The wifeperson had a 3-year-old yeller lab when we met. It was her "baby". I did not have
a T at the time. I quickly discovered this "babying" had deprived the dog of things labs love,
like lakes and rivers, sticks and balls, and sticks or balls and lakes or rivers, at the same time !
The beast was unleashed.
My old man was a highly regarded dog trainer. Bird dogs, mostly. We had a large kennel and
people brought puppies from all over to have him work his voodoo on them. I grew up with the
paradigm that "real" dogs were hardworking, outdoor dogs, to be thrashed and trashed, because
that is how they got their biggest stim. Of course, laying in front of the woodstove was the other
end of the happy dog spectrum. I opened a whole new world of dog fun to her yeller lab.
Always in the back of my work truck, go to the river on Saturdays. I could throw that stick till
my arm fell off, I never could bush the dog out. Then I got deployed, and when I came home,
three years had passed and the dog was getting old. where she would literally "fly" into the truck
before, I had to build a ramp to keep her from hurting herself. She still enjoyed the stick and the
water, but the days of boundless energy were over and she was content to enjoy the wood stove
and laze about. It was agonizing to finally put her down, but she had shriveled away and could no
longer keep food down. It was a bad day, weeks, months ... She never got to really be that hyper
excited dog in the back of the flatbed.
Today, I enjoy my client's dogs as much as I can. People say "Get another dog", but I want the house
finished, so I have no distractions. I don't want to repeat what happened when I was gone and the dog
didn't get the attention I think dogs should have. One great thing about our old dog was that no stick
was safe when she was on duty. No stick ever snuck on camp, no water free of splashing. Here, she
has discovered a downed 40' lodgepole pine sneaking up on us:
Thanks for sharing your photos. It is good to see dogs so "abused".
Have fun with your dog, but keep him safe, above all !! (you too ! 
