Never had a puppy before... tell me all the good and bad bits... don't spare anything lol

Sarah

It's like having a baby in the house.
They come with VERY sharp teeth.
When they grow up it's the same as having another child to cope with.

they are harder work then babies but really worth it!

I would have more puppies anyday (have 2 dogs) not so sure i would say the same about babies .

choc labrador bitch - hell on earth. she bit the children, (made them bleed), and was impossible to house-train. she got detention at puppy classes because she decided she would only obey different words of command to the rest of the group... (must be a woman thing) loathed being petted.

black lab dog - total and utter pudding and needed to be cuddled constantly. essentially house trained himself, has always done as he is told, hasn't so much as nipped when teething (but does still steal food if given the chance - he is a labrador after all)

i love both my labs to death, but dear god, the brown one was harder work than any of the dcs lol.

erm, not sure what specifics you want really?

would recommend crate training?

My boss's labrador is due to have puppies in 14 days, they are chocolate labs and I would so love one. The doggie parents are nuts so no doubt the puppies will be too!

I work full time, could prob take pup to work with me - is this a stupid consideration?

oh no madwoman - bit the children gulp my children are 6 and 12.

Is the choc lab any better now?

Definately am thinking crate training.

Utterly and totally adorable. You will be besotted. Have two Labs and love them to bits. BUT you've never had any puppy before? Mmmm. Be prepared for lots of hard work, chewed items, dog hair for carpets/furniture and broken nights.

Bit like trying to prepare someone for their first baby. Can't be done!

Is all the family onside with wanting a dog?

if you work full time, you can't have a puppy. Sorry. Housetraining them is basically a full time job in itself because you need to supervise them constantly so they learn what to do and where to go - and it doesn't happen overnight. I adore my pup, and now he pees all over my garden, rather than all over my carpets, I'm starting to forget how close to tears it brought me on a daily basis, but I keep the gallon bottle of Simple Solution in a prominent place to remind me...

I have a 3 and a half year old choc bitch lab.

She is excellant with the children and hardly barks.

For the first couple of years though she chewed EVERYTHING.

My only problem with her is the malting twice a year it drives me crazy.

um - full time? it might work once the puppy is house-trained to take him/ her - i'm not sure i could have taken either of the puppies anywhere really. you aren't supposed to take them out properly until all the vaccinations are done - about 12 weeks i think? so 4 weeks from when you bring the puppy home?

how are you going to organise looking after a puppy and working? (not sure what you do - i couldn't be on the phone to a client with a baby/ puppy crying in the background...)

once they are older - yes, not sure how the first couple of months would work out - they can be, er, quite needy!

Children desperately want one, DH not so keen BUT DH never keen on anything (including the children before we had them lol).

Don't care about chewed items, (you can quote me on that lol when I whinge about chewed items). Dog hair doesn't bother me. Nights hmm surely they can't cry at night for ever????

I know its really a bit thing, my boss loves her labs and the children playing with them was lovely, the dogs actually played with them which was wonderful.

Bit concerned might be untrainable though.

I've known a few choc labs and they were completely mad.

I would steer well clear of pups whose parents are hard work. I know this sounds harsh but pups are hard enough work at the best of times.

We have a labradoodle. Much maligned in some quarters but an easier, lovlier dog you have never met.

cute as anything, very chewy when they are young.
Usually easy to train as they will do anything for food.
Very greedy!
I've had black labs before (all bitches) but last January got a chocolate lab from a rescue centre. It never occured to me there would be a big difference between chocolate and black but I've lost count of the number of people who have told me 'oh the chocolate ones are all mad!'
As another helpful dog walker pointed out you never see chocolate guide dogs which hadn't occured to me and then another helpful dog walker pointed out that you never see chocolate gun dogs (not that I have any experience of gun dog training).
Labradors make great family pets but I would go for black again and not another chocolate bombshell!
My girl has never bitten my child but has chewed lots of her toys. They are very gentle with each other (dog 16m DD 22m)
Crate training is good. I'd never used a crate before this one but it means I have a safe place to leave her if we are out and overnight she goes in the crate.

