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I brought Duncan home 12 years ago, he was 4 months old. The breeder's set-up was amazing--a double row of six runs with attached dog houses inside a small building. And absolutely NO smell.
I had talked to the breeder after my vet gave me the number. She had a two-fathered litter, wouldn't register them and had a few that washed out of "boot camp" (which is why she hadn't looked for homes for the pet ones). The registered pups sold for 1500 to 4000 dollars, which was WAY out of my league! She took me around to see parents and grandparents, and incidentally showed me why she got those prices. These Labs, compared to regular American Labs, were like Hummers compared to Jeeps.
Duncan was all leg and gangly. He grew like a weed, as my grandfather used to say. He was my wild child all his life, since he missed that housepeople socialization before 4 months. Mostly that meant he took awhile to warm up to strangers, so he'd kind of ghost around the perimeter. Never even a growl, even to the vet , although he didm't relax for him for about a year.
His most unusual physical difference was a black "thumbprint" on the back of his neck. That, plus being 29 inches at the shoulder and 138 lbs. at his healthiest. After he learned to open his crate door from the inside he slept on my bed. Although I have a queen size bed, when streeeetched out, I often woke up on the floor!
He hated pills. I can't remember what the first reason we had them was, But he had to take a month long antibiotic for Lyme disease (neither I nor my vet ever saw a tick, but he was tested when he got two swollen joints without trauma.) Oh, what a long month! Every pill had to be totally hidden and if you used the same food too many times in a row, he got suspicious.
More later.
