Labrador Puppy

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Hi all. I'm a long time lurker but first time joiner and poster.

I have three young children (ages from 16 months to 4 years) and we've just purchased a gorgeous gold pedigree labrador bitch. She is arriving on Monday and at the moment she is six weeks old. The breeders told us that she has been eating puppy food and drinking whole milk as well as feeding from her mother.

I've had dogs before but this is the first time I've had a labrador and the first time I've had a puppy of my own. What do I need to know? I thought I'd ask here as you all seem to be the most experienced I've read.

Thanks for any answers.

Just to add a little information:

I am a stay at home mum and apart from taking DD1 to and from nursery/school in September and general short errands, I am home. I can give plenty of love, training and attention to the dog so there's no time issues.

A question too: Before the puppy has her injections, is she allowed out of our back garden? It's fully enclosed with no way in or out apart from the back door with 30ft walls three sides of the garden and a 9ft wall on the neighbouring garden. We have a rabbit who has a hutch and free run of the garden but no other dogs etc.

Check with your vet about the injections.

We have a brown lab, who we had from a puppy, and the best thing that we did was to put her in a puppy cage at night - we think it really helped with her housetraining, because she didn't want to soil her bed, and learned to wait until let out after breakfast. Right from the word go, we took her out regularly, either for a walk or in the garden, and when she did her business we praised her and always used the same words - 'Be quick', so she has learned that that means she is to go and pee/poo - I use it last thing at night before we go to bed.

The puppy cage also gave the puppy somewhere that was enclosed and felt safe - we left the door open during the day, and she went there of her own accord if she wanted a rest or a bit of peace and quiet.

Also, with labs, you have to be very careful about not over-exercising them, because they can be prone to hip and knee problems when they are older - even though your breeder should have shown you the hip scores (and maybe the knee scores) for the parents - low scores mean lower chance of these problems, but you also need to be careful to build up their exercise gradually. I read somewhere - here I think - that they should have 10 minutes exercise for every month of their age, per day. Plus I believe it is good to be careful about the sort of games that might involve stopping/changing direction quickly - like chasing a ball.

I would definitely advise you to be sure, from the very start, that she never gets to steal food. We made the mistake of not realising how high our pup could reach, and she learned quite quickly that there is food Up There, and now she will steal from the worktop, if we don't make really sure everything is out of reach. The list of things she has stolen and eaten includes several tubs of butter, steaks, salmon, mince pies, tiger loaves, part-defrosted bacon and a raspberry turnover (dh's).

Oh - and pleeease put pics on here when you get her - lab puppies are utterly lovely and adorable. A neighbour is puppywalking a yellow lab dog, a few weeks older than yours, and I get cuddles every time they come past (and have wondered about dognapping, but I would be the No1 suspect).

The breeders have said that the mum is very tired. This is her third litter of an accidental pregnancy and with 11 pups. She will be seven and a half weeks when she comes to us. I'm going to make an appointment the next day to check her over.

I've read some literature on labs and crate training and exercise. I don't plan to take her out a lot in the first twelve months as we have a pretty big garden and she can roam around there to get her 5-10 minutes, plus playing in the house. I'll not play ball throwing games until she is grown to reduce the risk.

I've heard they are very greedy and you have to restrict food to controk their weight. Is this true?

I have a mediun sized crate while she's a puppy and will upgrade to a bed when she's older. Should I get a dog bed or a large crate when she's older? Will she always need a crate?

Pictures will definitely be coming. I have a feeling my phone will be full of them. Eldest DD has decided her name should be Sadie so Sadie it is!

If the "breeder" felt that the "accidental" pregnancy would be too much for the dog, why did they not get the injection to terminate the pregnancy??

Anyway, it's done now - congrats on your new addition and yes it's fine for her to go in the garden!

I'm not sure. Do you think they are not reputable? They had pedigree papers for both mother and father but I'm not sure how to tell.

Do they own both parents?

