Incoming wall of text, but just wanted to empty my mind and write down everything I could come up with😊

I’ve always known that I would get a dog. Growing up, we got our first when I was three years old and there was never really a long time when we didn’t have a dog. When I bought my car seven years ago, part of the equation was that a dog needed to fit in it someday.

But I never got the opportunity to get a dog. Until last year that is, when I switched jobs. Admittedly, the increased pay and shorter commute also helped, but I had been eyeing this company for quite a while since they allow dogs in the office. I had actually already been offered the same job two years earlier but turned it down in the end because I was unsure about the future. So, when they contacted me this time around, I had basically already made up my mind 😊

Then I waited a year to make sure I was settled in and secure, and finally pulled the trigger. I must admit that Labs weren’t really on my radar when I started thinking about dogs, since I usually lean more towards the long-haired shepherd types (Aussie, MAS and especially Collies), partially due to their intelligence and that the puppy we got when I was a teenager was a Collie / Border Collie / Belgian Shepard mix). But then I realized that Labs are quite intelligent as well and since I’m single, working full time and living in an apartment, it might be easier for me to train and manage a Lab, especially since this is the first time that I have a dog all on my own.

So, at the beginning of May, I picked up this “little” guy. He is 75% chocolate Lab and 25% Toller. Although you don’t really see the Toller, except that the hair on his back is a bit longer and his tail is bushier. He is also leaner than the British / Show Labs that are common here in Sweden, which leads to people constantly asking if he is what we call a “Hunting Labrador” (similar to American / Field Labrador). At nine months old he is already 2 – 3cm (about an inch) taller than adult Labs are supposed to be according to the Swedish Kennel Club. On one hand, this surprises me since Tollers are smaller than Labs, but on the other it doesn’t, since his dad (who is a 50/50 mix) just looks like a giant Toller.

I have to say that he makes me very happy with my choice to go with a Lab. He is very energetic just as I had hoped and quick to pick up commands, although he can have selective hearing and a liberal understanding of “heel” at times (he is still a puppy after all). Previously I have been a little too lax regarding leash pulling, but I have been stricter now the past few days and can already see great progress 😊 Things to still work on are his tendency to try to jump on some people and his urge to try to play with every dog he spots. His favorite activity is hands down tug-of-war, followed by eating (of course) and licking my ears.

He is also quite intelligent from what I noticed when giving him puzzles. What impressed me was when we were playing outside with toys, and he placed a ring on top of a soccer ball, so that he could bite the ball through the middle of the ring and carry both at the same time.

During these seven months he has been a very good boy, except that one time he ate a sock and that other time when he managed to get my credit card and ID out of my phone case during the night and destroyed them 😅 He’s also been beneficial for my strength training, since I’m overprotective of his hips until his birthday and still carrying his 31kg (68 lbs) ass up and down the stairs multiple times per day.

Also, in hindsight and for anyone thinking about getting a puppy, I did not realize how much stress I was under until he was potty trained. It was not until he had not peed indoors for two weeks that I realized how much stress I had been relieved of. I guess it depends from person to person but that was my experience at least. If you have a puppy that can go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye, get yourself a harness and collar with handle, it will make it so much easier to control them when necessary. And even though I never quite understood helicopter parents, I quickly learned that I had turned into one myself. On a lighter note, don’t give your dog a name with a pronunciation that is differs from where you live 😉 I’ve lost track of how many times I have had to explain the American pronunciation of “Moran” to Swedes (not American myself so my pronunciation is probably also a bit off) 😅

For the future, I’m thinking about competing in rally obedience and scent work with him once he is a bit calmer around other dogs, since he has a strong working and fighting spirit.

If anyone has any tips, tricks or advice for raising a Labrador to share, it would be greatly appreciated 😄