Happy new year everyone...... I am currently on the search for a Labradour puppy.... This is going to be extreamly challenging for me as I live alone & work. My descision to get a puppy came after my 3 year old rescue Roti X (which I had since mid-Sept & as I work decided this was the most practical sendsible option) decided to attack my BF on Christmas day! It was a horrific and quite a traumatic experience for all concerened tbh. So I decided I would like a pup, whom I can control his/her socialisation (so I know its done right!) & mould to be a well adjusted/trained dog.... and I would also like to dabble in agility...Oh and mayby the BF will take him/her on the occasional shoot. So after deciding on a "foxred" "american/field/working" type I discovered that these are few and far between! Having been browsing through Pipa's extensive site I am tempted not to worry about the colour so much as more the breeder (but I insist on an "american/field/working" type), although I must say Choc Labs do look lovely too! So my search has just begon..... I do have a questin though..... My dog will be in a kennel in the garden with an ample run during the daytine and will sleep in the house in the nights. Has anyone any advice/tips on how to go about training this.... Do I start with training inside so that my puppy is ok with my leaving the house (obviously small steps minutes at a time) and once this has been extablished then transfer the behaviour over to the outside kennel? Kind regards Anita
Hi Anita, and welcome to the site. There's a guide on the Happy Puppy Site that might help you with finding your puppy. I have kenneled dogs outdoors in the past - but my dogs spent much of the day out and about with me. If you are out at work for much of the day, kenneling is better than shutting a dog in a small crate all day - which sadly is not uncommon, but it is not a straightforward or quick solution. Nor is it ideal for the dog. The biggest problem from your point of view, with kenneling a single dog is likely to be noise. Both from loneliness, and barking at passers by. The latter can be avoided if you can create a visual and fairly sound proof barrier between your kennel run and activity outside your property. But loneliness is a much tougher one to overcome. If you decide to go ahead, it's best to raise the puppy indoors for the first five or six months for house training and socialization then transition to outdoors. Starting by simply feeding the puppy their meals in the kennel, then increasing the time they spend there very gradually over the space of a month or so. Don't forget that a dog that barks or howls in a kennel is more likely to disturb your neighbors than a dog that does this indoors, and using a kennel won't change the fact that your dog needs company during the day. So you'll still need someone to come in and take them out at least once while you are at work. There is also a much higher risk of your dog being stolen from an outdoor kennel, especially in remote areas. Do you have close neighbors, and if not how secure is your yard or garden? If you are in the UK you'll definitely need some kind of video surveillance around your kennel as gundog thefts are common here.
