Puppy Advice

godihatehills

oh and despite the fact hes a pain in the arse I love him to bits and wouldnt change a thing get him used to bikes at an early age and he'll run along side for hours

Bunneh

My brother had a Staffy, big dog, very strong but quite affectionate. The issue I had with that dog is it never showed emotion in its eyes; they were just black and it was scary. First time I went there I was very unsure but stood my ground. Second time I went around she just sat on my feet and went to sleep. Sadly she was put to sleep a while ago - she started to see his wife as a subordinate and would bite her, not hard, but enough to be a worry - she'd also growl a lot. With 3 young kids in the house it would have been a matter of time before she turned.

Coming from a charity who deals with a lot of Staffie dogs I would implore anyone who has one please don't breed from them; there's already too many and they're seen as a 'fighting dog' by the scrotes - they get abandoned or just plain throw into lakes and the animal welfare people have to deal with the mess. If you have one get it neutered.

passout

We have a Black Lab. - now 18 months (Tess). Labs will eat anything. Ours liked chewing / destroying skirting board, kitchen units and stairs. It still eats (not just chews) plastic toys and shoes. My advice is don't spend any money on your house for the next year. We got a cage for ours - that really helped with house training as they don't like to soil their own bed /cage. They like going in cages too - there own space etc. The rest is basic training & common sense really. Great dogs. I also like springers.

disgruntledgoat

passout wrote:

We have a Black Lab. - now 18 months (Tess). Labs will eat anything. Ours liked chewing / destroying skirting board, kitchen units and stairs. It still eats (not just chews) plastic toys and shoes. My advice is don't spend any money on your house for the next year. We got a cage for ours - that really helped with house training as they don't like to soil their own bed /cage. They like going in cages too - there own space etc. The rest is basic training & common sense really. Great dogs. I also like springers.

Just out of interest, when you got the crate was it a full size one or did you divide it or use a smaller crate? WE just bought one for an adult lab (I'm a skinflint, what can I say) amd I'm somewhat worried that he'll just go in one corner if I don't make it smaller somehow...

Rooner

We bought a full size one and our dog never soiled it, not once. I think they really don't like going in their own area. Unless they are ill and get the squits, which happens a lot with pups, so be prepared for that!.

I did have a psycho border collie (from a farm...yes I know, my own fault), and he did a dirty protest once when we were out on the lash and back late. Nice big sloppy puppy poo that he rolled around in. Not nice to have to clean that off when you are drunk, but still, our own fault.

Cage we bought collapsed down easy enough, so it means you can still go to friends etc and take the pup with you, knowing they can't get up to too much mischief. We took ours camping, took the cage and put her in it for designated 'quiet times' so she stayed in the habit of being left alone for a while. And believe me, you will want some time off from them, as lovely and adorable as they are, man sometimes I could have just..........

jfw

i'm sure if you've been reading up about crate training you know about building up gradually.

and whether you use a crate or not - you should build up to leaving them alone pretty gradually - so they trust and know you are coming back. you can start by stopping them following you from room to room occassionally. then going out for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour and coming back.

they get to know when you pick up your keys etc - that your going - so make sure they trust you to come back.

Ben6899

I haven't read the whole thread so this might be a repost.

The most important thing for any dog, IMO, is that it knows its place in the household pecking order. And that place is last, right at the back of the queue, at the bottom of the pile.

A dog that knows that will be a much happier and more relaxed dog than one which has been pampered all its life and thinks it's the gaffer. It will relax, knowing you're in charge and that it doesn't have to worry about protecting you and yours.

So at meal times; the dog eats last, waits until you've finished. If you have to leave it home alone and it goes berserk on your return; ignore it until it calms down. There are lots of good books on this kind of thing.

I have a Jack Russell and people cannot believe how placid and well behaved he is.

awallace

I could have done with this advice 2 years ago!

My black lab is my nemesis, rival, pain in the bum, clumsy, stupid animal and i want to give him away most days..... but he is the best dog in the world. I wouldnt hange him for any other. He is so loyal, and around our 6 month old he is the most caring creature ever!

He puts a smile on our faces more than most things. Even when he steals a tissue from my pocket or we catch him with his head in his food bag trying to scoff the lot.

