First I would like to say thankyou to everyone for such a wealth of information and knowledge here on this forum, I have learnt so much and continue to do so (daily). We finally got our 8 week black Lab (Solar) 3 days ago and it's been awesome ride so far, responding to her name well plus sitting better than I ever expected with lure+cue sit+bum touchdown+click+treat, and I hate to sound a smarty pants but we have 1 wee accident so far but I'm not working atm so keeping a very close eye has been a pleasure and easy, im sure I'll get caught out soon enough though . I do have a question or 2 though about sleeping. The very 1st night I slept downstairs with her (crated) and it went well as can be expected since then we have tried crate downstairs while we sleep upstairs and it didn't go to well at all really, I guess missing 7 litter mates and mum I don't blame her really , so, after 2 nights of broken sleep last night we had the crate in our bedroom (made sure she had done her business before taking her up) and she went from 9:30pm to 6am straight through which I felt was nothing short of amazing !!!. My questions are (1) is it a bad thing to do to make this arrangement permanent as we don't mind at all she is in our room (in fact I love it) all the snorking and snufferling . (2) she will be crated until we can trust her with the run of downstairs but is it the case where EVERY sleep has to be in the crate or can some day sleeps just be on the rug?. Of course night time sleeps will always be crated. Thanks for your time and I'll fire some pictures up shortly of our little beaut !.
Hi Daniel! Welcome to the forum, congratulations on your new pup, I love her name! It's common to keep a new puppy in your room for more than a night when they first arrive home - many need a week or two to feel comfortable and at home enough to sleep downstairs alone. And I certainly know several dog owners who continued to let their dog share their room indefinitely! I can't pretend to know all the pros and cons of this though - hopefully someone wiser will be along soon I think puppies are probably a bit like babies and they just crash out where they crash out. As long as everyone in the house (especially children if you have any living with you or visiting) knows to let her be while she's sleeping and not to disturb or wake her - a puppy who's just been jolted out of a nap is more likely to bite or scratch because they're startled and disorientated. I'm looking forward to seeing those photos!
Hi Sarah, Thanks for the reply I've got afew mobile snaps but do plan on getting a Dslr sesh soon . Thanks for the day sleep in info, I just didn't know if I should keep reinforcing the crate, that said in the day now she trots in the crate herself 7/10 times, maybe because she really has got the hang of long sleeps in our room at night.
Hi Daniel, Welcome to a most awesome site on Labradors! We have two dogs, a golden retriever @ 4.5 years and a yellow lab @ just over 2 years. We have crated both boys in our room for nights when they were pups ( up to 22 months in case of t.he Lab), and in living room crates for day time quiet time or naps. The bedroom crates are long gone, though both boys have their own beds in our room. We keep one crate in the living room, in case either boy wants some quiet time, or if the young lab get’s too excited as the doorbell rings or guests arrive. Enjoy the new addition to your family. They bring joy to the soul, don’t they?
Hi Sarge Brown, Yes they do bring alot of joy to the family . Thanks for your experience with the sleep info great reference !. The only real problem we are facing at the mo is J.C.B labrador she does love a dig, and what kinda made things worse we re-turfed the grass about 2 weeks before we got solar home and I can almost see the glee in her face when she grabs the edge strip and drags it up abit like un-doing a zip on a coat hehe. I hope the fascination with the lawn will fade in time, we have what feels like all the toys under the sun and my interaction with her but I suppose nothing compares to the cool dirt / grass mix !, lol. Im not working at the mo so can give her pretty much my full attention day and night but it does feel i do not come close to compare to the "joy" the lawn gives Solar. If anyone has an ideas for lab excavators i would love to hear it , or is it just the clique "time is a great healer (dog age)" for the lawn.
Aw man! How cute! All our dogs sleep in our room on dog beds, pups are crated till I am sure they are housetrained, and then the crate is left open and all the dogs take turns sleeping in it.
Thanks and yeah I think that's the route we are going to take aswell . God i feel blessed Solar is doing perfect so far in all aspects the only thing that is a wind up is her infatuation with our grass (nowhere else) just ours, but if that's the only minus point I'll take that and run . Again thanks for your reply.
Bites chunks of it out, I think she hears or sees ants but don't know for sure. I'll get some pics up of the grass, also I think she is quite the artist a Jackson pollock if you will , swear blind she is creating a world map with urine stained grass lol.
By the way, just in case anyone's interested. My cousin George has a bio bubble terrarium for sale. If anyone's interested, feel free to PM me.
