Came across this fantastic site whilst googling puppy related things! We are a family of 5 (3 boys aged 9, 7 and 3 years), plus me and hubby. We have decided that the time is right to buy our chocolate lab! We are all really excited, but also quite nervous! The boys obviously have no idea about the work involved, but husband and I are realistic, and we want to get it all right and not get into bad training/behaviour habits that will be hard to break! She will be going to work with my husband the 3 days a week that I work, so I'm thinking we'll have a crate in his office, as well as at home, so that she can have her own space. I grew up with an adorable golden lab, but looking back she wasn't really properly trained by my parents, would get super excited around people and other dogs, and was a bit of a handful which is ok when she was a puppy, but not so much as a 10 year old! So, my first question is - do most people join puppy training classes, or just buy the books and do it themselves? The Gwen Bailey book has good reviews on Amazon - is this the book to get? Timings work out that we will be ready to bring our puppy home mid December (not ideal I know, and some breeders have already said we may struggle to get a puppy at this time of year), but that's the way it is! I will just be keeping my eye on Kennel Club website (and Champ Dogs?) - any other recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Re: New member Welcome to the forum. You'll find a lot of useful information about choosing and training puppies on Pippas website, and some really experienced people on this forum. We've taken all our dogs to training classes. In most cases we found them very useful for training. There are one or two instructors who we felt were unsatisfactory, but in the main we've had very positive experiences. An important, but often neglected, aspect of training classes is that they help to "socialise" your puppy with lots of other dogs. We brought Holly home in December, hence her festive name. It worked out very well because we were able to stretch out the Christmas holidays and be with her continuously for her first 2 weeks. I'm sure that it helped her to settle in to her new home. Good luck with the puppy hunt, and I hope that you find your perfect companion.
Re: New member Hi and welcome I would highly recommend 'The Happy Puppy' book by our own Pippa Mattinson to start with. It has so much advice relating to looking for a pup, preparing for pup to come home, to when pup is home and some training. I have Harley who is just over 1 year old I don't know how I ever managed without a dog
Re: New member Welcome! Glad you stumbled upon the website - the info on the site and support in the forum are both fabulous. I have read a few of the New Puppy books and would recommend Pippa's Happy Puppy Handbook above all else to get you started. The boys will need at least as much training as your new puppy! Very best of luck for your puppy search. Jac and Lilly (1st dog, now 4 year old black girl)
Re: New member Welcome to the Forum,you are right,it is a fantastic place and you will get a lot of help and advice. I have Dexter a yellow boy and he's nearly 2... He's our first dog and we live on Dubai Best wishes Angela x
Re: New member Welcome. I did both read a couple of books and joined a puppy class, as the puppy class was good for socialisation. Kids were welcome at the puppy class I went to so if the one you choose also does that your kids could be involved in the training also. A vets close to me also had a puppy socialisation class specifically for puppies that were not fully vaccinated, that can help with getting pup socialised until he/she can go out for walks.
Re: New member Hi and welcome! Pippa's Happy Puppy book is amazing - everyone should have it! There's loads of useful info on here and everyone has tons of great tips. Our choc lab Winnie is 16 weeks old today. She's brilliant even though she's a real handful!! Good luck with your puppy search.
Re: New member Yep, as the others have said Pippa's Happy Puppy Handbook is a very good read! I have also got the Gwen Bailey ones you are talking about - in fact I've got all three; the perfect puppy, how to train a super pup and how to train a super dog. If you are thinking of buying one of those then I would go for the super pup one as the others are just really similar and repeat the other books. Good luck choosing your puppy! I think you will find a lot of litters ready to go around December time as breeders will cash in on the Christmas present market, but I'm sure you will have done your research and choose a good breeder.
Re: New member Thank you for your responses! I have ordered Pippa's book too, so thank you for the recommendation! I hope we do manage to bring a puppy home in December - between my husband and I will will have over 3 weeks at home, which I think will give our puppy a really good introduction to our family, and give us time to focus on her! I love the idea of my older boys coming to puppy training classes with my husband or me! Maybe it will also improve my children's behaviour!! Can I ask what kind of beds your puppies have - the dog we had when I was a child ate through most fabric ones, and ended up in a plastic one, with blankets. Is it a waste to buy a fabric one? Will it be chewed? Or is there a magic way to prevent this? Thank you
Re: New member A warm welcome from me Helen, Hattie 6 years and our rescue Charlie 3 years. I hope you enjoy the forum xx
Re: New member Welcome!! If you read The Happy Puppy Handbook you will be well prepared Some puppies chew like demons while others don't (they are in the minority!) but you can try starting out with a soft bed and see how you go. Choose something inexpensive that you can throw in the washing machine
Re: New member Hello! Welcome! I both bought books and went to puppy school - twice. To be honest, we didn't get much out of puppy school (he was very young and very distracted) but it was good socialisation for him. My boy was a dreadful chewer, but very thankfully has recently showed signs of growing out of it (apart from isolated events now - like nicked batteries last week ). He has never chewed beds though. Very odd. I think he likes hard things to chew. He chewed a memory foam crate mattress once but that was it. So it just depends on the pup I think.
Re: New member I had a 'mattress type' in the first instance with Penny but she chewed a hole in it and pulled the stuffing out so we avoided stuffed beds for a long time. The best thing I found, certainly whilst she was a puppy and teething, was a peice of vet bed with a couple of fleece blankets on top. Easily washable in the case of accidents, and whilst not 100% chew proof that sort of material does seem to deter a lot of dogs from having a nibble. Now she's grown up a bit I use a duvet type bed that my local dogs home make and sell to raise money for them - they're really good and probably quite easy to make at home! Get an old duvet and cut in half, then stitch inside a duvet cover, as easy as that but they look really smart and you can make them in all sorts of colours and sizes!
Re: New member Hi and welcome to the forum from me and our 10 month old chocolate lab Benson We brought our pup home on Boxing day,and have found that he was able to take more exercise as the days got longer which is useful, as he is sooo full of energy, and rather appreciate having longer summer days in his early months. Beds? Well we have to use a couple of large pieces of vet bed which is placed in his crate at night, he would, and still would chew anything and no bed would last 5 minutes!
Re: New member Hello from me and my two 12 week old black lab boys Jack & Barney who are full of fun and mischief and i absolutely adore them Lou
Re: New member Thank you all for the welcome and much appreciated advice! I will be back with more questions I'm certain!
Re: New member Oops sorry, must have missed this. Senior moment ;D Warm welcome from me and meg my 14 year old yellow lab.
