Big Paws Only Dog Forums

My Earnest is Lab and Great Dane. In addition to standard commands, he knows how to close doors from both sides, ring the doorbell, ring a brass bell with a rope tied to the clapper, put his toys away, and put empty pop cans in his wagon (the command is "recycle").

Today he learned a new trick, my son Levi helped him.

Earnest is soooo clever! The other day we went and helped a friend of ours on a job, cleaning out a senior citizen's yard and garage. One of the things in the garage was a mailbox on a post, so we brought it home. Levi sunk it in front of the dog's playhouse today. Now Earnest watched him digging the hole, and examined the mailbox where it was laying in the grass. He started jumping around when Levi got the box standing up in the hole, and he kept pushing at the dirt with both front feet, like he was helping Levi tamp it down.

Levi tied a piece of string to the latch on the mailbox, and put Earnest's "calling all dogs" vinyl newspaper toy inside.

I SWEAR this is true, Earnest saw the string on the latch, knew what that was for from other tricks, and when Levi said "Get the mail" and pointed Earnest opened the box by pulling on the string, grabbed the toy, and brought it to Levi.

It is truly becoming my belief that Earnest is a 5 year old human trapped in a dog suit!

I don't know about Diamond for puppies, I raised a few Dane pups on Eukanuba and was always happy with the results, but I can tell you that I feed both my 2 year olds (dane/lab and a mastiff/St.) Diamond and they look great. Earnest, the Lab mix, eats Diamond Lamb and Rice, he gets yeast in his ears from corn and wheat, Phyfe eats Diamond large breed, he needs a large kibble size or he swallows the food whole and vomits.
Diamond is 1/2 the price of the other foods, I feed both my dogs for $50 a month ($23 dollars a bag for a 40lb bag and 40lbs lasts each of them about a month) They both look great, and have had absolutely no health problems.

My Earnest is funny, he's got a happy-go-lucky Lab personality, but with an undercurrent of alpha Dane lurking behind it. Every now and then he'll get snarly faced over another dog trying to hump him, or over another dog objecting to it.  When we go out with our Lab friends he doesn't even think about it- but when we're somewhere like the dog park it's a different story, occasionally he struts and postures a little, just to see what he can get away with. He responds to "leave it" but my problem is the people with overly submissive dogs who beg him to do it!  A friend of mine has a female like that, both boys and girls hump Montana, she'll back up underneath another dog! We're practicing with her, but it does not make for a nice outing, we have to keep them on leashes and watch every step or they start up again! Every now and then a dog like that (extremely submissive) causes a bunch of humping and tension at the dog park, it seems to trigger something in the other dogs. (BTW, Earnest was fixed really young, his humping is definitely pack behavior and not sex,I'v probably only seen lipstick once or twice in all of his 2 1/2 years!)

I knew a lot of people when I lived in the south who used horse or cattle paste, too. I've been in the animal business a long time, and did my own vaccs. etc. whenever I lived somewhere the supplies were readily available. The more I save on the routine vet stuff the more I have later for real emergencies.
I have some friends who swear by the holistic treatment, but that's something I would hesistate to do without supervision, and the only holistic vet around here really costs $$$$

The idea with testing every six months is that if the dog were infected between tests, it would only have microfilaria, since it takes longer than that for heartworms to mature, and in that case the ivomec treatment, which is not too big a deal, would clear them.

Decisions, decisions..... ...

I stopped by the vet today and made an appointment to get Earnest caught up, his rabies is due, and he needs to start back on heartgard before we have mosquitos (thank heaven only a few months out of the year, here).
When I asked about the price, they told me $39.95 a month, because he's 135lbs, so he needs a 100lb pill and a 35lb pill.  My other dog is 150lbs. That's $80 a month!!
Then I went to Dr. Foster's and Smith website and looked at prices- I can do BOTH dogs for $17.00 a month!
Anybody order their meds online? Any problems? Who's the most reputable?
I'm going to ask the vet for a prescription when we go.

I'd say she's definitely a German Shepherd mix. That would fit with her markings changing, too- I'll bet she ends up mostly tan with a black saddle.  We have some pretty big GSD's at the kennel where I work- they have some big feet, too!

Because Earnest had a very lab puppyhood, ( I'd always had Dane puppies- I thought he was insane!) I've been very active on a really nice lab board.
These are the web addresses of some fellow members of that board, they do a marvelous job.
This rescue is just getting started, there were no Lab rescues in Nevada until they started. As a new operation they could certainly use our help:
http://www.lasvegaslabradorrescue.com/

This is another fine group, AdoptaLab:
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/adoptalab.html

This group helps pay medical bills for both strays and owned animals
http://www.labradorlifeline.org/index.htm

I got Earnest, my Lab/Great Dane mix, from a BYB who had a pair of Labs he intended to breed, but his Dane knew the female was in heat before anyone else.  I'd been looking to adopt an older/adolescent Dane, but I didn't have a fence, and the Dane rescue in my area is really picky, even though I have a lifetime career in the animal field, worked in rescue for some time, and am a former Animal Control officer I didn't fit their criteria for a "good home".  So when I saw the advertisement for these pups I went "just to look".  The man had a really long driveway, with a parking area about halfway to the house. The dogs were in a pen behind the house. I got out of my car and started walking down the driveway when a little blue streak squirted out under the gate and came running. Big ears flapping, little legs churning, just running for alll he was worth.  When he got to me he sat, pretty as you please, with his tail going a mile a minute and said "Hi mom, I knew you'd come and get me soon." That was it, to this day I couldn't tell you what the other pups looked like, except they were black.
Phyfe, our St. Bernard/Mastiff mix, came to us  from freecycle.  my son wanted a dog of his own, so I promised to look. Just before Christmas this year I saw an ad that said "Great Dane Golden Retriever Mix. Be aware that this is a VERY BIG dog. Moving, must be gone by Saturday A.M." This was on Thursday evening.  I contacted his family, and went down in a rainstorm on Friday evening ( he was 2hrs. away). When I got there here was this poor dog, in an almost empty house, so confused as to what happened to the furniture and where his people were all the time. It was immediately obvious he's not Dane/Golden and when I asked, the man said that 6 months before when he got him from the Humane Society they said St. Bernard/Mastiff, but he was afraid to put that in the ad because no one would want him. He was too thin, they'd been feeding him Ol' Roy, and he was dirty from living outside. My son fell in love- and although I didn't get that feeling, my son did, so Phyfe came home with us.  He has turned out to be a wonderful, patient, loving dog.  We're very active with a group of Lab owners, and everytime we go on a dog outing, he runs and plays with the other dogs, and every now and then comes and leans on me and smiles, as if to telll me how much he appreciates his new life.