HELP!! Puppy advice please

[FrostyGirl66]

Hello My family and I are very seriously considering getting a Labrador puppy. We've been thinking about it on/off for nearly a year. We're registered with the local rehoming centres because originally we were looking for an adult (any breed), but because we have a 6 and 9 yr old, we just don't match to any of the dogs needing homes there. They are always no or older children only. So, hence why we began to think of getting a puppy.

I've done a great deal of research and I actually used to work in a dog rehoming centre for 6 years, so I have experience in different breed characters, assessing behaviour and some training, but I have almost no experience with puppies.

So can I ask some questions for people who have experience, who can tell me what works and what doesn't!

1. How do I start toilet training?
2. When toilet training is mastered, will I still need to get up at night to let him out?
3. Do they make noises at night? I've heard they can whine when young.
4. I'm home all day every day, but there are times when I'll have to leave him alone, like the weekly food shop. What do I do then?

I think they're the main ones. Anything else you guys can think of, please tell me!

Thanks for your time!

You start toilet training right away. Taking them out every 30 mins or so.

Takes a good few months to reliably establish toilet training by which time most dogs will be able to hold on overnight.
Our Ddog only got up for the 1st two weeks at night but I've no idea how average that is.

Ddog slept next to our bed in a crate so whining through the night wasn't really an issue. I would 'shhh' him and he would settle very quickly.

I couldn't leave our Ddog at all the first few months. If I had to go out I would need someone else to be here with him. Things changed as he got older and more confident.

Frenchpup is 11 weeks. We are still waking her once in the night. (Got into a routine so we wake her before she wakes us - much easier to get her and us back to sleep) we will probably drop this in about a week.

Whining at night has now stopped but was pretty bad the first week.

Get puppy used to being left alone from day 1. Five minutes at first then ten and work up. We can now leave pup for a couple of hours, she just sleeps.

Buy the happy puppy book and read it now...it’s great preparation.

16 week lab pup here. Got him at 9.5 weeks. A few thoughts

• he was pretty much toilet trained straight away at night. During the day I took him out every 30-60 mins for the first month. He asks now when he needs to go out.
• he sleeps in an open crate in a play pen at night but has a bed and blanket in the kitchen during the day as that’s where I work. If I go out for school run or medical appt then I leave him in the play pen with a lickimat or Kong. I’ve not left him longer than a couple of hours at most.
• he goes to bed at 10 and we follow same routine each night. Last walk, into play pen, gets given mums blanket and an old top of mine, curtain shut, lights off and said good night too. He’s done that since night one and there have been literally a couple of whimpers on first night which we ignored. That said we are having a current issue re waking at 5.30 ish with him barking. Don’t want him to wake rest of household so end up going down to him. I think he’s hungry so am going to try and feed a bit later/more and see if that helps.

I would get somewhere safe to leave the dog - crate etc so you know you can go out and not worry about what he might get up to. I’d also sort out training pretty quick - it’s been a lifesaver for us.
Good luck and enjoy

If you put the effort in with toilet training from day 1 it should be pretty straightforward. We took our pup out literally every 20 mins, big fuss when he had a wee outside and no reaction to any accidents. After about 2-3 weeks we knew the signs that he needed the toilet and how frequently so we weren't having any accidents. Another 3 weeks and he was very reliably asking to go outside (by sitting at the back door).

He took much longer to train at night as we went for a pen and puppy pads rather than crate training. I think he was around 9 months old when he stopped waking up to use the pads during the night. We didn't use puppy pads during the day and he slept in a different room at night so it didn't confuse him. Most people crate train though.

We didn't hear a peep out of our pup at night. This is why we used a pen and pads as he was so good we thought we'd do that rather than wake the whole house by taking him outside during the night. I dont think this is the norm though, most pups do cry at first. Many people stay near their crate or pen for the first few nights to help them settle

It's great that you're at home a lot but I think its really important for a dog to be happy being home alone, it helps your sanity during the crazy puppy days too if you can have some time away from them. We left ours from day 1. 10 minutes at a time and we slowly built it up. We started leaving him when he was tired which helped. He's now 14 months old and we can leave him for up to 4 hours at a time, usually 3 times a week. He just sleeps.

Just be prepared for it being a difficult year. The impact is very much the same as having a newborn. It takes a awful lot of time and patience. Puppy blues is a very real thing. It took me months to even like our puppy! Worth it in the end though.

4. I'm home all day every day, but there are times when I'll have to leave him alone, like the weekly food shop. What do I do then?
My puppy had a tiled room with an open crate with his bed in on one side and newspaper on the other side. The room also had a dog flap to the outside and he eventually was brave enough to use it. He was happy to go on the newspaper until then and it didn’t impact toilet training.

Don’t worry too much in advance, if your prepared to put the time and the effort in then the rest is just adjusting to your puppies individual needs. They’re all different and they all react differently to situations.

Good luck!

1. How do I start toilet training?

Right away! Take the puppy out every 20 minutes when awake, as well as after naps, meals, drinks, play and training. The better you commit in the beginning, the quicker it'll be in my experience. You could also try tethering the puppy to you so you can take them outside as quickly as possible. Signs of needing the toilet include circling, sniffing and squatting.

2. When toilet training is mastered, will I still need to get up at night to let him out?

Mine was let out most nights until about 4-5 months, and maybe once a month or so until he reached one. He's nearly three now and still very occasionally need the toilet in the night. You could get around this by using pads overnight but that will delay toilet training overall. I'd rather get up in the night or make DH get up

3. Do they make noises at night? I've heard they can whine when young.

Mine howled, whined and cried himself sick the first night we got him! They won't want to be on their own, so you probably need to sleep with them at first - either by having their crate in your room (and slowly moving it away) or by sleeping downstairs and slowly retreating. We avoided it all by letting him sleep on the bed!

4. I'm home all day every day, but there are times when I'll have to leave him alone, like the weekly food shop. What do I do then?

Either leave them crated or in a puppy pen/safe space. Make sure there's nothing they can eat or chew that could be dangerous, and make sure the floor is easy to clean as they'll probably have a few accidents. You'll also need to build up time alone from day one - you can't not leave them and then go out for two hours (or however long) and expect them to be happy.

Good luck!

that's all really helpful tips and advice. thank you so much everyone.

Ours cried for 10-15 minutes the first night but we left him in his area and he slept right the way through. He now happily sleeps all night