I saw the same thing with our small dog, a pug/terrier cross, Harley, after our black lab Jade died. Lots of napping and just not the same energy as when she had a buddy. We recently got another black lab cross, Leia, around 16 months old. It took me quite a while to be to the point I was ready for another, and then it took quite a while to pick one out because I was looking for another Jade...I finally realized that wasn't going to happen. Leia isn't Jade, but she is proving to be pretty smart. She is highly food motivated, training has been fairly easy by rewarding her with treats. Harley is 13 now, but she went right back to playing often with the new dog like you describe, wrestling matches and running around outside together. I believe the much better activity will keep Harley more active/healthy and extend our time with her.
that's the main delay in getting another dog, wife wants another Giant Schnauzer and I say no way- to me it's not fair to the dog b/c even if it looks just like OTTO it's not going to be OTTO, and I don't want to judge a dog like that. ...plus I want a GWP b/c I want to get into bird hunting; but that's another argument for another day.
I am also starting to look for a new puppy. I want to get another Black Mouth Cur. My present dog is going on 9 years old and starting to slow down a bit. It would also be beneficial to my other dog who is 4 years old. She still plays like a puppy but her brother is becoming old and grumpy like his owner. I want my dog Jones to help show the new pup the ropes before he gets too old. I've seen first hand that dogs learn from each other. Having two dogs helps them get more exercise than I can provide just from their playing together. It really helped Jones when we got him a little sister. The BMC is the perfect dog for large rural property owners.
That's what we did. Our 2 dogs were getting older so we got a Golden Retriever puppy. One dog would play with her, the other dog wouldn't really play but she would tolerate her if the best way to put it but they both helped teach her the rules so to speak and I think it helped the older dogs as well. Now that the 2 older ones are gone I feel like our Golden has been a Godsend to help us through the grieving process.
Achilles just made it back from his second puppy check up. Clean bill of health so far. I’ve paid more in 2 visits than I have for the dog and have another one mid May then he should be good for the year. Sorry to hear about the loses posted above. I think we will end up with a second dog also. Wife wants a German Shepherd. I’m not to sold on it I know the issues that occur when they get older with the hips. I do think Achilles needs a running mate though. Time will tell.
Here is our current Golden Retriever a little over a year old. Don't let those sweet eyes fool you. Actually she has been a great dog so far and for a puppy she has been fantastic
ash d, I had to laugh at that picture as it brought back memories. Years ago, we had a young german shepherd and 2 cats. We were out shopping one day and when we got back home our sheers going across our big living room window were ripped to shreds and laying in a pile on the floor. Of course the cats were like "look what the dog did!" but after examining the downed sheers I realized that the cats had a hand in it. They would sit behind the sheers and bat and poke at the dog and work it into a frenzy. The dog would try to bite at the cats through the sheers then the cats simply walked out and watched as the dog went ballistic on the sheers. The next day I installed vertical blinds.
We had a Golden Retriever once. They are fantastic family dogs. Way back in 2003 when I was stationed on a ship in Norfolk and my wife was stationed in Virginia Beach we went into a VA Beach pet store to “look”. My wife saw this sickly little Golden Retriever pup and asked to see it. I just thought to myself “Oh no.” They brought it out and it was obvious that it was in bad shape. It was lethargic and very thin. My wife noticed blood on its little butt. She looked at me said “We can’t leave it. It’ll die.” I didn’t like the idea of paying just under $1000 for a pedigreed puppy that was on its last leg, so to speak, but I agreed with the wife. It would have been useless to disagree with her anyway. We put the pup in the back seat of the car and headed home. We hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot before that pup had a runny/bloody “accident” all over the back seat. That was disgusting. I bailed out of the car gagging and said “You bought it. You clean it up”. We drove home with the windows down. We ended up spending three times the price we paid for her in vet bills before she was healthy, but she ended up being a fantastic dog and lived a long, comfortable and happy life with us. She’s been gone now for about 8 years but we still laugh about her absolutely toxic farts when she was young and being nursed back to health. She would fart at night and we’d wake up gagging.
my Giant OTTO would clear the room. Best part is, if it was him, all you had to do was say 'phew!, OTTO! and he'd leave in shame. But if it wasn't him and you tried to blame him, he'd just sit there and look at you like you hit on his mom.
My male dog seems to take pride in his farting abilities. He just sits there and smiles while you are gagging. My female dog just acts like she don't know what the fuss is about. Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
Soon as the soil drys out, I gotta do the inevitable. Prep work so to speak. I fear it coming. my old buddy is wearing out.
Going to have the son's dog for another week coming up. I like Larry but he is high energy our dogs hate him but can't say no.
