Sounds corny, I know. But after living with this dog for 3 years, I don't even know if he's a dog at heart. He's done so many remarkable things, I didn't even think a dog could do. This is the story of how a dog, completely changed everything in my life.
We'll start off at the beginning.
I went duck hunting with my father and some of our friends, and after rowing our boat out to get the ducks, we realized a dog may be needed. I jokingly said "hey dad, lets just get a lab or something, like a chocolate lab". Not 3 days later we had this in our house.
He smelled like bologna and pooped quicker than he ate. I still don't know how either... He was 4 weeks old when we got him and came from a litter of 14 other puppies. The mom became overwhelmed and abandoned the litter at 2 weeks. The family woke up every few hours and hand fed all 15 puppies and got them on wet puppy food at 4 weeks. We brought him home October 11, 2010.
Well the puppy stage sure didn't last. Before we knew it we had a large, eating, pooing, and licking machine. He licked everything. Hands, the walls, the floor, the windows.... We started to think he might be defective.
We decided we might as well start water training him once we were confident he could swim.
That did not work out. We brought him out swimming for the first time the following may. He didn't want to go in the water.
Understandable. We threw him in. He sunk. We retrieved the retriever.
Time after time, he sunk. We went home and told our parents that we have a lab that can't swim. Sure enough, we all went back to the lake a few days later and the same thing happened. He just flopped around in the water and started sinking. We have the swimming idea a rest.
One particularly hot day, we decided enough is enough. I told him, "Russell, for crying out loud..you are a LAB. You are born to swim." I took him to the pond and I carried him into the water. He freaked out but I held him above the water. He started paddling and I let him get used to the idea. About a minute of that, I let him go and viola! It's like he'd been doing it forever.
Things had been getting a little...different at the house. My dad was never home and when he was, my mom was upset. I knew what was going on but for the sake of my younger brother, I said nothing. My mom was gone on a trip and my dad was staying at the house that weekend. I felt sick so I went to bed early. Both my dad and my brother are really heavy sleepers. I am usually a light sleeper, but when I am sick, I am out. I woke up at 3am with Russell frantically pawing at my legs and crying. It took me a second to realize what was going on and I then heard alarms going off. I jumped up and russell ran out of my room. Smoke was pouring up the stairs and into the second story of the house. Russell ran downstairs and made sure I was following him. He led me into the kitchen and started crying. There was a fire starting on the stove, from someone leaving it on. Luckily I was able to put it out before it spread. I don't know how I didn't wake to the alarms but I felt so lucky russell knew to wake me up. If he wasn't there, I don't know when I would've woken up.
He came and put his face on my bed.
I told him he couldn't have the jelly bean until I said so. He didn't mind.
The next summer a lot of things had changed for me. My parents separated and my father moved out. The dogs even knew what was up and the whole atmosphere of the house changed. Russell stayed here and our other dog went to my dads.
One morning, I let russell out around 6am. I went to feed the chickens and sat down and made eggs. Half an hour passed and russell hadn't come back yet. Unusual for him, but I waited another 10 minutes. I called him again and still he didn't come back. Now worried, I went to look for him. I heard noise in the back garden and he had his head buried in the bushes. I called him, he woofed really softly and looked at the ground and cried. I asked what he had and he picked something up, very carefully, and brought it to me. I was not prepared for what he had. He had a small bunny, in his mouth. He held it so gently, as not to hurt it and very cautiously set it at my feet and cried again. He led me to the nest and the mother had been killed the night before and there was one other bunny left. He went to pick up the other one and it yelled, and he felt bad, put it down, and looked at me to pick it up. We brought them inside and made a small place for them. One made it, and sadly one didn't. He stayed by their side the entire time we took care of them and went with me when we released the survivor miles away.
This freaked me out almost. I had thought that it was just instinctual for him to harm them, eat them, or at least play rough with them or something. Especially being a young male animal. He just seemed to know they needed help. I still don't fully understand it. I don't think I need to though.
The divorce had been draining on me, to say the least and it being my senior year of high school, my grades really suffered. I went from a 3.5 GPA to about a 2.4, just in a few months. I think Russell knew I was struggling because he started waking me up for school every morning if I tried sleeping in. He knew the schedule. 5:45 am we wake up, Shannon gives me food, she leaves forever
comes back at 3 
! If I wasn't awake by 6am, he ran into my door, loudly, until I got up. I figured that if I'm up, I might as well go. I think he had a lot to do with that.
My relationship with my father dwindled, and there was more fighting than not. One particularly bad fight over the phone, I left from one room, to another. Russell was sitting with me and heard me upset in the other room.
He brought me a blanket.
I don't think it's really possible to explain this dog. Which I don't even know if he's 100% dog. I've not been one to be usually spiritual or religious but I feel like he was here for me for a reason, at this time. He continues to amaze me every day, with small simple things and he keeps me going. He's my best friend and always by my side.
I have some other pictures of him, enjoy!
He does this thing.
After a nice day of swimming. He was VERY happy.
Sitting that close to the tv is gonna hurt your eyes bub.
He crawled under the blanket and had a nice nap.
He makes this face a lot because he knows it makes me laugh. Everytime.
One of the other dogs stole dinner off the table and he participated. I yelled at him and he sulked around all day like this.
He took the pumpkin I just bought, and wanted to play keep away with it. He promptly carved it after.
He took the lock from my chicken coop, and after yelling for it back, he felt bad and brought it back to me.
He went through a phase where he carried this bucket, everywhere.
He likes to stand here when I get ready in the morning.