I always thought it was just my dog but i saw a police dog handler with a black lab last year and he was struggling too so i felt instantly better!

Ben6899

Black Labs are notoriously difficult to train... because they're not incredibly bright! They're oh so loveable though!

disgruntledgoat

Ben6899 wrote:

Black Labs are notoriously difficult to train... because they're not incredibly bright!

:shock: This could take a while. Our lass is not noted for her perseverance either.

celestecharlie

Some excellent advice on here already.

As a teacher I timed the arrival of my puppy for the summer holidays. I thought we'd agreed we were buying a family pet, but when the pup arrived it turned out I was the super motivated one and my missus seemed considerably less happy. I don't really know why this was, but she was very stroppy with me and offish with the pup. Maybe the sheer amount of time and fuss I gave the pup and the way it made going on holiday difficult was reason, but whatever we had a very difficult time for a while and every chewed shoe and little accident was treated like the end of the world. More than once I nearly packed and left (with the dog!).

The two of them are absolutely fine now, though she is very much my dog/baby!
Perhaps the moral of the tale is to make sure you don't neglect your other half once your little bundle of fun arrives!

Been said before but the absolute best friend you'll ever have. A real life teddy bear with my family who loves nothing more than fuss and cuddles and kipping on her sofa and yet keeps the bad guys away.

fizz

Ben6899 wrote:

Black Labs are notoriously difficult to train... because they're not incredibly bright! They're oh so loveable though!

I'm not so sure I agree, In my albeit limited experience, I havent found ours difficult to train at all. Once they figure out you have treats or food in your pocket ours will do absoloutly anything for a reward of a treat.

Our two are from working stock, they have field trial champion winners in their blood line along way back so maybe thats why. But we've never had any trouble training them.

OSOH

guinea wrote:

Give it a good smack early on. Seriously.

Discipline is the most important thing the dog needs. The dog needs to know who's boss and you don't want a disruptive dog in the house.

A few smacks early on and then one or two throughout its life will leave you sorted. Don't put up with _any_ crap.

If it barks at the postie, neighbours, random people walking by, smack it. If it steals food, smack it. If it jumps up and damages things smack it. This is what happens in the wild for dogs, so it's no problem. If you are consistent and firm the dog will be well behaved and respect you.

If it think it's the boss of your house you'll have a problem.

Horrified to read this offered as advice, best way to completely screw up your new puppy and cause multiple behaviour problems, particularly anxiety-related (a lot of aggression problems, chewing, and many others originate from anxiety). The idea suggested is decades out of date, sadly there are also far too many people who still endorse the use of choke chains, shock collars and the 'prong collars' making an appearance. If you really want to do the best by your puppy and encourage good behaviour and a happy dog, I'd suggest finding an APDT trainer who uses positive reinforcement:
www.apdt.co.uk
Also vital to ensure plenty of controlled socialisation around other dogs, as soon as possible as the socialisation period is critical.

Could also look into clicker training and finding a trainer on the site above who does classes, a highly effective method when done properly, which dogs enjoy and gives the trainer a real sense of achievement.

On a different note, a previous poster mentions working strain labs...these are bred for brains, and are likely to be far more intelligent and energetic than the more laid-back show strain, this is common across a variety of breeds including English Springers, Golden Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels etc - they are also quite different physically. Like two different breeds. My job involves training Labradors among other breeds, and believe me when trained correctly they are far from dim.

Good luck with your new puppy, and please keep it a positive experience for both of you! There is a great book available called "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey, which I would strongly recommend to any new puppy owner, it's a pretty comprehensive guide.

Monty Dog

We have a choccy lab - after 3 bassett hounds, she's an absolute doddle - very obedient and willing to please.

My best tip is in terms of letting them off lead - as soon as they're innoculated, take them to a safe, open area and let them off lead - when very young, puppies are inclined to stick close by and get used to having some space - they can't run very fast / far either. We've done it with all our dogs and they're not inclined to stray and pretty good on recall - even bassett hounds, which are the stubbornest, most wilful dogs about. Leave it to 24 weeks, and you better get fit because you'll never catch them!

Ben6899

fizz wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

Black Labs are notoriously difficult to train... because they're not incredibly bright! They're oh so loveable though!

