's lovely, whatever he is :P People who breed them for the show ring will be mating dogs with the physical characteristics that will win them prizes there. People who breed them for working, might choose parents according to how good they are as gundogs (eg not gun shy, keen retrievers, biddable) and I guess would want them smaller and sleeker because they will find it easier to go into undergrowth. Other 'backyard breeders' often just mate any old lab with theirs - and I've seen some pretty funny looking ones which people claim are pure lab :wink: I think occasionally a dog might well get mated with another breed, then the pups are given away or sold as labs and mated with other labs and so on. Loads of people seem to be breeding a litter just for the money these days and they are often not too fussed about who is mated with who as long as they are labs - it's a bit of a bugbear with me because it can mean you get dogs with aggression issues mated willy nilly. Body-wise Benny reminds me of some of the labs round my way that people use for shooting - they seem to be quite stocky in as much as they look muscular, but they are also quite slim and wiry. I don't know much about it, I confess, but I have often wondered whether or not those that live outdoors and are perhaps a bit hardier look more like that. If Benny came from rural Ireland, he may well have lived out. But whatever he is - and I agree he looks like a lab to me! - he's lovely :P And of course Willow is just as gorgeous too :P