Porter, the Labrador

I think the Frisbee is thataway!

2011-12-23T21:15:00.001-06:00

I think the Frisbee is thataway!, originally uploaded by k*8.

Seriously Gorgeous Dog

2011-12-14T21:57:00.001-06:00

Seriously Gorgeous Dog, originally uploaded by k*8.

Belated Birthday Photo

2011-12-08T10:43:00.000-06:00

The big guy turned 5 on December 5. We celebrated with a hike through the woods, extra kibble, a new bone, and some treats. He pretty much has it made.

Porter Headed Hunting

2011-10-24T18:44:00.001-06:00

Porter Headed Hunting, originally uploaded by k*8.

An October Portrait

2011-10-11T22:27:00.001-06:00

Porter, originally uploaded by k*8.

Cow Hide

2011-10-04T12:43:00.001-06:00

, originally uploaded by k*8.

Portrait

2011-08-31T06:38:00.003-06:00

Portrait, originally uploaded by k*8.

Speedster McCrazytongue

2011-08-31T06:38:00.001-06:00

Speedster McCrazytongue, originally uploaded by k*8.

Forlorn and annoyed. Being left inside stinks.

2011-08-10T22:42:00.001-06:00

, originally uploaded by k*8.

He has a nautical-themed pashmina afghan

2011-06-29T16:35:00.003-06:00

, originally uploaded by k*8.

Fetching in the morning

2011-06-29T16:35:00.001-06:00

, originally uploaded by k*8.

Porter spends his weekends at the lake these days

2011-04-20T22:12:00.001-06:00

New iPhone camera app not too shabby, originally uploaded by k*8.

This is his living room.

Free and Clear

2011-03-25T22:19:00.002-06:00

We are A-OK. Porter had fancy scans on his abdomen and x-rays of his chest. They took aspirations from his liver and spleen. The second surgery was a success and the margins of the excised tissue (the edges of what they cut out) were clean (cancer-free, meaning they cut out a big enough chunk to catch all of the tumor and its ridiculous scary tentacles). He is great. Everything looks good. Re-check in six months. Thankful is not the word.

He had stitches for 21 days and was on house arrest during those days, which proved to be the most difficult part of the ordeal for the big man. He's back to his regularly scheduled programming, though, and just spent his first day back at Bow Wow (his doggy day camp) tussling with all of his buddies.

He had a Grade II mast cell tumor with a low mitotic rate. He might have had a Grade I tumor; apparently pathologist err on the side of scaring the ever-loving crap out of you to cover their own butts and grade almost every tumor a II. Success rates for the type of treatment we did are VERY high. And, the entire thing cost less than that time he ate 9 chocolate chip cookies and the plastic container they came in.

Speaking of which, if you have a purebred puppy, I definitely recommend you buy the pet health insurance. I passed, and it would have paid for itself many times over by now if I'd just bitten the bullet back when he was little.

Awesome News!

2011-03-04T17:38:00.001-06:00

Clear scans, clear x-rays, successful surgery that didn't compromise any muscle tissue! Praying for further good test results. Huge sighs of relief here. Porter has a funny haircut that he's sort of digging.

My Sweet Puppy

2011-03-01T22:13:00.004-06:00

Porter has cancer. We found a small, hard lump on his right hind leg, like a ball bearing under the skin, roughly between the knee and hip joints. His vet told us not to worry, and removed it several weeks later during a routine dental cleaning. Then the path report they casually asked me if I wanted "just to be on the safe side" told us it was cancer - a Grade II Mast Cell Tumor with a low mitotic rate, to be exact. They said they'd have to call someone to figure out what to do next. I held it together until I got out of there (they told me my dog had cancer, good luck with that, and then charged me $27 for the office visit), and then my heart broke all over the place. It's such a scary thing, and he's such a beautiful, healthy dog. And not just a dog, or any old dog. He is MY dog, my family, and one of the unconditionally best things in my entire life, ever.

