The first few weeks are like having a newborn. Except it’s mobile, with teeth. If you want to housetrain quickly, be prepared to take the puppy out every twenty minutes at first. DH worked from home in the kitchen and warned people in online meetings he would vanish every twenty minutes, and sometimes returned with wee down his shirt!). Training classes are great for socialisation, and make time to give the puppy as many experiences as possible during their socialisation window. And puppies need loads of sleep. Except they’d rather be playing. When they get toothy, yappy or generally over excited, pop them in the crate for an enforced snooze. Work on recall training from day one. If getting a working line, find a way to keep them busy in the future. Scent exercises, gundog games, agility are all great. Our two do a gundog-specific packwalk three times a week, which they love. We’ve learned simple gundog exercises to do with them on walks.
Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy is helpful. We also found The Pet Gundog and Total Recall helpful.
While training is important, I think quite a lot of how a Lab is is down to genetics. We have two working line Labs. Our first is smart but very driven and follows his own will. He learns words really quickly, and only once needs an unintended reward for a bad habit to stick. He’s not steady enough to work, although is quite good in agility. The second is very well bred and doesn’t come across as quite as smart but is very biddable and has been super easy to train.
Finally, enjoy! I was so nervous when DDog1 arrived, but it’s been such a great experience for adults and kids alike.