Here are the two beasts in my house. The beagle is Layla (all her litter mates were named for old rock songs), 5 1/2 years old. Sophie is the lab, and she's now about 6 months old. The pics in the snow were Christmas eve and day with my daughter, Katy. Next to last was the day Sophie came home with us. The last one was taken in early December. Sophie thinks she's a lap dog, all 38 pounds worth (at that time).
We've had the beagle since she was 7 weeks old. At that time we had another lab. He died 3 years ago. Layla never has been particularly afraid of large dogs! My daughter and I had talked about getting another dog. I set out some guidelines: Had to be a larger dog because I didn't want another small one, had to be a puppy so he/she could grow up with the mature beagle and learn some respect, and had to be pretty inexpensive. So Katy and some friends were out at our local Humane Society shelter one Saturday walking dogs - gets them used to people. She wanted me to come look at the dogs, so I humored her. I asked a worker if there were any pups, thinking that there wouldn't be anything within my guidelines and I'd be off the hook. There was a litter of 10 week old lab pups, 5 with one already gone to its new home. Three were reserved. I asked what the deal was. Some guy had an AKC lab and had her mated to another AKC lab, then decided he didn't want to fool with the pups. Sophie pretty much chose us that day and we bought her. The last pup went to a friend of Katy's a few days later.
Let's see, the cost for an AKC registered lab was $105, papers, micro chip and all. She was half the size of the Layla when she came home, so Layla got to run the show. (It was fun watching Layla tell Sophie who was boss. She still does.) And we have a large breed dog to go with the small beagle. So much for my plans!
David