Austin's Mom

What about teaching him to curl up in a box? I just taught one of mine to do that. It's horribly cute! I call it "cubism." It's amazing how little of a box you can use. Austin's around 65lbs and the box is 12 inches high, 18 inches long, and 12 inches wide. Or spin in a circle (also useful for cleaning muddy paws off).

I'm afraid I don't know about the vomiting. One of mine does it occasionally in the morning when I'm about to leave for work---his is linked to the rapid increase in his anxiety over me leaving. He also will throw up if he's injuried, like a cut pad. Somehow he's gotten the idea that throwing up when he feels bad is a way to calm himself down. I do have another dog, a lab/dobie mix, who had HD. She was diagnosed with it at age six months and had TPO surgery done on both hips shortly after. She got a clean bill of health back in June and since then hasn't slown down at all. It's a blessing and a curse. Has surgery been mentioned for your's? Did you have the full thyroid panel done for free T3 and such? I don't know if any of that could cause vomiting, but I have a thyroid disorder myself and when my medicine is out of wack, I get very sick to my stomach. The antibody that marks it is not one that is usually tested and has to specially requested. Best of luck to you!

There are several that live near me. A woman in the neighborhood insists on breeding her two labs together, who both have major aggression issues towards people and other animals. Both have repeatedly bitten people. My dog was almost killed by one of her lab's offspring. That said dog has sent several others to the hospital and bitten several people badly. The rest of the offspring that I know also have serious problems with attacking people and dogs. One has gone through a window to get at a dog walking by. I know that any breed can be aggressive and that an owner can increase/decrease aggression in a dog through training or lack of, but this "family" of labs leaves a bad taste in my mouth about them. Partly these dogs suffer from lack of responsible owners.