Any one else got a puppy? little advice maybe

[Kagez28]

me and my girlfriend adopted a 8 wk old black lab a couple of weeks ago, and i never realized how much work it actually is. it's just me and her, and a roommate(who is never home) in a house, and both of us work and go to school. we keep him in a crate when none of us are home, which is usually only about 4-5 hours at most. we have have him pretty much housebroken, with only a few accidents here and there, and we are working on a few commands.

i guess what i am getting at is if anyone has advice that would like to share about dealing with, teaching, living with a puppy.

heres a picture of the little guy...

[fergie]

Nice wee pup. If you already have him nearly house trained then your onto a winner. Just make sure he knows his place from the offset, never feed him before you have eaten yourself, its a good way of letting him know where he stands in the pecking order. For obedience training i would always train my pups after exercise or walks, they take more in when burnt out a wee bit other than having the distraction of being outside. Other than that the rest of it is common sense.

Good luck

[Kennyxemerson]

reward his good behavious which is pretty much an obvious idea, thats how my german shepard was trained and he is one of the most well behaved dogs ive seen, really smart too. (they are always smarter when they think theyll eat after, hahahaha)

[frankykeno]

We've had two Labs and they are wonderful dogs, extremely family and kid friendly, very loyal, excellent pets and hunting companions. They do however have a very long puppyhood/teenage stage and sort of stay goofy for a long while before settling into big black couch potatoes. Best chew thing I've ever seen in a Kong (you can also get the floating Kong for water retreival...a thing most every Lab enjoys). Kongs when thrown bounce erratically so it's great fun for a Labrador to figure out where it's target is landing (it always amazed me that my Labs could figure out the trajectory of things...except a Kong LOL). Most all Labs are dedicated retreivers and will play "fetch the ball" for hours on end. One of our Labs taught herself to toss the ball down a high set of stairs and retreive it herself when we got bored or too busy to play fetch anymore.

Probably my hands down favorite breed.

For training your pup, watch the Dog Whisperer. The man knows more about how dogs "think" than anyone I've ever seen. Labs really need to have a strong leader as they are bred to bond to humans and work for them. Give Lab lots of obedience training (they love it!) and lots of soft things to carry around. We never played tug with ours as we wanted them to stay very soft mouthed and to immediately give up anything from the mouth when requested.

Labs do shed a lot for a short haired breed so good grooming is a must with them as well as a good diet. Their coat is meant for water retrieving so it produces a lot of oils. A bad diet will result in a dusty looking Lab whose coat can no longer do it proper job (think duck like/water resistant type thing).

[Sunny1]

Too cute!! Reminds me of my lab when we got him at 8 wks back in Feb. of this yr. Although now my cute lil puppy that used to look like yours is now 8 1/2 months old and weighs 70lbs!!!

You have been given some great advice already!! If he is mostly housebroken now, you have already basically jumped one of the biggest hurdles of puppyhood . I would say to make sure that you take him on walks everyday, and allow him to meet lots of other dogs and other people. This socialization helps with them being great dogs as adults. Also work on training him a little everyday, short little 5 - 10 min sessions at a time is enough for such a young puppy. They can always learn sit, and the basics of the come command at this point, and working with him now will just make it that much easier to work with him when he gets older (and bigger!!). Just make sure that you end the training sessions on a good note. Other than that, I can't think of anything else right off hand that hasn't already been said. Also kudos to cratetraining your puppy!!! That is the single most helpful tool in housebreaking a puppy in my opinion, plus it helps them to stay out of trouble while everyone is gone!!

[Sunny1]

After reading Jo's post another thought came to mind. Labs LOVE water. Mine goes crazy when ever someone even touches the hose outside and has claimed my kids small plastic swimming pool as his own. It is so funny to see him chasing after the spray from the water hose, and he loves nothing better than to be in, around, jumping through, swimming, splashing, and whatever else he can do with water!!! He will even bring the hose to us as a "hint" when everyone is in the yard playing and he wants to play.

[stangs13]

I raised my borderr colllie puppy all by myself 2 years ago. I had school and football, and my parents just gave me advice, I did it all myself. It is VERY rewarding! It requires ALOT of patience, sleepless nights too. Good luck to you!

[Kagez28]

thanks for all the great advice. i have been tivoing "it' me or the dog", but that seems to deal with older problem dogs, not puppies. i am going to check out the dog whisperer (is it on animal planet or another channel?) and i have been reading this book "teaching new dogs old tricks". the book is very very good and helps me get an idea of what my pup is thinking when i do the things i do. thanks again for the replies.


and by the way, his name is Boozer.

[Sunny1]

It's on the National Geographic Channel. Ceasar also has a book out called "Ceasar's Way" and is releasing another book here soon (don't know the exact date) dealing with being your dog's pack leader. I have ordered his first book, but from talking with others who have read it, it seems to be very good.

[wolfy-hound]

Lots of exercise. Be consistant. If you don't want him to leap on people, then don't ever let him jump on you, even if right then you feel like it.