Best-Friend Friday

Welcome back to my weekly theme day blog post! For the newcomers, this blog is the third segment of my weekly theme day blog post "Best-Friend Friday." In these posts I will choose a different reason of why everyone should have a dog as their best-friend.

This weeks reason is that having a dog changes lives. Many people talk about how getting a dog has changed their lives for the better. Here, for example, the author of “How My Dog Saved Me From Myself” summarizes a book that was written about a woman who had a significant change to her life after adopting a puppy.

Dogs add responsibility to a persons life. If you haven't had a dependent before having a dog as your best-friend can be a great first dependent. You have to nurture and train them if you get them as a puppy. Dog best-friends force you to stick to a schedule of walking and training. Keeping you occupied when you are bored. Changing your values and views on life.

Not only does a dog change you, but more importantly you change the dogs life. The famous quote for an unknown author, "To you a dog is only part of your world, but to your dog you are their world." This quote hits hard with me. Even though it may be a made up quote, it makes sense. For those of you that already have a dog I challenge you to create a better life for your furry friend. I found a list of ways to "Make Your Dog's Life Better," please use this list. Our dogs love us and they deserve a happy life.

I want to finish this theme day with an explanation of how Zeplin has changed my life. He taught me that I am not the center of the universe. Also, he showed me how to become an adult. Before him I had no responsibility. I stayed out late, drank, and wouldn't sleep before work. Now I have a reason to go home and not drink because I have to drive home to take care of him. I relax with him on work nights instead of hang out with friends. He taught me that I am much more than what I thought I was. For that I will always be grateful.

Photo of Zeplin teaching is puppy friend how to sit.

Thank you for reading feel free to post comments and questions. Also, I did not forget about the adoption site of the week. This weeks adoption site is less of an adoption site, but more of a site for adopting and changing lives. Here is The 360 Project.

Best-friend Friday

This is the second installment of my "Best-Friend Friday" themed blog. Yes, this blog is supposed to be on Fridays, but this week I am behind on schedule.
Just a brief overview for the theme of this blog if you are a first time reader. Every Friday I will post a blog themed around a different reason everyone should own a dog. This week our reason is the adventure that comes with having a dog as your best-friend.

I have had many adventures with Zeplin. He is the reason that I found hiking, but that is not the only type of adventure he has brought me. We have had scares that took us to the emergency vet, played in the snow on a frozen lake, and camped in many different places. Our most memorable adventure is one where we spent two days hiking and camping at Turkey Run State Park. All of these things I would not have done if I didn't have him.
Other than those types of adventures having a dog as your best-friend requires a person to get outside and walk or play. Many people spend too much time indoors without getting exercise. The statistics on exercise by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services shows how little physical activity Americans get. Dogs need physical activity to stay healthy and having one requires you to get physical activity by walking them.
With the weather getting better, Zeplin is ready to go on many more adventures. It is always nice to have a workout companion and a dog is good choice.
As the summer coming fast I ask you to think about adding a dog to your list of best-friends. It will be a decision you won't regret.
To continue with my promise in my first blog, this weeks adoption website is one close to home. Heartland Small Animal Rescue is a group located in South Bend, Indiana. They have all kinds of animals available for adoption. Also, they rescue dogs and cats from shelters that euthanize once they are over populated. If you are thinking about adopting a pet please contact them.
Feel free to continue a conversation or ask any questions in the comments section.

Best-friend Friday

Life with a Labrador is a site meant for me to share my experiences with my best-friend Zeplin. Here is the first blog for my new theme day blog for "Best-friend Fridays." Every week I will post a new segment of this blog. Each segment will be focused on a different reason why everyone should have a dog as their best friend, including my personal experiences with specific situations involving each reason.
For my first Best-friend Friday I will focus one of the top reasons to recruit a dog as your best friend, unconditional love. Studies from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America show that in 2016 more than 15 million adults in the United States suffer from depression. Dogs are known to have unconditional love for their best friends. This has a huge effect on people who suffer from depression. An article named "Mood-Boosting Power of Dogs" talks about a dog's impact on depression.

Let me step back for one second. I refer to dogs as best friends because they are more than just a pet that you own. Dogs have a way of sensing emotions and understanding facial expressions of their human best friend. In my own experience, when I am sad, Zeplin snuggles up on my lap to comfort me. He understands that I am in a depressed mood. When I am mad he stands next to me trying to lick my hand or my face, which ever he can reach at the time. He does this until I crack a smile. After I smile he becomes excited because I am starting to be happy again. Most dogs love their people more than they love themselves. This is unconditional love. Whenever I need a friend I always know I can count on Zeplin.

