Chocolate Labradors

Home made dog house

2010-10-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

The dogs needed a big dog house for the winter. I did a lot of research and decided to build my own. I built the dog house below based on some free dog house plans that I found online. The dogs like the dog house. However, Maya can be moody and she will kick Max out of the house. So, at some point, I will need to modify the dog house and add a second door and section the house off.

Chew Toys

2010-09-23T23:38:00.000-07:00

I have been told (and read) that labs chew everything. I bought this "extra tough" chew toy for the dogs. They chewed right through it and made a big mess.

A sad day

2010-08-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well, after much debate, we decided to get the dogs fixed. My original plan was to let Max and Maya have one litter but it would be tough to give any of the puppies up. We decided if we wanted another puppy down the line, it would be easier to just buy one. So, we had Max and Maya spayed and neutered. They were drowsy when they came home but were back to normal the next day.

You did what?

Labs love grapes

2010-07-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

I picked some grapes from our grape vines. The dogs were hesitant at first but quickly realized they love grapes.

Beach Time

2010-07-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

Maya and Max love going to the beach and playing frisbee.

Team work.

Waiting for me to throw the frisbee again.

What the heck?

2010-07-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

I walked outside this morning and noticed that Maxi's eyes looked strange. It looked like he was having an allergic reaction to something but we didn't know what. We took him to the vet immediately. The vet said it looked like he got stung in the face by a bee. He gave Max a shot of benadryl. We learned that you can give dogs human benadryl (1 mg per pound). He got the shot at around 11am and was back to normal around 5PM.

Going for a drive

2010-07-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

The dogs like to go for a ride. Max tried to put on his seat belt (not too safe). They sit patiently waiting to find out where we are taking them.

Playing Frisbee

2010-07-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Playing frisbee with Maya. She likes to try and catch the frisbee. She also likes to chew on them so we have to put them up when we are done playing. Max is still too small and doesn't catch but he will fetch.

Beach Patrol

2010-06-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Maya and Max had to get out of the way of the beach patrol.

Day at Beach (continued)

2010-06-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

Watch a video of Max and Maya at the beach.

Day at the beach

2010-06-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Once Max turned 4 months, he had all his shots and now we could take him to the beach too. The first time we took Max and Maya to the beach together, Maya was a little bigger so she ran write into the water ready to swim. It was Max's first time so he was hesitant but he would follow Maya anywhere so he was swimming in no time. Maya swims faster than Max so when we threw the ball, Max would wait for Maya to come back to the shore so that he can try and take the ball from her.

Unfortunately, Max's first time at the beach almost resulted in a costly trip to the vet. While standing on the sand next to the water, a medium size dog sitting next to Max snapped and attacked him. My wife was next to Max and broke it up quick. Max was wining a bit but we did not see any damage. The other owner disciplined her dog and took her dog away. I took Max back in the water to keep him playing so that he would not be traumatized by the experience. The next day, I noticed that Max's ear was wet under the flap. I though maybe he had some discharge from ear from the sea water. I dried his ear. When my wife when play with him a while later, she said the dogs ear was wet. After further investigation, we notice a small hole in his outer ear that was leaking fluid. My wife took Max to the vet. The vet said that the dog had punctured Max's salivary gland and it was saliva coming out of his ear. She prescribed antibiotics and said that if it doesn't heal in the next two weeks, he may need surgery that would cost around $600. The vet said to keep the wound clean with iodine. After about a week it was still leaking. I put Neosporin on the whole and noticed that the Neosporin plugged the hole and stopped the draining. We kept putting Neosporin on his ear over the next few days and we noticed it was healing rapidly. So, after around 9 days, the whole had closed up. Max was perfectly fine the entire time it was just strange seeing saliva coming out of his ear.

Lesson Learned is that if your dog ever gets attacked by another dog, no matter how harmless it seems, get the owners information and the dogs name and id. Just in case.

Maya and Max UFC

2010-05-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Max (3 months) and Maya (5 months) play pretty ruff but they are keeping themselves busy.

Max has blue glowing eyes and Maya has red eyes. Hmm.

Wanna Beer?

2010-05-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

Maya has been a role model for Max and has taught him a lot such as how to eat paper towels, my plants, the water hose, my patio furniture, etc. I wonder what she is trying to teach him here. It looks like Max knows it is wrong.

Max

2010-04-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Max and Maya are getting along great. They have some sharing issues with their toys. Maya wants whatever Max has and Max whats whatever Maya has.

First Days

2010-04-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Maya is 2 months older than Max and twice his weight. Maya was happy to have Max as a play toy. Max stood his ground and snapped at Maya a few times. Max is more mellow than Maya but when he would get hyper he would trigger Maya and Maya would come back with twice the force. We crate trained Max like we did with Maya. We even had to use the crate to put Max in when Maya would not leave him alone. When Max is not eating or teasing Maya, he is sleeping.

Meet Max

2010-04-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

We found Max online in the classifieds. Max was 9 weeks old when we got him. His mom is a yellow lab and his dad is a chocolate lab just like Maya's parents. Max was born on Valentines Day. The same day we got Maya. Cool huh?

Another one?

2010-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

From the moment we got Maya, my wife was saying that we need to get a play mate for her. I was hesitant on getting another dog so quickly. At 4 months old, Maya has a ton of energy and goes non stop until 10PM. I then agreed with my wife that we need to get her a play mate. We decided on looking for a male chocolate lab in case we wanted Maya to be a mom some day. So, the search began.

First Dog Beach Trip

2010-04-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

At 4 months, Maya has now had all her shots and can go to the dog beach and to the dog park. Since we don't have a pool, this was Maya's first exposure to swimming. I carried her into the ocean several times and had her swim back. She did not like the water much. If I threw a ball or frisby into the water, she would not go into the water to get it. She had more fun playing in the sand with the other dogs than playing in the water.

More Tricks

2010-04-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Maya "Cover your eyes" (4months)

"Sit pretty"

Play Dead

2010-03-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Maya playing dead. (3months)

Cuddly Maya

2010-02-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

At 3 months, Maya likes to hang out with us on the couch. She is sleeping in her crate at night and goes potty outside. Her potty times and eating times are on a schedule so we all know when she needs to go out or to eat.

Roll Over

2010-02-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

One of the first tricks we taught Maya was to roll over.

Our First Labrador

2010-02-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

On February 14, 2010 we got our first lab. We named her Maya. We got her at 8 weeks old. Her mom is a purebread yellow lab and her father is a purebred chocolate lab.

Her first bath

Maya settled in quickly. A mistake we had made was that I forgot to the previous owner what food maya was eating and how much and how often she was being fed. We had went to petco to buy her a crate, pillow, food, containers, treats, etc. The bag of food said to give a puppy her age 1.5 cups. So, we gave her 1.5 cups for dinner. Her stomach got big and she barely ate the 2nd day.

On the third day she had went to the vet for her shots. The vet said she was fine and just ate too much. She was eating normally on the 3rd day. After that, we reduced to 3/4 cups 3 times per day.

By the third night, maya was sleeping through the night in her crate.

Maya in the garden