Welcome to the puppies board

Thank you so much for the advise, I was really worried about a 3 hour period but the breeder didn't seem to think it would be a huge problem although she did advise we try to decrease that time as much as possible. We had been planning a puppy for a long time and decided to get one as a wedding gift to ourselves, what a perfect way to start our marriage, we were going to wait until I was home all the time (October) until we got a puppy but then we met Dexter and fell in love and coincidentally he was born on the day we actually got married - it was meant to be!

I am going to ask the doggy day care lady to come once for a 40 minute play with Dexter and then again later on for a toilet let out.
Once he has his jabs he will be able to go for a full day in doggy day care and then I will be working from home so things will be much easier. I will definitely be setting an alarm to let him out through out the night, we cant wait to bring him home now!

Daniella

 

Hi everyone,

Quick question! My lab puppy is 4 months old. The breeder has advised that I limit his feeds to twice a day now that he's 4 months. The happy puppy book and his food manufacturer advise to wait until he is 6 months. I tried him on the 2 feeds the past two days and I feel he might be getting hungry during the afternoon. Any advice? Thanks x

 

If you're happy with his timetable, there's no need to change it at all. My two are nearly 22 months and still have three meals a day, because it works for all of us. I work from home and having a lunch break mixes the day up a bit for all of us. The reason not to change to a smaller number of meals too soon is because it can cause upset tummies in puppies who can't manage that amount of food in one sitting. It doesn't mean that you ever have to go down to just two if you don't want to

 

Thanks for your help. We have a similar schedule in our house.....so ill stick to the three meals a day. I hated eating my lunch beside him today and he not eating. Appreciate your advice x

 

Hello I'm new to the forum and would welcome some advice and help. We have a lovely 7 month old chocolate lab called Charlie but am having real problems with toilet training. We had him from 8 weeks and followed all the advice and guidance on taking him out after meals, naps, play etc and praising him when he did what he was supposed to. He will go and sit by the back door when we are there to let us know he wants to go out, but the problem we have is when we are not there and overnight. He is on his own for 2 hours in the morning after I have gone to work and before my husband gets home and again in the late afternoon. Some days he is perfectly fine and there are no accidents and other days there are wees and/or a poo. The same with the night time, he goes out for his last toilet at about 10:00pm and my husband gets up at 5:00am but there are always wees and sometimes a poo. When he sometimes sleeps with us at the weekend he will sleep all through the night so I know he can go all night without needing to go out. There doesn't seem to be any routine or consistency in his toilet habits, or am I just expecting too much, I am new to this. Help and advice would be much appreciated please. Many thanks

 

Hi, do you use a crate at all? Puppies don't like to soil their bed so we used and still use the crate to toilet train. Quinn is 7 months old and we crated her overnight so she would wake us up to go out, and once she slept through we left her crate door open and she could sleep where she chooses (in our room on a dog bed generally, from about 4 months old). We are still using the crate when we leave her now that her bladder is more mature; prior to that she was in a pen and was able to pee/poo on the floor if desperate and we found that prolonged house training (she was having accidents if we missed her by the door until about 6 months old). Until she is solid in her house training, we don't allow her to stay home alone outside of the crate.

 

Hi, no I don't use a crate. I did try him with a crate for the first 2 weeks we had him but he hated it and would howl and whine constantly, which was very distressing for him and us.

 

There's a fabulous guide to crate training on the main site. It's for puppies from 8 weeks old, but there's no reason why you couldn't follow it for Charlie. It's all about making the crate an amazing place to be.

 

I agree with @Xena Dog Princess ... the crate is really helpful to toilet train and they usually sleep if you are only leaving them for short periods of time once they are comfortable. Quinn hated the crate at night time for a long time and I did a lot of work to get her to like it...she now chooses to sleep in there on her own.

We also use "do you business" as a cue to make sure she goes when we need her to (like before bed, and car rides or before we leave her if we are popping out). Another thing I did to reduce trips outside at night was move dinner to an earlier time so that last poop was before bed time instead of middle of night. We now give last meal by 6PM and last potty trip around 9:30-10PM. Then back outside first thing in the morning.