Unconditional love is a special thing to have. I wouldn't say I suffered from depression, but I had my moments. In every one of those moments I turned to my best-friend.

In conclusion of all of my Best-friend Friday posts I will supply a link to a pet adoption website that I believe can be helpful to people looking to adopt a dog. Think of this, for every person that suffers from depression there is a best-friend that is waiting to be adopted to comfort them. This weeks featured adoption site is The Shelter Project.

The image above features Zeplin showing love to my girlfriend while she is trying to take a nap.

If you like or dislike this blog please feel free to leave comments. Also check out a similar blog named "thatmutt.com."

Bridge of Adventure

This is an image of a peaceful river with a bridge from one side to the other. Pictures like this give me a sense of adventure. I was not much of an adventurous person before I had Zeplin. Now all I can think of is the next adventure I can go on with my dog.

I would like to believe that this image is one taken of a hiking trail because that is the main focus of our adventures when Zeplin and I go on them. Ever since I was fortunate enough to adopt Zeplin I wanted to take him hiking as much as we could. We spend the summers going to state parks and walking the trails as much as we can. Our most common spots would be PotatoCreek State Park in North Liberty, Indiana and Rum Village in South Bend, Indiana.

One adventure that I remember most was a fun, scary, and messy time. It had been raining for days. Finally there was a break in the bad weather. Since I started feeling the cabin fever kicking in and Zeplin was dying to go for a walk I decide that we needed to go hiking. At the time we were in Muncie, Indiana for a few weeks visiting a friend. Being in an area we didn't quite know I did a quick google search of the nearest state park and found one.

On their website they said that the trails were wet, but they were still open for hiking. So Zeplin and I went. Half way through the hike we ran into a part of the trail that had been flooded due to the rain and the water levels in the river being too high. Like a normal person I decided to turn around and go back to the open field to play fetch with Zeplin.

Since I was playing fetch with Zeplin I let him off the leash. He normally sticks by my side where ever I go. So I didn't worry about him running off. This time was different. A rabbit caught his eye and he sprinted after it. They both ran right back down the trail that we had just came from.

Worried that I had lost Zeplin I started to search the trails. After searching for a few minutes I finally found him rolling in the mud that I had tried so hard to keep him away from. When I first saw him rolling in the mud I was furious. I didn't have any towels in my car to clean him off and there are no seat covers in my car.

After failing to get him to come to me for a few minutes I realized the only way I could get him was if I went to him. Now I had walked through ankle deep mud to get to Zeplin and decide to let the anger go. We ended up playing in the mud for about half an hour. It was one of the most fun times I had on a hiking trip with Zeplin.

I ended up having to take my car to get the inside cleaned out because it was too muddy after this trip. After all the costs I still wouldn't trade that adventure for anything. The photo at the beginning of this post reminded me of adventure and that all of the adventures you take are something to remember.

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/darwishh/57956597/

About this blog

In this blog you will be reading about my life since I have had my Labrador Retriever. The life of have any dog breed is always an adventure, but having a Labrador as your best friend is at another level. My Labrador's name is Zeplin. No, he is not named after Led Zeppelin. His name actually came from another dog that I was intending to adopt but he had been adopted before I had the chance. 

Zeplin has given me many good times throughout the five years of having him. Through this blog I plan on sharing these experiences with you. Some of them will be full of joy, others will be full of fear and anger. These emotions are all things that come of having a Labrador as your best friend. On top of the funny and adventurous stories that will be told here, I hope that you will find out how much love a dog can bring to your life.

Zeplin is a unique dog with a personality that I have never seen in a dog before. He is smart most of the time, but sometimes he does odd things that make me question is intelligence. Here is a photo of one of these times:

In this photo it shows how goofy he can be. This is a common thing for Zeplin. He finds himself in these awkward situations and does not care. You as a reader can expect pictures and stories that are similar to this picture. I have very many. 

This blog is for anyone that wants to know the stories created by a Labrador Retriever. You may be a dog owner looking for someone to relate to or a person looking to learn about having a dog as your best friend. It doesn't matter who you are this blog will provide entertainment and maybe even help you. Maybe this blog will help you make the decision to get a best friend like Zeplin for yourself. I encourage questions and comments on my blog. I will answer and comment back.