Pictures above is Cocoa, a chocolate Labrador. Added below is Ms. Micki's message.
2 pictures of Cocoa. The first one is when she was just a puppy. She was recharging her batteries on the couch! You should have been there when she woke up!! WATCH OUT! The second picture was taken last summer. As you can see she was holding tight to her tennis ball. I have learned since our last conversation that tennis balls can be dangerous to dogs. It is possible that the dog can choke on small pieces, so from now on Cocoa's tennis balls will be replaced at the first sign of wear. Sorry Cocoa.
次の２つの手紙は、私のラブリーのページをご覧になったアメリカ人のマリアさんとリンさんからの２通のメールです。
マリアさんのお手紙では、日本人のペットの扱い全般についての批判は日本人として悲しい気持ちにさせられる部分もありますが、動物愛護の精神が欠落しがちな
私のような人間には耳の痛いご意見だと思います。
２頭目のボンゴはずっと家の中で飼っていましたが、半年近くなって外飼いしようか迷いが出ていた部分も
ありましたので、この手紙は大変犬を飼うということに対して考えさせられました。
ボンゴもラブリーもできたら家のなかで飼ってあげようと今考えています。
それからラブラドールに限らず捨てられた犬についても、もっと援助の手を差し伸べられるような姿勢
を大切にしていきたいと思います。
リンさんからの手紙もソフトにかかれてはいますが、論調としてはマリアさんからのメールと同じような主張が読み取れます。
ミッキさんのお手紙は大変やんちゃなココアのびっくりするようなエピソードでいっぱいです。
でも彼女のココアに対する優しさには本当に敬服いたします。私も彼女のような飼い主になれたらと思います。
ミッキさんはココアのかわいらしい写真を二枚送ってくれました。
いずれの方も慈愛と善意に満ちた愛犬家という感じがして心温まる気がしました。
ここに紹介させていただきます。
I feel all these Lab lovers are full of good wills. I feel encouraged by their letters and at the same time I feel determined to try my best to be the very best Lab owners.
I hope every Lab lovers can enjoy these letters. And I show my gratitude to give me a permission to make these letters public here to there three Lab lovers.
マリアさんからの手紙 From Maria
Hello, my name is Maria. I am a dog lover myself, and I had to tell you this
if you don't mind. Because dogs are a pack animal, please keep him/her
inside with you, and please please please do not buy a dog!!, especially from
a pet shop, they are the worst of all. Here in the States, people adapt
dogs, cats and other animals from the shelters, though so many unwanted ones
are killed every day. I have no offense to your love of Labs and any other
breed of dogs, but I truely believe that " Dogs are Dogs " , each one of them
is very special and deserves to be loved. My dog, Patty, when we found each
other, she was dirty, skinny ,and had a broken tail with no hair ! She was
smiling with full of energy like saying, " Haaai, I'm home! ". Since then
for more than nine years, we walk together, sleep together, she is with me 24
hrs a day everyday. She is an ordinary japanese breed, but her popularity in
here is undiscribable. People just love her. You see, you and I live in
the two differnt countries, unfortunately, in Japan, animals are mistreated
in general, so that nobody really realizes what to do right. As I mentioned
earlier, dogs live as a pack, isolation only causes him/her a stress, fear,
lack of trust and so on. And one more thing, please NEVER hit your dog for
any reason, this was generally accepted by many peaple in Japan when I was
living there, but hitting a dog is the worst thing in the eyes of your dogs,
I would say Tone Of Your Voice gives him/her enough lesson. I wrote this
to you because you love dogs like I do, and it is my dream that someday no
dogs will need to suffer in Japan, for that it is my duty to share my
thoughts whenever avairable to whom may be willing to listen. I hope you are
one of them. I thank you for your time. May God Bless .
リンさんからの手紙 From Lin
Hi!
My name is Lin and I am writing you from Pennsylvania, in America.
I read with interest about your experiences with Lovely. I ran into a
similar experience with our dog, Starr Bryte. Starr is now 5 and 1/2 years
old, and we have had her for 5 years. She showed up at Deb's house (Deb
lives out in the country) one day in June. I happened to be here --see, I
told you I am always here:)--and fell in love with her on first sight.
