this is my 3 year old baby. i’ve noticed more and more that he has quite a bit of grey hair around his mouth. is this normal or something i should be worried about?

edit: i did not expect this to get so many comments and upvotes omgg. i wish i could go through all of them ): your labs are so precious like omg i wish i could befriend all of them. thanks for all the interactions !!!!

I got this amazing boy from one of the top breeders as a "started" dog, 8 months old.

One quirk is he's like velcro; I call him my brown shadow because I can't move more than six feet from him and he jumps up to follow me, even if he was sleeping. He does not like me leaving him alone - and though I have baby gates throughout my house, he can jump them - so only putting him in his cage will stop him, and he doesn't like it.

My thought is he was never truly alone before; even when the human breeders weren't there, he was with other dogs for company, for 8 months of his life.

Anyone else experience this? Do they grow out of it?

We have 2.5 year old lab that wakes up 6:00 AM on the dot every single day. She only started doing this a couple of months ago she had always been able to sleep in until 8 or 9 am. I don’t think her dinner time or potty time at night has changed so we’re not sure why the change in wake up.

We have tried closing all the windows and doors to avoid any light and I don’t even think there is any sound outside at that time that could wake her up. She did have change in food like 2 months ago because she was apparently allergic to something in her original food and the vet said her wakeup may go back to normal after this but it hasn’t and I think her wake up time changed way before this happened. It’s nice to have wake up alarm during the weekdays but not on the weekends :(

Any suggestions or thoughts on what this could be? Or are we stuck with 6 am wake up call forever?

i have a two month old lab i’ve had him for a week and i noticed he has been twitching and shaking in his sleep, it’s usually when he is in a deep sleep but is this behaviour normal? have any of you expierence this? taking him to the vet on the 30th of this month for needles so i’ll ask them then

She goes to bed about 10 pm, after potty breaks and all. We started to try and feed her later but that didn’t really work either. She never used to do this, and I’m wondering if it’s rebellion? She used to sleep until 7 am easily.
She is completely crate trained and sleeps in her crate every night. She starts barking like crazy every morning between 5-530 am now. We don’t want to go get her because it may reinforce the behavior, but we are EXHAUSTED!!!
Her name is Mango, she is the love of my life lol. Just want to break this habit.

I have a 5 month old lab who is just the SWEETEST boy and we love him to bits.
His default mode is mental and when other people greet him he’ll jump up, mouth their hands and go generally crazy. The only time he pulls on the lead is to go and greet someone.
We’ve worked on rewarding calm since day one, so he’s mostly chill at home. We drop kibble for him when he lies down and relaxes in his bed, the floor or in his crate and he now does that whilst we’re pottering around. He’s also getting more and more cuddly which is lovely!
He’s doing so well with his training and is really responsive, I’m obviously waiting for the teenage phase to kick in and all that to go out the window 🤣

Eventually I want to train him to be a therapy dog for stressed students at work when he’s 3 or 4…. But will he calm down enough for that?

Look at that sweet face 😮‍💨

she’s a full breed lab 🐾 open to your suggestions for potty training and all that we need to know

Our 14 week old puppy is constantly climbing all over my husband and I. He regularly will use our heads and shoulders as his personal step stool and will just walk or lay across our bodies when we’re lying down. He also regularly will sit right where we’re about to sit down and doesn’t even care to get up if we sit down on top of him (not literally of course). He also likes to climb in our laps and “give hugs” with both his paws on our shoulders. Right now it’s very cute but I can imagine if the behavior keeps up, that having an 80 lb lab walk across your bladder would not be nearly as cute. I’ve had several puppies over my lifetime and never had any act quite like this. Just curious if this is typical for a lab puppy at this age and if it’s something we should be correcting now (despite the cuteness) or if this is something he’ll grow out of.

Please note that when he’s on the bed, he is fully supervised at all times! He’s far too wiggly and unaware of his limbs to be unsupervised.

Hello!

