Good Afternoon, I have recently signed up and i am hoping to get some advice from other Lab owners. I have had Labs all my life however they have always been rescues and have had behaviour issues, so when i decided to get another pup with my wife and 2 year old daughter we decided to get a puppy so we could train her our way from the start and know her background. So we are now 7 Months in with Maddie, and it has been eventful. We have been doing weekly training classes with Maddie since 12 weeks and she is easily the best in the class. And obviously we continue these training techniques at home daily also. She is also great off the lead and out on walks. The problems we are currently having are: Maddie won't sleep through the night, we put her out to go to the toilet at about 21:30 then she will go to bed, Maddie without fail will then wake up at 03:00 hours on the dot, we go down and let her out and she will go to the toilet. Maddie will then be up every hour so 04:00, 05:00, 06:00 until we come downstairs at 06:30/07:00 for the day. When we are going downstairs at 04:00, 05:00 and 06:00 Maddie will go to the toilet but it is only a very minimal amount, when she comes back inside she will sit at her food bowl. We do not feed her until we come downstairs at 7ish. We have discussed this with our Dog trainer and we are going to try her on a Raw diet and see if this makes a difference as she will be getting from from the food rather that the Dry biscuits she is currently on. Another area we need advice with is Maddie is still going through the biting stage, she has a full set of adult teeth now and we have tried most things, replacing our hands etc with a toy, standing up and leaving the room, leaving my hand/arm still and praising her when she lets go, making a loud noise when she bites and also leading her out of the room until she calms down. These don't seem to work and she just carries on when she comes back in. This is particularly when me or my wife are sitting down on the sofa so i don't know if she is doing it for attention or for us to play with her. We are open to suggestions. Maddie also Barks constantly at us when we are sitting down on the sofa or not interacting with her, we have tried training her too 'Shh' and praising her when she is quiet, we have tried ignoring her and not making eye contact, we have tried leaving the room, we have also tried leading her out of the room. Any advice? And last but not least Maddie will still have Excited accidents, when a new person comes into the address we ask them to ignore Maddie until she has calmed down, however even when she is calm and they say hello to her she will have a wee accident. For example, my mum came round today and Maddie was jumping up wanting to say hello, mum ignored her however she was still getting very excited. Mum then told Maddie to 'Sit' Maddie then squatted and Wee'd all on the floor. How do we combat this? I have probably made Maddie sound like a very troublesome pup, this isn't the case whatsoever she is a great pup especially with my Daughter and out and about these are just a few areas we would like to crack sooner rather than later. I would like to add that the barking and biting is generally more towards me than my wife, i don't know if that makes any difference but thought it was worth mentioning. Maddies routine is generally the following, however is does alter because i work shifts so some days I'm at home during the day and at work in the afternoon/evenings and then some days i'm off all day, my wife works Tues-friday 8-6 there is obviously times when i'm at work on a weekday during the day where maddie will be at home alone, even when this is the case my wife will come home from work at Lunch time to let her out and spend some time with her before i return mid afternoon. Maddie's routine: 06:30/07:00 - we get up and come downstairs, Maddie goes out to toilet and will then be fed. 07:30 ish - Morning walk Back door to the garden will be open throughout the day Afternoon walk usually 16:00/17:00 Evening Feed will be about 18:30/19:00 Few mental stimulation games/training throughout the evening like puzzles, puzzle balls and training. Let out to go to the toilet at 21:30 then to bed. Look forward to hearing from you!
Hi I am new myself Our pup is only 4 months so I can’t answer all your questions Maddie is gorgeous - How Long is Maddie having accidents ? Would she have kidney infection? What kinda raw food diet are you thinking of giving Maddie? When we went to look at Daisy the breeder recommended feeding her 3 times day she said to give a small bit of raw mince once a day she said it’s good for their bones
Thank you for your reply. Maddie only has these accidents when new people turn up and make a fuss of her. She doesn't have accidents other than these excited accidents. Yesterday my Nan came round, when she walked through the front door and said Hello to Maddie, Maddie wee'd then again after i'd let her calmed down and my Nan stroked her again! It was a total of 7 times just when my Nan stroked her! I believe the raw food is called Natural instinct. The mince idea sounds good. Maddie has only recently gone to 2 meals. Should she be on 3 still?
