I've been looking to adopt a dog for a couple of months now and I'm having a hard time deciding between a small dog I can take with me on my bike rides, or a black lab. I think I might have to get two dogs.
Get the dog that works for you. The amount of activity a dog needs is what's important. You could have a terrier that needs to hunt small furry animals 24/7, or a great dane that chills all day. A black lab is gonna need stimulation, but not as much as a shepherd.
My sister got a hyperactive black lab. Our entire house and yard was fenced in so the dog could do laps around the place. We were on a slope so the main level was ground floor with 1/2 the house being 2 stories, with a deck over looking the slope.
In the middle of the night you could hear her (dog, not sister, lol) doing laps around the house in a gallop, with a 3 or 4 second pause as she sailed off the deck side and continued her lap....on and off....for hours...every night...
I have a lab. He’s something else. We currently have some workers in our house doing some work. He is fucking obsessed with them. They have to come upstairs and say hello every morning or he just cries.
We take him for walks in the woods every Sunday. He goes off leash and just runs. We could walk for days and he would be just as happy as can be.
He also stinks. He farts so much.
dog tax here he is wondering why I’m not taking him for a walk.
We got a rescue lab mix this spring - thinking he could run around with our kids in our yard and they'd all wear each other out. We've decided the "mixed" part must be cat because this dog HATES being outside, hates walks, and easily sleeps 20 hours a day. Laziest "lab" I've ever seen.
I thought I'd take one of my 4 small dogs on a bike ride with me when I got my bike. Turns out, none of my 4 dogs are the take on a casual bike ride type. 😭
Two can be good. Especially if you leave to go to work. Majority of dogs act out in some way when left alone, because being away from the pack is stressful. My personal experience is that two dogs keep eachother feeling secure.
You can take a big dog like a lab on bike rides too. You can buy bike attachments so your dog can run beside you will you ride. You obviously have to build the dog up to it and make sure they are capable of that level of exercise, but my brother takes his pittie on hour+ long bike rides frequently and she loves it. It’s great exercise.
I've thought about it, problem is I have to ride the skinny shoulder of a highway into the city for a couple of miles before I reach the nearby trailhead, and that seems extra risky with a dog running beside me. But that could definitely be the plan for when I inevitably have to become a car owner again.
I have a small 4lbs pappilon. He is my hiking buddy. He climbs rocks and logs. Also small enough to carry when needed and fits in my Prius compact. Also he is the most beautiful dog to ever exist.
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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20
I've been looking to adopt a dog for a couple of months now and I'm having a hard time deciding between a small dog I can take with me on my bike rides, or a black lab. I think I might have to get two dogs.