Man's 4 legged best friend (the dog thread)

Excellent timing on this thread. Unfortunately, we had a 4 legged family member pass away a bit over a month ago. Best dog I've ever owned and super protective of the wife, son, house and property. His name was Johnny. I loved that he had 4 different barks that were so easy to recognize and scaled to the perceived threat level. OMG, squirrel or birds in the yard (little bitty woof woofs), deer in the yard, car in the cul-de-sac, all the way full Cujo if someone he didn't know was walking up to our house. No one ever rang our doorbell without us knowing they were there already. 95 pounds of lab, chow and bulldog. The personality of a Lab, the swagger of a Bulldog and the black tongue of a Chow. His father was also his older brother and he was the runt of the litter, but he's the one my 7 year old son picked. My boy is now a junior at University of South Carolina and we buried our pup during his first week back at school. That was a tough week for everyone and the wife has been very depressed ever since. She spoiled him rotten. Although he can never be replaced, we fully believe a good home should never go to waste. If you haven't, read "A Dogs Will". We all miss the company and having the footsteps wandering around the house checking to make sure everything is safe and sound. We decided earlier this week to jump back into the owner arena. After looking at dozens of candidates at several different rescues, we weren't able to find a new family member we were comfortable with. We have other pets to consider and other neighborhood pets (and neighbors). I contacted an old friend I used to work with that I heard had some puppies. We were able to play with a litter of 12. Actually 2 litters that were only days apart in age. It didn't take long for 2 to standout. They were really hamming it up, and playing to the wife, like they knew all along it was her decision, lol. (it was) We're picking him up at 8am. 5 hours and 50 minutes from now. Then we're having friends over for lunch to introduce him to theirs. Everyone.....meet Gulliver......future King of Rotts (play Lion King music here)

 

Our dog "Archie" was tossed out on a friend's property as a puppy. We rescued him, and he's been with us for 10 years now. We never would have imagined ourselves with a dog like him, but now we couldn't picture our life without him.

Here we are at a recent ball game together.

 

Our two yellow labs (both female) each have their own set of water bowls and food bowls, set side-by-side. They will eat out of their own food bowl (no fighting or sharing), but both will only drink out of the same water bowl. Strange...