6 and 12 would be fine.

choc is lovely now and all the dcs adore her(and extremely fat - they do tend to run to fat easier than other colours - lots of exercise needed!)

i'm quite worried about the idea of ft...

I'm in an office but not front of house, do deal with clients but essentially that isn't my job. I deal with the complaints and issues lol (with thankfully there isn't a huge amount of!).

Didn't realise you couldn't take them out at all (what would I do without mumsnet?!) can you not start training them to wee in the garden then until 12 weeks old? Had no idea about that one!!

Also didn't realise they chewed for 2 years.

Still want one though!! Will consider this very carefully though. Thanks for all of this I need all this info.

lol smac - i get stopped on the street too and asked what the diff is between choc and black. having only really looked at the generic 'lab' characteristics and deciding it would fit in with our family circs, i hadn't really understood the choc issue before...

it's worth bearing in mind that.. guide dogs use yellow labs and black labs. They don't use chocolate labs. That must tell you something.

Of course you can take them out in your own garden before 10-12 weeks . To be honest if you work FT I wouldn't get a puppy, even if you can take it to work. Big difference between taking an adult,trained dog to work and taking a puppy.

you can as long as you are sure the garden isn't accessed by anything carrying nasties lol - ie foxes/ other dogs etc. some people choose not to take them out at all, but we did. walks and stuff are a no. some training books suggest a lovely wee puppy pen, with a sleeping crate, a food area, and a 'toilet' area. (which you are supposed to crate from a dug-up section of your lawn).

we fell for this hook line and sinker. choc thought it was the best fun she'd had since birth - the neat square of grass got dug and scattered all over the pen.

tbh we let them pee outside in the end (and crossed our fingers that the foxes who lived under the rhodedendron were relatively disease free...)

it's totally like having your first child though.... 'but the book said' 'why is it crying?' 'i don;t know what to doooooooo'

once you've had one, you realise that (unless it's choc lol) most things are probably going to fall into place given a modicum of care....

Have I missed something but do you work full time?
If you do you do not really have a choice it is a definate no to a puppy

It may be easier if you explain how you think it will be having a puppy and then we can fill in the gaps

We have a chocolate lab puppy (8 months old) and she is lovely. I second what people have said about the chewing and the toilet training - it is very intensive at first, though our pup was very quick to learn, and only soiled her cage once, and very soon learned to 'go' outside.

But you do need to be there - every time the pup wees indoors, or looks about to start weeing, you have to whip them out into the garden and wait until they do at least a bit of wee/poo there, and use whatever command you want to for weeing/pooing (ie 'be quick' or 'do your business') so that they learn to associate the phrase with the act, and should be able to do it on command, then when they have wee'd/pooed, reward them and praise them. You also need to take them outside at regular intervals anyway, particularly after meals, I believe, and wait with them until they wee/poo, and do the same process as above.

Also a young pup really can't be left home alone for any real length of time. We use a cage, and now ddog will stay in her cage quite happily whilst I go to art class or nip to the shops, but most of the time I am around so she has company and someone to keep an eye on her.

Also labs will eat anything - and if they can't actually eat it, they will chew it up and spit it out. Since we have had her, our pup has eaten 15 mince pies, steak, salmon, my glasses, four shoes (sadly not two pairs, but four shoes from four pairs), wallpaper, two xbox headsets, 16 rashers of defrosting bacon, two doughnuts, her own poo, sheep poo, horse poo and cow poo, some bits of rotting rabbit that she found in the field, the edge of two rugs, the rungs of all the kitchen stools, any amount of packaging and milk cartons (nicked from the recycling) and a mars bar - that last one necessitated a trip to the vet because chocolate can be poisonous to dogs, and he had to make her sick - which cost us £30 - a jolly expensive mars bar!!

