I am getting a labrador puppy in a few weeks and starting to panic....

[NorthernGobshite]

What do I need?
What do I need to know?

Have had dogs in childhood but not as an adult! I know it will be hard work and labs are bonkers.....advice please?!!

My advice would be to get a crate for your crocodile lab puppy as it helps house training & gives them a safe resting place

Also, find out about good puppy training classes near to you and see if you can get enrolled, our dog school gives great advice for the first few days/weeks with the pup before training classes even begin.

Also (from experience) clear your schedule, brace yourself & stock up with alcohol of choice

Our spaniel is 17 weeks old now and he is a superstar

Get a crate, kitchen roll, bucket and disinfectant - and either the special stuff that breaks down wee smells for dogs or biological washing powder.

Make sure you have nothing much planned for the first two weeks - and have a read of this topic on the very valuable labrador expert forum!

And then tell us what colour it'll be, whether it's a show or working dog and what it's name will be .

nothing to add, but PICTURES PLEASE!

Gobshite
Snap! I'm getting mine in 11 days, I'm more nervous than when I had babies

Mine's going to be a male black lab.

We can panic together? I'm sure all these doggy experts can keep us on track...

At risk of outing myself he's going to be called Leo and comes from a line of show dogs.

Mines just going to be family pet although comes from long line of show dogs. Puppies not here yet (due in approx 2 weeks), but also hoping for black male!

I feel more nervous than when had my dd! Also due to bad timing I start a new job 2 weeks before we're likely to get him, so yes, will definitely be getting a crate.

Have thought puppy classes are a must, and am frantically trying to find some...

Asinine I would love to hear how you get on...good luck xx

First of all DON'T panic. If you are confident you want a dog in your life, thought through all the aspects and prepared to work to make yours and your pup's life enjoyable there is no reason why it will be so hard that you can not manage.

Our housetraining experience was very easy - I had a crate and the puppy loved it (she is too big for it now, but just before we moved it into the garage she was still getting in for the day/night nap, we never closed the doors past her being 6 months). We had 5 (five) accidents in total inside the house and another 2 (two) incidences of upset tummy. It is not like that with all , but not so unusual either.

Lab pups bite and a lot! Be prepared for it and also to deal with it in the positive manner. No physical punishment please, you puppy must must must associate your hands with friendship, care and pleasure.

Get lots of chew toys (kongs are the best). You can stuff it with all sorts (bananas, cottage cheese, etc). My puppy picked up early on that the toys for chew, furniture is not, so the only time she actually damaged something was when I left her for a long time without a toy and she nibbled a door post. Nothing else. Use VetBed for bedding, they don't chew it, even if they do, it is easy to repair/replace. Buy it fron Ebay NOT petshops, absolutely the same stuff much less expensive.

Bowl, food (keep to breeder's diet til s/he settles, soft puppy collar (nothing fancy pls, they grow too fast), tag (there are legal requirements what you need to have, so be careful what you actually put).

Book plenty of puppy classes, it will be fun for you and the pup and you will learn a lot. Look for professional classes. I have been to a few and some are dire. I settled on The Company of Animals, which is fantastic. Buy The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey. Watch DogTrust Puppy series. www.youtube.com/dogstrusttraining#p/c/6/oVZ4_LvMwJ4

I am sure others with more experience will have other suggestions. If I think of something else, I will add later.

Enjoy!!!

Also (not sure if I am allowed to put it here), there is a great Labrador forum www.labradorforums.co.uk/, which has amazing trainers/rescuers/breed enthusiasts as regular posters. Please visit it, if there is anything all at to know about this breed, care, training (including gundog training, agility), showing, and general fun, it is there! They also do get-togethers and they may have something organized in your area. Their advice is not just for labs, but obviously it is lab-focused.

Thanks, Bemybebe

Will look on eBay for vet bed, and have only got 2 kongs so far, so will buy more. Will look at YouTube links too.
Have arranged classes, and have got a crate ready.

A question, when do we register with a vet? Is it before or after the collection of the puppy? Same with insurance?

