Our little girl is not due to be with us till the end of Nov. I know I will have my work cut out, having a puppy and a 3 year old going through the terrible 3s. Thought i would get it all out the way together. I also have teenagers in the house too. I new to dogs, however my partner has had labs before. Adores the breed so much. As we were not going to have a child together we thought we would have a dog together and also bring the family closer all being well. Anyway, We are so excited that we are counting down the weeks for the new addition, What are good to have and what is a waste. We are going to get a crate, my other half thinks we should get the 36inch one, I’m thinking the 30inch. we have stair gates around the house anyway as so we can separate my 3 year old and puppy when I’m out of site, I refuse to leave the two alone together, especially after reading how much the puppies can bite. A bed, covers for my sofas as they are not leather. So much choice with dog food. Thinking about getting the royal cannin for labradors. I fancy gettting a harness for when Esme is allowed to venture for a walk, but my other half says just get a lead. Puppy training pads, best place to purchase. What websites are your fave for buying things? I’m also looking at books to buy. Also I am trying to download a photo but says the pixels are too big, what to share a photo. Angela
Hi Angela. Harley is my first ever dog too and my hubby had a golden retriever when he was younger. I highly recommend the Happy Puppy book as advertised on here. I wish I had it when I got Harley, but it was published after I got her. A puppy harness is a must in my opinion as teaching them to walk nicely on a flat collar could hurt their neck when they start to pull whilst you are training. I brought puppy training pads in pets at home but never ended up using them as she happily went outside and I was very vigilant. I recently brought some black fleece throws for my sofas in Texco for about £9 each and they wash amazing and look nice too. I would buy the biggest crate, but put something in it to make it smaller initially so they feel snug to start with. I'm always on Amazon buying things for Harley, but also buy a lot of Kong toys in pets at home. I hope this helps a bit
Hi Angela, Congrats! I have second what @Naya said about the harness. I don't like the idea of a puppy doing puppy things and pulling on the flat collar, so we had a harness for Harley from young annd now she has a front attaching one that works like a dream. We had Harley in a play pen and she was only decrated/depenned about 2 months ago and she now just over a year. From the start Harley loves a toy that squeaked, so she had plenty of those and Kongs to fill with food. We bought puppy pads and I am very sorry we did. It took us age to train her to NOT use every white or cream mat in the house as a place to wee. It felt like forever before she was housetrained but it was actually really quick and we have had no issues since. I think she was 95% potty trained by 5 months or so. Good luck and post stacks of photos when you have
Welcome to you, I remember asking the same questions when Tatze was due four years ago! Puppy pads are no good for putting down, the pup just rips them up. But they are great for clearing up accidents! I cut them in four. I highly recommend the main site and the Happy Puppy Handbook. I now raise pups for Guide Dogs and read it every time a pup is due. We currently have Keir, five months old. https://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies/
What did you do for toilet training if you didn’t have the pads? What brand harness have you had? Ive had some more photos today but I cant see to post them on here?
Welcome from Holly and me in Monmouth. The ideas behind toilet training are fairly straightforward, but just require persistence. We've never used puppy pads. From the moment you bring your puppy home put it down where you want it to do its toilet and wait until it performs. Then you praise it and give it a rewards (food treat, play or something nice). From then onwards you take it to the same spot immediately it wakes up, or at regular intervals and repeat the perform/praise routine. Labs are pretty smart creatures and will quickly work out "if I poop/widdle here I get a reward". There will be accidents. Never ever tell your pup off for doing its toilet in the wrong place. Get some good (ammonia free) floor cleaner to remove the scent. We found that putting old newspaper on the floor by the back door made clearing up accidents a lot easier. For some reason the dogs always seemed to go on the newspaper in preference to the floor.
Here is the best advice on toilet training - https://www.thelabradorsite.com/house-training-your-labrador-puppy/ You will have a lot of accidents in the first weeks, Keir still has about one a day at 20 weeks, this isn’t unusual at all Be sure to clear up with Simple Solution or other bio cleaner, other cleaners smell of wee to pups. I would get a soft puppy harness for the first few weeks - https://www.thelabradorsite.com/puppy-collars/ .
We did use puppy pads and they worked ok -buy from somewhere cheap like b and n or home bargains or poundland. Nibbler would wait until after he had gone first thing in the morning and then whine so the puppy pads were invaluable - if left down after that he might rip them up though. Take them out as soon as they wake, any time they get excited playing and after eating and drinking. Watch for them circling for a poo.
Things I would really recommend: 1 Vetbed. You get it in pet shops like Pets at Home. It looks just like a fleece blanket and you will wonder why it is so much more expensive that there other types of fleece and why it is worth all that money. WORTH EVERY PENNY! I bought one metre, and cut it in two (meaning to have one bit for house, one for car). I am SO glad. For nearly four years it has been Pongo's favourite toy, blanket, enemy, friend, tuggy, comforter, everything. It has been through the washing machine dozens and dozens of times. He has chewed and chewed and chewed it. And it is still in one piece. 2 Keep your puppy on the same food that the breeder has been using, whatever that is. At least for a few weeks. There will be enough changes in the pup's life, keep at least the food constant. You can always switch later if you don't like the brand for any reason. 3 Toilet training - just as everyone else has said...it does just take vigilance and you WILL spend a ridiculous amount of time supervising your pup and cleaning up when you don't get there in time. But it passes really quickly. 4 Take photos. Take lots and lots of photos. They grow up so fast!
Oh yes, on posting photos.... you need to use a third-party website (unless you become a Forum Supporter). I'm not an expert, but look on the "technical and help" bit of the forum and I think there are instructions. Or maybe a mod like @snowbunny can point you in the right direction?