I'm not so sure I agree, In my albeit limited experience, I havent found ours difficult to train at all. Once they figure out you have treats or food in your pocket ours will do absoloutly anything for a reward of a treat.

Our two are from working stock, they have field trial champion winners in their blood line along way back so maybe thats why. But we've never had any trouble training them.

I'm not trying to one-up here just speaking from experience, but I can get my Jack to do anything without treats and didn't use them as a training stimulus... just a rub at the back of the ears and a "Good lad!" I suppose different breeds respond to different techniques and you have probably benefited from the dogs being from a quality bloodline.

Ben6899

fizz wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

Black Labs are notoriously difficult to train... because they're not incredibly bright! They're oh so loveable though!

I'm not so sure I agree, In my albeit limited experience, I havent found ours difficult to train at all. Once they figure out you have treats or food in your pocket ours will do absoloutly anything for a reward of a treat.

Our two are from working stock, they have field trial champion winners in their blood line along way back so maybe thats why. But we've never had any trouble training them.

I'm not trying to one-up here just speaking from experience, but I can get my Jack to do anything without treats and didn't use them as a training stimulus... just a rub at the back of the ears and a "Good lad!" I suppose different breeds respond to different techniques and you have probably benefited from the dogs being from a quality bloodline.

OSOH

Whoops, missed the previous posts mentioning the Gwen Bailey book, didn't have time to go through whole thread! The other poster to suggest it offered some great advice generally. As for those mentioning "discipline" and "dominance", the dominance theory is outdated and can often cause more problems than it supposedly prevents...please ignore the ravings of Cesar Milan.

The best way to motivate the dog towards the correct behaviours is to reward it for correct behaviours and train it what is acceptable, rather than punishing the unwanted behaviours which doesn't actually tell the dog anything about what you do want, generally just that you're unpredictable and prone to lashing out/shouting without warning. Sounds like the OP has the right attitude, just hoping others reading this thread don't blindly accept the suggestions of punishment, "dominance" etc made by other posters.

And also just to add, the Labs I work with are generally working-type, and generally very sensitive - even a harsh word can make them anxious, however this can be quite subtle for anyone unable/unwilling to read the dog's body language. This can make training difficult as they can easily shut down, so positive-reinforcement based methods are even more important in their training, as the tasks they must learn are complicated and require the dog to be receptive to training and use its brain.

Porgy

I've always socialised mine with cats too as well as dogs and people. It saves ever having to worry about your dog ending up killing or injuring someone else's pet - and they still chase cats out of the garden - just not to the point where they rip it to shreds.

My wippet used to chase cats so she could play with them - but they never used to stick around to find that out. I had cats of my own - my wife brought home a little ginger and white kitten once and the dog used to spend hours playing with it.

Someone I knew about 15 years ago used to let her dog, cats and pet rats run around in the house together - I never went that far. wouldn;t trust a cat with a rat as far as I could spit one - or a Jack russel for that matter.

Ben6899

[what Porgy said about cats]

I've also got a black moggy... she sometimes pushes her luck with the Jack, but otherwise they get on well.

pidism

After reading other posts I can agree with the Dont overfeed. Labradors will eat the house if they get a chance. Keep them slim, better for them physically and your wallet.

Do not smack them. A stern tone of voice "NO" works a treat. Reward good behaviour with occasional treat biscuit.

I taught my lab cross to return prior to letting him loose off the lead. A good 30metre washing line through his collar, let him roam, called his name and gently reeled him in. After 4 days, couple hours a day he was ready to be let loose. Worked a treat. That was a tip from a Police dog handler.

Always clean up after them. It's not pleasent but neither is standing in their mess.

Be prepared to lose a few household items. Chewing is inevitable. They do grow out of it..... Honest.

Enjoy your pooch. They are better friends than humans.
Wouldnt swap mine for anything.

tebbit

We got an old rescue lurcher called Bob, when he was nine, he is twelve now and is on his last legs, he's been great, I can happily recommend lurchers, Bob has his own fan club around where we live.

I once read an American book on ferrets that suggested you point at it, saying a firm no! It didn't work, it did get on well with dogs but cats found the ferret a little frightening.