We have had our black lab puppy for 1 week now. She is 16 weeks old and the breeder has kept her outside in a barn so no interaction with humans, other animals nor indoor life. We have seen Mum, Dad & Grandma all lovely and pedigree ok. He uses them on the farm and as gun dogs. She has been quite poorly last weekend with chronic diarrhoea and had to see the emergency vet on Sunday but she is picking up nicely now. We are feverishly trying to introduce her to every kind of environment possible in the short window we have but struggling in toileting please help with tips. Annmarie
Hi there, fairly new puppy owner myself but you’re definitely in the right place, plenty advice on here! It may be difficult now if she has been used to something else but crate training has been a godsend for us, really easy for toilet training and so many other things. Other than that, just spending time where you want her to go, and then lots and lots of praise when she does!
Hi you're girl has got so much to get used to,everything in her little world had completely changed so it may take her a little longer to learn toilet rules,but just keep taking her to where you want her to pottyand reward her when she does,with patience and time she will eventually catch on.
Hi there and welcome... At now 16 weeks, your pup is leaving the socialisation period already. The majority of pups are actually leaving it at 12 weeks, but if pups have had an optimal upbringing with lots of enrichment research shows this does extend it to 16 weeks. As this wasn't her(!), she is probably well out of it by this point. And, in addition, she obviously had a very poor start it sounds like... So you need to approach things carefully with her... Your approach with your puppy should be different to someone taking on an 8 week old pup. There is no urgent rush, since you are outside the socialisation period. Bombarding her with loads of new experiences and new stuff, can actually backfire and instead of 'socialising', you just 'sensitise' her... It can all be very overwhelming. Instead, I would very much go at her pace and watch her very closely when you are out with her. Allow her to retreat from things she is scared of, pick her up if that helps her feel safer.... I would really recommend Grisha Stewart's online course for puppies, since Grisha developed BAT which is a protocol for helping dogs which are afraid. Her puppy course - whilst still a regular puppy course - therefore is strongly influenced by this approach and will help you learn to protect her and empower her so she grows up as confident as she can. You can find it online here and follow it at your own pace: https://grishastewart.com/empowered-puppy-raising/?s2-ssl=yes I know that the whole world's most pressing issue may seem to be about toilet training at the moment, but really this is not the case - toilet training will be a distant and forgotten memory soon, whereas your pup's personality for the rest of her life, definitely won't be.... However, to help with toilet training you'll need crate training and close supervision with a puppy house line on... Good luck.
