Am I mad?

[LittleMilla]

Today we have said yes to a yellow lab puppy, little boy.

I have got two sons (3 & 10mo) and work 4 days a week. DH has very flexible work and will be working from home early in then taking him to work. We also have a nanny who will be around with boys every day but don't want to rely on her. She'll just be the backup.

We've spoken for ages about getting a dog but this has literally all happened in the last five days. A breeder friend of my aunt was let down last min and so we've decided to go for it!

DH and I just joked that we're trying to cram 9 months of prep in to four days! DH grown up with dogs so feeling very relaxed but I'm nervous!

Training classes are great for socialisation and seeing your dog isn't the only one that can cause chaos and really important for puppies, but there's also the option of getting a trainer to come and see you in your home. You might find someone from the same place that does puppy classes offers one to one.

People often go to trainers when they have dogs with behavioural problems but you can also use them to get good habits into your dog and avoid them developing any issues. They could also come at the weekend so that they can see the whole family interacting with your dog. Even one session can make a difference.

I'm not a trainer BTW . The usual doghouse caveats apply about running in the other direction if they mention pack theory.

You can use any reinforcer your dog responds to. Food is the most common, but verbal praise, pats/rubs, toys, etc also work well with many dogs. Before you work with food you should start with the leave it command to make sure the puppy doesn't decide that molesting you for the food is a good idea. It's best to work a dog on an empty stomach and you should adjust the feed overall to reflect the extra food he will be getting from training. It's also a good idea to have variable reinforcers, i.e. Different value treats for different activities, e.g. Recall should get the highest value treat and even a jackpot ( more than one treats).