Starr was then a stray, no collar, and with scars on her muzzle. However,
she was very friendly, and since we had just lost our other dog after 11
years (had to put her to sleep as she had seizures and was in a coma), she
fit that achy sadspot in my heart. My parents came up to see her, and we
took her home as it was obvious she had either been dropped off in the
country or run away from an abusive master.
For a year, this dog wreaked havoc on our house. She chewed: the carpet,
the couch, the cocktail table, the van, shoes, gloves, slippers, coats,
robes, bedsheets, and countless pieces of mail. It wasn't as though we did
not watch her, either, as one minute she would lay there oh so innocently,
and the next, she would be running from the scene of a crime. Still, we
loved her and never beat her. My father had to earn her trust; to this
day, she is scared and very mean towards men she does not know. Now, she
is more or less my dog, and the biggest and nicest baby I have ever seen.
She sleeps with me, follows me everywhere, rides in the car, and lays on my
lap. She is 80 pounds of sweetness, and after that first year, she did not
chew anything up. It was as if at 2 years of age, Starr became an adult
and grew up. So, take heart. Lovely looks and sounds like a sweetie. I
am sure she is happy to have Bongo as a playmate. We do keep Starr in the
house, but she gets two to three long walks a day (her favourite place is
in a park by Lake Erie, and when it is warm, she gets to go swimming).
And, we also have another dog named Meghan Roze. Meghan is half Black Lab,
half Dalmation. SHE, however, is another story all together.
It was nice to read about your dog. I share your now enthusiasm about
Labs. I love mine!!! I would never trade them for a billion dollars!
Take care!
Lin
ミッキさんからの手紙 From Micki LaVres
メールアドレスmjl0385@ccp.com
Hi, I saw your page on the net and enjoyed the story of Lovely. I have a
chocolate Labrador, named Cocoa (a.k.a. Lotsa Loco Cocoa) which means very
crazy dog! We did choose an appropriate name for her because her "puppy
stage" lasted almost 3 years!
Cocoa will be 4 years old this August and she has finally started to
settle down. We live on a 40 acre farm and thought a Labrador would be a
good farm dog. Cocoa thought it would be nice to live in the house with
the family and being the soft touches that we are, she got her wish and is
now an indoor-outdoor dog. If the family is indoors, Cocoa is indoors. If
the family is outdoors, Cocoa is outdoors.
I have heard some Labrador breeders say, "It is best to keep a Lab in a
kennel for the first 6 months to a year, to keep them from hurting
themselves". Now I know why. Let me highlight the mishaps that Cocoa has
encountered since we've had her.
1. Bloody nose and near concussion from accidentally bashing her head into
the wall. She did this while in one of her "crazy moods" (running around
the house like a raving maniac) she jumped on the couch and ran into the
wall.
2. Broken tail sustained while rolling around on the couch and fell off.
We took her to the vet but he said there was nothing he could do, just let
it heal. She doesn't like to have her tail touched now.
3. Gored bottom area from our goat, Nellie. Cocoa used to really harass
Nellie and one day Nellie got her back! Cocoa couldn't sit for a week!
4. Near loss of consciousness and another bloody nose from running into
fence.
5. Severe puncture wound in abdominal area. We're not sure how she did
this but it required two surgeries and a bit of healing time.
I don't think your lab is any more unusual than any other lab. Labradors
are notorious for being very active puppies. We seriously considered
finding Cocoa another home when she was a puppy but we hung in there and
she finally started to settle down. Now she is a very loving, well behaved
part of our family. She minds much better than my 12 year old daughter!
Labradors need a lot of attention and exercise (something we can offer
Cocoa on a farm), but when left to their own devices they will become bored
and potentially destructive (10 umbrellas is a good start).
Cocoa has two jobs here. First, it is her responsibility to let us know
if a car arrives. This took absolutely no training whatsoever. She has an
innate ability to sense or hear a vehicle before it has turned up our 1/8
mile long driveway. She barks like crazy and continues barking until the
person is either in the house or leaves the premises. Her second job is to
deliver the paper to my mother who lives next door. Cocoa absolutely loves
her paper job and she can usually keep her mind on the job and not get
distracted. Have you tried offering Lovely a treat when she brings you the
paper? If she knows a treat will be waiting for her she will most likely
hurry back with the paper. Labs love to eat!