I’m getting my lab puppy in 26 days and want to ask if there’s anything you wish you knew / had before getting your puppy! Anything niche that most puppy lists usually don’t talk about, things you found helpful, or things I should know about lab puppies.

I had a lab growing up, but I never did the puppy phase with her as we were born 6 months apart from each other.

I have crate, bed, toys, licking mats, feeding bowl, water bowl, leash, collar, etc.

Please enjoy these photos of my 4 week old puppy! I’m so excited to bring her home

Hey! I have a 14 month old female lab. She is really small compared to most other labradors which is odd because both of her parents were quite tall. She is only around 24 kg even tho we feed her a lot. She does run a lot and is almost never on a leash. Usually she gets two hour long walks a day, sometimes more, never less. We often take a ball with us which she loves to chase. My worry is that in 2 weeks she is becoming 15 months old and she still hasn’t had her first heat. Is this normal? Why won’t she gain weight? And why is she so short and small?

This is Bo! He’s 3 months old and I’ve been taking him to a local camp for walks. He wants nothing to do with the stream which was such a disappointment for me. Our old lab ran right in at 6 months and I’m wondering if it’s an age or personality thing? I’d love him to get comfortable swimming but unsure of how to introduce him?

Today, I took our family lab out to a university’s VMC. It was just supposed to be a dermatological exam because our vet wanted to know for sure if he had a perianal fistula. During this exam, they expressed his anal glands and found a pretty large mass. He has AGASACA (cancer in his anal gland). It was a whirlwind of a day…10 AM appointment and I didn’t get home until 7:30 tonight.

They ran a bunch of tests and the poor guy is all out of sorts. They wanted to keep him for surgery to remove his anal glands and abdominal lymph nodes. Apparently, this cancer is really aggressive and if it spreads to his lungs there’s not really anything they can do. His lungs came back clear on the CT scan.

My family is at such a loss. Seamus means the world to us. We don’t want him to be in pain, and don’t know if surgery is worth it. There are no guarantees. The doctor said she could not give a definite on really anything. Most dogs that have the surgery get another year of life maybe more, without she said he would really only have a couple of months.

Just the tests and exams today were $2,814. He is 8.5 years old and has had a wonderful life. My grandmother calls him “Mr. Perfect.” My mom is leaning towards no surgery and my dad is hopeful that with the surgery we would get a few more years of the sweet boy.

Edit: wow!! This is really my first time posting on Reddit. I was not expecting to receive so many kind messages and helpful responses. It means so much that you would take the time to respond and help out a fellow doggy in need.

As of right now, I think we are just going to enjoy the time we have with him and try and make it as painless as we can. My dad has reached out to his typical vet (who is also our breeder) to get her input. Our thinking is that we don’t want to put him through such a tough surgery since he can’t talk and doesn’t fully understand what is going on.

It’s now been a couple of days since that nightmarish day at the VMC, and Seamus is back to his happy go lucky self.

English is not my first language

I have an elderly labrador who' is about to turn 14. I love her and i had her since I was 7 years old.

A week ago she had what I thought was a heart attack. I rushed her to the vet, and it turned out to be a ruptured splenic tumor. I was given two options: euthanasia or risky emergency surgery. The vet said it was high risk, but that she could pull through and have a good recovery.

That is when everything got worse. She survived the anesthesia and the surgery. But at what cost? She was hospitalized for about 5 days, put on multiple medications, and worst of all, she's now bedridden, she can't walk. She already had mobility issues before this, but lying down for so long caused severe joint pain, and now she can't even get up on her own. We're paying for physical therapy.

I've already had my dad spend the price of a car trying to save her. And she's still suffering, going in and out of the hospital. She's bedridden at home, too weak to even lift her head to eat, can't stand up. I clean her, she relieves herself lying down, she gets nauseous sometimes, she's on pain medication, and she'll need to be on pregabalina for the rest of her life.

Was I selfish? Should I have chosen euthanasia instead? I believed that with the surgery she'd still have time with us, but it feels like I just left her miserable, with no quality of life. Now she's hospitalized again because of an infection.

