Hi all, New member here. My wife and I picked our puppy yesterday, a yellow dog that is to be called 'Harvey'. We'll be collecting him towards the end of October (when he'll be between 7 and 8 weeks old). In the meantime, we're obviously trying to get as prepared as we possibly can be for his arrival. The internet is a wonderful thing and provides a wealth of information - but it can all be a little overwhelming, especially when there is conflicting advice. Hopefully, you nice people will be able to give me some pointers! First question (I'm pretty sure that there will be others! What type of lead and collar should we be looking at for a lab puppy?
Re: Collar and lead advice Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new puppy We just got an appropriate sized soft webbing collar and lightweight lead.
Re: Collar and lead advice Hi and welcome to you and Harvey, we are me Helen, Hattie 6 years and Charlie 2 3/4 years. Have Fun. We bought the same as Barbara. Good luck. Helen x
Re: Collar and lead advice Hi there! Welcome to you and Harvey Flat collar and lightweight lead for us too - good old Pets at Home. We didn't use it right away though, took a while to introduce it. It was a while before we took Lilly out so didn't need it at the beginning anyway. The essential item for us was the crate. Jacqui and Lilly (3 years old black girl)
Re: Collar and lead advice Hello Another welcome here too. We have quick release (like rucksack clips) flat webbing collars and clip on fixed leads to start. Collars within 24 hours and leads not long after, just in the house / around the garden to get used to them. At four months they're both on slip leads for our usual country walks with collars and fixed leads for town. Kerryn Plus tribe of Maia(13), Hebe (6), Dido and Hester both four months.
Re: Collar and lead advice Welcome from me and my 7 month old choc lab, Charlie. I hope you enjoy this lovely forum. I did something different (not necessarily correct though) from the other replies. I also bought a small webbing flat collar, but threw it away almost unused when he grew out of it. I kept him first on a back fastening soft fabric harness, then on a fleece harness, until he learnt to walk to heel first off lead, then on his harness. I've only recently started using a collar. He hated the harness, but it kept him safe while he was jumping towards other dogs and people, rather than straining his neck, plus he very rarely pulls on a collar now because it was introduced after he learnt to walk nicely (I'm not very experienced, so walking nicely took a while...). Enjoy your puppy - photos would be lovely when you get a chance.
Re: Collar and lead advice Hi there, Welcome to thenforum,My original purchases were the same as mentioned ,soft nylon collar and lightweight lead.dexter is our first yellow lab coming up 12 months old and I messed up walking on a collar and lead and created a Puller with Herculean strength....read up everything you can about nice walking and introduce the collar and lead carefully so you don't have my troubles.he eventually went on a harness and I re taught walking to heel with the help of this site and Pippas articles......he's a lot better but we still only do collar and leads on very short walks and he needs a lot of reminding to keep a loose lead. Good luck ,enjoy your preps Best wishes Angela
Re: Collar and lead advice Thank you all for the warm welcomes and helpful comments. Amazon seems to offer a good range of dog equipment at reasonable prices (reasonable being a relative term, of course!). Is that typically where you make purchases from or do you prefer to be able to see and touch your purchases before making them? We have some pictures (took pics of dad, grandmother, and some older siblings too while owner demonstrated their field training prowess). We were seriously impressed with both the obedience and the temperaments of the dogs (no barking/growling, no jumping up, but still being friendly and enjoying contact) - we have a lot of work to do to match that sort of standard but its encouraging to see what is possible with the right training. However, the pictures of Harvey are all with the whole litter rather than Harvey on his own. Will try harder on next visit
Re: Collar and lead advice I prefer to see stuff first, give it a check over, then get the best price on the internet! (Scots : )
Re: Collar and lead advice OK, let's see if I can manage to post a photo. Harvey is the yellow pup at the bottom-right.
Re: Collar and lead advice OK, how about: Collar : Red Dingo Plain Dog Collar, M, 18 mm, 30 - 45 cm Neck Size, Classic Black http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001CLR716/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=pet-supplies What size collar is appropriate for a young lab puppy? Lead : Red Dingo Plain Dog Lead, M, 18 mm x 1.2 m, Classic Black http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Dingo-Plain-Classic-Black/dp/B001CO1DRC/ref=pd_bxgy_petsupplies_text_y
Re: Collar and lead advice I think the Red Dingo stuff is pretty sound I guess it would be small, quickly grow out of that size though need to start somewhere!
Re: Collar and lead advice Hi! Your puppy is gorgeous! We are picking up our yellow male puppy in three weeks and guess what! He is going to be called Harvey too! We have bought a light weight collar and lead from our local pet shop. I just asked her what she thought was best and told me the best size to get etc. Once he is bigger I will get a slightly more robust collar and lead as I think he is going to be a big boy if his dad is anything to go by! The advice on here is brilliant though, complete wealth of knowledge from some very lovely people. Jen
Re: Collar and lead advice Your pup looks lovely - a cute bundle of loveliness! [quote author=UncleBob link=topic=2672.msg27161#msg27161 date=1379922650] However, the pictures of Harvey are all with the whole litter rather than Harvey on his own. Will try harder on next visit [/quote] We don't mind seeing a few extra lab puppies in the photos! nothing nicer than lab puppy huddles!
Re: Collar and lead advice Thanks for all the nice comments. To be fair, I think all lab puppies look cute (I blame Andrex!) Jen, what a coincidence! You're right too, everybody here seems very friendly and helpful.
