In praise of Labs

This picture is making the rounds on Facebook today, or at least it made it to me today and I shared it and sent it on it's way.  It's cute, it's clever, and it makes a very important and valid point.  There's another one I've seen on Facebook a lot.  It's a panda bear saying something to the effect of:  "Racism is stupid.  Look at me.  I'm black, white, and Asian, and everyone loves me." 

Any dog that will allow himself to be placed up on a table,
and lay down for it, is pretty cooperative.

I loved this pic and wanted to share it, but this post isn't about racism, it's about labs.  I've had a number of foster labs and they always seem to get adopted pretty quickly.  They are very popular and for a very good reason.  No one who has ever had a shepherd will have a lot of say for labs when it comes to being smart, but they do tend to be big, sweet, and goofy, and that's what most people really want and need in a canine companion, even if they don't realize it.  Most people don't expect their dog to be running errands, managing the household, balancing their checkbook, or doing anything else  calls for a border collie's level of intelligence.  A lab can be easily entertained with a ball, the same ball, thrown the same way time after time.
 

Look at that tail, just a blur.

The lab picture caught my eye because the yellow lab shown here may be coming my way one day this week.  His name is Copper, which I will almost certainly confuse with Cooper but I hope I won't have him long enough for it to be a problem. 

He's about a year old, friendly, 65 pounds, and has had vaccines at the shelter he's coming from.  He was given up because he was "too much for the wife to handle."  I'm guessing that the husband was a useless piece of white trash that didn't do anything to help with the dog, or with anything else, while the wife had sole responsibility for too many children and a one year old dog on top of it.  The husband's involvement was probably limited to opposing getting the dog neutered, which is one thing they could have done that might have helped with all their problems. 


There may be an opening in the Terrible Trio sometime soon because I finally have someone interested in Dixie, and a couple other inquiries about her as well.  I think Copper will try out to fill that spot, although I expect him to a short-timer.