Smiley, Our Yellow Labrador Retriever, Has Her Own Kitten

by Natalie
(CT)

I am the proud pet of a four year old purebred yellow Labrador Retriever. "Smiley" was a gift for my husband on our 11th wedding anniversary. I drove him to the breeder, pointed toward the bouncing, hopping litter of eight fuzzy, yellow bouncing puppies and told him to go pick.

He was eyeballing a little male, petting and hugging him, when the biggest female came bounding into his lap, shoved her brother out of the way and looked at James with big brown eyes as if to say “OK, Dad, I’m ready, let’s go”.

And with that and a few hundred dollars, Smiley Renee was ours. Or we were hers as she sees it. I have owned dogs all my life, but never has there been a dog so smart.

Smiley was fully house-trained within a week. She has had only one accident in the house, and it was not her fault at all. She immediately grasped all of the basic commands, and we discovered within three days that she is, without a doubt, completely and thoroughly ball obsessed.

If there is a ball in the vicinity, Smiley Renee is somewhere nearby. We have to hide her balls due to the fact that she will continue bringing the ball back to us and dropping the slobbery toy in our lap and nudging it toward the hand until it is tossed. I have not seen her get too tired to chase it yet.


Her obsession is so deep that we have taken to spelling out B-A-L-L so as not to get her riled up. She takes the ‘retriever’ part of her name very seriously. If someone dares to deny her B-A-L-L, she will bring them a rock. And another, and another.

If given the opportunity, she will swim all day. When we venture to the river or dog lake, Smiley will keep galloping, full speed into the water, paying no mind to the temperature in her perpetual quest to chase the B-A-L-L. Once she even stole a ball from another Lab’s mouth! She swam over to the other dog, stuffed the stranger’s ball next to her own, and with a ball stuffed into each cheek, swam back to shore.

I swear she understands us. She is by far, the smartest, most loving and sweetest dog I have ever had the pleasure of loving. Her personality is wonderful, and she is just another one of the ‘kids’. She is low-maintenance. The only reason she has ever needed medical care is an ear infection (which is common for floppy-eared breeds).

She would love to exist on people food, but we feed her a high-energy, large dog formula of dry, and that does the trick. Shiny coat, bright eyes and sharp mind. Smiley got a birthday present this year for her fourth birthday. Smiley got her own kitten, Gus.