A real top dog! The Labrador reigns as America's favorite pooch for the 24th year [truncated]

UK Daily Mail and AP ^ | February 26, 2015 | Sadie Whitelocks and Staff

[C19fan]

The Labrador Retriever has been revealed as the nation's favorite dog for the 24th consecutive year. The American Kennel Club, which released its annual rankings on Thursday, praised the breed for being 'intelligent' and 'family friendly'. Despite its supremacy, bulldogs hit a new high at number four and their bat-eared cousins, French bulldogs, sauntered into the top ten for the first time in nearly a century. The AKC notes that bulldogs make 'excellent family companions with a natural tendency to form strong bonds with children, an easy-to-care-for coat, and minimal exercise requirements.'

[C19fan]

The Lab gets no luv from the snobs who run the AKC and Westminster dog shows. From what I understand bulldogs are as genetically healthy as the Hapsburgs. Bulldogs come with four or five figure vet bills.

[TexasCajun]

...great family dog & loves to be in the duck-blind.

[T-Bird45]

My Lab puppy is a challenge. She is headstrong and likes the taste of people better than most of her chew toys. I’ve had her just a little more than a month.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ve had three so far. Terrific dogs.

[WayneS]

I think I found the problem.

This is Westminster Kennel Club's description of the Lab (from their web-site):

"The Labrador is a retrieving gun dog of medium size, with a dense, weather-resistant coat, an "otter" tail, and a clean-cut head with a "kind" expression. The first Labradors arrived in England from Newfoundland aboard fishing boats early in the 19th century, and imports to this country began in the early 1900s. Labrador temperament is outgoing, indulgent with peers, human oriented and tractable. Labradors can be found in guide and assistance dog programs, and substance detection and search and rescue work. Since 1992, the Labrador Retriever has headed the list as the most popular breed in the U.S."

You see? GUN dogs. They're obviously "bitter clingers" and cannot be expected to win such a high class, progressive dog show as that put on by the Westminster Kennel Club.

;-)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Get used to it. It takes Labs about 5 years to ‘grow up.’ Kennel training works best, in my experience.

[WayneS]

Keep being patient but firm with her. She’ll learn.

She’ll probably always be headstrong, but she will learn to behave like a lady.

[Justa]

Oh, well you’ve got a good one then. That’s a sign of bonding to ‘their pack’. Licking and chewing on clothes is what they do when they’re young and/or insecure. Just wear old clothes and go with it to build a strong and secure bond with her. She’ll grow out of it as she settles in and becomes comfortable. She will grow up associating with people more than dogs which is typical of many labs.

[knarf]

Our Bubba is the neatest family member ever.

He's taught me ... at three years old ... that all those old people I used to laugh at because they treated their little poopsie miniature poodle or some other silly looking / acting animal so embarassingly stupid .... really had something going on no one knows about .... until THEY get one too

Bubba's AKC black Lab and we've never experienced such neat things before in a living being.

example;

Bubba has his own bed (at 90 lbs .. he'd BETTER !) out in the living room ... and when we go to bed, he comes in with us, lies down on the floor until he (apparently) feels comfortable everything is alright ... and then he goes out to his bed

MY sleep habits have been totally screwed up (and never recovered) since I retired from truck driving two years ago ...

So I'll get up at 1 or 2 or 3 AM (whatever) and grab a cup of coffee and freep

Bubba goes in and lies down beside Liza's side of the bed until I return (sometimes hours) later

Then he stretches and pads out to his bed and goes back to sleep

I've seen this routine a hundred times .... He knows Liza is not to be left alone

That's the way I see it, and that is an amazing thing to us for a dog to do

[circlecity]

I love Labs and wish I had a big enough yard to keep one. Keeping a lab confined to the house or my postage stamp sized back yard would be cruel in my opinion.

[knarf]

PLEASE stay with her ... you'll lose a vacuum cleaner cord (little 2 inch pieces) and shoes, or more likely slippers, definitely your crocks and a bunch of other stuff ... and she'll cock her head and ask if she did good (until she starts to learn ... then she'll cower because she KNOWS she screwed up) ...

and sometime in the future ... around 2 years or so ... you'll have the biggest pain in the ass, I just want to love you, dog in the world,

[momtothree]

May I ask.. is she biting or sort of chewing on people? The reason I ask is my cousin-in-law has Labs and says they are “mouthy”. That means, they like to put your hand in their mouth and sort of keep it there. We have a female Doberman that does the same thing... it isn’t aggressive. In fact, it is her playful/loving attempt to get your attention.

[T-Bird45]

I keep hearing about the extended juvenile period for Labs so I’m taking that as gospel. We are using the kennel training to get her attention when she gets out of hand.

[T-Bird45]

Thanks for that input, very reassuring. Right on target about the old clothes!!

[taxcontrol]

Golden Doodle - all the love of a Golden, intelligence of a poodle and none of the allergies.

[katana]

Suggest you take her for training by a reputable trainer and not wait too long to do so. They will actually train you as much or more than the dog, but it’s all good. Also suggest you pay close attention to what she gets into and how much she eats. We have had two labs and they both had digestive issues, twisted intestines, that led to early deaths. But they’re hard to beat for a family pet.

[Comment Not Approved]

With my first Lab I only wished she would have chewed on us a little more. Instead she went through: a camcorder, $200 pair of loafers, wife’s favorite purse and the cable TV connection into the house.

All this in one day while we were at work!

On my 2nd Lab now ... She hasn’t chewed on anything in 4 years.

Best dogs ever IMNSHO.

[T-Bird45]

For the most part, “mouthy” is an apt description but those sharp puppy teeth make it painful at times. She has lots of toys, Kongs, and teething chew sticks but likes to work on shoes and people. She has not taken to the rawhide like our previous dog did. The previous dog, an Australian cattle dog, would work a rawhide to death in pretty short order.

[T-Bird45]

We were going to start the training at PetSmart last Monday night but postponed due to weather. Training is definitely on the schedule to do with her. The PetSmart sequence worked well for the previous dog.

We closely monitor the food intake and she’s on a puppy shot cycle with the vet right now that includes palpation of the abdomen.

[momtothree]

What we did is “yip” if the bite became too strong. You would be amazed how the yip triggers to them that they bit too hard and to stop. (you sort of sound like a dog that gets hurt and then verbally say NO in a stern tone). I learned all of this from Salamander and she must be quite the dog whisperer or the Doberman would have chewed our limbs off by now. LOL!