And then I got mad, and then we got a plan. We sought out some second opinions today from our former vet in the fancy practice I thought we no longer needed for the routine future yearly vaccinations I was sure was all the health care in Porter's future. Needless to say, our former vet is once again our current vet. The practice is advanced and modern; they have oncology expertise; they see this tumor every week. My vet's own lab Lilly battled this tumor last year. His former professor is one of the country's foremost canine oncology experts, and they talk all the time.

We have another surgery scheduled on Friday, during which the surgeon will attempt to enlarge the margins around the tumor site and excise all possible cancerous tissue. (His margins were clean laterally after the initial surgery; they're just going to try to go deeper and remove a little of the leg muscle to get clean margins deep. They assure me he'll rebound just fine with no loss of function to the leg.) Then a specialist with some fancy-pants equipment will ultrasound and x-ray his chest and abdomen to rule out any metastasis while he is under anesthesia and being a very still dog. We will be praying for clean margins and clear scans. If all goes well, we'll follow up in six months. Remission rates for this kind of aggressive approach are extremely good.

Porter is totally going to kick cancer's ass.

Lounging

2011-02-27T20:04:00.001-06:00

Lounging, originally uploaded by k*8.

Hunting

2011-02-27T20:03:00.001-06:00

Hunting, originally uploaded by k*8.

He'll be your Valentine

2011-02-15T15:34:00.001-06:00

He'll be your Valentine, originally uploaded by k*8.

See Anything Yet?

2011-01-17T11:53:00.001-06:00

See Anything Yet?, originally uploaded by k*8.

Waiting

2011-01-17T11:49:00.001-06:00

Waiting, originally uploaded by k*8.

Snowy Beach

2011-01-10T23:18:00.001-06:00

, originally uploaded by k*8.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T17:51:00.002-06:00

Snow Day!

2010-12-12T15:53:00.001-06:00

Snow Day!, originally uploaded by k*8.

Snow Day!

2010-12-12T15:52:00.001-06:00

Snow Day!, originally uploaded by k*8.

Bear River

2010-10-20T07:56:00.001-06:00

Bear River, originally uploaded by k*8.

Bufflehead Retrieve

2010-10-20T07:55:00.001-06:00

Bear River, originally uploaded by k*8.

Bear River

2010-10-20T07:54:00.001-06:00

Bear River, originally uploaded by k*8.

Dock Dog

2010-10-12T10:46:00.000-06:00

Basking

2010-09-30T22:09:00.002-06:00

Total Camp Exhaustion

2010-06-18T12:08:00.000-06:00

Three and Change

2010-06-17T09:45:00.003-06:00

Both of Porter's sisters are expecting litters of puppies. I expect some of you will have found your way here if you're considering bringing one of those pups into your lives. Part of the original purpose of this blog was to chronicle the growth and development of my pup, because as I was doing my homework before bringing him home, I wished for exactly this type of resource. I wondered how my pup would grow and act, how active he would be, if he would hunt, how he would fit with my lifestyle, and how my life would change. If you're interested in this, click over on the right and surf around through Porter's puppyhood.

And now that I can somewhat sadly say that my pup is full-grown and a full-fledged adult, I can also report on the type of dog one of these new pups (Porter's nieces and nephews) is likely to become.

