My new best friend...

[sportfishingusa]

GUESSING THE PUPPY IS DOING WONDERFUL!!

that is freaking awesome bro!! he is a cute puppy!! put some new pics up ag come on brother!! lets see that cute little face!!!! maybe i can talk to wife into getting another one!! then i will truly have a romper room!!`

[Agitated88]

GUESSING THE PUPPY IS DOING WONDERFUL!!

that is freaking awesome bro!! he is a cute puppy!! put some new pics up ag come on brother!! lets see that cute little face!!!! maybe i can talk to wife into getting another one!! then i will truly have a romper room!!`

Yup Vinnie, that pup has me hook, line, and sinker!! Hooper is quickly becoming...actually...he already is the perfect "best friend". I know I'm biased, but he's the smartest pup I've ever dealt with. Already he sit's on command, stays, retrieves (well 8-10 times before he gets bored)...maybe this is the norm for some other dog owners, but I've never had any pup that's picked it up so quick and I'm STOKED about the possibilities! I have class tonight, but I'll defiantly post up some more pictures. Obtw...glad you and Deep had a good trip, sounds like you BOTH enjoyed the time on the water.

[clt_capt]

retrieves (well 8-10 times before he gets bored)

Enjoy it now. In 6 months your arm will get tired before you can wear him out. Do your self a favor and get a Chuck-It.

It will save your arm...

[sportfishingusa]

thanks man! we had a great time..

and no that is not the norm for dog owner.. i got little dogs and pomerianian and a morkie (half maltese half yorkie) and the little guy is a pain and dumb as rocks. lol


but i did have a maltese pure breed that got killed and he was smart as hell and did great after about 2 yrs!!

keep up the good work!! it was totally pay off in the long run.

[Agitated88]

Enjoy it now. In 6 months your arm will get tired before you can wear him out. Do your self a favor and get a Chuck-It.
It will save your arm...

Ha, ha, I hear ya Fred. How about yours...how old, hows the retrieving coming?

thanks man! we had a great time.. and no that is not the norm for dog owner.. i got little dogs and pomerianian and a morkie (half maltese half yorkie) and the little guy is a pain and dumb as rocks. lol
but i did have a maltese pure breed that got killed and he was smart as hell and did great after about 2 yrs!!
keep up the good work!! it was totally pay off in the long run.

Vinnie, sorry about your maltese! It's NEVER easy to lose a pet...scratch that...lose a part of your family!
I got my fingers crossed...I can't wait to see him with a big ole drake mallard in his mouth.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Got to this one late in the game, but it was great to read the whole story from beginning to end (up until now). It has been heart warming to see and hear about Hooper and Chopper and some of the others as they become family.

I have two, Black Bart and Little Shadow, both sent to me by my Shadow Girl, the great love of my life, from The Rainbow Bridge. If you knew the story of how she did this, you too would believe in The Bridge and the incredible power of a Lab's deep and immeasurable love and that there is indeed a thing called spirituality, something that I did not believe until the incredible events that brought my dogs to me - a man who swore that he could never bear to own another Lab again and who actually cursed the man who sent Bart to him as a total surprise from three thousand miles away by his namesake, Captain Black Bart Miller himself.

One day while he was "interviewing" Labs (I didn't know that) and I was concerned that he was driving way before he was supposed to after by-pass surgery and in a raging storm no less, he answered my "what the hell are you doing driving, Bart? You're gonna get killed", he said, "Don't you worry about us ("us"? I thought), Shadow Girl's spirit is right here with me and you know that she won't let anything bad happen to us!" That shook me to my roots and before I could say anything, he hung up and was gone.

A few days later I had to go to the freight terminal to "pick up some lures" Bart had sent me that he said "you know those freight people...they'll see it's fishing lures and will steal them. You have to go get them." And long story short, that "box of lures" turned into a kennel with this big, beautiful English male pup in it. And he knew exactly who I was the moment I opened the kennel door and when I got him home, he walked into the house like he'd lived there forever and went to the special hiding place where Shadow Girl hid her only real possession, her special bone, retrieved it, brought it back to me, dropped it at my feet and then looked up at me, as if saying, "Now do you understand, new daddy?"