Yes they do. I saw and spent a little time with both parents today.

Labs can be notorious chewers, ESP when teething. Have a big supply of safe chews and toys like kongs that you can fill with treats to occupy them. Never give them old shoes to chew - they can't be expected to know the difference between old shoes and your best Jimmy Choo's!

It will be a challenge to keep everything tidy and out of range.

I also found my lab mixes chewed more when hungry, so even now they're adult, I feed twice a day so they never get really famished. Unless we're going for a long run first thing - exercise on an empty stomach is best - reduces risk of torsion and means they're more likely to come back to me for a treat when I call!

Enjoy your lovely pup and take lots of pictures of it, esp with the kids - we've only got a few crappy ones of ours and I so wish I had more. Hth.

It does sound a little iffy tbh.

Do you have copies of all the parents health tests as well as their pedigree papers?

The best breeders don't own both parents.

They spend months researching breed lines to find THE perfect match for their bitch; the dog that they feel complements her characteristics so that the resulting puppies improve the breed. Sometimes they travel MILES for a mating with such a dog. Sometimes they travel abroad; often more than once if the first mating doesn't "take".

It's very unlikely that anyone just happens to own the perfect dog for their bitch

I'm not suggesting the people you're getting your Pup from are bad breeders however and I don't want to take the gloss off your excitement. I'm sure your pup will be gorgeous and all you hope he'll be!

Calamity - afraid I don't agree that the best breeders don't own both sets of parents.

Really, a lot of them do, and have either worked for years to get themselves into that position by carefully breeding towards it, or have bought in a specially chosen stud dog for exactly that purpose.

There is a vast difference though, between a top notch breeder who will sometimes breed in house and one who happened to have a boy and a girl who got it together with no testing, thought or planning.

Hope the OP comes back so we can help her with the new addition to her family.

Am a bit worried about the reference to whole milk though - and the age of the pups.

I'm unsure about the breeders now. Although the mother and father are of a very good temoerament from what I saw I obviously don't know for sure. I saw their pedigree papers but not their health tests. I didn't know I needed to see them and they didn't offer it up.

Daisy, is whole milk not appropriate? I was going to let her drink water as I read it was best for them.

The breeders may seem a bit shifty on paper but does that mean the dog will be a dud? I held her for a good half an hour and she was very docile, licking my hands and snuggling but when I put her down she scampered off and happily played with her siblings and their chew toys.

I was going to buy the hard chew toys. I don't know what material they're made frombut I'm sure you know what I mean. They're like twists of tough rubber. Are they appropriate? Should I introduce bones right away?

Excuse the errors. Damn ass smart phone. Damn ass non-proofreading user.

Knowing a little about the heartbreak of hip dysplasia in young dogs (and it truly is awful, imagine a bouncy young family dog crippled with pain and having to be put to sleep), and knowing the prevalence of it in labradors, I wouldn't buy a labrador pup without good/excellent hip and elbow scores from both parents.

Accidental litters/owning both parents/very young pups/whole milk?!/no health tests = alarm bells ringing, for me.

Yes, the breeders had a good chat with me and explained the basics of care before they did a house check to make sure we were a suitable good home, asked to see the children around the puppies and then invited us all to their house to see the mother and father and the pups in their environment and to place a deposit/full amount. They're bringing her here free of charge with a blanket with the mother's scent, a week's supply of food and her favourite toy.

Can a vet tell me if she is at risk of physical problems and us there anything I can do to lower the risk/not have it at all?

Two litters were planned but the third litter wasn't as their son let them be together before the spay date. The vet told them one more litter would be okay but then she'd need to be spayed and after a litter of 11 she is now tired and needing to be spayed.

I don't know how true this is as it came from them but not knowing a lot I had no reason not to believe them.

Whatever we do, there is no absolute guarantee of a healthy dog. But, to do the very best we can to give a lab pup a fair chance of health, parents should be health tested.