Porter is smart, but not sneaky-smart. He knows the names of his toys ("This is not your football - go find me your football!") but if you leave him on a screened porch and forget to latch the doors, he'll stay put until you come home, even if he knows you're out on the boat without him.
Porter is very athletic and has matured at just under 100 lbs. He is leggy and an amazing and nearly inexhaustible swimmer. He needs a lot of exercise, which we accomplish through daily walks of 1-4 miles, longer hikes on the weekends, and lots of Frisbee chasing. (PS - he is addicted to fetching, and I mean that literally.) He also goes to day camp once or twice a week to socialize and play with other pups. He is a huge hit there, and apparently always the first one in the pool!
Porter is a fantastic hunting dog, limited only by the fact that I have done all of his training in this regard by myself to this point. He has a very strong desire to find and retrieve, and he will use his nose to find dead birds, even dead birds that are 98% submerged. He also naturally points, a talent I have not fostered through training at all and one which isn't needed in the duck blind, but I suspect that a similarly-talented pup would easily make a great quail or pheasant dog.
Porter is an incredibly loving and protective family companion. He's 100% house dog, and he is very protective of his home and his people. This protectiveness has asserted itself more as he's aged. He is friendly and welcoming when it's appropriate, but generally somewhat guarded until instructed otherwise depending on the situation. He is generally very good with new people and new situations (but recently attempted to attack the big stuffed grizzy bear in Bass Pro Shop. I give him points for bravery.).
Porter is great with kids but his size and activity level (not to mention the TAIL) is still a bit much for the smaller ones. He is extremely interested in cats in a gentle way and think he would settle in nicely with one if we had one around full-time. I think he would enjoy having another dog around, as well, but he certainly doesn't mind being an "only" dog and seems to enjoy the quiet times with his people a lot.
He has to this day never eaten a single one of my shoes. He will occasionally trash-surf if I leave something delicious near the top, but this is the extent of his household badness.

Beach!

2010-06-17T09:31:00.001-06:00

Still Earning His Milkbones

2010-05-07T07:38:00.000-06:00

Hipstamatic Pup

2010-04-22T22:29:00.001-06:00

The addition of a sheepskin to his existing comfy bed has done nothing for his productivity or work ethic

2010-03-29T07:10:00.001-06:00

Snow!

2010-02-15T21:59:00.000-06:00

Field of Dreams

2009-12-30T15:18:00.001-06:00

To Scale

2009-12-13T21:03:00.002-06:00

Porter meets cows . . . and points at them

2009-11-29T22:30:00.000-06:00

Porter and the Girl Next Door

2009-11-18T08:14:00.000-06:00

The Notorious D.O.G. Wishes You a Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T07:47:00.001-06:00

Also, he loves it when you call him Big Puppy. Peace.

He's Serious about his Modeling Career

2009-10-04T08:24:00.001-06:00

Collar from Mod Dog. (A percentage of all sales goes to a great rescue!)

Showing off his bod

2009-09-17T07:28:00.000-06:00

Down and Dirty

2009-08-27T19:16:00.000-06:00

Model

2009-08-23T11:28:00.003-06:00

Weekend Puppy

2009-08-18T21:35:00.002-06:00

That New Toy Glow

2009-07-17T07:46:00.002-06:00

We are pleased to announce that Porter received a stuffed squirrel last night AND IT IS STILL ALIVE (minus some tail-bushiness, which is now decorating the floor of my office). I can hardly believe it. Whose dog is this?

102 lbs, 2/12 years, 8 1/2 feet tall at the shoulder

2009-06-25T18:53:00.001-06:00

Scuse me, SIR! SIR! This rug seems to be entirely inadequate.

2009-06-09T21:11:00.002-06:00

Porter's insistence on being on this tiny rug (IKEA, all of $30) reminds me of when cats try to stuff themselves into inappropriately minuscule boxes. He also washes his face with his paws, but unlike a cat, does not plot to kill us in our sleep.

Natural Point

2009-04-27T07:51:00.000-06:00

Loch Ness Lab

2009-04-26T22:38:00.000-06:00

GMB!

2009-04-23T07:52:00.000-06:00

Health Note

2009-04-20T21:43:00.002-06:00

I don't want this to be a talk-y blog, but I realize that there is certain information that might be helpful to others to have on this blog, as well as to us when we stupidly forget what we've already learned the next time a crisis rears its ugly head.

