Hello, We're Barbara and Ben and our new (and first) black lab puppy Riley is joining us in 3 more weeks. Can't wait for him to get here but am slightly nervous too. I've been scouring your new site and the gundog site too for lots of tips and advice Barbara
Re: Hello Hi there Barbara and welcome to the forum. Look forward to hearing about Riley's adventures Do you know if he is from working or show lines? Pippa
Re: Hello I hope this works, we brought Riley home yesterday and he's currently snoring under the table!
Re: Hello Hi there Barbara To work, the code for your photo needs to be one that ends in .jpg If you can't get at the correct code through flickr you can email me the photo and I will put it up for you. Just send me a PM Pippa
Flickr problem solved I seem to have puzzled out the mysteries of posting photos from Flickr. It isnt terribly clear at first, but I have put up a post describing the steps in detail here http://thelabradorsite.com/forums/index.php?topic=124.0 Hope that helps
Re: Hello I think I may have finally succeeded ! This is our boy and he went to his first puppy class last night where he decided he was top dog at 9 weeks old and the 12 week old terriers that were there weren't entirely pleased but he just sat on them til they gave up. In between playing and training he mostly slept!! I'd be very interested on everyone's opinion on how long he should be able to last at night without going to the loo. He's got to go and stay with friends while we're on holiday in a few weeks and it would be great to get him to go overnight for as long as possible. We're keeping him in a crate and at the moment he's going from midnight til 5:45 which I'm hoping to stretch out to 6am over the next couple of nights. We've only had a few accidents through the day and I think that's mostly because another dog marked in the dining room while we weren't looking and I may not have got rid of the smell entirely. Mostly he's pretty happy going outside.
Re: Hello Oh yes and I meant to post about where Riley was from.... his dad is Apollo from Mullenscote Gundogs and his mum is a local dog who's also from working lines and picks up regularly.
Re: Hello Hello! welcome to the gang - little Riley looks just gorgeous! A bit surprised they let him into a class at 9 weeks but hey Terriers do need sitting on from time to time! Carole
Re: Hello Thanks for sharing your photo, he is an adorable little chap! It is very difficult to generalise about how long a pup should be able to last at night because puppies vary so widely, but at just nine weeks he is doing pretty well to go nearly six hours. You may be able to stretch this to 6 and a half or even 7 hours over the next four weeks or so, but it is better to go more slowly than to risk starting a ‘bed wetting’ habit. Good luck! Pippa
Re: Hello thanks for the insight Pippa, I'm keen to avoid forcing him to cry to be let out let alone make him wet his bed so it's good to get an idea of how quickly to stretch his abilities
Re: Hello What a gorgeous puppy - congratulations! We treated extending the crate overnight the same way we later extended babies' naps and feeds! That is to say, an extra 5-10 minutes - then stick with that new length for a few days, before adding another 5. That way they learn to cope at each stage before you make it harder. Hope that helps Sam.
Re: Hello A link to some more recent pictures of Riley......one of them reminds me of your dogs ears Pippa Apologies for the dodgy photos of me, the husband and the bump ! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150876761713289.515357.666568288&type=1&l=b5101c20d1
Re: Hello he has grown fast, I think he still looks like a youth though and my in-laws dog makes him look very puppy like still - bless!!
