Casey says Happy Holidays to all his friends at NEARR! He’s doing great. We have our last beginner obedience class tomorrow, and he’s learning very well. He got an early Christmas present of a Kong rope toy, and he has hardly put it down since he got it. He’s such a snuggler, so he keeps me nice and warm this time of year. I’m sending a couple of pictures - the only time he stays still long enough to catch is when he’s napping! He’s such a sweetie. Thanks everyone!

I have never seen a dog take to a family so quickly and talk about love. She is beautiful.

HI!!

Well it’s been over a year since we have had the Abby Gabby Girl. BOY, did it fly by-She is doing wonderful, especially after her TPLO surgery-we had no problems, no trouble at all. She is loved by all and continues to make my husband and myself so happy. I believe she is VERY comfortable with us, the family, the house, and our new grandchild. We give her lots of attention and then some when RJ is around, but she likes to give him kisses too. As you can see by being comfortable in the house - YES she is sitting on the couch. This is the first dog that has been allowed on our furniture, we don’t usually do that but…..(she really is special to us, she came to us at the right time!!)

I hope that all had a wonderful Christmas and ESPECIALLY all your dogs!!!! Will continue to keep in touch. Have a HAPPY HEALTHY SAFE NEW YEAR!!!

Thank you so much.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

It’s time for Frosty’s 3 year update, and I’m happy to tell you he’s doing great. I just read through some of our previous updates, and was reminded of some of the problems we had with him originally- he’s come such a long way. We took him with us to the ocean today, and he was playing and running around off-leash with no problems at all- so different from when we couldn’t trust him to come when called. We do still try to remember not to leave food where he can reach it, but he rarely counter surfs any more.

This summer and fall we had a temporary new family member, NEARR foster dog Casey. Frosty seemed to enjoy having him here. They loved to steal each others toys and zoom around chasing and slamming into each other. Now that Casey’s gone to his forever home, Frosty seems to miss him, chasing us just isn’t as much fun. I think he would like having another dog living here. Something to think about. Anyway, we love Frosty, we’re so happy he’s with us. He’s just a great dog- just a big, goofy, happy guy. Thanks, NEARR!

Hi Folks, I believe we have had Zeus for one year now, and you know time flies with a field lab! Zeus is doing well,and he is our ‘Little chocolate missle” he’s like Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger, he never seems to sit still to long…,he is still high energy and requires lots of running and tennis ball chasing, which is good for my wife and myself.Zeus has yet to find a tennis ball he does not like.

He gets a long fine with Sadie-Mae our 10y.o.Female English lab and Brandy our 4y.o. Female chocolate lab, and recently we brought in a fourth lab named Henry a 3.y.o. Yellow lab, Henry’s folks were moving and Henry needed a new home ….

The two males are figuring out the hierarchy, and it’s been kinda exciting around here,but we are getting through it,one day at a time…

Both Henry and Zeus are field labs ,and both can run Mach-2 after a tennis ball,it’s a joy to see them run and retrieve a tennis ball or stick

Currently it’s been a long day for the labs,two walks,countless throws of the Chuck-it tennis ball thrower ,and it’s getting real cold out , so all four of them are curled up, asleep. Tired Labs are Happy labs .

Merry Christmas from our pack to your pack :o)

P.S. Zeus is the middle lab in the first picture and the one on the far left of the second photo.

I have been a bit remiss about writing about Cocoa, but I want to take a few minutes to catch you up to date. Cocoa and I have been together for over 3 years now, though it doesn’t seem like it. She is the best dog. Thank you. She is loved by all of the children in the neigborhood, who all seem to know Cocoa and haven’t the faintest idea of who I am unless I am attached to her. The Chocolate Lab Card, don’t leave home without it.

Also, she has many dog friends as well. Our daily walks (twice a day) usually include a dip in one of her swimming holes and the walk cannot proceed until there has been a brief dip. My training is coming along nicely. One of her favorite activities is going to the beach with her retreiving dummy. Her genetic destiny is fulfilled: retreiving something from water. Cocoa just beams with joy.

Cocoa is having some of the problems of getting older, some arthritis, but that is being controlled and usually doesn’t bother her. She still has an almost inexhaustable capacity for play and with winter coming chasing snow balls is something she will do for hours. I had a bit of a scare with her this summer. I found a mammary mass which thank God turned out to be a beign lipoma. A vet tech, at my vet is constantly reminding how fortunate we were. I know. I have included a couple of photos of Cocoa. In one she is using her Chocolate Lab Jedi Mind Tricks to get some treat. I do believe she believes she can put a thought in your head or she at least gives a good try.

Thank you again for a wonderful dog, she is a great companion.

Happy Holidays everyone!I wanted to share my couch potatoes with everyone as well. It has been just about two years since I saw that sweet girl Lucy on your web site,time sure goes by. Lucy is doing so well! Adopting Lucy was one of the best decisions I made in my life. Cozmo adore’s her and loves having a friend! Thanks again NEARR for choosing me to be Lucy’s Mom! Happy New Year everyone!