We chose a chocolate lab, because dh has been told that they have the best temperaments of all the labs - this was certainly the case with the three labs, one golden, one black and one chocolate, that they had during his childhood. Ours is affectionate, naughty sometimes (dh is never allowed to keep his socks on - she nicks them and puts them in her bed), funny and clever. She used to take herself out of the cat flap to do her business in the garden when she was little enough to fit through it, and now, when she needs or wants to go out, she rattles at the cat flap to tell us.

They have the softest, silkiest ears imaginable.

Your kids may well be very keen now, but they will not be cleaning up the wee and poo in the house (though mine will do poo patrol round the garden and collect up her offerings), and whilst they will love playing with the pup when it arrives, this will wear off, and they will find all sorts of excuses not to take the dog for walks, especially when it is wet and/or cold.

We love our lab and wouldn't be without her - currently she is asleep on the couch, wearing a specially-bought t-shirt to keep the bandage on her spaying scar clean and to keep her away from the stitches!

one of ours ate a whole roll of paper towel. i posted on here in a flap, i'm sure it's around somewhere... i had visions of it swelling up and blocking his innards...

As the owner of two labs, I'm not going to try to convince you how lovely they are, because I honestly don't think a lab is the type of dog you should get (if any). And I certainly wouldn't choose a chocolate lab as my first dog, if you value your sanity!

I honestly don't mean to come across as mean, but it sounds like you don't really know much about dogs at all, and labs need a lot of knowledge and patience to turn them into healthy, well rounded dogs. It's not the same as having one of these miniature 'toy' dogs, you can't take it everywhere with you, and you certainly can't expect it to sit in an office all day (unless you want a loopy dog). Labs don't mature fully until at least 2 years old, and in the meantime they chew everything, destroy things, and need lots of attention and lots of exercise to occupy their minds (meaning a bare minimum of an hour a day - ours get two and are still a bit mad). A big dog also requires a lot of training, and although labs are exceptionally quick to learn and eager to please, it still takes a lot of time. And would you know how to avoid the health problems that labs are prone to? Would you know how to regulate their food and manage their activity to avoid joint problems? There's only so much you can learn from asking on forums, and yes ok, you can read books etc, but you definitely need to spend time learning and researching. Do you even know anything about the puppies? Are the parents hips scored, elbow scored, do they have clear eye certificates? Do you even know what these things are or why they're important? I am an experienced dog owner and researched our chosen litter very carefully, but our 9 month puppy still has still ended up with an excruitiating elbow problem, which has led to her being in constant pain her whole life, unable to play and run like a normal dog, with the final result being a £1500 emergency operation on Tuesday and a very unhappy dog who can't be walked for another two months, is in constant pain, and after all this still only has a 50% chance of actually having a normal life afterwards. How would you cope if your lab ended up with a joint problem like this? They're very common, and many people can't cope, or aren't experienced enough to deal with it all, and their labs end up getting PTS or being dumped at a rescue centre.

Added to this, the fact that your DH isn't on board with it, which means there will be a lot of stress in the house during the chewing and destroying phase, which the dog will pick up on and become anxious.

I'm sorry to sound so negative, really I am. But so many people buy labs just because they make cute puppies, and don't realise what a handful they are, or don't know how to look after them properly and end up with fat, unhappy dogs with mental issues and/or crippling joint problems. If you really are serious about getting a dog (any dog) and your DH agrees, please spend a few months learning and researching rather than getting the first one that comes along. It's easy to get carried away when faced with cute puppies.

thank you for your comments, all of them they are greatly appreciated.

I am not totally naive when it comes to dogs although never owned anything like a lab before.

Perhaps we'll just go play with them till my boss rehomes them. Best of both worlds then.

Her dogs are nuts, absolutely mental. When I was visiting with my children, her grandaughter and my son were on the trampoline and the dog got on as well and was LOVING it, never seen anything like that before!

The hip scores are good - boss was talking about this before the bitch was even pg and before I had said oo I want one and she does have papers. I didn't know about the elbow issues.

We live in a beautiful area for walking but appreciate bad weather isn't fun for walking dogs (although I quite like the solitary-ness of walking when nobody else about!).