I've never heard that Labs are any more difficult to house break than any
other dog. Cocoa was very easy to house break, in fact she never had an
accident in the house! Perhaps the fact that I took her out every 2-3
hours religiously (even at 3:00 A.M.) may have helped.
Cocoa has a wonderful disposition. She is the most loyal dog I've every
had. When I leave the house to run an errand she sits by the window and
waits for me to return. Cocoa's favorite thing to do is chase her tennis
ball. She could play ball all day long. Tennis balls are her favorite.
We have tried other kinds of balls, Frisbees etc. but she will have none of
it. She must have her tennis ball. She loves the ugly chewed up ones that
are falling apart. Chasing her tennis ball in the pond is her other true
love. She loves the water as do most labs. When we go to the pond on our
property to fish or paddle boat she is the first one to reach the water and
the last one to leave. After a day at the pond she sleeps really well! I
suppose third in line would be chasing the cats (we have 12 outdoors).
Funny thing is if she catches one she doesn't do a thing. She just likes to
see them run. Although she does love to eat rabbit and has been known to
bring one home and devour it on our back deck! yuck! I don't think she
actually killed the rabbit, most likely leftovers from a cat. Cocoa is so
gentle with such a great temperament that she actually let me remove a raw
T-bone steak from her mouth that she had stolen from the kitchen counter
one day. Lucky for me it was my husbands steak, not mine :-) She is also
very smart. I have trained her to not go past the corner post at the
driveway because I am afraid she might wander down to the highway. She
will walk down the driveway and when she gets to that post she will turn
towards the house and look to see if I'm watching. I'm afraid she will go
past the post if greatly excited by another dog or vehicle. Unfortunately
she learns better than she minds. She knows the rule, but she will break
it, if I'm not watching and sometimes even if I am.
Cocoa does have one health problem. Last summer we noticed that she was
limping, sometimes slight, sometimes extreme. She has been diagnosed with
elbow dysplasia, an unfortunate common problem among Labradors. After
trying several medications we seem to be having fairly good results with
intramuscular shots of adequin. She receives one shot a month, the cost is
$9.00 and well worth it. We only hope she continues to have good luck with
the adequin. Surgery is very expensive!
Well, I hope you enjoy my letter as much as I enjoyed yours. Good luck to
you and your family with Lovely and Bongo!
３通の手紙への私の返事
Hi, Maria
I really appriciate your kind advice about keeping dogs.
Since I opened my web site, I have been receiving letters of
thanks as well as letters of complaints.
Those from Japanese are mostly the former and those from Americans
and British belong to the latter.
At first I thought maybe the cultural difference causes misunderstanding
of my attitude about my dogs or my poor English expression may have
offended some people especially from abroad.
Japanese dog lovers showed their sympathy toward my difficulty in
dealing with my hyperactive 'lovely' while American Lab lovers
often denounced my 'abusing'.
Before I read your e-mail I wondered if it is my fault to be
criticized as an unfriendly dog lovers (very contradictive expression)
or it is totally due to the misunderstanding caused by either
cultural difference or the way I described my 'lovely'.
As you know, we Japanese are apt to think it's not good to be proud
of any member of our family even if it is a dog.
I described my 'lovely' in a little bit negative way because of this
habit. But at the same time I was taught my love toward 'lovely' is
not enough to entitle me to be called the true dog lover.
I love especially the parts of your advice below
((( Because dogs are a pack animal, please keep him/her
inside with you, and please please please do not buy a dog!!, especially from
a pet shop, they are the worst of all. Here in the States, people adapt
dogs, cats and other animals from the shelters, though so many unwanted ones
are killed every day. I have no offense to your love of Labs and any other
breed of dogs, but I truely believe that " Dogs are Dogs " , each one of them
is very special and deserves to be loved.
As I mentioned earlier, dogs live as a pack, isolation only
causes him/her a stress, fear, lack of trust and so on.)))
Right now we keep our second Lab 'Bongo' inside and our first Lab
'lovely' outside. This is because our house is not spacious enough
for two labs and 'Lovely' destroyed several things inside.
We decided to keep 'Bongo' inside for good but as for 'Lovely'
we are still seek the chance to keep her inside.
But I'm not sure if it will work well. But we try to compensate for
this to walk 'Lovely' more often and serve food first to 'Lovely'.
To her as well as to you, we feel sorry or even a bit guilty not to
keep 'Lovely' inside.
