Honey & Molasses ~ 6 Weeks Old

Meet the new additions to our family, Molasses (Mo for short) and Honey, 6 week old Labrador Retriever sisters. We got them from a neat urban homesteading family about 45 minutes east of us. Their mom is a 7th generation Chocolate Lab and dad is also a Choc lab. They were part of a litter of 10. Their home had dogs, chickens, cats, rabbits and kids - hmmm, sounds very familiar.

The boys decided on this ones name first ~ Honey. She is super sweet, but much more adventureous than Mo. Honey is the first to explore and she has an amazing vertical leap!

Since they had already decided on Honey's name, we needed a name for this sweet lady. I suggested Molasses, Mo for short. It seemed fitting. She is also very sweet, but a more laid back, slower temperment. She is the snuggler of the two and when you pet her, she sighs contentedly.

This is a photo of our 4th Lab, Bo and me. He was abandonned on a farm and rescued at 6 months old. He and his brother had to fend for themselves, so he was used to hunting up his own food. He hadn't had a lot of human interaction until we adopted him. He immediately fit right in with our crazy crew. The best part of adopting an older pet, is that they have moved beyond the chewing, not-housebroken, crying-at-night stage. If I remember correctly, it doesn't last long. (fingers crossed - I'm a bit tired right now from the midnight dashes out to potty.)

Bo was our first Choc lab. He was just the most happy-go-lucky, mellow and loving dog. He had the cutest face he'd make when he wanted to be extra loving ~ he'd scrunch up his nose and wiggle like crazy. It was his signature move! He did really well when we got the chickens last fall. I was a little concerned he'd resort to his hunting days, but after a few sniffs, he left them alone.

He was just 7 years old when his hips starting showing signs of giving out. (Labs have this common ailment - 3 of our 4 had their back hips give out.) Then, cancer took over. Just 10 days from the cancer diagnosis, we had to have him put down. His spirit was still strong and vibrant, but his body was so far gone that he had paralysis in his legs and he had stopped eating days earlier. It's never easy making the decision to let go, but part of pet ownership.

This picture was taken three years ago - he was just 4 years old. I have an entire series of shots with him not being a good model ~ i.e. licking, rolling, walking away, playing etc. He was already up for whatever we wanted to do. He loved going to the lake and swimming. He loved being off his leash to run and run and run. He loved doggy treats. He was easy to train and was like sunshine on four legs. He loved life so much and I'll miss him dearly.