Thank you!

There are chocolate gun dogs. And chocolate field trial champions. And chocolate guide dogs.

Behaviour, temperament and trainability are not down to colour. It's the character of the individual dog that's important.

And it is very important to see the parents, but each pup in the litter will have a completely different attitude and character. Pick the pup who best suits your life and be sure to ask the breeder for advice too.

You can see the adult in the pup if you watch them carefully.

Chocolates are very trainable and no more difficult/hyper/chewey than any other colour lab.

It's a bit like saying children with a particular hair colour are always thick. It's just not true.

If you really think you have the time, patience and dedication to love and train a lab then talk to your boss about it. A puppy is a lot like having a new baby who can run around and get itself into trouble. They're hard bloody work.

I have three, and took mine into work from about 14 weeks.

I think if you'd had puppies before, taking a pup into work might be an option if you crate train, (puppies do sleep a lot and are easily tired out) but if you haven't had a pup before, you might find it a struggle. A REAL struggle.

Puppies are a full time job in itself really. And yes, they do bite. Like small children, they explore everything with their mouths and their teeth are like needles and easily draw blood. They wee and poo like you'd never, ever imagine.

Once older a lab ideally needs around 2 hour sof exercise a day, or maybe more, so you'd need to think about how you were going to fit that in along with working full time.

Also, and I know this will sound harsh, but it is wrong to get adog just because someone you know happens to be having a litter unless you were already thinking of getting one. If you really want a dog and can take one into work with you, maybe an adult rescue dog that is known to be good with children would be an option? It would already likely be toilet trained, and maybe have basic training too. Plus, it'd likely be much more chilled out than a puppy, not bitey etc.

KI am sure you know though, that it woul dbe unfair to get a dog unless you could take it to work with you all day. It couldn't stay at home all day alone.

Although I agree that every dog is different and the colour of their coat should have no bearing on their temperament, it unfortunately does in the case of chocolates - but even though many people say that they're a but nutty, they don't understand how they came to get this reputation. A few years ago (and still today), it became very fashionable to have chocolate labs, so less scrupulous breeders started breeding purely for colour instead of temperament or health. If they were chocolate, they were bred, regardless of their suitability. They produced a litter of cute little chocolate pups - all fetching higher prices that blacks or yellows because they were suddenly so popular - and a nice wad of money for the breeder in the process. The cycle continued, each generation becoming more susceptible to nervous problems and poor temperaments due to this poor breeding, leading to chocolates becoming known as a bit 'unstable'. When in fact, there will be absolutely no difference between well bred black, yellow or chocolate labs - just like there will be no difference between poorly bred ones. The only reason chocolates got the bad reputation is because there were so many of them, all around the same time, that had been poorly bred and suffered as a result. But it happens all over - I'm sure the quality of yellows suffered when the Andrex adverts started!

I know that most of the chocolate litters around here come from poor lines, and therefore would never consider one. Even though the pups themselves may come from a decent breeder, if you trace their lines you'll find a lot of them originated as part of this chocolate frenzy, and breeding is everything when it comes to getting a well-rounded dog. There's always a big debate over 'nature vs nurture', but it's been proven that poor temperament parents are more likely to produce poor temperament offspring.

Equally, there are great breeders who have only ever bred the best of the best, and therefore have produced excellent litters, but sadly they are outnumbered by money-grabbing back-yard breeders.

As the owner of 1 yo black lab, I can only second what MrsL and Midori have said.

I think taking a lab to work in an office would be completely unworkable for the first few years at least! They are big, bouncy and full of energy and tbh would have your office destroyed within 5 minutes when they got bored.

Although they are easily trained, the first few weeks are really intense and I dont think you could do it if you were at work.

I know you say you like the idea of solitary walking, but what about when its pouring down, blowing a gale and is -1 outside and you have no option but to take your very unhappy dc's with you - its no fun trying to walk a hyper pup with a screaming toddler in tow (belive me, I have been there ).

