Had a full size terrier mix mutt about 50 labs I rescued. She lived 17 years. Had heart worms twice when younger (those daily filarabits were not terribly effective) and a bladder stone removed when she was 11. I have collies now. My first two died at 13 and 14 years.
Labs are the best but they shed horribly and we let them in the house some (a lot). We want a labradoodle or goldendoodle, but apparently the lack of shedding and great temperament is very desirable and they are a high dollar dogs! I tried to find a female standard poodle as breeding stock, but they are expensive and I'm apparently not the first one to think of that. I could make some major points with one of those "doodle" varieties.
Our bully has not been inexpensive and she recently had to have facial surgery on her eyelashes and to remove a skin fold above her nose to relieve pressure off of her eyes and help her breathe easier. My wife and I would not have any other kind of dog. They are awesome.
We should consider this as our new mascot:
A Komodo Dragon (Monitor Lizard).
Why? Hell! just because they are ugly and bad-ass, like our Dawgs!!
No, don't change our nickname from "Bulldogs", just trot one these suckers out on a leash, with a "Meet our mascot." Hah!
Warning: make sure our handlers are in full body armor at all times. These Dragons don't respect anything or anyone and are likely to attack the handlers without warning.
We should look into Olde English Bulldogges as mascots. Much lower risk for health issues, but still similar in appearance to the standard English Bulldog.
Before the game just "introduce" our dragon to the refs, and say: ya know, I get upset over bad calls by you refs, and when I do, I tend to lose a tight grip on Champ's leash. Oh, by the way, our Champ here (the dragon) just loves zebra meat. He's kind of near-sighted so, ya know, mistakes happen... you guys have a great game tonite!
Football season: Reveal press box and new mascot?
How about when one is about to retire we have another dog selected to be the next mascot?
Not sure this is in our AD's job description.
This whole mascot thing has never bothered me. I loved my dog. I lost a few hours sleep when he died.
I've never cared much about our over priced and over bred english bulldog mascot.