Hi all, Meet Bear...today he is 8 weeks old (he is a leap year baby). Him at just over 6 weeks (mostly all head and paws) Took him to the vets yesterday for a first checkup, our vet was very happy with him, gave him the full service (bear wasn't too sure about the thermometer). He weighed in at 7.2kg (scary given he was 6 weeks 6 days old), I asked the vet if we should be cutting back on the food (our previous labrador Storm, was a big boy, 41kg at ideal body shape, but happy to creep on the kg's if given the opportunity, so we are well aware that a labrador will rarely say "OK I am full"). The vet stood him up, and took us through the chart of what is acceptable body shape, so we are happy with how he is. His father is 3 years old and is a show dog of over 40kg, Bear is the biggest of the litter, so we will need to keep an eye on his body shape, as although he may turn out to be a big boy, we need to be careful we don't let him fool us into thinking he is just growing to be big, and end up growing to be fat. My wife made the final decision on the name Bear, and a friend said to us, "what if he grows up small", but the name Bear refers to "teddy bear" (teddy didn't sound right). Our previous boy was always happy to jump up for some cuddles, so hopefully bear will also be up for that. He has already claimed his section of the bed: We thought having had a Labrador before, we would be all over this puppy Labrador thing, and to be honest he has been really good, when put to bed he only whimpers for about a minute, and apart from a few mistakes he has been really good with toilet training. He has already learned sit and lay, although we will see what happens when he goes to puppy preschool tomorrow and starts running around and gets asked to sit. The bit we had forgotten is how mouthy puppies can be, although Storm had a big brother (Shadow, a black German Shepherd), so perhaps he took most of the bites for us, but Bear is starting to learn that needle teeth on the back of the leg is not part of playing. I joined yesterday, and have been reading some of the posts, and this forum looks like a great place for information, so I am looking forward to shearing more of Bear as he grows. Cheers, Cameron
Ah welcome to you both Cameron ,Bear is gorgeous...I love the 6 week description 'all head and paws' that describes them perfectly! Sounds like he is settling in well with your family and he's fallen on his paws having such conscientious owners....he's only little but it's good to be aware of weight management straight away.....Labradors are born with the special skill of being able to convince you they are half starved with a single baleful look ...so it's good to be a step ahead of that! Best wishes Angela
Welcome to you and Bear. I love the name Shadow is also a fabulous name, but I'm biased, as that's the name of our yellow boy.
Welcome, Bear looks adorable. I had the smallest puppy in the litter and the breeders called her Minnie, the largest pup was called Bear, but mine finished up the biggest of them all!