As for hitting I have not been hitting her for more than a year after
she became much better. I haven't hit my second Lab 'Bongo' at all.
Maybe we didn't know how to tame the dog three years ago and we just
did what we believe is most effective in training a dog, which is now
I know totally wrong. Looking back two years ago 'Lovely' was really
a hot dog (hot potato) and every harsh word was completely ignored
and I lost my temper and resort to the corporal punishment. (By the
way I'm a teacher of English by vocation and never hit my student,
of course.)
I wrote too many things irrevant, I'm afraid.
But I really like the way you advise me and your opinion about
keeping dogs moved my heart and once again I promised myself
I should be very kind to my dogs.
In the form of a parody of proverb(Love me love my dog) I declare
Like I love myself, I will love my dogs.
We are very happy to be with two Labs, 'lovely' and 'Bongo'.
When we think of what they do to us, we should try to do the best
we can do to them in return for their love.
I will update my Lab pages, please come again in the near future.
Thank you
Sumio Yano
Hello, Lin.
Thank you for sending me an instructive and heart-warming e-mail.
I really appreciate your kind advice to our 'Lovely'.
I feel encouraged a lot after reading your mail. I am very much determined to be patient
in dealing with our still sometimes-naghty 'Lovely'.
But since Bongo's arrival she changed a bit and actually she has been a so-so decent lady.
Still we can't let stay inside the house for sleep. In the evening a few times a week we allow her
to come in the living room and spend time together with us. Right now she seems satisfied.
If she is improving herself for several months, we may be able to keep her inside the house with Bongo.
Inside the house we Japanese take off our shoes so that we can lay ourself on the Tatami floor.
So if the dog isn't properly toilet-trained nor trained prudent, we will have a mess.
Since Bongo is a very gentledog inside the house, we can keep him inside.
There is much to be improved about Lovely's discipline to be kept inside.
A few more efforts and patience will be needed from my part.
Anyway I am deeply interested in your Starr, which is rather heavy maybe chubby and your Meghan.
If you can send your pet's picture I will be more than happy.
with Lab (love)
Sumio Yano from Japan
Hello, Ms. Micki LaVres
I read your great letter and amused myself a lot and at the same time feel
encouraged.
So far I have been receiving several Lab letters from abroad and they are
very interesting and instructive. But I bet yours is full of episodes of
the Lab and entertained me most.
The day before yesterday my district was hit by the unseasonal typhoon. The
typhoon No7 landed Tokai area which my city is located in but fortunately
gave little damage
to us humans. I was at a school and my wife and sons were at home when this
tragedy or I should say comedy happened. After I left home to school, the
wind grew strong and blown off the Lovely's dog house and my younger son
notice that and told her mother they went out of the house to the scene.
Fortunately poor lovely was stayed under the broken doghouse without
getting any wound. But the leash was tied to the dog house so my wife
decided to help her to untie the leash in the strong rain and shower. When
she did that, Lovely who was frustrated for not being taken for a walk for
a whole day becasue of the typhoon found her own way of letting her
frustration off. Yes, she ran away around my house in spite of the heavy
rain and wind. Regardless of my wife's desperate effort to call her back
(of course she used something delicious to eat), Lovely just laughted at
her. According to my wife, Lovely mocked her for half an hour and then she
disappeared into the trees.
My wife and sons were so worried about Lovely's whereabouts and my poor
wife looked for her for another half an hour in the typhoon in vain.
She said she felt worried about her and at the same time angry about her.
Two hours after that Lovely came back home safe and she approached my wife
as if nothing had happened. My wife lost the courage to scold her and she
just stroke her head. What a trouble maker Lovely still is!
We still seek the chance of keeping Lovely indoors but Bongo who is very
prudent indoors often gets mad with Lovely inside the house. That's the
problem we should solve right now.
Anyway I know your Cocoa had given you more mishaps than we have had. So we
should try our best to tame our hyperactive Lovely till she becomes a
wonderful lady (or I should say wonderful grandma).
If you don't mind I would like to carry your letter onto my page (if you
want to erase your name, I will do that), could you give me a permission?
If you can send a pictures of your Cocoa, I will carry them onto my page
together.
My page will be revised again and again so please come often.
Thank you very much.
With Lab
Sumio Yano from Japan
