{"id":2230,"date":"2013-06-30T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2013-06-30T19:00:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-01T00:00:58","slug":"lab-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/2013\/06\/30\/lab-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab Meeting!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am not given to holding an excess of lab meetings, but by Ezekiel, this one was needed. And no waiting around for a reasonable time, like 10 a.m. No, no, that wouldn’t do. So I called a lab meeting at 10:30 p.m. Location? Where it’s most comfortable–my bed.<\/p>\n

Okay–hold on. Reading this, you must think there is something quirky going on with this Caplan guy, right? Wrong. There’s a simple and rational explanation. Read on, yes, read on…<\/p>\n

Taking part in the lab meeting were my two kids–both extremely excited to be a part of the process. What process? Well, talking about getting a lab: a Labrador Retriever, that is!<\/p>\n

This whole “Lab Meeting” has been years in the making. About 13, to be exact. That’s about the time since we last had a dog, and only one of our kids was born. The dog’s name was Rodrigo (we adopted him with the name), and he was an unbelievably clever, cute, but stubborn, jealous-to-the-point of paranoid dog. People would ask me “What breed?” My standard answer was 50% terrrier, 50% mule. Probably true.<\/p>\n

\"Rodrigo\"<\/a>
\nRodrigo and me. Not-so-recently.<\/p>\n

Rodrigo had a bad habit of snapping at people. Unlike many dogs, there was no problem handling him when he was eating or drinking–his problem was that he didn’t like to be disturbed when resting. If he came to someone for attention, petting, massages or play–wonderful. But if you initiated contact with him–ouch!<\/p>\n

For many years after Rodrigo’s passing, we tried other pets. Fish, guinea pigs. It’s just not the same.But life is complicated with tough schedules, work, travel–and the fear that adding a dog to the family would end up being one more chore for two over-worked parents. But a long campaign from the juniors finally yielded a change of heart. I was on the fence anyway, as I typically enjoy the company of dogs more than most humans, but my wife was a hard sell. But the die has been cast, and when our troupes of summer visitor finally fly and drive away, we will be searching for a relatively young house-trained yellow Labrador Retriever to adopt. There are a number of great agencies, including the Midwest Animal Rescue and Services<\/a>, Labrador retriever Rescue and Adoption<\/a>, Hearts United for Animals<\/a>, and of course the Nebraska Humane Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While “Hobson” came out as a cute dog:
\n\"hobson\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am definitely bent on a more Labrador-like-look, such as Vi, here:
\n\"4d98c104a219e\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But as I haven’t had a dog for a companion in many years, I’m definitely open to expert advice and guidance, and getting up to speed on new technologies in training and caring for a dog. All suggestions\/comments appreciated!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not given to holding an excess of lab meetings, but by Ezekiel, this one was needed. And no waiting around for a reasonable time, like 10 a.m. No, no, that wouldn’t do. So I called a lab meeting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,91,50,1],"tags":[885,886,887,884,889,888],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-research","category-science","category-uncategorized","tag-canine","tag-dawg","tag-dog","tag-k9","tag-lab-meeting","tag-labrador-retriever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}