Dont underestimate the chewing either. I am a reasonably experienced dog owner and I started a thread on here a couple of weeks ago about my labs chewing - he will chew anything and has cost us hundreds replacing the stuff he has damaged (remote controls, toys, shoes, rugs, etc).

I know I am being really negative but I really wouldnt want you to go into anything "blind" as labs really do need major commitment.

I wouldnt be without mine though - he is lovely and absolutely adores the dc's - they really are fantastic family pets.

I have a lab and have owned and worked with dogs all my life. I think MrsL has put it all very well, and that it would be completely unfeasible for you to take on a lab puppy.

Can I stand up for chocolate labs! Well done daisydotandgertie. The colour makes no diference to temperment at all. There are chocolate coloured assistance dogs. And as ddg says working trial labs and gundogs. If you train a choc well the behaviour will not be determined by the colour.

Also the reputation that labs chew yes they will if you let them. I am worried sick by the list of things the dogs have chewed here. Vigilance is vital when they are in the chewing stage and you must make sure they can not reach things that chewing could so easily kill them. Chewing is usually done out of boredom or stress so as a owner we can easily sort out those issues.

"The cycle continued, each generation becoming more susceptible to nervous problems and poor temperaments due to this poor breeding, leading to chocolates becoming known as a bit 'unstable'." such a sweeping statement if you research your lines well you can get excellent chocolate labs. Research is vital on any breed goldies included!

I feel for my choc lab now.

She is a beautiful dog who protects the boys. She hardly barks is as happy running around or having a lazy day.

HOuse training her was easy but stressfull at the beginning but that is the same as any dog.
She is very well behaved off a lead.

I couldnt think of a better dog to have when you have children.

Well said re the chewing, Minimu. I get a bit bored listening to myself on here, warning people to make sure things are out of reach.
When you've watched a beautiful young dog being put to sleep on the operating table because the vet has opened it up and found all its internal organs are glued together by peritonitis after it ate something it shouldn't - that's heartbreaking

I have to agree re: the chewing. If you are vigilant and sensible, things should never be chewed. More importantly than it is annoying to have your things ruined, it is very dangerous to the dog.

I think mrsL123 is righ in saying that the reputation of chocolate labs has probably come from all the BYBs and puppy farmers breeding without a care to anything than colour. They were extremely fashinable a few years ago (maybe stll are) and everyone and his wife was breeding them for money. It isn't to do with the colour though, just co-incindental so many were bred in that colour, there are puppy farmed/poorly bred and mental yellow and black labs too.

I also agree research is vital and any breed (yes, even my beloved Goldens) can be a problem if not properly bred or properly reared and socialised. I will never forget a call I had from someone wantng to go on my puppy waiting list. She had had to have her Bullmastiff put to sleep as it had bitten her children and she wanted a Golden as they were so biddable and wouldn't bite her children. Needless to say I told her that any dog could bite given the right (or wrong) circumstances and turnd her away.

you also have to consider that some dogs will never outgrow the chewing stage although it does obviously become less prevalent as the dog gets older.

My first guide dog was a yellow lab and she would chew whatever she could lay her paws on if left alone. In the first six months I had her this included:

A cushion
four meters of wrapping paper.
A set of modem cables that belonged to dh' work (ooops).
A sweatshirt (well she just chewed off the arm .

And this was an eighteen month old dog that had been well-trained as a guide dog, was exceptionally obedient and who did come to work with me every day obv and slept in a basket under my desk and we went out at lunchtimes. But she didn't like to be on her own as she was so used to being with people and so when left she went looking for things to do.

Just three months ago I came home and found she'd chewed up a letter that had come through the door, and she was nearly fifteen then. (we had to have her pts in December due to a tumour )

What you have to bear in mind is that these are animals. And even if you put in all the hard work and the training etc they are still animals with their own personalities and querks.

