Zinnia is a sweetheart, but she is all Lab. She’s never met a mud puddle she didn’t love, donkey manure she wouldn’t eat, dirty ground to roll in, or disgusting things to eat.
Today, she came out of the woods from her walk with Maria and Fate, and just before our ball throwing romp looking like a pure Lab. The messier she is, the happier.
So she is, she is all Lab, garbage and people, and mud lover to the end. The early Labs in Canada were not fed, they have to live off the garbage and dead fish the fishermen brought home, the fishermen would have been horrified at the idea of dog food.
The Labs still love that stuff, yelling at them is usually utterly futile. Instinct often triumphs over genetics and training. Let dogs be dogs.
Is she easy going with other dogs as well as people?
No
Hi, Jon, while I agree the early fishers in my home province of Newfoundland would be horrified at the idea of dog food, I think they would be equally horrified to hear that they did not feed their valuable working dogs (St. John’s dogs, the ancestors of our beloved Labrador Retrievers today). Labs have a mutation on the POMC gene, which regulates appetite, leading to their constant attraction to food and unending appetite, and their well-earned reputation as “garbage hounds.” Over 76 per cent of Lab service dogs tested carried this mutation. I thoroughly enjoy Zinnia’s adventures and her “smiling” face. It looks like she had wonderful time in the woods!
I’m not talking about now, Laurie, they definitely did not feed them when they first came to Canada to work with fishermen. I’m sure they feed them well now.
Hi, Jon, yes, I am aware you were talking about the past, thus my use of the past tense; “they DID not feed . . .” My understanding is that in the past the St. John’s dogs in Newfoundland were highly valued working dogs and nourished properly by fishers. If they weren’t properly fed, they would not be able to provide the service they were valued for; pulling ropes, retrieving fish, etc.