Nominations For 'Lab of the month'

bradleysmum

Hi Everyone,

We're now taking nominations for our 'Lab of the month' competition.

If you would like to put forward your lab or labs for this award, please email me a photo & a little bit of info as to why you would like your lab or labs to win this award.

Thanks everyone - we look forward to hearing from you.

Email julie@labradorforums.co.uk

sasha1999 · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:05 pm Post subject: lab of the month

hi i would like to place ROSIE as lab of the month .
the reason for this is ROSIE has not had the best start in life and is only eight months old.
i rescued her from the national animal welfare trust head quarters in watford herts in april of this year . she was a unwanted christmas present and had been left tied up at the gate at the kennels.
as i have worked with labs for some 19 years i decided that i could give ROSIE a new lease of life with the love and affection of a family home.

i started the ball rolling my having a reseve placed on her until i could arrange a home check to be carried out . in all it turned out that i was able to return ROSIE to my home to start a new and happy life . ROSIE has settled i realy well and is so gentle with my children and othe family members . gone are those bad times she experienced in the kennels , and the real joy of a lab is seeing her play with other dogs while out on her walks.
she has been with us for 4 months now and is a pleasure to train and handle . she now has road sence enough for me to be able to allow my nine year old daughter walk her on lead with me behind her . all the commands are from lead .

from playing in open space to close recall ROSIE has adjusted well to the training and enjoys playing ball games.
other dogs dont seem to bother her at all and is willing to let them sniff her without as much as a turn of her head.

house training was instant no problems from her except from the day she was spayed she had a little accident poor girl couldnt help that one .

i feel that ROSIE will turn out to be a very loyal lab and is now a very much loved member of our family.

best wishes george sasha 1999 trainer and dog handler to rosie.

littlelab · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:12 pm Post subject:

lovely nomination Very Happy

_Mary_ · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject:

I agree with Nat George, Rosie is gorgeous and is a lucky girl to have found you and your family to care for her and give her the life she deserves Very Happy

Brinnsmum · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 12:06 am Post subject:

Hi I would like to nominate Chester, who is also a rescue via LRRSE.

Basically because he has been through so much in such a short time, for whatever reason nobody knows found wandering so he'd lost his home, to being in a pound, then emergency kennels to a foster home then finally to his forever home, how unsettling that must have been.

He is an absolute angel (what a labrador!!) and has not set a paw wrong and I just want to give him a wonderful life as he is giving such joy and love to our family.

mrsm · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:15 am Post subject:

Hi Julie i would like to nominate Miss Maggie my ex puppy farm girlie who has had a horrific life ..................her story sorry it's so long Laughing

Miss Maggie
I don't think for one minute that Maggie is your average ex breeding bitch (if there is such a thing),from what i've read on others. She came to me after being in foster for 5 mths then spending a week in kennels which sent her backwards .But thankfully not too far backwards and she soon forgot the kennels. So having said all this don't think that Maggie is like all of these lovely dogs her story to start with could well put people off but i feel i should say how she was and is warts and all so here goes.............

