Lab owners

[CreepingDogFart]

I have a lab- working stock although a family pet to me. I won't be getting another dog just yet but I'm thinking already of my second. I know many lab owners who subsequently got a second one or another gundog breed. If you have a lab, do you have another breed that you think compliments your lovely lab?

I have a Golden Retriever / Lab Cross who we got before our Black Lab Bitch. They get on really well. Lab adores the Retriever and whines if he goes out without her.

I did have a Lab and a Golden Retriever.

I now have a Lab and an..............EBT!

We had a lab and a springer at the same time. Lab/spaniel seems to be a common combination among the gundog set.

Two labs here- aunt and niece. They're bestest friends

I don't have a lab but grew up with them

I think you'd need to make sure your new dog was robust enough to cope with a bouncy lab's rambunctious play style - my dog is a little, rather dainty retriever (Toller) and he is quite wary of most labs as he tends to get skittled by them as they crash into him at high speed

We have two labs. The younger second dog is quite a bit smaller than the first one, which is quite good space wise. They get on very well.

My lab loves every other dog ever but particularly does bond with other labs, spaniels and...dalmatians. Dalmatian is never a breed I would have considered before (no particular reason just not a breed I had in mind) but he plays really nicely with them. Although to be honest, if a dog wants to play, my dog is its best friend. Before I got him I was looking for a tamaskan.

I have a lab and a rottweiler, they are inseparable.

I like Rottweilers. Thisismy there are different types of labs in terms of stock and origin- are there different types of rottie? I was stroking a Rottweiler bitch today and she was stunning.

Lab and cocker. It's a deeply mutually admiring relationship!

I have a lab, a german shepherd and a miniture pincher. I wouldn't say our min-pin complements anyone very much, she is not all that fond of other dogs and labpants in particular so I would not recommend that bond.

We never intended to get any other dog, just the lab but he just seemed to need a friend. Our vets shepherd had puppies and we ended up with one of them. We then fostered her royal highness and ended up falling in love with her too and adopted her.

The German Shepherd keeps the lab under control in that he thinks the whole world is his Fwend. She is more cautious and not so easily interested in meeting every person, dog, horse, cat, chicken or cow we come across. So he has calmed down a lot with her influence and uses her to satisfy his need to be constantly attended to and admired. He can now be trusted not to go running up to everything and anything with his tail on overdrive.

We got our first lab x as a rescue dog and 12 months later got him a companion of another lab and they are fab together. We did consider a springer spaniel but the lab came up from rehoming first and they both got on so well.... I've attached there pics in the hope of more cute doggy pics to follow

This is Darwin, he's my full lab and is 9 months

And absolutely bloody mental!

We are thinking about getting a yellow lab (the really pale with brown ears colouring) to go with him - he will be Albert (after Einstein to follow the scientist theme haha!)

Awe!! I'd have a house full if I could.... Forgot to mention on my pic the left ones Oscars and the right one Albert

This is so lovely! All your dogs sound (and look) beautiful.

" are there different types of rottie?"

No, they're not split like other breeds are, the difference between show and working is just aptitude and working line rotties are pretty rare over here anyway.

You've got american, German and I think roman rottweilers.

They all look different, German ones a broader and American slimmer. Not sure about Roman ones.

Ours was a rescue, so we are not 100% sure of her origins, but she's now 11 and the lab is 13 now, and they really are like married old couple, they sleep intertwined and if one is there the other will be too.

She calms him down if he's getting too boisterous, and they play and wind each other up.

I know that rottweilers have had a bad rep, but I wouldn't hesitate getting another one, she is loyal, smart, loving and oh so stubborn

THe UK has one type of Rottweiler.

Unless they're born in Germany - German Rottweiler just means...bred by an eejit TBH.

There's no actual split like that, over in mainland Europe you do get more dogs from working lines, but, that's because there's more working competitions and their bloodlines are sometimes used for show bred rotties over here anyway, if you had a dog with a full pedigree of working rotties you might find they're a bit "drivier" and possibly a bit less sociable* but they shouldn't look any different or have huge difference in temperament traits as working champions are usually shown for conformation as well.

• show bred rotties tend to be a bit over friendly and enthusiastic with other dogs...think like labs tend to be.

My dog is a Rottweiler cross Labrador and she is lovely

I love rottweilers. When I lived in the USA my neighbour had three, they were all fantastic and loving dogs. They were not slim though, they had heads like bulls

Where I sometimes walk my dogs there is a man who has a rottweiler. He is very like my lab, no sense of his own size and a need to love on everyone all the time. Big sop.

She licks everyone she meets and the kids drag her around and dress her up and she joins in their games. She loves every dog and every person she sees!

Anyway...if you're considering a rottie...

They're a bit livelier than labs (I've had labs before) same sort of activity levels, but just a bit more full on about everything they do.

Different to train as well, they're not as biddable, so they don't come wanting to please you, they do things for the reward - which does mean if what they want to do is more rewarding than what you're offering then they'll go and do that.

Once you've got a good bond with them though, they're hugely attuned to you - they're also quite sensitive, don't react well at all to harsh training methods or even you losing your temper.

I genuinely think that a lot of the bad press around rotties comes from the fallout of shitty training methods, I can't imagine them turning out OK with owners who do things like alpha rolling.

They're a huge amount of fun, just complete silly clowns, but really clever (in a training sense) so mine can pick up a new command in about an hour...but can't work out how to turn round in my kitchen so has to slowly back out instead, lol.

They do absolutely everything with full enthusiasm levels, games, training, playing, saying hello...

Much lower shedding than a lab and they usually don't bark much, but they have all sorts of other noises, they quite often rumble when they like where you're stroking them for instance.

Very affectionate and have no clue that they're large dogs, they genuinely think they're lap dogs and see no reason why they shouldn't be sat on your knee giving you kisses

But, you do need to be very careful where you get them as there are loads of dodgy breeders and with the health issues they're prone to you can't be too careful...oh and insurance is ridiculously expensive for them.

happy we made the mistake of getting 2 different coloured labs and now the hair from one or other of them shows up EVERYWHERE! We just had our black boy to start with so all of our clothes and furnishings were dark to hide the hair. Now we have a yellow girl and everything looks hairy!

OP aside from the obvious of not getting 2 dogs with vastly different play styles / exercise needs etc I'd look at what your particular dog likes. If we were picking a dog purely based on what our girl liked, for example, we'd have an entire male staffy. She loves them! She's going to have to put up with labs though coz I luffs em!