I now have two lab x golden retrievers (one is a soon-to-be retired guide dog who is being retired early due to a behavioral issue, and the other is a still-in-training guide dog who I am being trained with atm). The older one is fabulously obedient, perfectly sociable, loves people and children, I can take him into school and meetings and the classroom and he will lie at my feet and not move even with 30 children shouting and running and causing a noise. He is an excellent guide dog and works incredibly well.

When not working he is brilliantly behaved in the house, has never chewed anything, although he's an opportunist with food and did eat a box of chocolates that landed him at the vet, but other than that... His recall is perfect, he doesn't run off.

On the face of it he is a perfectly trained, well behaved dog. but...

He doesn't like other dogs when he's on lead/in harness. He reacts very strongly towards them in fact - barks at them and will growl at them, although is perfectly happy to make friends once I have done so, and he only reacts like this when restrained.

We have tried everything to break the habbit but it is simply not possible. Trust me I have tried everything - vets and behaviorists, and special collars and reinforcement training (praise the good behavior, ignore the bad), but the behavior is so ingrained in his psychy that he cannot be trained out of it.

And so because of this (and predominantly because a member of the public complained), he is being withdrawn as a guide dog next week.

But looking at him you would never know.

The querks of the new dog have yet to emerge

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if you have the time and the patience and the inclination to put in the training, a dog is an animal, and it will always have querks that are a part of its personality.

You can buy a puppy and hopefully train it to fit in with your family, but you also have to be prepared to fit in around the dog to an extent (much like having a baby).

Are you prepared for that?

loads of people have mentioned the chewing stage, what about a jumping stage, has anyone experienced this before?
My 15 week old pup is definitely going through that stage right now!

"The cycle continued, each generation becoming more susceptible to nervous problems and poor temperaments due to this poor breeding, leading to chocolates becoming known as a bit 'unstable'." such a sweeping statement if you research your lines well you can get excellent chocolate labs. Research is vital on any breed goldies included!"

Minimu I didn't mean to come across as if I was saying chocolates were bad - quite the opposite infact - the very point I was trying to make is that colour has nothing to do with it if you choose a decent breeder, and getting a well bred chocolate is no different to getting a well bred black or yellow. As I said, there are excellent chocolates available if you research it properly. But my point was, people unfairly say all chocolates are 'mental' without knowing the real reason they came to get this reputation - not because their colour gives them a different temperament (which is ridiculous, it's just hair colour!) but because so many poor examples of chocolates flooded the market at the same time due to these awful money grabbing breeders, and therefore people associated the colour with the temperament issues, rather than realising it was because they were the victims of 'supply and demand'. I bet there are many yellow labs out there that suffered a similar fate due to the 'Andrex Puppy' craze. Unfortunately with the chocolates, the reputation stuck for some reason - maybe because those back yard breeders are still breeding for colour alone. I know of a local BYB who gets an extra £100 for his chocs, and has advertised four different litters in the past year - compared to just one litter of yellows and blacks. Why anyone buys from him, I've no idea - one look at the parents and you can tell they shouldn't be producing pups from them. But some people want a cute little chocolate puppy and would rather go to an idiot like him than choose a 'common' black one from a decent breeder

I was actually trying to stand up for the chocolates myself, sorry if it came across as the opposite

Everyone will always tell you that their particular breed of dog is much harder work than other breeds!

We have always had Scotties. They are hard work. Housetraining takes a l-o-n-g time. As a girl I had a Dalmation and she was hard work, too, for different reasons.

My friend down the road has a miniature Schnauzer and she says he was a fairly easy pup. They weren't experienced owners, either, so I'm inclined to believe her because she's not comparing him with anything else. He housetrained himself very quickly--unlike my latest Scottie pup, who, at seven months, can still make mistakes if not watched.

We were very careful when we chose our choc lab - we found her through the labrador club of Scotland, it was only her second litter, and we saw not only the mum, but our pup's 'aunt' - same dam and same sire and over a year old, so a decent gap between litters (I hope that was a fair assumption).

