Tell me to stop looking at Labrador puppies

[StroppyTop]

I really, really want a Labrador at some point in my life and the urge is currently very strong.

I already have a 7yo whippet and 3 teenagers and life is good, all on an even keel, manageable, great.

But I have such a hankering for a lab! I work from
home, have time for good walks and playing, probably can’t afford huge vet bills but could afford to feed/flea/vaccinate another dog.

Tell me your dreadful puppy stories and nightmare lab tales…

Do it do it do it!

No!!

We got our lab puppy just before lockdown. Best thing we ever did!! He's a black lab

Sorry, can't put you off!!

Mine is only half lab but he is the best thing in the world. Loving, great with kids, easy to train, protective of his family. He is simply the best decision we ever made. I don't mind that he's quite hairy and always apparently hungry.
My life would be so much less without him. In fact DH and I were joking if we ever split up we'd only fight each other for him not the kids.

@StroppyTop I really hope this is the way you wanted the thread to go 😂

They're awful. Just want to be cuddled and make you smile all the time. Horrific little blighter, snoring at my feet under my desk as I type, keeping me warm, might go down for a cuddle with him now actually.

Oh labs are terrible. My lab LOVES cuddles, very annoying, especially when she burries her lovely soft fur into my armpit. She's a pain in the bum when she wants to go on adventure walks, her sniffing at everything isn't cute at ALL and she has a bizarre obsession with horses and cats. She also loves dogs which is very off-putting.

Sarcasm obvs. Sorry OP - our lab is amazing! Best dogs ever.

They are amazing BUT the price of labrador puppies has gone through the roof since lockdown, even more so than other dogs. My parents got a little 'andrex puppy' in 2019 for £750. Perfect pedigree, KC registered, good hip and eye scores, etc, etc. I'm looking for a labrador now, and prices for a similar puppy are averaging £2000.

It's insane and on principle I refuse to pay such an inflated amount. We could afford it, but I'd rather spend that money on looking after the dog once it's home!

We had a beautiful chocolate lab - she was 13 when we lost her. She was a rescue and came from a ghastly puppy farm..... she was riddled with a poor coat all her life and chronic arthritis. But she was the most gentle loving adoring girl and such a massive part of our family growing up with our DC. I've still got her ashes in the kitchen as she loved to lie in the sun on the floor. She's been gone about 7 years and I still miss her.

I've now got 2 spaniels ....... and very grey hair as a result!

You are not helping.

Oh god the hair everywhere! They are so hyper for years , mine chewed everything, including our couch! But mainly the hair , no matter how long we brush him , the whole place is covered in hair, I hoover 3 times a day as well.

@ModerationInEverything I ought to have predicted this.

I have one she's awful... great recall, likes her own space, affectionate , great with kids, and other dogs.
Loves the kids leftovers and never a crumb left on the kitchen floor either.

Ok, if you can’t put me off with tales of sleepless nights and entire loaves of bread swallowed whole, tell me to get off Preloved and the sob stories of 6-12 month labs being let go because of allergies and being too much for older dogs.

Can't put you off, either. On our second now and wouldn't have any other breed. They are so loving and joyful! I do have concerns about the cost of buying one, though, and if you do choose to do so please carefully check the pedigree.

Ok, THIS is what I’m came here for. I hate hoovering and cleaning. But the sofa is knackered anyway.
But chewing in general is a pain.

It will eat your house, your food, other people's food, other people's things.

DO IT!! But get off preloved.

And ignore my grammar, over excited about a puppy!

'tell me to get off Preloved and the sob stories of 6-12 month labs being let go because of allergies and being too much for older dogs'

You do know that this is dog seller's code for can't control the little shit, at best, and he may well have bitten someone at worst, yes? It's a wonder how many people suddenly have 'allergies' when they have juvenile dogs, for sure.

I love pretty much all dogs but I will say that the (3) labs I know are all very greedy and can’t be trusted near food, they shed hair and are smelly and 2 of them are already rickety at about 8 yrs old.

@Whitney168 Thank you, that’s the dose of sense I need

My friend has two labradors and they really are the worse behaved dogs 😬. She had one that is badly behaved and then she got another that is even worse, and she can’t take that one out at all. The one she does take out, has no control, no recall, jumps up at strangers, barks at her for attention in a cafe. I think it’s her first dog so she has no idea how well trained dogs can be. I like dogs but I couldn’t cope with ones like that. Her life is really restricted now too because she can’t leave them home alone. She loves them though, so I don’t think she regrets getting them 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Oh yes, the hair! My friends’ houses are covered in it.

That would do my head in.

Mine is perfection.

That's her pretending to be patient waiting for a walk. This is her now I have produced the lead.