It has been eight wonderful months since we have gotten Duke. Duke is now very comfortable here and I believe he knows it’s his forever home. I still take him for his morning walks but I did get him the gentle lead halter. Now our walks are even better! Duke and Otis are definitely very close. They both look out for each other. We went on vacation for a week. We had a friend of ours stay with Duke and Otis. And there were no problems. About a month ago I did notice a lump on Dukes lower right rear leg. I took him to the vet and they recommended minor surgery to remove it and to biopsy it. Duke was the best patient I have ever had after his surgery! The good news is that the lump is benign and there shouldn’t be any more problems with it!

I have attached a few pictures of Duke (chocolate lab) and Otis (yellow lab mix). Thank you NEARR for Duke and Happy Holidays!

Here is my December 2nd update on Henry.

Henry is a wonderful joy to have in our family. He loves to go for walks and gets so excited when we go to the park. Henry is also starting to play with my cats. They get along really well together.

He is doing well in the car .We took him to Petco a couple of weeks ago and he picked out some bones and some toys. We also went to Petsmart today and he did very well with the other dogs in the store. He did not have any agressiveness towards the males as I was told before. Henry was well liked by everyone in the store and even came home with a new toy he picked off the rack.

My boyfriend Mike and I adore Henry and are so happy that he is now in our lives. We have finally decided on a good vet we havefound close to our home, and will be taking Henry in this week for a check up since we have recieved Henry medical history in the mail. We are also on the search for a good trainer.

Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Ouzo’s first week with us has been better than I expected! He has easily adapted to our family, including the cats, and really appears to feel comfortable here. We are continuing with his special diet and medication, and have scheduled his first appointment with our vet.

We are looking forward to taking him with us up to Vermont for Christmas vacation; we will be there the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s and he will have plenty of family around to make him feel welcome.

Hello NEARR….Happy Holidays.

It’s the 3 year mark for Cosmo and he is as awesome as ever. The biggest news for Cosmo over the past year is his introduction to his new siblings. My wife and I had twins (boy and a girl) in October and Cosmo loves his new brother and sister. Cosmo is very gentle and caring for them and has taken the new arrival like a champ.

Cosmo also has another new friend….my buddy adopted a 3 month old lab, Dewey, to add to the mix. Now Cosmo, Rocky, Sam and Dewey are best of buds and love hiking and playing with each other.

Hello,

I am writing about our dog Barney who we adopted back in 2001. Barney past away this summer after being with us for almost 5 and a half years. He was approximately 6 years old when we adopted him and needed lots of care. He didn’t like being alone and had very bad allergies, but with medical help and time he adjusted and we were able to get his allergies under control. Barney settled in and one the hearts of everyone around him. He and our female lab were inseparable and we were blessed to have him in our lives for as long as we did.

Although he is no longer with us we miss him terribly, but we keep him close in our hearts and know that we gave him a good life filled with squeaky toys to destroy and car rides to the beach. We couldn’t have asked for a more loving dog and are so glad he came into our lives.

I have attached a picture of Barney and was hoping you could add this to your website in his memory.

Time has flown by! I apologize for not getting this update out sooner.

Ellie is FANTASTIC! We love her very much. And so does everyone else who meets her. She is so friendly and gentle and patient with everyone. Even people who say they are nervous around dogs feel comfortable around Ellie. It’s like she knows instantly and just lays down at their feet or rests her head against their knee.

We’ve been working on her separation anxiety. She’s worked up to 20 minutes without any trouble. Generally she goes everywhere with us, so she’s never really alone.

She still has her daily walks 4 times a day and is getting a nice trim waist! She is so cute when she wants something. The only time she will bark is when she has to go outside, or she wants something to eat - only 1 bark. Other times she sighs when she is petted or spoken to. She now alerts us when someone is at the door, but in a calm manner.

Attached is a photo of Ellie lounging on HER couch :-)

We are so lucky to have her as part of our family. No dog is perfect, but she comes very close!

It has been awhile but we wanted to give you another update. Ruby is doing fantastic. She is a beautiful, sweet girl. She had a great summer on the boat and at the beach swimming, fetching and getting dirty. We are proud to say she has learned to swim and she loves the water. Her favorite things to do are to run around outside with her brother Jett and to wrestle with us on the floor at night. She is very vocal and gets so excited to see us when we come home.

We have finally gotten her out of our bed at night and onto her own bed on the floor. We felt we had no choice after we figured out she was giving us back and leg pain in the mornings as she is now a grown dog and sleeps laying on one of us all night long. She is really smart too. We find ourselves constantly having to find new ways to expand her world and give her challenging experiences. Most of all though she loves my husband. She seems to draw her confidence from him. I was hoping her heart would be mine but it’s pretty clear she’s a daddy’s girl.

She is still a bit timid, especially if we are carrying something large in our hands. It makes me sad to imagine what she went through in her first year. She is getting better though and has made friends with the hair dryer, the laundry basket and the treadmill.

Another little update, after obedience class #3. Casey is doing very well. He takes a few minutes to settle down, but once he’s in training mode, he is very good about ignoring other dogs barking, doing agility training, etc. He is always a tired boy when we get home! Everyone tells him how handsome he is :) After talking to the staff, I decided to sign him up for the reactive dog class. It should help his greeting manners, which are quite bad.

Casey decided to give himself a shower today. I turned the water on to warm up, and he hopped right in! I took the opportunity to give him a quick wash. He loved it. I’ve never seen a dog take a shower before!

Casey sends lots of love and tail wags to all his NEARR friends!