Cuddling with my panda when I got home from work.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing about him! Take care and Russell says hi to everyone on BYC
We'll start off at the beginning.
I went duck hunting with my father and some of our friends, and after rowing our boat out to get the ducks, we realized a dog may be needed. I jokingly said "hey dad, lets just get a lab or something, like a chocolate lab". Not 3 days later we had this in our house.
He smelled like bologna and pooped quicker than he ate. I still don't know how either... He was 4 weeks old when we got him and came from a litter of 14 other puppies. The mom became overwhelmed and abandoned the litter at 2 weeks. The family woke up every few hours and hand fed all 15 puppies and got them on wet puppy food at 4 weeks. We brought him home October 11, 2010.
Well the puppy stage sure didn't last. Before we knew it we had a large, eating, pooing, and licking machine. He licked everything. Hands, the walls, the floor, the windows.... We started to think he might be defective.
We decided we might as well start water training him once we were confident he could swim.
That did not work out. We brought him out swimming for the first time the following may. He didn't want to go in the water.
Understandable. We threw him in. He sunk. We retrieved the retriever.
Time after time, he sunk. We went home and told our parents that we have a lab that can't swim. Sure enough, we all went back to the lake a few days later and the same thing happened. He just flopped around in the water and started sinking. We have the swimming idea a rest.
One particularly hot day, we decided enough is enough. I told him, "Russell, for crying out loud..you are a LAB. You are born to swim." I took him to the pond and I carried him into the water. He freaked out but I held him above the water. He started paddling and I let him get used to the idea. About a minute of that, I let him go and viola! It's like he'd been doing it forever.
Things had been getting a little...different at the house. My dad was never home and when he was, my mom was upset. I knew what was going on but for the sake of my younger brother, I said nothing. My mom was gone on a trip and my dad was staying at the house that weekend. I felt sick so I went to bed early. Both my dad and my brother are really heavy sleepers. I am usually a light sleeper, but when I am sick, I am out. I woke up at 3am with Russell frantically pawing at my legs and crying. It took me a second to realize what was going on and I then heard alarms going off. I jumped up and russell ran out of my room. Smoke was pouring up the stairs and into the second story of the house. Russell ran downstairs and made sure I was following him. He led me into the kitchen and started crying. There was a fire starting on the stove, from someone leaving it on. Luckily I was able to put it out before it spread. I don't know how I didn't wake to the alarms but I felt so lucky russell knew to wake me up. If he wasn't there, I don't know when I would've woken up.
He came and put his face on my bed.
I told him he couldn't have the jelly bean until I said so. He didn't mind.
The next summer a lot of things had changed for me. My parents separated and my father moved out. The dogs even knew what was up and the whole atmosphere of the house changed. Russell stayed here and our other dog went to my dads.
One morning, I let russell out around 6am. I went to feed the chickens and sat down and made eggs. Half an hour passed and russell hadn't come back yet. Unusual for him, but I waited another 10 minutes. I called him again and still he didn't come back. Now worried, I went to look for him. I heard noise in the back garden and he had his head buried in the bushes. I called him, he woofed really softly and looked at the ground and cried. I asked what he had and he picked something up, very carefully, and brought it to me. I was not prepared for what he had. He had a small bunny, in his mouth. He held it so gently, as not to hurt it and very cautiously set it at my feet and cried again. He led me to the nest and the mother had been killed the night before and there was one other bunny left. He went to pick up the other one and it yelled, and he felt bad, put it down, and looked at me to pick it up. We brought them inside and made a small place for them. One made it, and sadly one didn't. He stayed by their side the entire time we took care of them and went with me when we released the survivor miles away.
This freaked me out almost. I had thought that it was just instinctual for him to harm them, eat them, or at least play rough with them or something. Especially being a young male animal. He just seemed to know they needed help. I still don't fully understand it. I don't think I need to though.
The divorce had been draining on me, to say the least and it being my senior year of high school, my grades really suffered. I went from a 3.5 GPA to about a 2.4, just in a few months. I think Russell knew I was struggling because he started waking me up for school every morning if I tried sleeping in. He knew the schedule. 5:45 am we wake up, Shannon gives me food, she leaves forever
comes back at 3 ! If I wasn't awake by 6am, he ran into my door, loudly, until I got up. I figured that if I'm up, I might as well go. I think he had a lot to do with that. My relationship with my father dwindled, and there was more fighting than not. One particularly bad fight over the phone, I left from one room, to another. Russell was sitting with me and heard me upset in the other room.
He brought me a blanket.
I don't think it's really possible to explain this dog. Which I don't even know if he's 100% dog. I've not been one to be usually spiritual or religious but I feel like he was here for me for a reason, at this time. He continues to amaze me every day, with small simple things and he keeps me going. He's my best friend and always by my side.
I have some other pictures of him, enjoy!
He does this thing.
After a nice day of swimming. He was VERY happy.
Sitting that close to the tv is gonna hurt your eyes bub.
He crawled under the blanket and had a nice nap.
He makes this face a lot because he knows it makes me laugh. Everytime.
One of the other dogs stole dinner off the table and he participated. I yelled at him and he sulked around all day like this.
He took the pumpkin I just bought, and wanted to play keep away with it. He promptly carved it after.
He took the lock from my chicken coop, and after yelling for it back, he felt bad and brought it back to me.
He went through a phase where he carried this bucket, everywhere.
He likes to stand here when I get ready in the morning.
Cuddling with my panda when I got home from work.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing about him! Take care and Russell says hi to everyone on BYC