Lesson #1: If your dog stops drinking water, go on ahead and get ye to the vet. As we have become more seasoned dog parents, we're less apt to fly off to the vet at a moment's notice, but there are some moments you should notice right off the bat, and this is one of them. $1400 later, the Portster is rehydrated, and honestly, a little worse for the time he spent at the vet's office, botched catheter, overnight stay, Elizabethan collar and all. Helpful hint: if he won't drink water, try Gatorade. It's OK to give to your dog, and cheaper than intravenous fluids and doggy upper GIs.

Lesson #2: Sensitive stomach food may not have all the nutrients your dog needs. After trying many things to get the puker to stop puking, we finally switched him to a sensitive stomach food, which seemed to help. And then his nails started breaking off, dramatically and painfully. I compared some labels and lo and behold - the sensitive stomach food lacks several essential vitamins and Omega 3 fatty acids. No wonder. So we're easing him back onto a lamb and rice based food, and so far, it's been er, fragrant, but fine. Words to live by: When you fix one thing, something else goes wrong.

Finally, speaking of nails, after a slip of the clip resulted in a horror-movie-worthy amount of gore in the back of my car and a midnight ER vet run, we've switched to a simple Drimmel dool from Home Depot to do his nails. We use a gritty sandpaper attachment, and who knew? The damn dog stands still for it and what used to be Rounds 1-12 of lab v. owners is now a ONE MAN JOB CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

So for the most part, we're happy and healthy over here with over 100 pounds of bouncing not-quite-baby lab these days.

He's the best dog, ever.

There Was Definitely a Frisbee Involved

2009-04-13T10:01:00.001-06:00

Slow Child at Play

2009-04-04T11:17:00.000-06:00

And afterwards, he got two cookies and went back to sleep

2009-03-10T17:04:00.001-06:00

Sleepy Sunday

2009-03-08T16:19:00.003-06:00

So sorry for the long hiatus. For those of you keeping score at home, these are my first images shot and edited in raw and my first attempt at using Photoshop. Porter is totally a Mac dog now! He's been excellent, as usual.

So not talking to you right now

2009-01-24T22:18:00.000-06:00

Duckin'

2009-01-23T08:10:00.001-06:00

unenhanced; just decluttered

2009-01-13T20:39:00.003-06:00

Lab Face

2009-01-13T08:40:00.000-06:00

A Balmy January Day

2009-01-04T13:51:00.001-06:00

That's Right. I Plugged Him In.

2008-12-15T23:16:00.002-06:00

Mid-Play

2008-12-09T08:52:00.000-06:00

A new frisbee, some bacon, more bacon, please, and could I possibly have a squirrel? K, Thx!

2008-12-05T07:47:00.002-06:00

You Ate An Entire Wheel of Cheese?

2008-12-02T09:29:00.001-06:00

Wooly Bully

2008-11-25T08:40:00.000-06:00

Heisman Candidate

2008-11-12T07:17:00.001-06:00

Cute on a Cracker

2008-10-19T22:02:00.002-06:00

Porter's new brothers and sisters are about 5 weeks old now and approaching nearly lethal levels of cuteness. There are even more pictures of these guys on the RBR&L website (linked at right). Viewing these pictures may cause uncontrollable urges to add another pup to the family (we know this from experience - let's just say that we both agree that we'd call him Seamus - help!).

on the hunt

2008-10-10T08:43:00.000-06:00

like he was born to do it

2008-10-09T15:15:00.002-06:00

The trip was so fun, and such a huge success. Porter navigated it all with grace and skill - from riding an escalator to getting on a plane to his very first goose retrieve (above). What a fantastic guy! Many more pictures to come.

Suiting Up

2008-09-30T16:34:00.002-06:00

Grandpa's Christmas Present - Shh. No One Tell Him.