Having read the comments on this thread about chewing, I am ashamed of what our pup has got hold of. Some things can't be kept out of her reach (furniture etc) but I will be more vigilant about the things we can move up or away, and will also make sure she has plenty of things she is allowed to chew and will look at doing more to keep her interested too. The last thing I want to be is a neglectful owner.

A question - one of the things I can do with her to keep her occupied is more training, and there's still plenty for her to learn or learn more definitely - but she responds best to treats, and we are a bit worried about her weight atm, so are there any low calorie treats we can offer - at the moment, I use mini-bonio type biscuits from tesco, broken into two or three bits. Or should we use her dry food as training treats, but cut down the amount she gets at meals?

We do the latter.

Our dog has a lot of lab in her, we are first time owners and both at home all day. It has been a very steep learning curve and definitely harder than either of my two DC's were as babies and toddlers.

She is 8 months now, not too bad until 7 months but then things deteriorated and the last 24 hours have been pretty disastrous really. Whilst I was in my office yesterday morning and everyone else downstairs, she sneaked off into our bedroom. Sitting on a chest of drawers was a new TV bought last weekend that doesn't work properly and was due to go back this weekend. The cable had fallen off the top of the chest of drawers somehow and was on the floor. Plug now chewed off the end.

I have no idea where she found it but she got hold of one my Emu boots, possibly from off the top of the piano, and there's now a hole in the sole. And DD left the wii remote on the sofa whilst she nipped to the loo and that's had a bit chewed off.

Previous to that she chewed two computer mice on consecutive days, has beaten me to the post and ripped a Boden catalogue and my water bill (cage being fitted very soon). She's climbed up onto a coffee table and found a plastic bag of fake snow on the top of my fairly tall shelf unit, books have been plucked off bookshelves, hair brushes chewed, plants have been taken out of pots in the garden and the list goes on and on really.

This is with us both at home with her, daily walks, frequent short bursts of training, variety of toys like tug a jug, chew toys that are rotated, DD doing things like hide and seek. We don't seem to be very good at dog ownership.

Oh. No. That naughty, naughty dog.

Dogs will train for carrots and bits of apple as well as cutting down on their food is they have been given lots of treats. Dried liver is a great healthly treat and can easily replace some kibble if that is what you are feeding.

I never ever let a dog out of my sight until they are at least two but that does mean my dogs only chew what they are meant to chew.

If I do have to leave them, as of course I do, they are shut in a safe place for them to be left. Sometimes with a kong but when I leave them they are tired so will usually sleep. I never leave an unexercised dog until it has been walked. So first thing before I am feed or showered the dogs get a run usually 6.00am ish. Then they are feed and happy to sleep when I shower sort out the family etc.But they don't chew the wrong things and two are labs!

Not meaning to preach but the chewing can be controlled with careful but I agree timeconsuming methods but back to the OP she needs to acknowledge the time that is needed to look after the dogs.

Minimu, can I ask you how you'd do the exercise for an 8 month pup please ? I'm always very mindful of not over exercising because of the joints and have been doing the 5 mins per month of life which means we're at 40mins now. Any suggestions of when you'd do that and would you just walk once or break it down into two smaller ones ? Any suggestions very gratefully received, thank you !

10 mins walk in morning home for breakfast.
5 min training at 11.00 ish
10 min walk before lunch home for lunch
5 min training at 3.00ish
10 min walk afternoon home for supper
5 min training 6.00 ish
10 min walk before bed

One tired pup and knackered owner

we have a guide dog puppy that is ½ black lab + ½ Golden Retriver and she came at 7 weeks old {younger for GDP}

Anyway we have had her for 2½ weeks and you deffo couldn't work with a 9 week old puppy

I am taking her outside so many times during the day that you not get any work done IMHO or IME

I barely get to have telephone conversations unless on mobile or cordless phone

She has a crate that she has to sleep in for at least 1 hour after each of her meals ~ this is to make sure she get digested ok

She also sleeps in it at night

BUT SHE IS VERY VERY CUTE AND WE LOVE HER + she is great fun and DEFFO BRILL

Minimu you are a complete star. We're both home all day so can split it and as long as we get the tired pup I don't care if we are knackered! Thank you so much.

