Hello everyone, I'm thrilled to have discovered this forum as I'm the proud new mom of two adorable lab puppies. Although having just read an article about all the reasons you shouldn't get two litter mates I'm a bit concerned I've bitten off more than I can chew. But only time will tell I suppose. I have a quick question about their daily schedule (the first of many I'm sure!). The pups are almost nine weeks old, and the breeder reported that they are basically house trained. We brought them home late this afternoon, and have a large contained garden, so spent most of the evening outside with them. They had dinner, played and explored, wee'd and poo'd, and at around 9:00pm, when they had basically not slept since 4:00pm and were beginning to behave like overtired toddlers, we took them out for a final wee, then put them to bed. There was some minimal crying, which is to be expected, but they have since settled. They are in a small scullery off my kitchen. I've put down newspaper away from their sleeping mat, but I'm wondering if I should wake them to wee before I go to bed? I'm not sure I'll hear them if they whine in the night, but on the other hand I don't want them to think it's playtime in the middle of the night.
Hello and welcome to the forum. I have litter mates, too, although I brought them home at separate times (8 weeks for Willow and 14 weeks for Shadow). My biggest piece of advice is to spend as much time one-on-one with them as possible. I did at least one walk a day individually and we separated them a lot so they didn't get too dependent on one another. It's a huge amount of work, so you'll need a good sense of humour and oodles of patience! I also have a nine-week old puppy, who is definitely not house-trained! I wake my puppy before I go to bed for her to have a final empty. Just don't engage with any play, don't talk to them other than giving them your cue to toilet, telling them "good" when done and "good night" when you put them back in their bed. Still, don't be concerned if there are puddles in the morning - my pup isn't clean through the night yet although getting better every night.
I always put Remington out before bed to peep, He has been sleeping thru the night since he was 10 weeks old, the first 2 weeks was rough, due to he was a sick little man, but all is good now, He goes to sleep around 10:00 /10:30 pm and sleeps until 7am, He is in a crate and has never peeped or pooped in it. He was in the crate for 6 hours on Christmas and held it, such a good boy Good luck with you 2 little ones
Two girls, one chocolate and one black. Pictures will come. We were so busy fussing over them today I didn't take any .
Hi and welcome from me and my boy Bailey. My boy Bailey is 10 months old and an only pup. From 8 weeks old we took him out for a final wee and poo just before we went to bed and he then went through the night and slept well (in a crate at the side of our bed). We still have this routine now, although he has now taken an aversion to using our back garden as his toilet so we have to walk him down the road to a grass area where he does his last wee and poo for the night - not a problem when I'm not working but as I run a rugby club some nights I don't get home until nearly 3am, its a pain to walk him down the road then! Take lots of photos when they are small as they loose that puppy look so quickly, and don't forget to share them on here, we all love pictures of puppies! Good luck
Oh yes - toilet before bed! At about 12 weeks they will have a wide awake time after their evening meal - crazy play! I've had five pups so far and all have followed this pattern. Mollie is 13 weeks now and this is her evening schedule - 4pm - small meal and snooze to 8pm. The 4pm meal is being cut out next week, she'll be down to three meals a day then. 8pm meal, toilet and play until 9pm 9pm settle time, in the front room with us - I am currently training this with a puppy bed by my sofa and chews/treats, pup on lead. Tatze (3 years old) lies on the sofa with me, OH sits on the floor with puppy. 10pm toilet and bed time.
That's so interesting. I find that by the end of the day the puppies are exhausted! I've been feeding them at roughly 6:00am and 12:30pm, with whatever they don't eat used as treats in between for basic training. My kids are on school holidays (we're in South Africa) so we are outside with them for most of the afternoon, and even when they sleep it's not that deeply, so by 6:30pm they are tired and hungry. I've been feeding them at 6:30pm, taking them out at 6:45pm-7:15pm to toilet but they are so tired they do what they need to do and just want to go to sleep. I've been waking them at midnight to go out again, and then it's back to bed until 5:00am when the sun's up. Thankfully I have a small enclosed yard into which they can go out and play until a more civilized hour .
Yes Cherry - that will change things. Here it goes dark at 4pm and sunrise is 8am - and there is very little outside play - too rainy and cold!
