Puppy product recommendations please!

[OwensMama]

Hi
We are bringing our 8 week old Fox Red Labrador puppy home in a couple of weeks and I am busy searching for lots of lovely things for him - but there are so many I don't know which to choose!
Bowls - should they have non-slip bottoms so they don't slide all over the kitchen floor?
Which toys/brushes/beds/feeding equipment etc. is best?
Your recommendations please!

[JoffreyBaratheon]

Kong toys - the rubber toys you stuff with treats (they do a puppy size but remove and replace as dog gets bigger). Our pup's favourite toy was a Kong teddy. She finally killed it when she was about 10 months old. She adored it.

Mine has always loved tuggy ropes as well. But she is a staffy cross ad that's a staffy thing, not sure if other dogs do. Just over a year old now and she still doesn't get the idea of 'retrieve' but your dog should pick that up fast! So a decent ball in one of them flingy things.

Beds, I dunno. My dog ate her's.

[OwensMama]

Thank you! Do you have a feeding bowl with a non-slip base? Not sure which to go for.

[nmg85]

We bought a base with a water & food bowl in with a non slip bottom pretty quickly as she kept knocking her old bowls and getting scared! I think ours came from pets corner.

When little I bought 2 beds which got destroyed within a few weeks (possibly days), I went to vet bed (can get from amazon) for her crate which has survived for months and is easily washed. Now she is older and not chewing everything she has a soft bed again.
Kong toys are great - both the soft toys (fairly durable) and the ones you fill (keeps them occupied for hours). Plain tennis balls are great as well. Rope toys in our house last a day or two maximum.
I also got a ball that you fill with treats & food. Looks like a hamster ball, she loves it and it was cheap (about £3) and has actually lasted despite numerous falls down stairs and off furniture. I got this from pet planet.
Mine also loves a frisbee, I find one with holes in the centre are easier for little mouths to pick up.

[OwensMama]

Thanks. Sounds like soft beds get chewed up pretty fast!

[JoffreyBaratheon]

She does have a feeding bowl with a rubber base thingy - not sure of the brand but I probably bought it randomly in Home Sense - pet stuff in there has great discounts and is good quality... Her water bowl is earthenware, just an old fashioned, heavy dog bowl that is too heavyweight for her to shift around the floor.

[WeAllHaveWings]

We have a black lab and the first 18 months teething was terrible for chewing - any soft/rope toys were destroyed within minutes (and are not pleasant coming out the other end!!), dog beds destroyed overnight, carpets, skirting boards and a sofa all overnight!!!!!

Recommend a crate and vet bed. Crate will keep him enclosed at night and keep him and your soft furnishings safe. Vet bed is likely to be chewed too, but is cheaper to replace (get a big bit you cut to size as and when needed, easy to wash too if there is an accident, but expect your washing machine to get very hairy whenever you wash anything that's been near a lab!!).

Mines loved the food balls too, then progressed (after he chewed the ball up) to the Buster Cube which is slightly harder, keeps them busy for 10 minutes. Also agree Kongs are brilliant.

Beware of pulling too hard on tuggy toys while they have their tiny/loose puppy teeth, and make sure it doesn't encourage possessive/guarding behaviour.

We NEED pictures when he arrives!!

[ChairRider4]

We have stone ware drinking bowl food wise we have just basic metal one that can throw in dishwasher
My boy did not like kongs you stuff but loved the kong squeaky ball and kong stick he also loved the squeaky snake to

[ChairRider4]

Plastic bottles was and still is one of his favourite things

[KatharineClifton]

I've got a dog now that is slowly destroying his vet bed

But for a normal dog vet bed is great, cut to size. Chuckit balls and anything Kong or Nylabone. Empty plastic bottles, milk bottles preferably. Antlers too. Heavy bowls I prefer as anything else gets turned over. Kong brush too. And a crate.

[nmg85]

Another vote for antlers and also for plastic bottles.