We have a golden retriever and he slept through the night (in a crate) from the very 1st night we got him at 7 weeks exactly. He never pees in his crate and can go for 11 hours without a pee (I overslept once ). He's 16 weeks now.

Kid the jumping!! It's driving me nuts

I couldn't possibly let our have the run of the house. He's only in the kitchen, hall and garden. Very occasionally upstairs when supervised. He ate a sock once and I found it so stressful, I wouldn't let him go where he could find anything else. He's chewed the corner off one tripp trapp chair, but that's all so far, fingers crossed.

Puppies are a lot of work, a bit like toddlers, they need watching and want your attention. It's an incredible morale boost though. They're genuinely thrilled to see you every single time you enter the room . You can also put them in a crate and go out, which is pretty different from a baby. A puppy at work would be exactly as helpful as a 1yo child though, ie not at all.

Oh. You mean you can't put the kids in a crate and go out? Oh bugger.

Where does it say you can't crate dc?

Romanarama said so, Bella - is she wrong then? Whew!!!!

Labs are very hard work,much harder than kids.My Black puppy is a pain and chews kitchen towels,shoes,sofas etc(even when he has a selection of toys in front of him) he also climbed on top of the cooker yesterday and ate most of a huge Shepherds pie and the bit he didnt manage to finish had a paw print in it
My advice...get a cat, or an adult dog.

I agree with others - please do not even think about getting one if you work full time. Its just not fair on the dog.

lol @ get a cat

and just in case anyone was wondering, my choc was from a kc registered breeder, and pedigree-wise is from top notch stock lol. (i still get e-mails from the breeder keen to let me know the latest successes of her daddy lol) but she's still bats

...but point noted about not all chocs being tarred with the same brush...

i love watching mine together, they are just the best of friends.

Kid and Romanarama, hang in there with the jumping, it does improve. I thought she'd never stop but she is definitely a lot better and can manage to keep her paws on the ground if a stranger strokes her, which a couple of months ago seemed like an impossible dream. She does still jump but it is definitely less.

Bella, my dog is on her second lot of 7 day Panacur for lungworm and without doubt it is making her very hyper. There was a gap in the middle when she was off it and she was so much calmer. We give it in the morning as the two times she had it at night she was in a right state until about 1am, fretting, whining , barking and generally not knowing what to do with herself. I did mention this to the vets but they said the Panacur shouldn't have this effect but it definitely does, have you come across any dogs with a similar reaction before?

Wynken - no, I haven't come across that. How odd. Could it be anything to do with her stomach being emptier when you gave it to her at night, do you think? Sometimes an irritated stomach can cause animals to become a bit hyper.

SDTG - I have yet to see conclusive evidence that crating dc does them any harm

My pup loves to jump onto the kitchen table. He can only do that if we forget to push the chair right up to the table.

This morning, he nicked DH's glasses off the side, I had to chase him.

The other issue we are having with him still is the eating poop. I know its perfectly normal but SO GROSS!
Lets hope it stops soon.

He is more or less housetrained during the night and sleeps really well. Just got to tackle the housetraining during the day now.

Thanks Bella, it was in her evening meal, I guess it could well have messed around with her digestion. She does seemed to have calmed down a little the last couple of day (touch wood , cross fingers and toes) - DD has done some training with her this morning and she's been playing Tug a Jug and is now flakes on the floor. Only two sachets left now so am hoping that will be the end of two rather long months of coughs, antibiotics and panacur.

Kid, we've had the kitchen table thing, there's a bit of bench that she can climb on. She's stopped it now and if caught on something she knows she's not supposed to be on such as sofa, does now immediately scuttle off when she sees us.

Ooh Minimu, that timetable is handy. I'm going to do 4x 5min walks with mine and work up.

We went to puppy training yesterday and 3 of his litter were there (it's goldens only). I think they knew! They ignored all the others and went nuts playing with each other when there was free time. So cute!