I fully agree. Oso is my second black lab. My first was also a gift from heaven. One day Dinah, our beautiful dalmation, was swept away by a huge black lab (I believe he was an English lab by the look of his build and muzzle) wearing, I kid you not, one of those spiked collars like you’d see in a cartoon. Like this, except the collar was black and the spikes silver.

Dinah stayed gone a couple days. She returned all dirty and I just knew there’d be pups. Yep. Three boys and a girl. All pure black except for white frost on their chests. I raised them for about eight weeks and then, keeping the biggest one for myself, gave away the other three.

His name is Sark. Lived with me for some 16 years. I buried him myself and some of the neighborhood dogs came to pay their respects. He rests in peace on the shores of the Elk River in North Alabama. He was my best friend.

I just added the photo of Minnie, minus one leg. :)