The very minimum tests which should be done are hips and elbows eyes.

Elbows and hips should both be scored and certified - that's done by a vet and recorded by the kennel club against the pedigree name. It's done to minimise the chances of joint disease in the puppies - a problem which has been very common in labs. The scores are shown for each hip and should be a total of 16 or less.

Eyes should also have an in date certificate (each cert lasts for a year and then needs renewing) for GPRA (eye disease which causes blindness usually by 3/4 years old)? The eye problem is purely genetic, so both parents should be tested to see if they carry the gene.

The breeder should send the pup home with you with a small supply of the food she's been feeding with a diet sheet telling you how often to feed and how much. The puppy must always have access to a bowl of fresh water.

Whole milk is difficult for dogs to digest; if they are supplementing their diet, they should be using puppy formula. Not dairy.

Do you have copies of their pedigrees? Will the pups be registered? Are the parents related?

Your puppy will need a cosy bed, a couple of soft toys and something like a puppy kong or nylabone. It will be too young for bones or tough chews for a few weeks yet.

She is a real baby and needs treating like one. She won't be too good at regulating her own temperature either.

She will need to be carried out and about as much as you possibly can so she sees all of life before she gets to about 16 weeks old. Fire engines, school playgrounds, men in helmets, men in hats, motorbikes, wheelchairs, crutches, walking sticks. Everything you can think of.

Whatever you do, dont keep her at home all the time. She needs to be socialised as much as you possibly can so she becomes a confident, happy adult.

She will need 2 jabs, 2 weeks apart and once the 4 week period has passed, she should be out and about on a light lead for 10/15 minutes a day.

You'll need lots of kitchen roll, many poo bags and some rubber gloves. Some disinfectant and some biological washing powder too.

I recommend that you carefully read the stickies on www.labradorforums.co.uk in the puppy thread. There is a lot of very valuable advice there.

Thank you. That was a very helpful post. I emailed the breeder and while the male has been tested and is fine with pedigree papers the female is not related and has no papers although is pedigree. She has not been tested. My pupoy won't have pedigree papers because of this.

I'm booking her in to the vet when they say I can. I'll find out the exact birth date of the pup and take her for her vaccinazmtions and microchipping when required. I plan to socialise her as much as possible and train her from day one. I'm home 98% of the time to be able to give her all the attention she requires and deserves and will be vigilant with her health and never leaving my children unsupervised until she is fully grown and trained to my confidence level.

I'll visit that website and scour it for information over the next few days to gain as much knowledge as I can from them and here so I can be as prepared as I can be.

While there is nothing I can do about genetics, are there ways in which to stave off conditions or will they come regardless of what you do to help?

Is it a bad idea to sleep downstairs with the pup for the first few nights until she gets used to it? We plan on having her bed downstairs but I don't want her to feel alone or scared.

The eye problem is unpreventable if BOTH parents are carriers. Has he been tested? If he isn't a carrier, then the pup won't suffer from the disease. If he hasn't, it's impossible to tell.

Joints again are impossible to predict - even if both parents have fabulous scores. All any of us can do is our best, and for puppies that means no stairs, no long walks and a bit of common sense.

You can't and shouldn't stop all puppy play - it's part of life, but it is up to you to stop whatever you think is too much. Impact on joints while they're growing is asking for trouble.

I've recently seen some very interesting X-rays of forming hip joints which I think clearly show WHY care should be taken - I'll try and find it.

This is difficult as you have got attached to the puppy, but unless the breeder will have the bitch hip and elbow scored, pronto, and show you the results, I would walk away from the pup. Hip and elbow dysplasia are very common in labs and are devastating conditions. If your pup has inherited either she will not be able to live a normal life, and indeed you may have the heartbreak of having to have her put to sleep at a young age. I would find a breeder who scores their dogs and only buy a pup from them. It's awful when you've got emotionally involved with a pup but you honestly don't want to risk dysplasia, it's horrible.