Northern good luck to you,too

Daisy just seen your link...

Re: Insurance. Start looking right now. It is an absolute mess. Great variation between the insurers and what is covered. Labs often have problems with their hips and eyes, so it is very important to get a pupster from parents that have have been health-tested (hips scored and eyes tested are an absolute must). If you are getting your puppy from KC registered parents I think the breeder should sign you up for the first weeks of insurance. They rules were changed a couple of years ago and not everyone (breeders) are aware of this, so check with them and check with KC.

IF you buy your own insurance, your cover will kick in 2 weeks after you sign up for it. Everything that will start before cover kicks in will be EXCLUDED, so the sooner you do it the better.

You can register wtih the vet at any point, but think about checking your pup as soon as you bring her home, so the same day or the day after. Puppies are v prone to worms and your breeder should give her proper course before the pupster leaves their home, but you can never be too careful.

One thing to think about the vet. Research them before sign up. It is a commercial business, not NHS and whilst majority are fab, there are some who are not so "fab". I heard the stories about animals going through unnecessary treatments to boost the vet practice takings. Also, think about the balance you get from your friendly local independent vet vs a chain. One may not push all sorts of commercial products your way (as some vets are known to do), but the other may have better and out of hours emergency facilities available. So please do research, although you can change your vet at any point, it is not so time pressing.

sorry for grammar mistakes and typos, I did not check before posting.

If you have some valuable stuff at home that cannot be temporarily taken away, think about spraying it with BitterApple. I was very scared about my antique grandfather clock and grandpiano legs being chewed, so those were treated straight away and thank god - no damage!

Also, all cables in the house were regularly sprayed. They can be v dangerous. (my laptop cable was bitten through before I thought about it, but thankfully she bit after the transformer, so even if she was shocked, it was by 9v current, so not dangerous).

Asinine, another great puppy toy is the Kong Wobbler. I used to put all the dinners into it rather feeding the puppy from a bowl. It takes longer to eat, so more fun and slower swallowing, which is better, it teaches puppy to be patient (i had her very frustrated and barking if she could not get her way straight away, but she learned to persevere) and that she has to work for her food.

www.kongcompany.com/kongwobblervideo.html

I am sorry for taking all the space here.

Another point - labradors absolutely LOVE carrying stuff around. Encourage it by providing a few cuddly toys (just be sure to remove all the hard pieces: eyes, etc), don't ever punish the puppy for carrying your slippers or other items they should not, just calmly take them away (and do not snatch from their mouths as it will turn into a game for the puppy to be repeated again and again). My puppy has her favourite cuddly toy - a brown monkey - that she carries around and hugs when she settles down. So cute to watch!!! You can also keep some toys out of sight to take only for your 'special' games.

Again, once she learned that there are "her" toys (there should be plenty of those) and things that are not hers, we could leave other things around without too much worry as she would not touch them anyway.

bemybebe I actually love you!! Great great advice, thankyou. Have been to petsathome today and saw Kongs which seemt to be most sensible toy and I did think that getting lots of chewy things for him/her was a must so he/she doesn't eat my sofa! also def going to give puppy couple of cuddlys.

How did you house train using a crate? Did you use puppypads on the floor? This is the bit I am most panicking about!!

Thankfully puppy is coming form my parents who have had the mum for 3 years and so I know labs temperament, know the mum is healthy, labs habits etc and we are soooo looking forward to having a pet. I always had dogs as a child and my dd (6) loves dogs and is very sensible with them.

Going to puppy proof the house in advance and move valuables etc until we get over any destructive period and get a measure of him/her!!

Is using a clicker/treats a good way of teaching and rewarding good behaviour?

Sorry. I am going to be asking a LOT of questions over next few months! (Puppies due in 2 weeks, so with us by June!!)

Ok, house training. Everyone does it a bit differently, but the perceived wisdom is NOT to use puppy pads (or you end up teaching them twice, first to pee on the pad, then to pee outside). Your dog should be taught that house is not for peeing straight away. You watch you puppy carefully for days to come and try to recognise signals when it needs to go to the loo, then very quickly take him/her out. You will learn the signals very quickly.

