Hi Everyone, My husband and I will be bringing home our black lab on Saturday morning! Her name is Zoey and she will be 9 weeks old. We just had some general questions that we couldnt find answers to in books. - How early can we start bathing them? I know they are generally clean and only need spot cleaning but we want to get her use to it from a young age so that she doesn't give us a hard time later when she actually needs it. - When can we start brushing her teeth? we know that chew toys generally do a good job with keeping mouth hygiene on par but we also wanted to brush them once or twice a week to be on the safe side. We want to make sure our princess stays healthy! - Can we close the crate door from day 1 at night? we plan on taking her out just before bed and first thing in the morning (around 6am) but are still nervous about leaving her in there for 6-7 hours. - If we will be training her to go potty outside, should we still put puppy pads down everywhere in the playpen? Also, if she has an accident and goes inside, does that mean we need to start outdoor training all over? We also work full time but we still want her to be potty trained to go outside (we will get a dog walker during the day and we can work from home from few days a week until she is trained). We have got her a nice big playpen, crate, a few kongs, cuddle toys, blankets, leashes, harnesses and treats so she all set for her first day! Any other advice would be greatly appreciated! This is our first dog ever and we (well I am) very nervous!
Wow! How exciting for you both, only 4 sleeps left......I would make the most of them! Regarding bathing, and this is only my opinion, I never bathed our puppies, I think Benson was two before he has his first bath and Bramble now 5.5 months has never been bathed. Having a pup confident with you near her mouth though, is a really good idea. It is so important to be able to check inside a dogs mouth, and we do this regularly. With Bramble we used a clicker to positively reinforce being near her mouth. This is a good video on clicker training teeth cleaning with a tooth brush. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/4743 With Bramble we use mainly chew toys, rice chews, frozen kongs as she is teething at the moment. She also loves her to gnaw her giant anco root in her crate. The first couple of weeks were we up in the night as her bladder wouldn't last until the morning. We popped her to bed at around 11am, then up again around 3am. We then moved this to 5am gradually. By around 15 weeks she was fine until 6am. You could use pads instead and leave these outside the crate but in the playpen if you don't want your nights disturbed. Our other pup Benson was completely different and went the whole night almost from the get go. I would be prepared for her to howl the place down initially, it is very hard for young pups to be taken away from siblings and mum. I couldn't let Bramble cry, or Benson so one of us would stay downstairs with a hand trailing near the crate for comfort. Have you a copy of the Happy Puppy Handbook yet? It really is a godsend!
Hi Neha. Welcome to the forum. I agree with all the advice Kate (Beanwood) has given you and I think she's answered your questions although I bet you've thought of some more by now. To be honest I've never bathed any of my labs. They occasionally get the hose pipe on their feet if very dirty and a good rub down. Starting early with brushing teeth is a good idea. You will have to get up during the night as Kate has explained. Pups have tiny bladders and aren't likely to last all night for a few weeks. I didn't use puppy pads. I worked on the rule if puppy gets excited take out, when puppy wakes up take out, after puppy has eaten take out. The taking out bit happens quite a lot in the first few weeks but she will get the hang of it. Obviously if your leaving her in the playpen alone for any length of time puppy pads are probably a good idea but they will probably get ripped up. As Kate mentioned The Happy Puppy Handbook will probably answer all your questions and if you have anymore you know where we are. It sounds like you've everything you need to welcome your pup to her new home. Have fun.
Hi from Holly and me in Monmouth. I've nothing to add to Kate's advice, but just wanted to welcome you.