He will get it eventually! There may be others who have tips on potty training without using the crate...

 

Thank you for your help and advice. I've got a couple of weeks annual leave soon so will give the crate another try. I'm just hoping as he's 7 months old it isn't too late for him as he's used to sleeping in his bed

 

Hi everyone,

I just got yellow lap pup two days ago and he is 3 months old. This is my first dog (we used to have dogs when I was young but that was totally different story as they were outside dogs and etc...) so I'm very very new to this.

first two nights I let him sleep downstairs (I have put a gate at the stairs so he cannot come up yet). and he cried a little bit and I ignored him and when I wake up 3 a.m I saw that he has pooped 3 times and wee several times. we went to bed around 10:30 pm. His last meal was around 6:30 pm.

So I was thinking to sleep tonight in the kitchen sofa and have him next to me in his crate so I can wake up every 1 or 2 hour and let him out during the night (previous two nights he wasn't in the crate). do you guys thing it could be a bad idea? because eventually I don't want him to get used to this... and want him to settle down and sleep on his own...

Regards
Kamran

 

Hi Kamran and welcome to the forum. Very few puppies will be able to make it through the night without needing the toilet, so you either need to set up an arrangement that allows for him to toilet inside (newspaper or puppy pads) or that you get up every few hours to take him out. At three months, it's unlikely this will need to be every hour, but maybe start with setting an alarm for every three hours to take him out and, if he's fine with that, increase it by 15 minutes every night.

I can recommend getting a copy of The Happy Puppy Handbook, which gives you loads of help through these first few weeks and months.

 

If you've ever had an infant multiply that by 100 and you'll have yourself a puppy! Welcome to the fun!

 

Thanks a lot for the advise. I got the Labrador handbook from iTunes. I just got the happy puppy as I type... So probably I'll be reading a lot tonight... Thanks for the advise.

 

Hi

Hope you'r all well ,I would like to ask how do you pick your puppy from 3 boys in litter.
Wee are due to go pick our new addition in 3 weeks but due to Ziva being an outgoing ,on the go puppy I feel I'd like a more quieter ,chilled pup this time round .
SO what am I looking for to bring home a neutral pup

Cheers Marie

 

Assuming that you trust the breeder...well, ask the breeder! Let he/she know what you want, and trust them to know their pups well enough to choose wisely for you

 

thanks yes I do trust my breeder but she hasn't bred alot.

 

I don't think you need a massive amount of experience to spot the quieter ones in a litter. If they will be living in her home with her, she'll see their personalities as they grow. That said, my two are completely different personalities to how they were when they were still with the breeder, so I think it's still somewhat pot-luck!

 

Thanks Fiona totally agree kit's pot luck
Ziva was such a handful at times enjoyable but by god had me on the go all day long lol lol so was looking for somewhat slightly less on go pup if that's possible
Will just go and see what happens

 

Hi All

Thank you for adding me to the forum. We are now the proud owners of a Fox Red Labrador, 8 weeks old, having collected her on Friday night. We lost our beautiful girl Amber (chocolate labrador) in the Summer at 15 years old so its been a long time since we had a puppy and everything seems to have changed. To crate or not to crate, clickers?! Dried, wet or raw food. It feels like a bit of a minefield that I'm sure wasn't there when Amber was a pup and we didn't have any problems with her but beginning to wonder if she was just a laid back dog.

One question that I would like to ask (although any advice gratefully received) is that at the breeders instructions we got a vet appointment immediately (Saturday morning) but the vet would not give her her injections, so she hasnt had any. Obviously we have not taken her out but we have been letting her out in our own back garden. A friend has now said we shouldnt really be doing that because she hasnt had her injections!? My answer is that she really needs to go out and we want to get started with toilet training (of which she has been really good at). I do have an appointment booked for her injections on Friday. Any advice or suggestions?