2008-09-30T12:15:00.001-06:00

Current "The Tired" Threat Level: (Carll's Pants) ORANGE

2008-09-23T15:56:00.003-06:00

Right After This Was Taken, He Rolled in Something Dead

2008-09-21T15:02:00.001-06:00

Pond Puppy

2008-09-19T08:44:00.000-06:00

If I'd Wanted a Kiss, I'd Have Called You "Mother"

2008-09-18T21:44:00.001-06:00

Floor Model

2008-09-13T10:13:00.000-06:00

anticipation: emotion involving pleasure (or sometimes anxiety) in considering an expected and longed-for good event, or irritation at having to wait

2008-09-12T08:25:00.007-06:00

concentration: the cognitive process of selectively focusing on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things

2008-09-12T08:20:00.004-06:00

Getting His Daily Dose of Fiber

2008-09-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Day One - Duck Dog Training

2008-09-01T17:34:00.001-06:00

High Tennis Ball Alert

2008-08-28T07:41:00.000-06:00

Park It

2008-08-28T07:38:00.001-06:00

sometimes, i want to offer him my pony tail holder

2008-08-22T15:47:00.001-06:00

Finally Growing Into His Ears

2008-08-19T08:47:00.001-06:00

Alabama, a new friend

2008-08-17T09:39:00.000-06:00

She just has a wee bit o' growing to do before she can tumble around with the large one.

Reference

2008-08-15T15:49:00.004-06:00

We recommend Sandy and Chris Stokes at RBR&L wholeheartedly. We had a wonderful experience with Sandy before we ever brought Porter home, and she continues to be a great resource.

We would buy another pup from RB&L in a heartbeat, and that probably says it all, but here are some quick points about Porter that might help someone make a decision:

Porter is sweet-natured with all people, children, and dogs. He also loves cats and wants one for Christmas.
He learns commands quickly and displays a lot of intelligence. Especially good at "stay," and "halt" and "hump your bed while we've got company."
He has a very strong retrieve instinct, is an incredibly strong swimmer, he points, and he is not gun-shy. Will go on his first duck hunt the first of October. (UPDATE: Went on that hunt, picked up the very first duck we killed and brought it back to the boat. That was his very first experience with a real bird. That's just great breeding. He went on to pick up many other ducks a huge Canada goose that trip, and has been invited back this fall.)
He is protective of the house and his people and is a great guard dog.
Porter is not destructive and has not ruined a single shoe or piece of furniture. Could be trusted alone with the run of the house by about 9 months of age.
Porter is a very in-shape, athletic dog. He (and any dog like him) needs regular exercise, even in the rain, which he prefers.
He's stunning. We are constantly asked what we're feeding him. He has a naturally glossy, shorter coat which does absorb water. He sheds. See The Furminator.
Porter weighs around 100 pounds, and we expect he'll hit around 105-110 when he fully matures and fills out. He's very tall and leggy (about 27.5" at the shoulder), but broad and deep through the chest.

We're happy to provide more details upon request. Leave us a comment and we'll get in touch with you.

In One Ear and Out the Other

2008-08-14T16:29:00.001-06:00

Look Out . . . She Bite

2008-08-06T07:40:00.002-06:00

*I can't believe how huge he looks next to me. We look like we're about the same size.

Brought to you by the letter "P"

2008-08-05T09:02:00.004-06:00

Crazytongue McSquirrelspotter

2008-08-01T08:49:00.001-06:00

Pointing Lab

2008-07-20T09:30:00.000-06:00

Patient Dog

2008-07-19T10:25:00.000-06:00

Say Hello to My LEETLE Frien'

2008-07-17T08:27:00.002-06:00

Snaggles the Saber-Tooth Labrador

2008-07-16T08:05:00.001-06:00

LAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

2008-07-15T07:47:00.000-06:00

Guest Blogger: Orangepants McSmugness

2008-07-13T12:45:00.002-06:00

Sir Sneezel, Mighty Slayer of the Weasel

2008-07-12T12:38:00.005-06:00

Feelin' Froggy

2008-07-08T08:19:00.003-06:00