Labrador puppy - all advice welcome!

[gustowind]

Hello!

Welcoming all tips and advice on raising a well rounded, happy and obedient Labrador please!

In particular:
Toilet training tips
Basic commands
Leash walking/recall
Managing behaviour such as chewing / jumping

Basically any Labrador wisdom is much appreciated.

Looking forward to this exciting journey with my little companion.

Just enjoy every minute and ignore all the self imposed rules you put in place before they arrive.....mine is my favourite child. So jealous!

Frozen peas. When the door goes chuck a handful of frozen peas on the floor - it distracts them for a minute or two so less focussed on barking at the door. Also funny to watch. The biting will stop eventually, keep swapping out your hand/arm/foot for a chewy toy. Work on walking to heel as a priority - mine still pulls at age 4 and it’s the one thing I wish I had focussed on as he’s strong. Enjoy the puppy months!

Hide all your shoes and underwear

Ours in nearly one. Overall hes a well behaved boy. Has natural recall as per previous poster. He has started pulling and we use a head collar now and hes very good on that. Will do anything for food. Adores the kids. But loves his attention and tickles. He is a chewer but seems to acknowledge what hes allowed to chew I.e his toys. We rotate them to prevent him getting bored

Aw. Have two labs, they are the best.

Think the first post nailed it all. Food is your friend, they’re greedy beggars and learn fast.

You can never give them too much love.

Many happy years with your new forever friend

However Im sad to hear you are getting a puppy this close to Christmas and I cant imagine a reputable breeder having a litter this time of year

ALL puppies are hard work, worse then a baby really - cos they are never going to go toilet in their own, but those first few months - hell on earth - at the busiest time of year for families

Good luck x

We wanted a chilled out Labrador and have managed that twice. Lovely dogs!
As pp said, they are intelligent, learn key words and phrases beautifully, and are awesome companions.
We have used harnesses for ours from being tiny to avoid the pully dog behaviour, and that's been effective.
Bear in mind that they will learn things beautifully and get into a super routine, until they hit about 6 months old when almost overnight their brain is wiped and they genuinely forget a lot of what they've learned. It's to do with hormonal changes - think terrible toddler equivalent closely followed by teenagerhood - and they do grow out of it and settle down again!

Don't give him anything hard like a bone, hoof or antler, to chew. Sadly my lab lost two canines due to chewing on hard things as an older puppy (after his adult teeth cMe through). My vet is also a dental specialist and said you should never give them anything so hard you can't depress it with your fingernail. I wish I had known that before.

All good advice here. We never left anything (shoes, slippers) etc within chewing reach of our lab puppy and as a result she has never devoured them (other stuff, yes!).

Always give them something else to chew, instead of a person - even at 9 she’ll go collect a toy if she thinks she’ll be tempted to mouth someone who doesn’t want it.

Get good pet insurance. Lots of trips from all the random stuff they eat! Or make sure they don’t eat it.

Have a cuddly toy ready and accessible at all times. For the chewing stage and then the must meet everyone with a toy stage. If we ever get burgled they would be given a toy carrot.

No puppy pads. You’ll only have to retrain them to use grass.

As soon a possible get them off the lead. Lots of treats. They will get excited at other dogs so this is a balancing act.

They do calm down, in 5 years time 😂

Fabulous. I wish I wasn’t too old for a Labrador puppy again. My tips:
Clean their teeth daily from puppies so they get used to it and you will avoid future death breath and doggy illnesses from decayed teeth and gums.
Ditto get them used to showers or bathing or your house will smell.
Never feed them from the table ( not even once) when you are having your own meal or they will beg for food for ever.
Don’t let puppies and young dogs do too much jumping down from say the top of a wall as they can prematurely damage their joints.
Be STRICT on food to keep their weight down as they are genetically programmed to over eat. An overweight Labrador really suffers as it gets older. You should be able to see a defined waist on the dog when you look down on it from above and just a thin covering of fat over the ribs.
Really research and look into what food is best for them for life in line with what you can afford and the amount of effort you are prepared to put in. But regardless do pay top dollar for puppy food to set them up for good health.
Labs are liable to twisted gut so find ways to slow down their eating with special bowls and do not exercise immediately after a meal.
Decide early and ageee with your partner whether you are happy or not for them to sleep on sofas or beds or upstairs as if you are not you will have to be consistent in saying no.
Modern advice is not to do too much ball throwing and chasing with them as dogs can get absolutely obsessed with it and also damage their joints. Research other stimulation for them.
Allow plenty of natural sniffing behaviour when out on walks to stimulate their brains.
They will chew cupboard door handles, precious books etc in fact anything they can reach so keep things out of the way.
Maximum time to leave an adult dog alone is four to five hours so be prepared for permanent changes to what you can do in a day.
Get them used to being in the car from the start especially for longer journeys ditto socialising with other dogs and puppies.

Plenty of things to chew. Might save your furnishings.