Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can help me, we brought our little puppy home a week ago today, she is now 9 weeks old. She seems to be settled, she still cries at night and we still have little puddles inside, today my friend, her husband and his daughter came, our puppy was being her usual playful self and was trying to bite and play with their shoe laces and when my friends husband was playing with her fighting with his hand. From our point of view we thought this normal puppy behaviour, we play with her and if she gets too much we stop play or offer her one of her toys. My friends husband passed comment that our puppy was going to be hard work, we are going to have our hands full and recommended obedience school. We did a lot of research before getting our puppy, it's new to me as I've never owned a puppy before, my partner has been brought up with dogs. Just wondered what anyone's opinions are and any helpful tips, thanks in advance!
Hi Sarah, Your wonderful puppy sounds totally normal. Labrador puppies are almost all very mouthy when they are little, so please don't let his thoughtless comment upset you. In fact it's such a common thing in Labs that we have several extensive articles on the subject on the main site You can find some information on coping with the very normal biting phase here. Training is always a great idea with any dog, but the necessity of it is not predicated by how playful a 9 week old puppy is Enjoy your lovely pup and let us know how you get along! Best wishes, Lucy
Hi sarah and welcome to the forum. Umm.....sounds normal to me. How did he justify his statement? ALL puppies are hard work and ALL need obedience training! (Well apart from those rare dogs who seem so laid back we worry something is wrong with them....chatting about this elsewhere) I wouldn't worry - a picture of your pup might help us judge (we love puppy porn) (posted a second after Lucy!)
Hello, and a very warm welcome! What a daft thing to say - next time someone says something like that ask them where you would get one of those 9 week old puppies that come fully trained!
Hello and welcome to the forum. I agree with Jacqui. I'm sorry, we can't possibly diagnose how much of a terror your puppy is going to turn into without a picture or two
Very, very normal! But 'fighting with his hand' doesn't sound appropriate play with a pup to me. If I'd done that with any of mine I'd have had lacerated fingers!
Welcome to the forum As everyone has said, your puppy sounds totally normal.... The husband shouldn't have encouraged biting by using his hand as a toy though. If they come again get him to use an actual toy instead of human body parts
Just wanted to say hi and welcome. Your pup sounds perfectly normal but we do love puppy photos. As others have said using your hand to pay wit a 9 week old puppy is not strongly advised and to complain afterwards that the puppy is gong to be hard work is really unacceptable. Enjoy your puppy, particularly these early precious weeks as they grow so quickly but discourage play with hands as toys
Hi and welcome! I think that is a very strange thing to say about a 9 week old puppy!! Having just about come through the crocopup stage myself with Mole now 17weeks and my hands now starting to look normal again, I believe that you just need to accept that they are all mouthy as little pups - swap for a toy, reward good behaviour and you will be amazed by the results. This forum has been a godsend for me as we had a very mouthy little chap (he still can be when excited). The effort you put in to positive training in the early stages really starts to pay off by the stage we are at now and it's fun to see how quickly they learn! I would ignore that comment and enjoy your very normal little pup! And don't play hand games with her!! Sam and Mole
Here here Sarah,welcome to a group of people who will do everything we can to allay the fears and worries 'well meaning 'friends and strangers tell you ! I cannot tell you how many people have me freaked me out with their thoughts and opinions on my yellow fellow and his upbringing! Enjoy your puppy,there is a lot of information on the Main Site and Forum to advise and direct you when you do think things are going awry....and they will,but that's all part of the fun! X
Welcome to the forum! I can't add anything to the comments, except to say that we need photos please!
When we got our pup, someone I'd not seen in 25 years saw a photo of him on facebook and commented: "I can see he is very headstrong and going to be a handful." Being a novice myself, I took the comment to heart and actually cried one night when my boy was racing around at top speed, refusing to go to sleep, and I thought I'd got the "Marley" of the pack and was in for some nightmare years. I wish I'd known of this forum then, the people here have wonderful advice. And while I certainly struggled with the puppy years (unfortunately due to bad guidance), luckily with the right guidance (and it's amazing how effective the right training is) my boy has turned out to be very well behaved.
