lindanicholls
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Registered: 09-2008
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Linda and Bonnie
My first labrador was a yellow ***** called Gemma, she was a wilful puppy (whoever advised you to pick the up front in your face puppy needs shooting! ) and from showing breeding so her attention span was short! All that aside I took her along to puppy classes and was lucky enough to have chosen a very good obedience group in Essex (where I then lived). They helped me a lot and her training progressed and we ended up competing in first local and the KC obedience. Unfortunately Gemma never did stop being wilful and was always very unpredictable - being superb one day and not interested the next. She would also not obey anyone but me, much to my parents annoyance as she was supposed to be their dog in theory! After a few years (and her puppyhood) she developed problems and ended up with a full hysterectomy, After that she effectively retired to being a family dog, going for walks with my parents until she died aged 14.
I had a few dogless years as I was working fulltime and did not feel it was fair having a dog in that situation, but when I moved in with my boyfriend (who worked night shifts) I was persuaded to take on another Gemma! She was a 18mo Black lab - working bred - and the most intelligent dog I have ever met. She had no formal training when I got her, and a total ball obsession, but she was simplicity to train - she just seemed to read my mind. She was really a one person dog, and never interested in visitors beyond barking so I knew they were there, but when she took to you it was total! I trained her to pick up and we enjoyed a few outings with the local hunt, before a gun going off close to us upset her and after that she was very bad with thunder, gunshot, fireworks etc so retired from active working. We still enjoyed long walks in the country and she walked better off lead than on. I sadly lost her age 10 to bad DJD in her front elbows followed by a stroke which caused nerve damage in her spine and lack of coordination of her rear end.
Poppy came along a couple of years after Gemma. Pops was 6mo and rather lively to say the least. She is showing bred and a real "girly" If she was human she would wear a pink frilly dress and play with dolls! She is soppy, soft, cuddly and a total coward. She is quite happy being the submissive one and easy to scare. She is 8 now and quite happy to potter around our land at home chasing the odd bunny and mostly sleeping! She also loves getting into the garage with Tony and often sports big black oil stains.
Bonnie is a nearly 3yo working bred yellow Irish labrador and was bought as a puppy by an 80 year old lady over in Ireland. Whilst she loved Bonnie very much she just could not manage such a big boisterous dog and by the time the IRR got involved a year later Bonnie was totally out of control. The lady who removed her from the home told me that every door - including the garden door had a labrador sized hole chewed in it, the sofa was just a pile of springs, foam and material and the mad blonde thing went evberywhere at 100mph on her back legs. She was untrained and unsocialised.
In her 4 months with IRR Bonnie went through a series of fosterers, most of whom found her a little too hard to handle! She was a big, strong dog, who had suddenly been let out into a huge exciting world full of dogs, smells, people, things, and many many wonderful things! She was going to explore them all.  This included eating various items, beds, handbags, shoes, bread knives etc etc. 
When I adopted Bonnie in Oct 2007 I had had 3 previous lively young labs, but nothing prepared me for the anxious, manic, insecure, skinny labrador that emerged when I got her home. Her many moves about had made her very insecure, and she would not rest but paced constantly, humped her bed, stole, chewed everything counter surfed, whined, barked, and generally created mayhem!
I soon realised that she was extremely intelligent and whilst I would never be able to get her physically tired, I could get her mentally tired by channelling all her energy into activities that made her think.
We started with obedience, but she learned so quickly that soon wasn't enough for her. Obedience club was very good for getting her out with other dogs, even if I ended up with some very sore hands trying to hold on to her the first few times!
I started teaching her some tricks and games, and started looking for an agility club to join as I had always fancied having a go and thought it would be a good challenge for Bonnie.
We did an intro course of 3 weekends back in Jan/Feb 2008, and she took to it really quickly, and we went on to do regular training at Catherston, before being invited to join beginners on a Tuesday in June. She continued to learn quickly and is now in elementary at club, and we're looking forward to our first shows in a few weeks. 
Agility has done so much for Bonnie. After the first 3 weekends she was already noticably calmer at obedience, and much less excited around other dogs. Once we started going weekly she went from strength to strength, and the early days of running madly round playing chase with Bertie whilst we all tried to catch them seem to be a thing of the past (touch wood). 
Bonnie is now really focussed on me and our relationship is very strong, I'm certain we would have not got this far without agility. It forced me to really work with her in a fun way that she enjoyed, I can even get her to play with toys now, which she just didn't understand to start with.
This has led to other changes. I can walk her offlead and be 99% confident in an instant recall, she rarely destroys things or steals at home, she can relax and just sleep, and we can manage to walk past another dog on all 4 legs most of the time!
We still have a way to go, and she needs a good 10mins before club to settle, but I'm sure with time that will get better and better.
Early on I realised that if I was going to do this agility thing properly, being stones overweight wouldn't help, and since Feb I have lost 2.5 stone and feel much more able to keep up with her now!
So Bonnie and I have a lot to thank agility and the wonderful teachers at Up and Over for (esp Karen, Mark, Michelle, Jenny, Fifo and Sharon). We also owe a lot of thanks to some patient owners who have cheerfully put up with Bonnie's "overenthusiasm" to play the labrador growly barky game with their dogs whilst on the lead!!!
Here are a couple of pics of Bonnie on our recent holiday to Scotland (thats Poppy in the background - she's 8 now and a perfect princess )
IN LOCH NESS
WHO SAID I CAN'T RELAX?
ETA on 20th September I took Bonnie to IRR's annual show. She came home with 3rd in obedience, top ***** in obedience and IRR's most improved ***** award. She took part in the parade of rescue dogs and a group photo and met the lady who rescued her in Ireland. Noone could believe this was the same dog. I was so proud of her.
PPS - yesterday she stole her rosettes and certificates and torn them up Prehaps we still have a way to go yet.
Last edited by lindanicholls, 10/3/2008, 2:42 pm
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Linda
Bonnie (3) and Poppy (9) yellow labradors
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