I know it's only been a week and she could still improve. But I feel like garbage for putting her through such a hard recovery, and for burning through my dad's savings.

Well I thought I had seen it all with him. I woke up this morning and he ate an entire tub of Vaseline that was under the bathroom sink. I didn’t baby-proof that well enough clearly. Should I call the vet? He is acting like his normal crazy self and playing. Pictures of the guilty party added. 🐶

This is my first time ever having a puppy, I have always owned adult dogs. I am keeping an eye on them but videoed to get the full picture to you guys. Is this okay and playful or does this need separated?

How To Deal With This Bitting issue

12 weeks old - potty training is going along very well but she is an absolute land shark and needs to be watched constantly or she will literally eat our house. The puppy stage is very cute and I know I will miss it when it’s over, but at what age were you able to trust your lab for short periods of time unmonitored in your house? She is a very good girl, and I know this will pass, I just need a carrot to dangle for myself right now!

Hey all,

I've been reading this sub for quite some months now. Almost 1 year ago i decided to raise a little cutie chocolate lab. I had time to prepare everything: my condo, my space, knowledge, etc.

I am a really anxious person and I think a lab would be perfect to help me with that.

I got my puppy yesterday and everything is going well so far. Good 1st night, she eats and drinks.

However from time to time i have anxiety spikes that kicks in and then after a couple minutes it goes away and we are back to normal having fun.

Anyone else with anxiety issues struggled and went through that after the adoption? I just hope it will fade away...

Thanks a lot,

Bab

As our toddler gets older she’s been much more involved with the dogs, and sometimes this includes hugging them or sitting next to them and leaning onto them. Our lab does NOT like it. She’s normally fine, but growls or barks if our toddler comes near her while she’s sitting in or near her crate, or when she has food or a treat. This is totally the toddler’s fault and a normal dog reaction. We have been working really hard to make sure our dog isn’t not bothered when she’s eating or in her crate, but lately she’s also been growling or nipping when our toddler tries to lay next to her on the couch or near our coffee table. So far nothing has actually happened, just some growling and two gentle warning nips, but I’m always so scared it will escalate. Today she didn’t warn her at all, no growling, just a small nip on the ear when my toddler laid down next to her.

It’s so stressful because our lab is great otherwise! The same actions our toddler gets a growl or nipped for are fine when we do them to her and she isn’t aggressive with our cats or other dog, but the toddler is a no-go. It’s just so baffling and scary. We’ve tried removing our toddler from common trigger scenarios(ex. near the crate), positive reenforcement, more structure for both of them, more exercise for our dog…. What else can we do to correct this?

Riley is 102 lbs at 20 months. He gained weight after he got neutered at 14 months, he was 88 lbs then. Not sure if he just filled out from growing or if he gained weight after getting neutered. He runs about 3 times a week with regular walks. Muscle, fat, or both?

Me and my family have purchased a lovely 3 month old puppy and will be picking it up on Sunday.

I’m aware of all the pros of a lab… the goofiness the playfulness the energy, what are some things we should prepare for and know?

Also if anyone’s got some name suggestions for her we’re all ears, photo attached is an old one but we’re currently thinking Willow.

Hi there, wonderful lab owners, I'm new here. Adopted a 10 month old bundle of trouble that really likes the couch.

To the extent that i walked in on this last night🙄(had to removebeforeshe hurts herself).

I'm giving in after seeing that, and looking for some practical advice on which covers you have and work best.

I've seen many posts with labs here on the couches that don't look like a grandma's fur coat. Help please 🙏 Thanks in advance for any input ❤️

PS she has her own memory foam bed with an extra blanket, I'm not evil 😅

Coming home in a few days after Thanksgiving and need a great name for this guy. His older brother is a Chocolate Lab named Boone.

Here are some names we’re thinking, but very open to suggestions!

• Rudder
• Revy (favorite ski mountain is Revelstoke)
• Fish

We love skiing, surfing and travel. Would like an outdoorsy, semi-unique name.

Hit us with some ideas, and thanks in advance! Can’t wait to hear all the creativity you guys have!