Here is Rabbit, my younger chocolate lab. The first picture is right after I got him last year at 3 weeks old. He had a broken lower jaw (his mom bit him when he was 3 days old). Several people had tried to fix it before I got him, and it didn't work. He was going to be euthanized and (luckily?) someone knew I wanted a friend for Remi, so she called me up and said, "Do you want a 3-week old lab with a broken jaw, and eats through a tube?". I said, Sure! Right after I got him, I had a veterinary surgeon fix his jaw (the lower picture shows the grey external fixator on his lower jaw). He ate through an esophagostomy tube for several weeks. Today, he is 74# of pure crazy lab. His lower jaw is shorter than his upper jaw (so he has a huge overbite) and he's missing about 1/2 of the teeth on his lower jaw, but it doesn't slow him down in the least. He eats and drinks just fine, and has no problem chewing things up (shoes, clothes, cans, boxes, bags, bottles of medicine, nails, bird seed, dead mice, bars of soap, bottles of shampoo, glue sticks, and on and on. He also ate both passenger seat belts and all the upholstery in the back of my SUV). Puppies that are hand-raised as young as he was can be prone to behavior problems; Rabbit does not like to be restrained (he has to be muzzled and put in lateral for blood draws, etc.) and he does not like being separated from me when he can still see me (he's fine in the kennel when I'm at work, but if I'm in the front yard and he's in the back, he will scream and throw himself at the fence or claw at the windows). He loves to chew on Davey the cat, play in his wading pool, eat anything he can get his mouth on, and he is absolutely CRAZED about tennis balls. He likes to play with Remi, although I'm not sure how much Remi likes playing with Rabbit. Rabbit also has several nicknames: Rab, Rabbie, Rarebit, Stinky, Monster, Monster Puppy, Puppers . . . and "Rabbit, that crazy bastard". I also like to call him the anti-Remi.
Here is Rabbit, my younger chocolate lab. The first picture is right after I got him last year at 3 weeks old. He had a broken lower jaw (his mom bit him when he was 3 days old). Several people had tried to fix it before I got him, and it didn't work. He was going to be euthanized and (luckily?) someone knew I wanted a friend for Remi, so she called me up and said, "Do you want a 3-week old lab with a broken jaw, and eats through a tube?". I said, Sure! Right after I got him, I had a veterinary surgeon fix his jaw (the lower picture shows the grey external fixator on his lower jaw). He ate through an esophagostomy tube for several weeks. Today, he is 74# of pure crazy lab. His lower jaw is shorter than his upper jaw (so he has a huge overbite) and he's missing about 1/2 of the teeth on his lower jaw, but it doesn't slow him down in the least. He eats and drinks just fine, and has no problem chewing things up (shoes, clothes, cans, boxes, bags, bottles of medicine, nails, bird seed, dead mice, bars of soap, bottles of shampoo, glue sticks, and on and on. He also ate both passenger seat belts and all the upholstery in the back of my SUV). Puppies that are hand-raised as young as he was can be prone to behavior problems; Rabbit does not like to be restrained (he has to be muzzled and put in lateral for blood draws, etc.) and he does not like being separated from me when he can still see me (he's fine in the kennel when I'm at work, but if I'm in the front yard and he's in the back, he will scream and throw himself at the fence or claw at the windows). He loves to chew on Davey the cat, play in his wading pool, eat anything he can get his mouth on, and he is absolutely CRAZED about tennis balls. He likes to play with Remi, although I'm not sure how much Remi likes playing with Rabbit. Rabbit also has several nicknames: Rab, Rabbie, Rarebit, Stinky, Monster, Monster Puppy, Puppers . . . and "Rabbit, that crazy bastard". I also like to call him the anti-Remi.
7 comments:
Our chocolate wasn't hand raised at 3 weeks and was still crazy like that! Oh Nestle, you were a good boy but wow, in need of serious boundaries. :)
That makes me feel a little better! Rabbit is getting better; I figure by the time he is about 9 years old he'll be really nice to work with.
SUVs don't really need backseats anyway...that's the dog compartment. He was just remodeling. The seatbelts? You did mention how he doesn't like to be restrained...perhaps he was just preventing you from getting any silly ideas in your head? :)
Hmmmm . . . maybe he is actually SMART and there is reasoning behind his destruction . . .
Rabbit looks very handsome in that photo. We love him and miss him - even if he does "ankle" Max from time to time!
I don't think they make dogs crazier than the chocolate labs... he's lucky to have you!
Deep down inside you are thankful that I called and told you about the VERY CUTE puppy that needed a good home :)
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