I won't lie and say that the evening i met Maggie myself and my OH both looked at eachother and could have cried looking at the pitiful site of this gorgeous lab laying in the doorway of the kennel wow did i get a shock when a lead was put on her she thrashed about like a crocodile thats caught it's prey then hit the floor and made like a rock then started to shake from head to toe my heart broke to see this. At that moment i did think to myself OMG what have i done but it went as quick as it came she was mine and i was going to help her .
I had been told that she was one of the worse cases that they had seen in along time so was prepared i think. The journey home i could have cried i wanted to get in the back with her this poor dog was so petrified of us and couldn't have got any further away from us if she tried she shook from head to toe all the way home from middlesex to luton. We had to carry her into the house and as soon as she was put down she ran straight into the nearest corner. I sat and watched her thinking how in gods name can someone supposedly human do this to a dog ...............
So thats the sad part over and if you haven't fallen asleep then we'll move on Maggie was frightened of everything including her own shadow and especially men but loved Baxter and my son who was then 7. She wouldn't let me touch her so i didn't i left her and just spoke to her in fact i had full blown conversations with her she had everything about what i was doing explained to her and within a few days she would let me stroke her i was
overjoyed.
My next major hurdle was getting a lead on her i posted about it on here for advice had my own ideas on what to do and people confirmed them she was so so terrified of the lead and would just bolt around the house like something posessed so leaving a lead on her wasn't an option. My OH thought about it and after a month or so of being with us he came home and said right put the lead on her we're taking her out so we did carrying her to the car and driving somewhere very safe and with Baxter we had our first walk which was more of a crawl to be honest. We did this every night for weeks and she slowly went further and started to take interest in things . We were off and she hasn't looked back it seemed that by replacing the horrible association she had with a lead with nice experiences has worked wonders and the scary things are in the past although every now and then they rear there ugly heads but i just ignore it and we carry on. She still has issues with my OH but it has changed form being scared of him to loving him and she shows this by talking to him which can be a tad annoying at 3 in the morning when he comes in!!!(we are working on that)
Maggie came to us at the end of March 07 so mentally traumatised and now in January she still has a way to go but wow what a difference. She is not a 'normal' lab and i doubt she ever will be but every day i see a difference something so simple that we take for granted with our normal labs taking food out of our hands,a belly rub,picking toys up,playing with toys the list goes on but we are getting there and i am so so proud of her and never for one minute regret getting her watching her develop and her character come through (she is quiet a strong willed madam at times) is brilliant and so rewarding. I can't find the right words to say how it makes me feel watching her only today i watched her playing with the others in the fields and a month ago she wouldn't do that. She is my shadow now and i never worry about her when we're out as she's always where i am unless she gets a wiff of something and forgets herself and goes off at breakneck speed nose to ground then suddenly remembers she's not with us and comes flying back in true Maggie butterfly running styley (her co-ordination is a bit hit and miss as she obviously had no muscle and is very badly bred so when she runs her back legs look like she's doing the butterfly stroke ) This i might add is improving as her muscle is building bless her.
Maggie has come such a long way in a short time and to go through all of what she has accomplished with the help of Baxter who has been a star with her, would take forever.
I think i've waffled on enough could talk about her for hours can you
tell????

Sorry if it's so long but so much to tell about her and this is not all of it hard to know what to put in. Am sure those who've met Maggie as i take her to as many places now as i can will tell you she is 'unique' .

************************************************************* ********

UPDATE JULY 08....................Well what can i say Maggie is a different dog from when i wrote the above in April .Am so so proud of how she is overcoming and putting behind her the hell that was her life Very Happy

She now retrieves ,constantly plays with the other two ,doesn't freak out at other dogs that aren't labs (except GSD) she was petrified of any dog that wasn't a lab .She will happily go anywhere on her own as long as she's with me ..........bless . The list goes on everyday something else shines through .

I could go on for hours and hours about Maggie and can't explain how much i adore my gorgeous girl as she does me (so i'm told) Laughing

. Have only to look at her and the tail thumps ................. Very Happy

I feel very honoured to have such a special connection with Miss Maggie after the way she has been treated by so called HUMAN BEINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These puppy farm dogs are truly amazing

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A PUPPY FARM GIRLIE IN MY FAMILY FROM NOW ON..................more if i win the lottery Wink

Happy Maggie........

____________

MAK2503 · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:18 am Post subject:

What a wonderful story (made me cry Crying or Very sad

). I am so pleased that Maggie is doing well and found a fantastic forever home with you. Very Happy

Becs · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:24 am Post subject:

Bless that Maggie- she is such a treasure.

I'd like to nominate Eve's Neo too. He seems to have be going through such a rough time healthwise and I think you'd struggle to find another Lab that is loved more than Eve's Boy!

Becs and The Gang