Tucker was a mutt.  Probably a Black Labrador mixed with a Border Collie.  He and I spent a lot of time together when I was a kid.  My mother found me curled up with him inside his doghouse more than once!

When Rusty and I started talking about the type of dog that we wanted, there was no question.  It had to be a Labrador Retriever.  We couldn’t have any pets in our apartment so while we saved our money for a home, we learned more about them.  I bought “Labrador Retrievers for Dummies” and we found out that there are two types of Labs – American and English.  The English Lab is stockier, has a shorter nose, and tends to be shorter in stature and has a calmer temperament.  Show dogs are English Labs.  American Labs are taller and lankier, and are typically used for things like field competitions and hunting.

For our lifestyle and needs, we always knew that we wanted an English Lab.  This was confirmed for us when we went to the Snoopy Dogfest at SUNY Farmingdale and were enamored with the service dogs from Canine Companions for Independence, which were English Labradors.

In the meantime, I also read the book Marley & Me.  I laughed and cried, and really got a better understanding of what we could be in for.  Not to mention, the mistakes that people make when choosing a breeder and a Lab for their lives and home.  While Marley was a worst-case scenario, we knew it was entirely possible for us to end up in the same situation.  You can prepare all you want, but you never know!

We then became addicted to watching Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic channel.  We assumed we would need the dominant skills he projected and gleaned as much as we could from his shows and then went out and bought his book “How To Be The Pack Leader”.  We learned about all the subtle things people do to influence dog behavior and how it can be completely innocent to you, but you are sending the dog signals that can cause issues later.

Our home was purchased in November of 2007 but we still waited to become dog owners.  Waited to get our home in decent shape, waited to get a viable fence for the yard, waited to put money aside for the dog purchase.

We saved our money for our “dog allowance” to make sure we had enough money for all the supplies, vet bills, and miscellaneous things we would be spending money on.  We then checked out rescues and breeders, making sure to look out for the danger signs that indicate a backyard breeder or puppy mill.  The biggest Labrador rescue in our area turned out to be closed.  We started to call breeders to ask if they had older dogs, perhaps retirees from the breeding programs.  We settled on one breeder, visited them a few times, and after meeting a few other dogs, set our hearts on Brinkley.

It didn’t take long to choose his name.  It all started with my unhealthy obsession with the movie Forrest Gump.  We had “Forrest” as a dog name on the list but then Rusty remembered a different movie that Tom Hanks was in – You’ve Got Mail.  In that movie, Tom Hanks meets Meg Ryan online.  Rusty and I met online.  In the movie they meet in Cafe Lalo, which Rusty and I have eaten at numerous times.  One day, we took our nephew DJ into the city and Cafe Lalo was packed so we went down the block and found a different restaurant.  Which turned out to be the OTHER restaurant in the movie (where Meg Ryan and Greg Kinnear break up).  Coincidence?  I think not!  Anyway, Tom Hanks had a retriever named Brinkley in the movie.  We thought the name was cute, as was the dog.

It has been almost a year since I originally wrote this blog and it has been pretty interesting!  We had some acclimating to do and health issues to overcome.  But we also had a lot of socialization and training to get through.  We started from scratch housebreaking him.  Then came the basics – sit, stay, come.  He was such a fast learner that we never stopped.  He now knows about 25 commands!  We were also able to get him more confident in many situations that he had previously been very fearful of.  Loud noises, cars, kids on bikes or skateboards, etc.

I would be more than happy to answer any questions about our experience so feel free to comment here (please include your email address) or send me an email.

Take care,

Tricia

last edited Thursday, 8/27/2009