I can second that. I severely underestimated the time required to satisfy her need for movement when we got our Lab 16 months ago. Our girl is really eating - among other things - in my bike time. That’s a thing to consider - but a great dog she is!
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This is Heidi, she’s a Sprocker, both parents were too. All from working lines. 4 months old, high energy but keen to please. She was the only liver and white from her litter. She has taken so much of our time that I have had to revert to using Train Now. Insurance has already paid over £1k vet bills in the 6 weeks we have had her. Couldn’t imagine not having her in our life.
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You’re really selling me on this whole “get a puppy” idea I’ve been toying with. 
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it feels like both the worst and best thing you can do
She is so beautiful!
Chocolate girl :3
My lab is also the same color as yours. Heh 
I hope you check for her eating because these dogs have a tendency to “adiposity”. In other words – they can easily become fat, and this will cause problems with their health and their heart
Worth every penny!!!
Go the adoption route
Look, a dog is a great Rorschach test. It can be the greatest thing in your life or a freakin’ nightmare… and which way it goes depends primarily on YOU.
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Thou shalt make sure that you KNOW your dog’s energy level when choosing him/her (no picking puppies from photos without meeting them!), and thou shalt make SURE that his/her energy level is LOWER than yours and your family’s. A dog with less energy than you is fine. A dog with more energy than you can match is going to chew up your life, shit in your shoes, keep you awake, deprive you of free time, and otherwise ruin your life.
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Thou shalt fully internalize that a dog is NOT a person. Treat it like a DOG because that’s how you get a happy, socialized, stable dog. You need to understand its instinct, its rules, its functioning, so you can teach it how to live in your world well. A dog is a DOG, a social pack animal. If you keep making exceptions to the rules, you’re doing the dog no favors; rather, you’re creating uncertainty for the dog and a feeling of insecurity that can lead to neuroses. Be consistent, be firm, be loving. Of course “treat him like a dog” doesn’t mean poorly, it means don’t treat him like a human because he doesn’t see/understand things the same way.
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Yes, be prepared for serious expense. And training, for both him and you. Lots of training… maybe more for you than for him!
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Dogs require an enormous amount of time… or more! And work.
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Think through how this is going to affect your life in other ways. What happens if you want to go to dinner and the place won’t take dogs? What happens if you want to travel? Who cuts his hair? Who does grooming (no way in hell I’m going to “express his anal glands”!)?
Dogs are great to have, they really are. But it’s like deciding to have another kid, who in some ways is never going to grow up. The commitment is more than most people think, but it’s up to you to think it through. They are worth it, if you MAKE IT worth it.
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