First ever puppy! Best advice please!

[Happyinheels]

Hi! I've been trawling this board trying to pick up tips and advice.
We pick up our new puppy on Friday. I'm a little nervous, I can't lie! He is an 8 week old black lab. The breeder said she feeds him raw food so I'm trying to suss that out. He will be chipped but no injections. Please share your top tips and advice. I bought a book to help but if he's anything like my kids when they were babies then the book will be very little help!
So far all we've got is a crate! Desperately need to puppy proof my house and go gather bits for him!
All advice greatly appreciated as I've never owned a dog before. Thank you 🐶

He's gorgeous! Sounds like all settling in behaviours. You'll all get there, eventually, just don't forget to enjoy him along with all the training.

The only reason I asked re jabs as mine came with her first one done and I thought that was the norm. Mine had her first and I thought all 1st jabs were the same and registered her with our chosen vets. Well, they are not, she had to restart and it set back her socialisation period so she was quite fearful of everything. I wish she hadn't had the first one and we started them, or even I kept her with her original vet for the start and then moved her, but I was a first time dog owner and had no clue

@AwkwardPaws27 thank you for that. I think the first night was down to it being new and anxious at us leaving him. As soon as we slept near him he settled. We slept downstairs last night and he was more settled. We've got the crate in the living room with the door of it open and he's taken himself off a couple of times into it for a sleep which is great! I don't want it to be seen as a bad place. He's fast asleep on the rug at the moment 🥰

@longtompot ah ok. That makes a lot of sense. I did think that the breeder gave them their first lot of injections too and had a moment of panic when I realised he hadn't had his. I've booked him in for next week so that he's had a week of settling in here.

if you don’t want an adult dog doing something, don’t let a puppy

Can't say this enough! It is soooo easy to slip up and let them jump to greet you because they're just so adorable but it's a nightmare to train an adult dog out of it!

He's just gorgeous, op :)

also a drop chute for the poo

@JuneJubilee I've not heard of this before, what is it?

Basilbrush that is an important example for me. I'm scared of dogs so this is massive for me and I really don't want my dog to be a jumpy up dog!

The breeder should be ensuring your puppy had their first injection before you get him, they should also be wormed every 2 weeks until 16 weeks if she's not doing that I would be concerned that the animal isn't being cared for properly. She should also ensure the animals have a full health check prior to sending them off to their homes.

@Bananarama21 he did have a full health check and has been regularly wormed and was wormed the day we brought him home. I've got a list of dates when I need to worm him.

Very strange not to get his first injections done at the time. Its normal for them to have their first injections before they are taken to their homes, I'm guessing it's to save money. We got my girl 2 months ago she was vaccinated with her first Jab.

I think its so brave of you to confront your fear like this :)

One thing to remember, dogs respond best to loving strength. Like children, they appreciate boundaries, it makes them feel safe. They must always know you're in charge.

Dogs hit adolescence at under a year, they push boundaries then, much of completed training (like not lead pulling, recall etc) can go out of the window. It can be a frustrating time for owners, the trick is to remember they're going through the same phases human children do.

If your puppy ever does something sudden and it provokes a feeling of fear in you, try not to show it. Keep calm, think rationally (was it an accident? Is he playing up? If he is what do you need to do to take charge again?) and be firm.

Puppies teethe like humans and will happily chew your hands/feet which is why you need to direct them to chew toys. It's something else that can be adorable when they're small but can easily hurt or be misunderstood when they're grown.

Ps like children (and adults), puppies get tired, hungry, overstimulated etc and it can affect the behaviour at the time. So if he gets overexcited, for example, remember he might just be tired and / or need some time out.

Just like the children you childmind, there is always a reason for a behaviour you encounter. Given you must work with young children, I'm sure you'll be tuned in to working out what your puppy needs :)

He's gorgeous. This puppy training worked for me. Put the alarm on and take puppy out for wee every hour overnight. After 3 days extend to one hour 15 mins. After another 3 days to one hour 30 minutes etc. etc.

It is not strange not to get first injections done. Research dictates that doing two vaccinations as per manufacturer's guidelines isn't ideal anyway (look up the WSAVA recommended protocol).

