He Drools!

Before Drake, I had had four other dogs in my life, two Poodles, a half Labrador and half Husky mix, and Max our full Labrador. None had a drooling problem. I use to question why anybody would have a dog that drooled. Further how do you deal with it?

At first we thought the drooling was nerve driven. We could certainly understand that. But even as life was getting back to normal after Wilma and Drake seemed like he was accepting us more and more, the drool never stopped.

The good thing about adopting a dog that is an owner surrender you usually get the vet records. So we reviewed all of the records to see if we could see any mention of the drool. Nothing. Time for our vet review the drool.

"Dr. Al" was our hero when we had to put Max down and there was no question we would be using him with Drake. After he had looked Drake over and pronounced him in great health and shape, I asked about the drool. Here's what I said:

"He has a drooling problem. Is there some kind of surgery you can do so bring up his jowls? We think they are hanging a little low and that is causing the drooling."

His response:

 "Yes, we can sew his mouth shut and put him on a feeding tube."

Okay, not the response we expect and did we feel like idiots!

Dr. Al then proceeded to explain that Drake was what they called a wet mouth lab. Some long lost genie down from the Mastiff and Newfoundland. Great it wasn't going away. This little drooling "problem" wasn't discussed in his adoption bio. Embarrassed about asking for the surgery, we left the vet with our tails between our legs and bought a large supply of hand towels from Costco.

Do you get use to the drool? Yes.

Do we have some very creative artwork on our walls, doors, cabinets, windows, etc.? Yes.

Do we wonder how the artwork got to where it is? Yes.

Are there times when we look at him and say, "only a mother and/or father could love a face like that?" Yes.

Do we love Drake more and more each day? Yes.

Does Drake grow closer and closer to us everyday? Yes.

Is pet adoption a good thing? Yes.