My New Black Lab Pup

[quintessence]

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Fern is a sweet little girl (as is her namesake), my sister-in-law has a black working lab called Bonnie. She is the best advertisement for anyone to buy a working bred over a show bred, she is so sleek and quick and intelligent, not big and clumsy. She is also very playful and even now collects everyones slippers and takes them all to bed even though she is about three. I don't know her breeding except that she came from Lancashire but the whole family adore her.

Good Luck with Fern, she looks a little gem.

Jenny

 

[zilloot]

This is Milly our working lab. She's kept slim because we keep her very fit and don't overfeed her - and she does her job beautifully:wub:

I hate to see show labs - they look as though they could hardly walk to the end of the road never mind work for a day. :thumbsup:

It's hard work keeping a dog fit and on-the-ball with its training and I guess that's too much like hard work for the show people.

You know, Milly is a pedigree but she'd be 'laughed' out of the ring for being so slim and elegant but it's we who are having the last laugh with our beautiful, fit, happy girl....

P.S. BOTH of Milly's parents were YELLOW!!!! :unsure: :teehee: :wub:

 

[Zephyr]

Mmmmmmm, Fern's Mum and Dad look beautiful, as does the ever gorgeous Millielab :wub: :wub: :wub: - for those not familiar with the show type, compare them to this!!! :- "

 

[Paula Roberts]

IMO the working types look much better, :thumbsup: the arguments i"ve gotten into with lab owners that are so overweight they can hardly walk, is unbelievable, :rant: yet they say my dogs need a good feed as there to skinny, :angry: trying to explain the difference between skinny and race fit, your wasting your time. (w00t)

 

[zilloot]

(w00t) ..and Milly beats them all in [SIZE=14pt]LENGTH OF TONGUE[/SIZE]!!!!!!!! :lol: :lol:

 

[Julie D]

Your Milly looks in beautiful condition :wub: much better than the fatties, maybe there are only show bred labs around here or maybe they are just fat labs who don't get enough excercise, but Milly is the most gorgeous lab I've ever seen. :thumbsup:

I always thought I liked the chocolate best but I've seen a lot of them recently and you can't beat the shiney black labs . For the ignorant of us please explain what job the working labs do , I know there are a lot of guide dogs but they can't exactly go hareing round with their owner :- "

Give Milly a :huggles: from me

 

[mally]

Milly looks really well a real credit to you

The working labrador is very versatile, thats the reason i like them so much.They are very biddable and quite easy to train.

They can be used for flushing game for shooting, finding and picking up shot game and they also make a good guard dog in your kennels. They let you know if someones about from an early age. The customs also use alot of labradors for drug and explosive detection as well as the springer spaniels which tend to do everything at 100 miles an hour.

I'm visiting fern later today so hopefully will have a few more photo's to show you over the weekend.

 

[zilloot]

Milly has been trained as a gundog so her jobs are;

To sit by a shooter off the lead, quiet and still, and watch a bird come 'down'

Remember where the bird landed even if she can't see it

On command to go and fetch the bird in as direct a line as possible

Bring the bird back without chewing or 'mouthing' it

Find and bring a bird back if she hasn't seen it come down but she's told there's one out there!

Hand it to her handler without spitting it out or dropping it

Walk to heel off the lead even if rabbits get up and run under her nose

Obey hand signals if she can't find the bird.. like go left, go back, go right, stop, sit

This means my OH has taught her to go 'forward' on command even if it means jumping into a bush, river, over a fence, into his arms (!) without hesitation.

She also does all commands and hand signals at a distance ie, one peep of a whistle means 'stop, sit and look at me'. Two peeps means 'come to me' in as straight a line as possible despite obstacles and as quick as possible. The straight lines and the speed required are practical for the field.

Most dogs don't like feathers in their mouths so her training started with a dummy, then a dummy with one feather attached, then a wing attached, etc... She doesn't 'flush' game because that job is usually done by the spaniels (cockers and springers) and the labs do the retrieving. On a full day's shoot there can be a lot of retrieving so each breed has its own job.

Whatever your politics on shooting are, to watch her work is amazing. The relationship she has with my OH is pretty incredible and the training process is really interesting - he's had to build all these exercises up from scratch so that she trusts and obeys him. She loves it so much she goes 'wappy' if she even thinks he's taking her to train the garden!

I do know that she was a bossy strong-willed puppy and if she hadn't had the training and the job to do I reckon she'd be a nightmare - like all those bored collies and pointers kept as just 'pets', but that's the risk you take with full working lines. I reckon a lot of show dogs are just 'conditioned' to be lazy fat mutts.

 

[PINKY P]

really cute good luck

 

[Julie D]

WOW ! That must be fantastic to watch, even tho' labs are 'easy to train' you obviously still put a tremendous amount of time and effort into getting her to that stage and as you say the relationship between dog and owner is great.

Well we did the 8 week foundation puppy class, which really was a good foundation and I'm so pleased that Ella walks really good on the lead, leaves things alone when you firmly tell her no, stands still when you tell her to wait, either crossing the road or when a cyclist is approaching. can't seem to train her ears to fold down tho :clown: or get out of her bed early when she's told to get up ( like a teenager !)

Any more photos of Milly at work ?

 

[wild whippies]

Nice pup Mally, I wish you the best of luck with her in the future :luck:

Jac

 

[mally]

Most dogs don't like feathers in their mouths so her training started with a dummy, then a dummy with one feather attached, then a wing attached, etc...  She doesn't 'flush' game because that job is usually done by the spaniels (cockers and springers) and the labs do the retrieving.  On a full day's shoot there can be a lot of retrieving so each breed has its own job.

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I always put a wood pigeon in an old pair of tights to train them to feather never had any problems with training using this method.

As for flushing game that will be ferns job as well as the others you have mentioned. i will use her for flushing the straying pheasants back to the woods, fern will be used everyday not just for shootdays.

Everyone trains their dogs to there individual needs and that is how a dog should be trained that way you get the most out of your dog.

 

[mally]

Ferns father making a retrieve in a field trial competition.

 

[mally]

A couple of pictures of fern taken today

only 3 more weeks to go

 

[~whitecross whippets~]

awwwww bless :wub: ....big feet though! :lol:

 

[mally]

fern at 6 weeks old, i get her in a fortnight

and finally one of Myself with Fern. I can't believe how much she's grown

 

[EJW]

She is just gorgeous :wub: :thumbsup:

 

[hellybobs]

My cousin has 2 black labs and they are the fattie kind...don't know why cos she actually feeds them correctly and they're exersized 3 times a day off the lead.

My dad has a springer that does everything at 100mph but isn't all that bright :clown:

 

[mally]

well i picked fern up on saturday, Here are a couple of pics

she's settled in really well.

 

[beaker]

she looks a cracker mate :thumbsup:

i've always had 'proper' labs that could work all day long,

never saw the attraction of the ''Johny Vegas'' types that could barely walk the length of the road :angry: