Welcome to the puppies board

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my little lad Stanley!

Did your vet say why they wouldn't do the vaccinations?

I'd say it's dependent on where you live and how you feel about it.

Where I live there's very few foxes and certainly never any in the garden. So I took Stanley out in the garden (although he had his first injections). But if I'd lived somewhere with a lot of foxes getting in the garden I may have been more cautious as they can carry parvo. I guess it's a personal choice as whether you're willing to take the risk. Even though, chances are, everything would be fine.

Now can we have a puppy name and some pics please

 

We have foxes but I let Molly in the garden - it would have driven me insane keeping her in for 4 weeks. I suppose there is some risk but I think you have to balance that against the difficulty of keeping a puppy confined to the house.

 

Hi Jen, We've decided to call her Luna - Ive managed to upload a photo to my profile account but can't seem to upload others - I will have to have a look at the technical advice!!

 

Photos of our girl Luna

 

Ohhh she's adorable

 

Perfect

 

Good day to all!

Me and my SO have recently picked up our chocolate lab puppy, Cooper, and have begun the wonderful life of being puppy parents. He is 9 weeks old and we have started to crate train him right off the bat when we got back to our home. The first night was the worst...howling, crying, whining. The whole kitten kaboodle. I understand we aren't supposed to go comfort him or let him out during this as it reinforces bad behavior, however, there is only so much we can take/allow considering we live in an apartment building and our neighbors won't be pleased if it persists for long. We have not let him out during these little fits, neither I or my SO lay next to his crate until he calms down. Neither of us has had to raise a puppy so young so we are both pretty new to the crate training process. What I would love to know is tips or tricks that others have used to ensure your little guy/girl sleeps soundly at night and doesn't whine and cry when being crated at night. I have heard of these toys that mimic their mothers' heartbeat to soothe them. Does anyone know if these work? Is this all just a part of the process and I will just need to be patient with him until he learns to like his crate?

 

hi folks we are picking up our lab shortly and we were looking at puppy food and one that seemed to get a good report
is Wellness puppy food has anybody any thoughts about it please

than you

 

Hi everyone, I’m a brand new dog owner, with 9 week old fox/golden Loki. He’s everything we thought he’d be and more, I’m reading all your forum tips and learning how to be a good owner.

 

I should add we’ve cracked the wee and poo in the day, but like other owners with a new baby and a soft hubby the crate training and no going on the sofa is hard work.

Is it normal to be teething at 9 weeks?, he’s trying to grab everything for the back of his mouth.

 

Hello everyone,

Charlie and I are new to the forum. Charlie is a 3 month old black lab puppy.

I wonder if anyone has had or knows of a reason why every now and again the pup will just stop what he is doing and cry for no reason what so ever.
This is slightly disturbing. I don't know whether he's in pain, has any discomfort, or if in fact this is a common trait for either puppies or this particular breed.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

Hi Pippa!

I'm sooooo happy with your website and this forum! (for sure going to order your book)

I'm a new puppy mom of 6 months old Lab Hugo So happy with him!! Although I have some experience with labradors from my childhood on the farm, it's something different to bring a puppy from Holland to Israel (yes really). He's doing really well, also in the hot climate of the Middle East. We do long walks early morning and night and during the day he still sleeps a lot. The first few weeks were especially hard because he had the anxiety to be alone. Even for an hour he cried and barked so much that he totally got wet from his spittle, broke out of his bench and bite all my bedding. 'Strange' enough, now I have left him in the living during the day, he's much less stressed, and he barks not anymore. He is just over excited when I come home in 4 hours or so. Its a big relieve that it's going better... (thanks to your tips as well)

Although I try to train him as much as possible the basic things myself, do you recommend to still take a puppy course? I will be hard to find one here, but do you think they will learn essential things?
Other question, in the Middle East we have lots of street dogs, also in the compound where I live. Very sad, but I like to walk him off the line in the early morning, is there literature available or some advice on how to deal with it. Can they still play together? Better to avoid for illnessess and so on...

Thanks a lot!

 

HI Esther, sorry I missed this post - and welcome to the forum. Puppy classes can be brilliant or they can be awful. A bad puppy class is worse than no puppy class especially if older puppies are allowed to bully or frighten younger ones. I'm not familiar with the set up in your part of the world so you would need to be guided by recommendations from local people you trust.

If you can't find a suitable class you can still train your dog effectively by yourself. I would be cautious about letting your puppy play with stray dogs, partly for health reasons, though presumably you have a good vaccination programme set up? But mainly because an attack by a streetwise older dog can traumatize a young pup.

If possible try to meet other dog owners and arrange some regular get togethers where your dog can play or spend time with other well behaved dogs.

Let us know how you get on with Hugo and shout if you have any questions

 

Hi all,

We've only had our sweet Reyka for two weeks, and already this forum has been an absolute life-saver. Thank you all for the wealth of knowledge you've shared already!

Reyka is 10 wks old, a Great Dane x Black Lab. We brought her home at 8 wks and have been working on crate training/constant supervision-style potty training since the get-go. We live on the top floor of a condo building, so we knew there'd be a number of accidents as she gets used to her schedule (and will continue until she learns how to tell us—and herself!—she needs to go out). However, we've run into an odd problem the last couple of days.

We'll take her out on her regular schedule (45 minutes after mealtime, right after she wakes up from a nap or is let out of her crate, and about every 1 or 1.5 hours if she's awake and playing) for a stroll, anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour depending on how much time we have and how much energy she has. She always pees in the right spot right when we get outside, and then the rest of the walk is focused on meeting new friends, smelling new smells, chewing on sticks and (eventually) peeing another time or two and going poo if she feels the need. We reward with praise and treats after every outside potty.

The problem is that sometimes after these walks, often after peeing multiple times and pooing outside, once we get back into our building she'll pee AGAIN in the building hallway. Usually a different spot (we use an enzyme cleaner) and not every time we go out (once or maybe twice per day, not at the same times each day), so we never know when it'll happen—and because she's only 10 wks old, there's no warning, so no time to scoop her up and sprint back downstairs.

Is there a way to help her completely empty her bladder outside, before we come back in? We think she understands that peeing inside isn't desirable, but we also don't want to just wait for her to develop better bladder control and risk creating a bad habit.

Anybody have any brilliant ideas?

 

Hi there and welcome to the forum . It's unlikely that your pup does understand that peeing inside isn't desirable yet, probably just the scents, texture and movement that triggers her to pee outdoors on your walk.

Try adding a cue to her bladder emptying when she does it in the right place. I use the phrase 'hurry up' said in a jolly and fairly calm voice . Say your cue as she starts to pee (in the right place). When you have done this many times you'll find you'll be able to trigger a pee by saying the cue.

Some people find giving treats at the end of each pee helps, others find it makes the dog stop peeing too soon!

Meantime, while she is learning to control her bladder, can you put some puppy pads down in the hall to make it easier to clean up? (these can also be moved to outside later)

 

Hello,

Been browsing through these forums here ever since I bought my puppy around 8 weeks ago and finally decided to join. Now that I have a puppy, I guess I like to read about dogs now. My girlfriend and I have a 16 year old week puppy named Buddy (aka Bud Light and the Great Budinski). He's a super smart dog and knows how to sit, shake, high five, stay, lay down, roll over, play dead, jump (only when told), crawl, wave, speak, sit pretty, spin, and catch a treat in the air. I'm currently working on the treat on the nose trick, which he is pretty good at but still needs perfecting, and to bow, which he needs a lot of work on. The most challenging thing about Buddy was trying to get him not to chew things. The guy is a friggin' vacuum. He's definitely gotten a lot better, and I mean a lot better, but he still is a puppy and likes to get into things. My main advice when getting a puppy is to start everything you want your dog to do really young. And I mean right when you get them. Do not let your dogs get into the habit of doing things and do not give into them, no matter how cute they are. It was a ton of hard work at the beginning for me, but if you keep sticking to it, it gets a lot easier and you get a lot of gratification knowing you did things the right way. No idea why I'm even ranting about this but I guess it's cause I love my dog, just like everyone on here. Glad to have finally joined, as it's great to learn new things you can teach your dog and get advice you need if necessary.

Thanks

 

Your pup is 16 weeks and can do all of that?! Impressive. My two pups are also 16 weeks and their skill list is much, much shorter than Buddy's - but they have a solid foundation.

 

He’s almost 19 weeks now, but Yes! And he knows how to bow now and he mastered the treat/kibble on the nose trick since my creation of this thread. He’s a really good pup and has the tricks and his home manners pretty much down. He still like to table surf however haha.

But I am done with new tricks for now and mostly focused on trying to get him to act more civilized around other people. Taking him to stores, parks, etc. He gets so excited when he meets strangers and friends/family so I am now trying to get him to look at me on walks around distractions and for him to not jump on people that comes to the house. Lol and to stop pulling on the leash when strangers get close. He’s getting better but it’s a lot of work when people get these labs so excited haha

Thanks for the compliments!

 

@k3mom Too add, all dogs go at their own pace. Labs are very smart and they like to please their owners. I probably focused on teaching him tricks more than yourself or others would have at that young of an age, but he got them, so it worked out.

You have two 16 week old pups!? I couldn't imagine! Way harder to train two at the same time than what I am doing. Keep up the good work.

 

Wow wow wow, you do have a very clever puppy! I wish my 8 month old girl would do half of that. Well done