Never punish for accidents, just wipe everything carefully to take the smell out. Try to leave him/her on the surfaces that are easy to clean, a few weeks later it will be safer to play on the carpets, but please save your sanity and do not allow it straight away (obviously it is very difficult to clean).

Besides this sign watching, take him/her out after every sleep, meal, play. Keep the puppy in the crate every time she needs a snooze/night sleep or just some quiet play. At this age puppies don't like soiling places where they sleep, so they will hold their bladders until they cannot hold any longer. If you let the accident happen, no big deal, just wash the tray very thoroughly. Try to get all the smell out to discourage further soiling. Take him/her out every 3 hours during the night. It means getting up at night, but at least it is not winter! I have done it for 2-3 weeks before trusting my pupster with longer periods.

After a month or so she slept right through. It may take longer, every dog is different. My dog never peed/pooed once in her crate (apart from when we tried to switch her into the adult food and she got very upset tummy).

Clicker training is very good, according to trainers but I have never bothered with it. It gives you the opportunity to reward your dog instantly and therefore reduce confusion where timing is of essence (confusion easily happens when you train with treats, huffing whilst getting a piece of that sausage out of your treat bag). For very small puppy you will need to start with food anyway. Then you can see how you get on.

I am happy to tell what i know, but i am neither a trainer, nor a lab specialist. I just happened to have a lab now (also had gsd, mongrels and smaller dogs as a kid).

Crate for a lab. People buy 42" if they want to use it for an adult or 36" if only for puppy stage. Put a box into the crate to make it a bit smaller for a puppy, cover with a blanket and treat it as a nice snuggly den. Puppy should never be punished by placing it in a crate. To associate crate with positive feeling, put a kong with something yummy every time s/he goes in. Soon s/he will be happy to go their on his own. Crates are great!

not their, 'there' of course... please ignore my mistakes

I see the crate as being puppies bed etc and not as a punishment.
I was going to use puppy pads but think your idea sounds better - I am a bit worried as will be working almost full time when puppy arrives as have to start new job! I wil be working 5 minutes by car from work so will pop home at lunch to do stuff. I will try to work from home/take some time off but you know what it is like, you never know whats acceptable until you start.
I think we're fairly sussed on discipline, use of positive reinforcement etc...it really is the house training I am freaking out about!

Don't use puppy pads - they are confusing and will lead to having to train your dog twice. First to use the pads, and then to go outside.

House training will mean frequent trips outside - about every hour or so, and after every meal, every sleep and every game - and lots of lavish praise and treats for a success. It also means ignoring every accident in the house unless you catch the puppy mid wee or poo.

Crates have a number of benefits; they are a place of calm and safety for your dog - and must never, ever used as a punishment. They ensure that your puppy can't get into mischief at night, or if you are out for an hour or so - or even if you have to answer the door or so on. The crate should be the size of your puppy's bed and shouldn't have anything else in it apart from a couple of safe toys.

Therefore, because dogs are very reluctant to poo in their beds, it follows that they are reluctant to poo inside the crate. It doesn't mean that accidents will never happen - just that if they do, it'll be the puppy's last resort. You'll have to teach your puppy to love her crate - and to take her out for wees and poos during the night. Each time an accident happens in the crate, training will go backwards. The aim is to get there before hand and prevent the pup having to foul it's bed.

We have three working labs and each of them has taken to all forms of training well; house training for our youngest (now 9 months) took about 3 months to get perfect.

Just one thing nobody has mentioned - when they are fully grown, think of how much exercise you think they'll need and treble it

sb6699 - thankfully we live in an area with a lot of parks and I want to lose weight so exercise shouldn't be a problem. Hoping that as getting pup in summer can establish walking routine so that by winter its part of daily routine. I know going out in the cold and rain will take getting used to.

Hmm, methinks I shall be pointing my mum in the direction of this thread. She's just chosen a chocolate lab, 2 weeks old currently.

Her last doggie died some years ago, I bet she's forgotten everything about puppies.