Hello everyone., my name is Holly, and as you can see from my pictures, I am a black Labrador Retriever. I’m now nearly 11 months old and I think I’ve probably got as big as I’m going to get.
My first mum had to take me and my brothers and sisters to Labrador Rescue, ‘cos she was having a baby of her own and couldn’t cope with 6 of us as well. My name then was Milly ( which I think is a sissy name !). Anyway after about a week ( I think, but I was very young so not sure about time) my new Mum and Dad came to the rescue centre and because I looked so cute ( not difficult when you’re a 2 month old puppy especially a Labrador) they took me with them to my new home. I sat in a cardboard box on the journey next to my Dad and tried to see out, but I got a bit tired
so just curled up and went to sleep.
This is me at 3 months. As you can see, I already know how to do “Cute” and boy oh boy does it pay off !!
My new Mum and Dad decided to call my Holly for some reason ( I like it better than Milly and they like it so we’re all happy). My new home is in the country with a big yard and a huge big field to play in and – best of all – two cats to chase. One is a small ginger one who was quite old and the other is a grey and white one, who I think can’t hear too well. Neither of them play very well, but they are quite happy to let me chase them (but they always make sure I can’t actually catch them)
Soon after I began to live with my new Mum and Dad, my Mum started to take me to training classes every week – hey was that ever good fun !. There were about 12 other dogs most times and we all played together before the training, and again afterwards ( and sometimes during as well ). My favorite was a big Labrador puppy like me called Benson – now there’s a strange name, but he and I got on really well cos I think he liked me too. Whenever we arrived we’d always look out for each other and have a really good time.
The training was fun too, and I learned to walk to heel and to sit and sometimes to stay. Anyway, I passed the test and my Mum got a certificate to say so.
The next few weeks were great – lots of walks and playing around and I started to get quite big as you can see -
Then we started to go to training again, but this time we were learning how to do something called “agility”. What fun that was – crawling through tunnels, weaving through sticks, jumping over little fences and all sorts. The best thing was some of my pals from the last training were there again.
But – all of a sudden we had to stop going because my Mum had an accident. We were on the beach near our home where we went most days for a walk, and the bit I liked best was running and jumping over the grassy tussocks at the top of the beach.
Anyway this particular day we were all down there – Mum, Dad and me having a great time, especially me cos the tide had been in so there were lots a big puddles to jump in – and one was deep enough to swim in !!. All of a sudden Mum called out and
fell flat on her face. I rushed up to her and gave her a good licking to try to help, but it was my Dad who pulled her up back on her feet. She seemed to be OK but later we found out she had sprained he ankle so walks on the beach were a bit short for a while.
After a couple of weeks she was better, so we went back to training and had a great time, except Mum fell over in the car park on the way home – bummer !!
No more training for a while.
Soon after that my Mum told me I had to have an operation called “speying”.
Apparently this is to make sure I can’t have puppies of my own when I get bigger, which is a bit sad for me, but there are far too many puppies looking for good homes already, so I suppose it makes sense. I had to go to the vet and be inspected – then I went in and had the opp. As I was asleep at the time it didn’t bother me , but I felt a bit woozy for a while afterwards. The worst thing though was not being able to go for long walks or play jumping and pulling.
After a couple of weeks I felt fine again and everything got back to normal.
The next big thing in my life was a great surprise. Ever since I came home with Mum and Dad whenever we went out in the car to go for walks and stuff, I had to go in the back in a cage thing like I sleep in at home but a bit smaller. Anyhow, one day Mum and Dad left me in my run ( I’ll tell you about that later) and went out in the red car. A bit later back they came, but now the car was sort of mushroom coloured and much bigger. Come time for walks and instead of clambering in the side to get to the cage, Mum opened a big door right at the back and I jumped into my own special space – much bigger than the cage and plenty of room to walk about and get comfortable. Talk about posh !
If you think I’m looking a bit thoughtful its ‘cos I have just come back from playing with 6 other dogs on our afternoon walk and I’m quite knackered – as my Dad would say. So I’m actually wondering whether I can really be bothered to jump out or not !!
