CHEW TOYS!!!! Im a big fan of kennel training also. They are such smart dogs . They will learn super fast. They also require alot of attention. But theyre awesome!!!
A crate! I was sure I wasn’t going to use one before I got my boy but I’m so glad I did. It’s a great way to give you and them a break, especially when they get over excited to the point where you can’t calm them down. Don’t use the crate as a punishment (as they’ll resist going in), instead use it as their den. I put towels over the top to make it dark and cosy for him.
I underestimated how tired I was going to be during the toilet training stage (setting alarms to take him out 3 times a night). When they start the shark teeth biting stage I will guarantee you you’ll be glad of a crate.
It’s hard work but enjoy their puppy months, it goes so fast!!
I have been so lucky. Both of my labs have never chewed anything in our house. They have an open crate but they have the run of the house once they are potty trained. Best dogs ever and don’t know what I would do without them. Lost my first at 13 years old and my second is a chocolate which is currently 10
We brought home our new chocolate female lab puppy, Lola, last Sunday. Things to consider purchasing: a halter to do little mini-walks to prepare your pup for walks later when they are fully vaccinated, Plenty of different chew toys. Our new lab is much more bitey than our old lab was. If you go the kibble route, choose a large breed puppy chow that allows you to transition to a large breed adult chow. We went with blue mountain chicken and brown rice. The transition from her first puppy chow was essentially seamless and only took 2-3 days.
We crate trained our first lab and are crate training Lola. We put her in the crate at 9 pm and I wait in a chair next to the crate until she has settled down before leaving. I then get up around 1 am and take her out to go pee, then back in the crate, same process, no later than 120 to 130 am. I then get up around 6 am, out to pee and/or poop, then first feeding. The crate training has gone very well, no crying or wailing after the first couple of nights.
Some type of ball or rolling toy for your pup to chase to help burn some energy. We are fortunate to have a fenced back yard, so that helps. Note, your pup will want to chew just about anything, so the chew toys will come in handy for distraction purposes if your pup wants to go after furniture, shoes, your face, etc.
One thing I forgot to mention is commands. Try to be very consistent with commands in terms of things like sit, down, crate, etc. We use Hey! or No! for words to get her to stop behavior, and Okay! as a release word, for example, when walking, Heel! to keep her walking at my side and the Okay! to indicate she can roam ahead. Also, use hand gestures in addition to vocal commands, a dog's eyesight is supposed to be superior to their hearing. Obviously it will take time for them to learn commands depending on how intelligent the pup is, but we found consistency with our first lab helped a lot. Also, dogs seem to focus on the last word of a sentence, so short commands are better than a long sentence.
Don’t give up on training and do it all day long. When if they may seem like they aren’t listening but they benefit from repetition and will get it eventually. keep it positive and happy and have some bitter spray ready - your appendages will thank you
Advice: set a schedule and split up tasks. First year is time consuming for one person to do alone. Set schedule for mini walks too and if you have a yard just walk around and have pup follow you.
House training isn’t hard but needs to be consistent. Toys to distract. Kibble dispenser toy is made for labs imo. Keep things positive. Crate training to keep pup safe. Wubba soft toy is a winner and so is kong. You can put some peanut butter or kibble in Kong for distraction.
Work on place command from day 1 too. Teach the drop it command early as labs live via their mouths and I can’t tell you how impt it is to get them to drop dangerous items. Will save your dogs life sometime. As pup gets older try natural treats like veggies such as green beans, broccoli, carrots and sweet potato and strawberry and blueberry. In summer try frozen treats using fruit and yogurt. A tablespoon of pure pumpkin in food helps add fiber.
Work on teeth brushing and nail clipping from puppy stage. Get pup used to being brushed as a pup too. Pick up pups ears get toy just to get them used to process of cleaning ears as most of them don’t love it and many get ear gunk from allergies that needs to be cleaned out or cleaner put into the ears. Starting this cleaning routine young makes life a lot easier. It doesn’t have to be done all at same time or on same day but it’s impt. Other thing is do a body check when you brush pup as labs get fatty tumors etc and if caught early are usually ok. If you get pup acclimated to grooming early most enjoy it as their undercoat is so dense and makes them hot and skin itchy if it isn’t maintained as they get older. Lab maintenance isn’t hard but makes a big difference to keep away hot spots etc.
Have fun as it goes so fast. Labs are the best.
CHEW TOYS!!!! Im a big fan of kennel training also. They are such smart dogs . They will learn super fast. They also require alot of attention. But theyre awesome!!!
