Hi everyone So we're bringing our first ever little lab puppy home on the 7th October and am hugely excited/nervous. Looking back is there anything that you wish you'd known before you brought your pup home or that you found massively helpful in the early months? Thanks in advance Vicki
It all comes right in the end. So try not to worry and just enjoy them because they grow up so fast ❤️
Hi and welcome to the forum from the Beanwood gang. How exciting! A new puppy on the way. It is really good you are doing some research now before puppy arrives. The first thing I would recommend is to get some sleep before the puppy comes home, as puppies can find it difficult to settle, especially during the first few nights. Being separated from mum and siblings is very traumatic for a wee pup, actually can be traumatic all round! Some good advice here: thelabradorsite.com/8-week-old-puppy Have a look too at the kikopup channel on youtube. I like the focus on behaviours and cues that are useful life skills going forward with your puppy. Helping puppy to be calm, comfortable to be left alone. crate training... etc....have a look around her channel, some really helpful soundbites in there Finally, find a good puppy class. Examples are IMDT accredited, APDT, ABTC to name a few. These are trainers who use positive reinforcement methods only, and tend to be well-structured classes. Worth having a chat with them first, to get a feel for how their classes are run. find-a-qualified-imdt-trainer Good luck and do keep us posted!
Hi Vicki how exciting for you. My pup is 7 months now and i would just like to say that all the madness off having a puppy does settle really soon. When your tired and their sharp little teeth bite you or your furniture for the hundredth time you may despair or even shed a tear or two but my advice is stay calm and remember in no time at all you'll have a wonderful, much loved ,well behaved dog that you'll adore. Good luck
How exciting! Welcome to the forum You've been given some great advice so far, but you might also like to check out the Puppies section of The Labrador Site. There are lots of great FAQs and helpful tips there.
Get a good selection of toys, plenty of things for your puppy to chew on. 2 sets of bedding is a good idea too. Enjoy your pup!
This is a very useful series of short articles with linked videos. Very practical and helpful advice. https://eileenanddogs.com/life-lessons-puppy/
Funny you should say this, she has a pouffe full of toys and dare I say FOUR beds (I had a discount voucher for pets at home and figured she would chew at least two (the other two are safely away in the loft for now)) Proper pampered pooch lol x
Thank you, I have been reading everything I can find so far as thinking I may not have the time and energy once she's here x
Thankyou I'll definitely try and keep this in mind when I get to that point which I have no doubt I probably will on several occasions I am looking forward to the challenge though and can t wait for many years and happy times with her x
Hi I'm very lucky in that I have a trainer that successfully trained all of my mum's previous dogs, one of which was a cruelty case so loads of issues and one that was very dog reactive. I am looking forward to training with her Thanks for the luck I think I'll need it at times x
With regard the sleep issue I think I'm going to go with having her in our room for the first few nights while she settles then move her to the kitchen once she's a bit more settled so hopefully this eases the transition a bit for her Keep your fingers crossed for us and I'm sure we'll be back for advice at some point soon x
how exciting!! Personally from experience I wouldn't start with the puppy in the bedroom. I crated mine in the kitchen and yes, it did involve me going downstairs quite a lot the first few nights, even sleeping next to the crate for a few hours but by night 3 he was much better and only whimpered for a wee.
I just followed advice from Pippa's book and others I'd read and it worked perfectly,had her in the bedroom for four days then moved to crate downstairs and she immediately slept through from about 10pm till we get her up, this we have been moving later and is now on 8am. Amazing for a pup her age