My puppy is having one DHP jab and he's not having it until 16 weeks. Until then he will be socialised with known healthy dogs and I rob the ground mixing with strange dogs.

Many vets use different manufacturers of vaccine and breeders who do follow the common two jabs at 8-12 weeks situ let you book both with your own vet to ensure you don't have to get three jabs if they use a different manufacturer to the one the breeder's vet does.

Over vaccination can cause very serious problems for some dogs.

Just because I am one of those people and it might be helpful if anyone else comes across this.

Puppies have maternally derived antibodies (MDA). These deplete as they age. The sole reason manufacturers say do two jabs is because if the first one is overpowered by MDA and doesn't take, hopefully the second one will. MDA drop over time but it varies per puppy and per litter and per breed so it is very hard to know the perfect time to vaccinate.

WSAVA actually say you should vaccinate every couple of weeks until they are 16 weeks, as 16 weeks is considered to be the time when MDA have dropped enough in the vast majority of puppies for a vaccination to take and be utilised by the body. This is why I'm waiting until 16 weeks. I'm an experienced dog owner so socialisation isn't going to be impacted because I know what I'm doing.

My first dog reacted to vaccinations. I am absolutely pro vaccinations, but not over using them unnecessarily, which, sadly, our society does in dogs.

This is a good read on vaccinations:

www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/what-every-vet-should-know-about-vaccines/

Reward him heavily for being calm.

Don’t let him run up to every dog he sees.

Every cute thing he does, consider if it will be cute when he is a full grown dog and then react appropriately.

Don’t ‘punish’ him. Just teach him things do you want, rather on focusing on what you don’t.

Basilbrush thank you. My daughter has begged for years for a puppy. She's 19 now! But it means that she can take on the responsibility too. And I thought that if we got a puppy then hopefully I could grow in confidence as the puppy grows. I'm actually doing ok. The main thing I'm struggling with is the fear of trying to get something out of his mouth. He's picked up a few stones in the garden today and I've been quite fearful trying to get the stones out of his mouth. He's got a very lovely temperament and isn't snappy.
Ha, I wasn't sure that the my childminding skills would be transferable to a puppy 🤣 Children I can manage a class full but puppies are an absolute anomaly to me!

I had read up on that and that had originally been my plan but the breeder advised not to. I suppose it's like with children, so much conflicting advice.

Je Voudrais thank you for that reassurance 😊

@Pugfostermum of all the advice on here, I keep quoting that to my partner and the kids - don't let a puppy do what you don't want an adult to do. I've used the example of having him on the sofa as one day he'll be too big for the sofa!

We recently got a puppy and used tiktok dog training videos zak George and Southend dog training. Both great. Our puppy is doing so well, he's very calm and really quite amazing. Sleep train repeat is basically what we did for the first few weeks, and its worked brilliantly. Good luck

This puppy training worked for me. Put the alarm on and take puppy out for wee every hour overnight. After 3 days extend to one hour 15 mins. After another 3 days to one hour 30 minutes etc. etc.

That sounds like torture. We let our lab puppy wake us, we never had a single nighttime accident. We were being woken a couple of times a night for a few nights, then once a night for a couple more. Sleeping through (8 hours) within two weeks.

He's gorgeous! I was terrified of stones when I first got our pup. Eventually I realised she just spat them out, she liked the feel of them in her mouth. She doesn't tend to pick them up now. It's best to avoid trying to pull things out of his mouth if you can (although I have done it with glass and some other dangerous items) - instead, drop treats down in front of him and then he should drop the item which you can then remove. Always swap for something good when you remove something they want.

It wasn't torture @Mariposa80 for us or the dog. Me & DP took it in turns to get up. Great that your pup woke you but some don't, some don't realise at first they need to go outside so just wee/poo wherever they are. This is my third dog and this way worked best for me.

How’re you getting on OP? We be had our pup a week tomorrow and touchwood all good…. 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Before I got my pup I read The book your dog wishes you would read- Louise Glazebrook. I’m a complete novice and it’s early days but I can’t recommend it enough just for an understanding of behaviours. It’s given us good grounding (I think) .