Hi All ,

We have a Lab pup who is 7 weeks old . Hes been here for 2 days and has settled in great , no crying or anything . Though i have a few questions,

Toilet training - When he is in the kitchgen at night he will use the paper but during the day he will always try and go on the carpet in the lounge , is it a good idea to keep him in kitchen until fully toilet trained or would he feel isolated?

The biggest question i have is how to get PUP to understand that he is not dominant over the children especially my youngest who is 18 months . I think he thinks that my daughter is another pup. He always wants to play with her but sometimes he'll jump on her back and try nipping her and her face also. Its not a hard nip but it does make babs upset as you would expect.
I know how I and the older children should show the dog how we are alpha's(i think thats what it is) but with a baby you can not tell them this so how do i do that.
At the moment if I see him nipping her I growl and say no and he leaves , for a minute anyway. Will he learn this way?
Thanks in advance
Serena and Oscar

Hi Serena

Keep a close eye on Oscar near your baby as pups will be pups and will want to play. Always make sure you emphasis NO when he gets too rough. I was lucky with my two as they were both 2yrs plus when I had Florence so they were not a problem. Also on the other side make sure your baby isn't too rough with Oscar. Tail and ear pulling is not fun for the pup and he will see this as a sign of wanting to play and may well play rough back !

He is only a baby himself so give it time and a firm control and training and you should end up hopefully with a happy balance.

Toilet training will take time also so be prepared for accidents! Always try and get him outside after eating, waking up to try and make him get used to going out to do his wees and poos.
I am sure there will be other peoples advice coming along soon!

Good luck !

Lucy

Hi Serena, Congratulations on the youngster.

I have had Sydney now for two full weeks and he is a little nipper. I dont think he will associate your baby as being alpha. Best to keep him well supervised, as he will want to play and unfortunately biting or mouthing is all part off they play. This is their hands so he doesn’t know any better. Im still constantly telling Sydney no! when he is biting me and then stuffing a toy in his mouth and praising him whilst he is chewing on that, he sometimes understands other times not, think it depends on how playful he is.
As for toilet training, He wont be able to hold himself for quite a while I would suspect. Sydney can hold himself for a few hours if he wants (10 weeks now), other times he will wee on the paper when left there overnight (say 10.30 till 7am). (Hasnt pooped inside the house for ages though). After a few days of taking him outside or catching him in the act & rushing him outside (try to walk him out not carry him) he now runs to the door, which we open straight away. He will still wee on the carpet if we are not careful. Just watch him constantly and any sniffing I mean ANY sniffing around take him outside. I use the word "toilet" with his name as soon as I put him out & he now goes like clockwork(make sure that you choose one word and get EVERYBODY to use it when he goes to the toilet outside). I was every 1/2 hour taking him outside when we first got him. Fortunately this weather is great so he is practically living in the backyard which helps a great deal with not wetting the carpet.

Hi I also have a lab puppy Bess is 8 weeks old, she is a chewer and a nipper, we have had her for a week, she is getting better, but everything has to go in that mouth, I seem to be forever saying NO, lol, she is living with 2 springers and she seems much more active than they were at that age!! I have been trying to crate train her, but she is not keen, still early days yet! How much do your lab puppies weigh?, Bess is 5.5kgs which the vet said was quite small for a lab of 8 weeks.
Wendy

I always suggest investing in "The Perfect Puppy " by Gwen Bailey, its very good and helps a huge amount.

There is in my view a lot of confusion about dominance, i believe that many pups or dogs will try to compete for resurces or simply show that they are untrained, but I feel there are very few real genuine dominant dogs around.

All anyone really needs to do is to attend a good puppyclass (essentail for socialisation - pup not you!!!) and keep up the basic training learnt there. Train sit, stay, come, down, off, leave. Make training fun and use toys too as a reward for being good - for incentive to progress in training. Things wil go wrong and there is the dreaded adolescence stage to go through, but eventually your Lab pup will emerge a beautiful dog full of fun and be a great companion.

Lindsay

In my experience (4 puppies and one small boy) NO is the most used word out of the whole english vocabulary.

:)

hi Oscar is about 5kg , that was trying to weigh him on my scales. Hes does need feeding up i think . He is 8 weeks on tuesday.?

What is 5kg in 'old money'? My old lab weighed a touch under 12lb at 8 weeks, and she went on to be a 60lb adult (lean, working type). You don't want him to get too fat, just a steady weight increase of about 2 or 3lb per week, no more.

Hope this helps. :)

5kg is just under 11 lb so it sounds about right for the age

5kg is 11pounds, which sounds fine to me. My breed the pups would be around 9 to 11 pounds at 8 weeks, but obviously finish up a bit smaller than a lab.

I agree with JackyandSydney, your child should not have to put up with getting mauled by a playful pup. Use of a crate will solve the problem. The pup can nap in his crate (within sight of the family if you want)and give the baby and you break. My pups are always crate trained and stay in it whenever I'm not home and at night. I don't come home to a mess as a dog will not soil his bed. Pick up the water 3-4 hours before bed time, so you don't have to take pup out at night (you may have take him out once until he's about 12 weeks old)

"Pick up the water 3-4 hours before bedtime"??? Surely no one would leave a pup without water for up to 12 hours, ie 3-4 hours before bedtime and 8 hours during night, i.e. half a day. So, up to 12 weeks he could be taken out once in the night? Seems like to offer him water then in your opinion would make him pee so you wouldnt give him a drink then either.

This doesnt sound like correct advice in my humble opinion.

Gina

No dog should be without access to water at any time in my opinion. It's cruel to leave them thirsty, and folk have indeed been prosecuted for it.

I agree i always left the water down all night they get thirsty just like we do in the night

I have a much smaller dog and I leave food and water out. She just sort of got into our schedule, eating, sleeping,etc.. I think most would, just like any other member of the family.

I would never take water away for human convenience, esp. as many dogs or pups these days are on a complete diet which may make them more thirsty.

At the end of the day,having a pup means accepting and expecting a bit of mess and muck - and I got up at night for a few weeks to take my pup out, it only lasted for a while. Anyone who doesn't want to do this probably will have to clean up in the morning.

I wouldn't leave a pup all night in a crate and not take it out if it needed it, as that is making the pup go in its bedding area.

Lindsay

Well , I leave him with his water at night but he is now fully paper trained in the water department so its not a problem , decided to start the outside training once he is a bit older and can start getting out etc.
He has also very quickly learnt that the only person he can chew on is my hubs lol.
The only thing though is that for the last week since we got him , you put him in his bed at night or if you popped out for a while he would quietly settle down . However now he crys when we go to bed why is this all of a sudden??

Sounds like a toddler who doesn't want to go to bed yet, and thinks that exciting things are happening without him! Like you would with a toddler, stand no nonsense! At bedtime, make sure he's fed, watered, wee-ed, poo-ed, warm and comfortable (just like a baby!) then you know he's okay. If you give in he won't learn that bedtime means the day's over. He's not such a tiny baby now - before you know it he'll be adolescent!

Good luck. :)

What time do you put puppies to bed? Our bedlington will be 11 or 12 weeks old when we get him. I never thought of this question before and yet it seems pretty basic :)

As late as possible thus having better chance of longer sleep :-D
Anne

Mine have always gone to bed when we do, about 10.30 or 11pm. They are Played with, taken in the garden for a last wee or poo, and settled into a warm bed with a nice bone or biscuit - they can then often sleep through till about 6.

Sounds like a good plan! Thanks! :)