[Noitsnotteatimeyet]

Our puppy loved stuffing-free toys when he was little - good for tugging, shaking, chasing and generally having fun

You really don't want to be chucking a ball for him and encouraging him to run a long way after it for months yet (if at all)

Our dog also has 'special' toys which get constantly carried around - his favourite is this blue dog for some bizarre reason. As yours is also a retriever you may well find that yours will find stuffing a toy in his mouth very comforting!

Mine's never really got on with antlers - he had a bull horn bar for a while but it started to stink to high heaven so that had to go. He's very partial to the occasional cow's ear (less fatty than pig's ears) which make me want to heave but keep him happy. He's got a very sensitive tummy so 'proper' bones are out as they have hideous effects in the poo department but all the labs I've known have had cast-iron digestive systems so yours may be fine

Hope it goes well and please post pics - my first ever dog as a child was a fox red lab and she was a dog on a million

[SweetLathyrus]

I would second (or third) Kongs that can be filled. Especially for a teething puppy, freezing them is really soothing and satisfying. Empty drinks bottles never make it straight to the recycling in our house, when he was a smaller puppy, the two litre ones kept my dog amused for hours because there was no way to pick them up.

Get a spare bowl to leave in the car for drinking water, just a cheap one, but definitely go for something that your dog won't have to chase around the kitchen in the house. Depending on how greedy your dog is, a 'slow feeding' bowl might be a good idea.

You will soon learn which textures your dog likes - mine loved split antlers, but not buffalo/cow horn, but have plenty of options so that you can encourage them to chew on what you want rather than you or you furniture.

[ArtyKitty]

Mine is 8 months. My best advice- DONT EVER let them on your bed. Because soon they will ALWAYS be on your bed. And then they will be IN your bed. And then your feet will get too hot.

[ArtyKitty]

Ooh, but in terms of products - dried sprats are a brilliant treat. 100% natural, smelly and tasty! All the dogs in the park go mad for them to the point that you call yours and 6 come running and sit patiently. I'm sure they've contributed to her very shiny coat. Much better than the fake plasticky bacon scented 'treats' ...

[OwensMama]

Oooh, thanks everyone - really useful. Did all of you use a crate? I know they are supposed to be great, but I can't get my DH to see that they are not cages. Any alternatives? Here is a picture of him!

[SweetLathyrus]

Oh how gorgeous.

I used, still use a crate, and would have had a much harder time without it, I'm sure. But, I did cover it with a big throw, so it lot's less cage like, and give the dog a nice dark cave to retreat to (when the cat isn't in there!)

[ArtyKitty]

We never used a crate. She hasn't done any damage to the house except a tiny chew of the blanket box. She's coming into her first season, hence joining me in bed, but generally she knows her bed is a safe space and we don't bother her if she goes there. In my opinion, no need to put walls round it, but i appreciate other people's homes are different. We've no children or other pets. (except a goldfish, but he's very nonconfrontational)

[OwensMama]

Thanks ArtyKitty
Where did she sleep at night when you first got her?

[JoffreyBaratheon]

We crated our last staffy. He loved it and his whole lfie if he needed a break from the kids, other dog, etc he'd take himself to bed. Under the kitchen table. When he got to a few months old we no longer closed the door at night.

Got this pup from Dogs Trust and they recommended crate training (they call it 'indoor kennel' which is a bit more PC but essentially - a crate). But she hasn't taken to it at all. By the time she was six months old, we let her sleep on the sofa (she took ages to toilet train, and also I was concerned she'd start destroying things in the living room as she is a chewer; but in fact she has never had a night time accident (touch wood) and never tried to chew anything.

Now her crate is in the outhouse and won't be used. Dogs are all different - some love it; some hate it. I'd highly recommend one - wish this dog had liked it. But she just didn't.

[ChiefInspectorBarnaby]

You need bowls on a raised surface eventually to prot his neck. I have this:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0018Q0HD0/ref=mp_s_a_1_6/276-4418949-7149940?qid=1445460639&sr=1-6&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Large size. I didn't get it from Amazon but price there seems good. Prior to that I had raised bowls on a metal stand that you raise yourself but they didn't work- too unstable and clattery.

[ChiefInspectorBarnaby]

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