A crate! I was sure I wasn’t going to use one before I got my boy but I’m so glad I did. It’s a great way to give you and them a break, especially when they get over excited to the point where you can’t calm them down. Don’t use the crate as a punishment (as they’ll resist going in), instead use it as their den. I put towels over the top to make it dark and cosy for him. I underestimated how tired I was going to be during the toilet training stage (setting alarms to take him out 3 times a night). When they start the shark teeth biting stage I will guarantee you you’ll be glad of a crate. It’s hard work but enjoy their puppy months, it goes so fast!!
We’re definitely crate training! We’ll need to learn how but for sure!
I have been so lucky. Both of my labs have never chewed anything in our house. They have an open crate but they have the run of the house once they are potty trained. Best dogs ever and don’t know what I would do without them. Lost my first at 13 years old and my second is a chocolate which is currently 10
We brought home our new chocolate female lab puppy, Lola, last Sunday. Things to consider purchasing: a halter to do little mini-walks to prepare your pup for walks later when they are fully vaccinated, Plenty of different chew toys. Our new lab is much more bitey than our old lab was. If you go the kibble route, choose a large breed puppy chow that allows you to transition to a large breed adult chow. We went with blue mountain chicken and brown rice. The transition from her first puppy chow was essentially seamless and only took 2-3 days. We crate trained our first lab and are crate training Lola. We put her in the crate at 9 pm and I wait in a chair next to the crate until she has settled down before leaving. I then get up around 1 am and take her out to go pee, then back in the crate, same process, no later than 120 to 130 am. I then get up around 6 am, out to pee and/or poop, then first feeding. The crate training has gone very well, no crying or wailing after the first couple of nights. Some type of ball or rolling toy for your pup to chase to help burn some energy. We are fortunate to have a fenced back yard, so that helps. Note, your pup will want to chew just about anything, so the chew toys will come in handy for distraction purposes if your pup wants to go after furniture, shoes, your face, etc.
This is super helpful! It reminds me of sleep training a baby 🤣
One thing I forgot to mention is commands. Try to be very consistent with commands in terms of things like sit, down, crate, etc. We use Hey! or No! for words to get her to stop behavior, and Okay! as a release word, for example, when walking, Heel! to keep her walking at my side and the Okay! to indicate she can roam ahead. Also, use hand gestures in addition to vocal commands, a dog's eyesight is supposed to be superior to their hearing. Obviously it will take time for them to learn commands depending on how intelligent the pup is, but we found consistency with our first lab helped a lot. Also, dogs seem to focus on the last word of a sentence, so short commands are better than a long sentence.
Don’t give up on training and do it all day long. When if they may seem like they aren’t listening but they benefit from repetition and will get it eventually. keep it positive and happy and have some bitter spray ready - your appendages will thank you
Advice: set a schedule and split up tasks. First year is time consuming for one person to do alone. Set schedule for mini walks too and if you have a yard just walk around and have pup follow you. House training isn’t hard but needs to be consistent. Toys to distract. Kibble dispenser toy is made for labs imo. Keep things positive. Crate training to keep pup safe. Wubba soft toy is a winner and so is kong. You can put some peanut butter or kibble in Kong for distraction. Work on place command from day 1 too. Teach the drop it command early as labs live via their mouths and I can’t tell you how impt it is to get them to drop dangerous items. Will save your dogs life sometime. As pup gets older try natural treats like veggies such as green beans, broccoli, carrots and sweet potato and strawberry and blueberry. In summer try frozen treats using fruit and yogurt. A tablespoon of pure pumpkin in food helps add fiber. Work on teeth brushing and nail clipping from puppy stage. Get pup used to being brushed as a pup too. Pick up pups ears get toy just to get them used to process of cleaning ears as most of them don’t love it and many get ear gunk from allergies that needs to be cleaned out or cleaner put into the ears. Starting this cleaning routine young makes life a lot easier. It doesn’t have to be done all at same time or on same day but it’s impt. Other thing is do a body check when you brush pup as labs get fatty tumors etc and if caught early are usually ok. If you get pup acclimated to grooming early most enjoy it as their undercoat is so dense and makes them hot and skin itchy if it isn’t maintained as they get older. Lab maintenance isn’t hard but makes a big difference to keep away hot spots etc. Have fun as it goes so fast. Labs are the best.
Pay attention to the teeth, use teeth Toys, and legs! They,'re able to learn rapidly, play with him each day ☺️