Two days later, when Little Shadow stepped out of nowhere and into our lives under even stranger circumstances that simply could not have been coincidence, when Bart and I brought her home, Bart pushed by me, went to the hiding place, which he had returned the special bone to, and brought it to Little Shadow and laid it down on the floor between them. She whined and kissed him, then they both looked up at me with nothing but love in their eyes. I got down on the floor and hugged both of them and cried like a baby.

Yes, Shadow Girl, that rough, tough, non-believer of a daddy saw the message and the truth. And the healing finally began.

And in spite of a deadly, incurable disease, Shadow Girls' gifts have kept me alive and buoyed my spirits ever since.

God Bless you, my sweet darlin'. Daddy still loves you and will never forget you.

Oh yes, they are so much more than "just dogs". Truly open your hearts to them and you will see.

In Shadow Girl's honor, fifteen percent of the sales of any and all of my books are donated to Lab Rescue and 25% of the sales of the novel, Grim Ripper, the book that she helped me write, goes to Lab Rescue. That is in the will and will continue after I'm gone and I rejoin her and we cross Rainbow Bridge together.

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing

The picture is an early day with Shadow Girl. From that day on, she was always on the boat when we fished. If anyone didn't want a dog on the boat, I found them another charter. This after the first time someone objected - a couple - and I tried to leave her with a good friend on the docks. She escaped him somehow and it was only by some kind of miracle that I happened to look back as we were idling out of the harbor in the morning lineup and spotted this little black head, and a tiny Shadow Girl, paddling like crazy after us. I put her aboard, and offered to put the people on another boat. They said no, it was okay to have the dog. At day's end when I came down from the tower, Shadow Girl was curled up in the wife's lap. She said, "She is wonderful, Fred. And you know what?" I said, "Sure I do. You're gonna get yourself a Lab puppy when you get home." She said "how did you know?" I said, "She is my darlin' girl and I live with her day and night...how could I not know?!"

And Black Bart and Little Shadow with Shadow Girl's bone.

[clt_capt]

Ha, ha, I hear ya Fred. How about yours...how old, hows the retrieving coming?

She is a machine. Get out the tennis ball and it's all over. 95% of the time she will return it to my hand.

I think I need one of those tennis ball machines. She is 15 Months now.

Get her near the water and look out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAKzDD-5xPs

She is about 8 monts in the video...

[Agitated88]

Got to this one late in the game, but it was great to read the whole story from beginning to end (up until now). It has been heart warming to see and hear about Hooper and Chopper and some of the others as they become family.
I have two, Black Bart and Little Shadow, both sent to me by my Shadow Girl, the great love of my life, from The Rainbow Bridge.
And Black Bart and Little Shadow with Shadow Girl's bone.

A truly heart warming story Capt Archer...thank you for contributing to this thread, and more importantly THANK YOU for all you do for these four legged family members! You've got some great looking labs, thanks for the pictures as well!

She is a machine. Get out the tennis ball and it's all over. 95% of the time she will return it to my hand. I think I need one of those tennis ball machines. She is 15 Months now.Get her near the water and look out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAKzDD-5xPs
She is about 8 monts in the video...

I know I'm going to regret saying this later, but I'm really looking forward to developing "tennis elbow". I just don't want to mess him up...he seems to have a ton of natural instinct so I'm reading every retriever book/article I can get my hands on to make sure I'm doing everything just right Gorgeous dog you got there Fred...thanks for sharing! Last thing Fred...any good Lab and/or retriever forum(s) you would suggest I join? Thanks again!! Jesse

[giantfan]

- a man who swore that he could never bear to own another Lab again

I felt the same way until Captain Fred talked me into getting a puppy.

Thank you so much.... if it wasn't for you I would still have an empty hole in my heart. I miss Buddy every day but I can see him in so many ways thru Chopper and I know that he is still with us.

[Fishergirl]

I can't help myself...he is so loveable.

Thanks Fred, quite honestly I've never seen a lab pup I didn't like, but this one sure is special!! Although not "field" quality retrieves, he is retrieving with consistency and "drops" it on command. I’m really stoked about his hunting prospects and so far he has exceeded my every expectation! Now if I can keep fishergirl from babying him too much I should have a great hunting partner as well.