Hi All, We'll be getting a yellow lab puppy in a few weeks and we're trying to get everything set up so that when she gets home we'll be as ready as we can be. She'll be 9 weeks old when we pick her up. The first week home, I'll be off from work and trying to get her acclimated to her new space. We have a crate with a bed and I'm not sure where the best place for it will be. Does anyone keep the crate in their bedroom or should a puppy sleep in another room, closer to the back door (for housebreaking)? My wife will be home for the summer, so we'll have about 10 continuous weeks of initial supervision, housebreaking and training before we are both back to work. I'm able to get home for lunch every day, so we shouldn't have to leave her for longer than 4 hours at a time by the time she is 5 months old. Also, at what age can the puppy be introduced to the pool/swimming? We will be getting a child safety fence so she can spend time in the backyard, but controlling access to the pool. We'll have company coming to swim in the pool 2 weeks after we get her and I'm guessing 11 weeks old is too young for this. Thanks for any info!
Hiya! Welcome to the board! I currently have a 9 week old yellow lab chewing on my slipper (which is still attached to my foot ) Swimming part, I’m very paranoid so I wouldn’t allow it until the second jabs are done... just not worth the risk personally. As for sleeping, we put the crate where it was going to live and just got on with it. One week later and I have a pup whose very happy in their crate and sleeping all night. Just remember to cover it to make it cozy. One extra piece of advice... they chew. A lot. Like a huge amount. Be prepared!
Thanks Leanne82! Good points about her immunizations and also covering the crate! Does anyone use a sound conditioner for their pet to help them sleep? Also, is it difficult to try to get them to go potty in a particular part of the yard? We were thinking of making a cordoned off place for her next to the shed but we're not sure how feasible it is to train her to go there and only there.
The first thing you should do that pays dividends regarding where to pee is as soon as you arrive home from the breeder, pick up your puppy and carry it to the spot you select as the potty area and place them on the ground and stay there till they wee. Then for the next several days make sure you carry them to the same spot and stay there until they go again. This helps immensely and can debatably reduce house training times and frustrations. Good luck and enjoy the process. Puppies can be so overwhelming that you forget to enjoy them.
If it is a typical swimming pool, your pup, or even a full grown dog, may not be able to get out of it on their own. If that is the case you really need to be sure they can't get in, if you aren't around.
This 1000 times over. We've had our little guy for nearly 6 weeks now. He's haaaaaard work and I've caught myself wishing his puppyhood away. You do need to remember to take a step back from the madness and enjoy it.
Thanks guys! I have been reading some of the puppy experience stories here and am trying to brace myself for the coming storm. It won't be easy, and I will certainly miss my peace and quiet, the ability to sleep or nap whenever I want, and a clean house with no dog hair. Our last dog was an american yellow lab that we adopted as a puppy more than 20 years ago. She was pretty high strung, had many health issues (hip displaysia, EIC, allergies, cancer towards the end) and I forgot how rough it was in the beginning. However, she did mature into a really great companion and was the love of our lives. We lost her about 8 years ago at the age of 13.5. We did a lot of research on reputable breeders and our new puppy comes from grand championship show lines, and although this doesn't guarantee that the pups in the litter will be perfectly healthy, we hope that she will be more robust than our first one. We will only introduce her to the pool while closely supervised and hopefully we can give her a lot of exercise over the summer once she is ready to try swimming. I think I'm going to savor the remaining 2 weeks of quiet and freedom, and then we'll try our very best to raise the pup with the love, security, training, routine and guidance she needs to become the best she can be.
She is very cute They are hard work, but so worth it. Once she has had her immunisations, I would allow her to explore the poolwhen she’s ready if someone is in it and can help her back out. My girl fell in a pond at 13 weeks old and stayed away from water until she was over 6 months old and it took a while before she went in alone. Nowadays I can’t keep her out of water!
Well, we picked up our Bella on Saturday and she seems to be adjusting well so far. She is definitely beginning to bond with us as we continue with the housebreaking. We decided not to crate train this first week since she still seems a bit fearful but we have a small penned space and I had been sleeping next to her on a blow up mattress to keep an eye on her and let her out to go frequently. She received her second round of shots yesterday and the stool sample came back fine...so far, so good. Those little teeth though...sheesh! We asked the vet about swimming and she suggested waiting until 16 weeks. This seems a bit late to me as the pup has already shown some interest in the pool. The vet is not a dog owner, so I’m not sure if this is correct since the summer will be mostly over if we have to wait that long and this would be great exercise for her as well. I think we should get a second opinion. Off to clean up the backyard and add more band-aids to my ankles...
Bella is gorgeous, the hard puppy times will soon pass and it will be soooo worth all the effort and hard work. My girl is 16 weeks old now and I've despaired at times but she is learning and becoming easier ever day. Have fun ☺
Bella is 4 months old now...how the time flies by! She is about 30 pounds now and has started to test out the pool. Here is a recent photo:
That's a stunning photo! It's not loading in the forum for me unfortunately, I had to go to cubeupload to view it. Just wondering if it's because it loads very slowly. Can anyone else see it directly on the forum?
Hmmm...I think their site is having problems. Here she is on a different hosting site http://img134.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=03119_6650B7F4_84B4_47A0_9998_6C8091D0BADB_122_554lo.jpeg
