Hello! I am a proud new owner of a little lab called Marley. He is 9 weeks old and a sweetie. However, I am a new dog and Lab owner. How am i supposed to get anything done? I have a 3 year old who loves him too however when I try to do housework e.t.c and crate him, he cries and whines. I feel awful having to crate/pen him all the time. Is this normal? Should i be keeping him around me more?
Hi there, Congratulations on the arrival of Marley! You might find the following article helpful: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/crate-training-your-labrador-puppy/
Hi and welcome to the forum form me and my two, Willow and Shadow, who will be 2 in a few days. Basically, you don't get anything done when you have a young puppy! Your housework will go by the wayside and you won't be showering as much as you'd like! It's best not to be crating him all the time at the moment - because you want him to associate his crate with being an amazing place to be, which takes some time training. If he gets negative associations with it, then you could struggle to get him in there, and it's possible that at some point you'll need him to be crated. So, having a pup that's happy in his crate is important. The article Lucy posted should help. On the other hand, until he's crate trained, you do still need to have him safe and "away" at times. So I'd consider using a pen or baby gates for when you really need to get stuff done, along with kongs. If you get him obsessed with stuffed kongs at this age, you'll be able to pop him away to be quiet for twenty minutes while you get things done. You might also like other puzzle games where he has to work out how to get the food, and use these for feeding him his meals, rather than just giving it to him "for free" in a bowl. Most Labs love learning and working things out, so things like the Kong Wobbler are so much more fun for getting fed than a boring bowl. It'll take him more time to eat, and will tire his mind out, so he's more likely to want to settle down afterwards. Puppies do sleep a lot, so try to fit your chores in around his naps. He will get better as he gets older; they're puppies for the shortest of times, so enjoy the bits you can and, for the rest, just keep saying "this will pass" Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
Hello thank you so much for your response. I have a baby gate up on the kitchen so i do try to put him in there when im trying to get things done with my youngest daughter. It's hard trying to juggle everything but will just take time to adjust as i have just added another toddler into the mix. I will try the frozen Kong adn get a Kong Wobbler and give it a go!
If he's not had kongs yet, don't start off with them frozen - that can take some time for them to "get". Start off by stuffing it full of really tasty treats - tinned sardines, roast chicken and rice, beef mince, tuna, cheese spread smeared on the inside, peanut butter similarly... whatever floats his boat. Once he's become addicted to them, you can start freezing them so they take longer to eat, and you can reduce the value of whatever is inside. These days, mine generally have either raw mince or soaked kibble with a tin of sardines mashed up - one small tin of sardines and enough kibble to fill 8 medium and 8 large kongs.
Hi there and congratulations on your puppy! We started of with kongs filled with tempting healthy things. At first just a few pieces of kibble then topped with good quality wet food, bob and lush is a good one, and worked well as our latest pup had a bit of a sensitive tum. After a few weeks we started to freeze them. In the early days we also used rice bones and vegetable hedgehogs (from pets at home sold loose) All their treats were given in the crate with the door open, and no pressure to stay in. Toys were also left in the crate. This really helped to start of the process of being happy in the crate. Crate training does take time and patience but well worth it, especially with very young children as it offers the dog somewhere safe and quiet to go too.
Hello and welcome to you and Marley from me and my 20 month old choccie girl Mabel. Excellent advice from @snowbunny so I don't really have anything extra to add except for Mabel is now a Kong addict. I have about 6 all with different frozen treats in them she also has her 5 o'clock meal of frozen watered kibble every night. It keeps her occupied for an hour. Looking forward to a few puppy photos of Marley
I cannot recommend the article Lucy linked to enough - it really works, if you build it up slowly. But @snowbunny is right, your housework/personal grooming gets forgotten during the early weeks, especially with a toddler thrown in the mix! It wasn't until 12 weeks that I was able to start getting back into my usual housework routine. If you're managing to balance a puppy and a 3 year old then hats off to you good lady.
Thank you everyone! I am so glad that i found this forum. It is amazing. Today has been a good day so far. He is such a happy little guy! I love him heaps already!
Lovely Now, to put my serious hat on for a moment, I have to bring to your attention that you're in serious breach of the forum rules***, which clearly state that members must must pictures of their dogs/puppies within 24 hours of joining. This is a complete lie, we just want puppy pictures
Kongs are good to give you a little time Soak some food, put it in the Kong and freeze. They are good for big and little puppies.
Personally I don't give puppies anything except kibble as treats for the first 6 weeks. Their tums can easily react to new food and they are so new to the world food is a big treat anyway. Then I introduce one 'extra' possible treat a week and see how it goes tummy wise. That way we keep to nice firm poos all through.
Puppies love routine. It really helps them knowing when to expect things. So, you could write yourself a routine for the puppy that involves a certain amount of downtime with kongs and then snooze time. I find this really helpful, it stops me thinking and worrying all day about whether puppy has been in the crate for too long and so on. Because I've worked it all out in advance, if my puppy complains (which she doesn't much at all, she is really pretty good) I just ignore her because I know she's had her training time, walk time, play time, toilet break, and cuddle and so on - and now she just has to settle down and that's that.
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and fox red girl, Harley. Nothing to add except take lots of photos as the grow sooooo quickly
I still use Edsel as an excuse for dirty floors, undone laundry, dishes in the sink and hair up in knot with no make up! And he's 2 1/2 years! Works fine for me!
It is like having a new baby, nothing gets done. But things improve far faster than with a new baby!! I have 2 small children and was tearing my hair out for the first little while, but things have improved massively! As other people say, crate training and Kongs are essential. The other stuff falls in to place!