Please don't feel over-whelmed! You will be absolutely fine. I only found this forum after Pongo had been with us a couple of weeks and I knew NOTHING that I should have known. This forum is a wonderful place, you will get kind and helpful advice on absolutely anything and there is no problem you can possibly experience that someone on here hasn't had before! Above all, enjoy your puppy. Like me, you'll get so much wrong, and (like Pongo with me) your puppy will utterly forgive you. You'll get lots right too, and then in a few months you will be posting on this forum giving advice to the next new puppy owner. Welcome! Rosie
Oh gosh, sorry, I keep thinking of other things. ignore me if I'm going on too much. Toys: we bought lots of exciting squeaky and fluffy toys for little Pongo. They are OK. But his favourite toys by a LONG way (apart from his bit of vetbed) are empty plastic bottles and cardboard boxes. I don't know any lab that doesn't love empty plastic bottles and cardboard boxes. So I'd say don't spend too much on toys....
Hi and welcome from me and my boy Bailey. I brought a packet of puppy pads from Pets at Home and had one in the car when we collected Bailey. He managed to shred that in about two seconds flat, then proceeded to howl the rest of the hour's journey. After that I tried again with a puppy pad and spent more time clearing up the hundreds of thousands of pieces it was ripped into than it was on the floor! After then I just used the rest of the pack to clean up accidents it really is just about vigilance and taking your pup outside a lot - really really lots - and being generous with treats and praise when they go in the right place, and ignoring it when its in the wrong place. Cleaning up accidents with an enzyme cleaner (again from a pet shop), but please follow the instructions - my OH didn't follow them (i.e. spray, leave down for a few minutes before cleaning it up) and Bailey kept weeing on that spot until I cleaned it up! Empty plastic bottles and cardboard are definite favourites of Bailey - in fact even now at 20 months old he still loves nothing more than either of those to play with. We used a small crate as we only wanted him in it overnight until he was toilet trained and then we decorated him - we were uber lucky with night times as Bailey slept right through the night right from the start, but be prepared to get up and take your pup out if they need a night time wee or poo. It is probably better to keep your pup on the same food your breeder has been using, at least for a few weeks until your pup has settled, then change it over slowly i.e. 25% new food 75% old food to start with for a 5 or so days then gradually increase the new food and decrease the old food over the next week or so. Let your pup set the pace, keep a close eye on their poo and if its not solid then dial back the new food for a few days. Most of all - don't expect too much from your pup - he/she is a baby and is learning about the world - and don't expect too much from yourself either - we all make mistakes but know what? Our pups are so forgiving and will love us no matter what
Just catching up with this thread and will add an enthusiastic YES to - vetbed - harness - throws for the furniture - a couple of toys (but everything is exciting to a puppy so this isn't as important) And will also add my best puppy buy - a bona spray mop for the floor. It seems to be absurdly overpriced but it's really worth it when you have to clean floors multiple times per day.....And it has the bonus of being less exciting for a puppy than a string mop! http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3389089 And absolutely this: I read SO much before I got Jess - including this forum - and had all sorts of training ideas and game ideas and socialisation plans and goals and ambitions. I did spend a lot of time just sitting with her too, but I really regret not having taken it more slowly at the beginning and prioritised building her trust in me by making sure she was happy with every new thing we introduced. She came from a kennel in the country so she had a huge amount of adjustment to do to being indoors and being in a town. I thought that because I was only using positive methods then it wasn't stressful for her, but looking back I think I had far too many expectations of her and of me. I'd take things much more slowly with another pup.
Also - I don't know if others agree with this but I also regret not doing more systematic noise desensitisation training when I first got Jess. She got frightened by fireworks when she was about 5 months old and has been really bothered by loud bangs and noises ever since. She was always a bit anxious about noises so it's possible that early desensitisation wouldn't have made a difference - but I regret not trying it. Though with a busy family house I'm sure random noise won't be a problem!
I've also found a puppy pen to be brilliant - to give the pup and the children some space when needed. I've got it in the sitting room so he's still part of everything else we're doing and I've attached it to his crate (although he prefers to sleep in a bed in the play pen rather than the crate). I have got one for the garden as well so I can pop him in it if I'm distracted - although I haven't used that very much so far - we have got quite a small garden though. We've made a big thing that the children always have to have a toy in their hand when we're playing with him so they can give that to the pup to try and reduce the nipping. It is working 80ish% of the time at the moment!! And when he starts getting a bit nippy - it normally means he needs a poo, wee or sleep. So we try and get in nice and early before it escalates into full puppy madness
My books arrived today, been having a good read of them, to distract me from uni work. Have been sent daily pics of Esmes development. Im in love already I have decided to get the 36inch cage and get a divider. I will have a look at the vet bed. My list so far what i am getting 36 inch cage and divider Furminator Pet spray to clean up mess. Blueberry harness and lead. Small bag of the beta puppy dog food. Throws for the sofa Still got loads to get but these are what i have decided so far what I’m getting, not sure what dog bowls to get, or bed for the living room. I come on here as I’ve been doing my uni work for class tomorrow, my head on over drive, coming on here as brought it down and now just to know I’m chatting to like minded people about their love of labradors. I hope to become a regular. I still need to do photos, even if its for my profile photo
Something we did before Holly arrived was to crawl around the house at puppy level to look for hazards. Cables and things that are out of sight behind furniture are accessible to puppies so get them cleared away. Regarding toys, don't spend a lot. Hollys favourite toy is made from the legs of some old jeans stuffed with cushion filler. We call it Mr Humpy-Cushion for reasons I'll let you work out for yourself. She carries it everywhere.