In the end I always do.
I’ve grown up a bit more since then and as you can see I really like sunbathing when I get the chance
This is me in the kitchen at home having just come back from an overnight stay in the kennels. This is the second time I’ve been in kennels and I don’t mind it too much although I’m glad to get home again. The trouble is there are always lots of other dogs in the kennels and they will insist on barking whenever anyone comes – disturbs my beauty sleep!!.
The other thing that happened today was that when I came home all the grass was white instead of green – Mum said that was frost – it certainly was cold so I investigated it very carefully and then peed on it just to be an the safe side.
We go out for a long walk every afternoon, and usually along the beach which is great ‘cos most times I meet other dogs and sometimes we have a big play. My favourite other dog is called Buddy and he is Labrador like me only a year older and we have great times together running fast all over the place. He used to knock me over when we played but I’m nearly as big as him now and just as fast, so we just have lots of charging about.
Its now January 2009 ( so I’m told) so that makes me just over a year old. We’ve had lots of cold weather and wind, but it doesn’t bother me ‘cos I’ve got a big thick coat now. Something else new happened a few days ago. Mum and Dad wanted to go to Scotland after Christmas for 3 days, so I thought - Ok here we go back to kennels again ! But no. this time they took me to a bungalow whre a couple called Ron and Trish live with a golden retriever called Beth. We took my cage and some of my food and toys and I stayed with them for the two days. It turns out Ron and Trish look after dogs like kennels do ,but instead of being kept in cages and runs, we live at home in the house just like Beth – Good deal or what !. Also , and this was really great, they had another Labrador staying at the same time called Oscar. He’s a chocolate colour and he’s also one year old. Well – you can imagine we spend most of those 2 days playing ,jumping and rolling about all over the garden and the living room. In fact at the end of the first day we were so tired I had to be put to bed in my cage just so we could both get some rest !!
Something else happened just before I went Ron and Trish’s place, which wasn’t so nice. I got a sort of pain round my back end and had to be taken to the Vet’s. The vet poked about a bit and squeezed some stuff out which hurt a bit but was soon over andI felt better again very soon, but I don’t much like going to the Vet, so after that I was a bit silly about getting in the car, in case we were going back to the Vets. We haven’t been so I’m being more sensible again now and jumping in like I always did.
If you remember I told you there were 2 cats at home for me to play with. The ginger one spent most of its time indoors and the tabby one lived outside. Well soon after I arrived the Ginger one died, so now the tabby one (who is called Tubbs) has taken to living inside and she and I have great fun chasing about, but she still won’t play properly. Mind you she is a lot littler than me so maybe she’s just being sensible. Once in a while I manage to sneak into the bathroom, which is where her food bowls are and if I’m really lucky I can snaffle a few mouthfuls before Mum or Dad catch me. This is a picture of Tubbs and me having a chat.
As you can see I’m really good with her – mind you if I get too close she waves her paws at me and I back off.
I’ve now been here for a year (so Mum tells me) and I’m really having lots of fun. Just in the last few weeks I made a big discovery. When we go for walks along the beach I used to get very excited and if I wasn’t on my lead I’d run off and sometimes my Dad had to come and find me if I’d got into a really good smell, or found an old seal or something really interesting.
Just recently I’ve tried not rushing off so far and coming back when I’m called (well nearly always). This is great ‘cos now I spend most of my time OFF THE LEAD so I call run and jump over the tussocks and pools . I just have remember to keep an eye on where mum and dad are and go back to see them every so often (I get a treat for that as well, so it’s a double whammy!!) Then we often meet my best pal Buddy and he and I have a great time time together now that I can run as fast as him.
We’re going to be going back for something called agility training later in the spring
( I think I’m pretty agile anyway) but it will probably be fun. Most things in my life are fun so things are looking pretty good.
What a beauty you are and what a great life you have 
). I wonder if she is the handsome Buddie's sister?