Hi and welcome, and good to see you found the Introductions Like Kate, I've never bathed Juno apart from having to do her tummy due an infected skin area. Can't help to much on the pros and cons of puppy pads in a pen set up as I only used a crate. The theory is that you can use pads in a pen overnight and during the day, it may just take longer to have a fully house trained puppy. Juno was in her crate in my bedroom for around the first two weeks, and settled very quickly knowing that I was close by and I just got up to take her out to the garden when I heard her start moving a little - one of the benefits of being a light/poor sleeper You will need to take her out to the garden around every 15 to 20 minutes to begin with until she begins to be able to go longer and hopefully then start to signal when she needs to go. You will need to focus on making her crate/pen a happy place for her to be ready to be left alone while you are at work. Do you have a dogwalker already arranged? How many times will they be able to visit as young puppies do need the company during the day. Best bit of advice is to have a copy of the Happy Puppy Handbook, read it and get OH to read it as well, and keep it close to hand for reference, oh and get as much as rest as possible between now and puppy day - you're going to need it
Welcome from Hattie 8 years and rescue boy Charlie 5 years. Looking forward to welcoming Zoey into the fold xx
Hi from Canada... I did a lot of research on bathing and didn't find a definitive answer. Most advice is not to bathe a puppy and/or not until at least 4 months due to their dry/delicate skin. We did end up bathing our pup at 4.5 months after she spent the day at the vet and I couldn't stomach the smell on her when she came home...we used a gentle natural oatmeal puppy wash only to get out the smell. Since then there have been a couple mud/slobber incidents and we rinse her in lukewarm water or rub down with a damp cloth. She did not like the bath, but tolerated it with lots of treats so I don't think you need to get her used to it at a young age...whenever the time comes, lots of treats and reassurance.
Hi and welcome from me too Sam has had one shower indoors in his five years , an experience never to be repeated , chaos followed , think wet bedding and soap suds everywhere He swims most days , that good enough for me
Welcome and hello... well done for finding Introductions... I didn't, which is a bit dopey. Haven't been on the forum for long, but it's such a great place to come and share thoughts, view, experiences and advice, and to know that there are many other labrador-lovers/dog-lovers out there who have been where you are now. Sounds all very exciting. Look forward to hearing more about Zoey as she grows
Haha... your post reminded me of Smudge and Sophie (lab crosses, now not with us, but such lovely girls) and my attempts at bathing them! Think very wet and hairy bathroom... think that was the worst bit... we discovered dog hairs absolutely everywhere (lovely when you brush your teeth ) for days afterwards, and I'm not sure it was worth it. I've not bathed my new girls and don't know what their history is regarding bathing, but every time they see a garden hose they scuttle away quite quickly, so I'm guessing it's not their all-time-favourite thing to do!!
Hi Neha, I'm just stoppimg by to say hi and I hope your new family member settles in well,let us know how you get on x
Welcome to the forum, Neha. I haven't got anything to add except don't forget to post some photos of Zoey!
Hi Zoey , big hello from Ireland ! We ended up having to bath Sam when he was about 10 weeks following a very enjoyable ( to Sam anyway) roll in slurry . He stood in the bath and we used an old shower hose , ( the ones that plug into the taps ) . He didn't love it , but definitely didn't hate it either
Thanks for all the advice! You have all been very helpful! I do have more questions but it seems like all dogs handle situations differently so will wait to see how it goes first. Really looking forward to bringing her home! Will post pictures as soon as I can!
Hi Neha (and Zoey) from me, Willow and Shadow in Andorra. Ask away when you have questions - get your head around posting photos now (read the technical section) so that we can see Zoey the minute you bring her home
Hi from me and 11 month old Dexter. I only use a porta shower and lots of treats or just a rub off with a cloth. Looking forward to hearing all your puppy tales.
I wash the dogs out side with a bucket and watering can. sounds silly really works all my dogs have been trained to stand still to be washed its quick and they don't find as intimidating as the bathroom. I only wash if I have too, an mostly spot wash if I can get away with it. When they get really muddy I use the watering can to just wash off the worst of the mud and don't use shampoo for just a quick wash down. I did have to wash as pups but used a puppy shampoo very diluted. Midge was always very stinky and rolling in stinky stuff even as a pup but Rory had to washed once as he was a much cleaner boy
