I absolutely love my new little buddy (Roland). He feels very heavy for a pup (around 20 pounds). I give him a cup of food 3x per day and training treats liberally. Does this seem right? He arrived practically house broken I am actually in shock. A full week and no accidents. He is well mannered and is usually quiet. That is until it is time for bed. I work overnight (midnight till 8am) and I have set up his crate and filled it with a dog bed and plenty of toys. Third shift works so I can spend all day with him but I am unable to sleep in the same room with him due to being at work. My parents live next door and stop in to check on him before they leave for work (4am and 6am). He is next to hysterical when i leave for work and I feel I am giving him psychological issues. Any tips would be great to help with calming him down before bedtime. Thank you in advance =]
Welcome to you and Roland! I think others can give you better tips than I for the separation anxiety. Since I work from home, my dogs always kind of heaved a sigh of relief if I went out anywhere without them as it happened so rarely. But just wanted to say - WOW! - that's one massive pup for only nine weeks old! My Rottie, who grew to 120 lbs., was 10 pounds at that same age. Could he possibly be a mix with some giant breed or be older than you think? What does your vet say? If he's got a giant breed in there, it may be good to think about slowing him down on food intake. The general wisdom is that trying to "beef up" large breed puppies too fast can be detrimental to their bone/joint development. That's not something that seems to come up much with Labs/Lab people, but it's always a hot topic for breeds such as Rottweilers and pit bulls (which is why I have heard it talked about so much). And sometimes what we think is normal growth really is a bit too much chunk. My first pup got up past 130lbs at three years old and when his breeder saw him she nearly had a coronary and told me to put him on a diet pronto. He was my first Rottie and I actually thought he was supposed to look like that. Oops. I'd love to see some pics, he must be a cutie! And very smart to have already figured out the weeing outside thing.
Is your pup a show bred pup from the U.S.? On another Lab forum I see lots of such pups and that weight isn't far off for some of them. Lots of puppies and kids are practically hysterical when the parent first leaves but then soon settle down. Is there anyway you can check to see if this is the case with your boy? A listening device or Nanny cam or something? Maybe a parent could stay with him? I guess you didn't have time to get him gradually used to you going and coming? LOL, it's nice he is potty trained at 9 weeks. Mine were too, seemingly, but it was mostly my diligence at getting them out in time that accounted for that. Don't be surprised to find some "accidents" along the way, even the odd one or two as old as one year is not unusual. WElcome.
Hi and welcome! Your pup sounds lovely. Although I would agree that the weight is concerning. Might not be a bad idea to consult with the vet on that. It's best to give your pup time to get used to being on his own, leaving him for just a minute at first and gradually building it up in longer increments. You can work on that while you are at home with him. Also with new pups leaving them with a hot water bottle wrapped with a towel can give them some comfort, but maybe test this out while you are with him so as to see if he chews it.
And a clock that ticks. The sound muffled through blankets it's wrapped in is supposed to mimic siblings'a and Mum's heartbeat and be comforting. We did that.
3 cups a day for a 20# pup seems like a lot, unless you are talking about canned food. I suppose it depends on the food, but Cooper at 18 months and 85# only gets 3 cups of kibble a day. Cooper was about 11# at 9 weeks, but she was a very small pup. About 10 weeks she started gaining 1/2# a day. Now she is a moose, but not at all overweight. Tilly was about 13# at 9 weeks. She was a couple of lbs heavier than Cooper at 7 weeks, but She only weighs 63# now. Both hit about 20# lbs at 12 weeks and then Cooper passed her.
Is 20lbs about 9kgs? That's not massively heavy, although is on the heavier side. Charlie was nearly 8kgs by 9 weeks. We do see puppy around 9kgs at 8 - 10 weeks although it is at the upper end: http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/how-much-does-your-puppy-weigh.5888/page-47
Quinn was 15 lbs at 8.5 weeks and she's not a big girl at all now. Her food at that age/weight was 2 1/4 cups....so what you are feeding doesn't seem too far off to me. When they are that small, they don't really need treats, but you could use his kibble allowance as treats so you can keep track of his daily intake better. To help Quinn settle overnight, I put one of my worn shirts with my scent on it - it seemed to help and was a tip from a friend who had has many puppies over the years. We also still leave the radio or TV on for her when we aren't home - she loves sports and watches the ball on TV
Hey, I've learned something new in this thread... Labs seem to be bigger as pups than Rotties and eat a lot more too! Who knew? @RolandTheLab, sounds like your boy is NOT a monster pup, just on the big side of average. Still can't wait to see some photos when you get the chance.
Thanks for everyone's help! I will try the kibble as treats. He still isn't a fan of being out of sight but we are working on it! I will upload some pictures when I get home later.
