Yes, all that! But not every puppy does all these things.... it's just best to be ready so you don't get worried if it does happen. Pongo went through a chewing stage, we found that the chew deterrent spray from Pets At Home was wonderful - just sprayed it on the bits of furniture he was finding particularly appealing and it completely worked (as long as he had a chew-toy available instead). After a few weeks he stopped chewing things anyway. When he was teething he did want to chew a lot (poor pup). The very best thing we found was to get some raw lamb rib bones from the butcher (they only cost pennies), and freeze them. We let him have one a day as a treat. They were like perfect ice-lollies for him and cool on his sore gums. Each one lasted about 30 minutes before he'd eaten it all. The crocopup stage was a bit of a shock, but we used the technique of turning away and completely ignoring him as soon as he nipped - that worked really well and really fast, just a couple of days and he wasn't nipping any more (although visitors who didn't know the 'ignore' trick still got attacked a bit too often....). Good luck and remember WE WANT PHOTOS...
With Pongo, we were even more abrupt - if he nipped AT ALL we immediately stopped play (sometimes with an "ouch!" to let him know it hurt) and turned our backs, walked away, no eye contact, no toy, no words - really trying to give a message of "no, the bitey game is boring and I won't play it and I won't play with you if you play the bitey game". This is tricky if they are hanging off your jeans at the time, and I do have holes in my trouser legs to prove it. But it really, really worked - within a couple of days. If you can, try it...
Thank you Rosie. We've stopped the nipping of us........it's the hanging on to our clothing that's proving more difficult. At 4am I got up to see why Oscar was making such a fuss (he doesn't usually) and found he'd had a poo in his crate which he'd managed to spread everywhere. As I was down on my hands and knees cleaning up, he was hanging from my dressing gown thinking it was all a game and as he was hanging from my back I couldn't get him off! I'll keep working on him and I'm sure it'll stop soon. It's good to know I'm not alone with this behaviour - I just don't remember this from my previous puppies! Maybe I was more lucky with them lol. If I get time today I'll get a profile pic up and post some other pics.
Thank you MaccieD. I'll start a new thread as we're off to the local pet shop today, more for the experience of car, people and other animals, so we'll have a look at what they've got. Oscar is 9 weeks old today so plenty of time yet.
Will definitely try the chew deterrent spray. He's chewing all the bits of wood that our other lab chewed as a puppy! So glad we've got a crate this time round.
Hope it works for you! I know that lots of dogs don't seem to mind it at all, but for Pongo it was the miracle cure. Good luck!
Lol fingers crossed. I wanted to start a new thread to ask advice about harnesses. MaccieD told me to go to the home page, intoductions and click on start a new thread but when I click to get onto the home page it stays on forums. Am I doing something wrong? Any ideas?
@Oscar forums is where you want to be. If you scroll down you will numerous subjects for example Labrador Puppies. If you click on the title it will take you to a list of all the threads that have been started under that subject title. Sort I can't copy a screenshot from my phone. Will try later
Thanks MaccieD I'll try that later. For now Oscar has developed diarrhoea with blood in it so we're off to the vet this afternoon. He's still as full of beans as ever so hoping it's nothing serious.
Ah, poor you! Hope it is something simple. You're right to get him straight to the vet. Let us know how you get on?
Well, I don't think we can claim to be "best practice" here, but.... ...initially we used a collar with Pongo. He was (and is) very rarely on the lead - we live where most of his walks are straight from our front door out into the woods and farmland, so there has never really been a need for him to learn what a lead is for. This has proved a drawback when we do need him on a lead - for group walks, or (more recently) for agility classes. He is a very big, strong dog, and the collar-and-lead wasn't good. So he now also has a harness ("Perfect Fit" type) which he wears at agility and sometimes for group walks. It is good in that he doesn't hurt himself when he pulls.....but it doesn't stop him pulling! (I look like someone waterskiing behind a power boat when we go on walks. It is past humiliating and out the other side. I've learned not to care.)
Lol. Thanks for that. I've read the thread about the perfect fit harness - the reviews are a bit mixed and they were older dogs, not puppies so not much help. I left a post so maybe I'll get some replies.
I've answered on that post, but just in case people look here, too - I used the Puppia mesh harness when my two were little: They grew into them eventually! Then, I went over to the regular harness from Dog Games: And now, having grown out of those, we're on the Perfect Fit. The regular fleece harness comes in different sizes, I just decided that, as my two are still young and may change shape, the flexibility of the Perfect Fit at this age would be a bonus. It would have been more of a bonus had I bought the correct size bits to begin with
I also used the mesh harnesses when Charlie was small - they are not too expensive, nice and soft, and puppies grow out of them very quickly. I then moved over to the fleece harness like Fiona. charlie boy by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr I have a perfect fit, but don't use it. My dog hates harnesses, so I tend to only use one these days when I really have to do so. I don't really know why he hates it, but I'd take more time over introducing it to a new puppy next time perhaps.
Thanks everyone. Off to the vet at 4pm -still diarrhoea but no more blood. He's still eating, drinking and as lively as ever - driving our 12 year old lab mad so hopefully it's nothing serious. Vet is in Pets at home so will look at harnesses while we're there. I'll let you know how we get on.
Same as Julie, my two really don't like their harnesses, for no apparent reason. I only use them these days when I'm going out near a main road, or in busy areas. Most of our walks are in the countryside and very quiet - for these, I just use a flat collar. I would do loads (and loads) of positive association work with a new puppy and harness - and keep this up into adulthood. My two were absolutely fine with the harnesses at first, so I didn't see any need for lots of work with it in the initial stages - the issue developed later on. But just because our dogs don't really like them, don't be put off - they're still far, far better for the neck of a young pup, and you can learn from our problems and make sure that your pup learns to love his. I hope the vet can give you some reassurance. Blood can be scary, but it may be nothing. You're doing the right thing having him checked out immediately.
Hi Amie - I too just placed a deposit on a lab puppy! He's a yellow lab who will be named Jax. While I am very excited, I am also nervous. I've been visiting various websites for advice, but get frustrated pretty quickly with all of the conflicting information that seems to be out there! But, I am hopefull! Good luck!
