Labkisses

Hi everyone We had our first litter about 6 months ago. We are planning the next and would like to know a few tips on: a) how to toilet train puppies and; b) what you use on the litter room floor. We kept our last litter in a spare room which is tiled. We tried toilet training the pups to do their business on the newspaper and puppy training pads, but half the time they thought the paper was a toy and we'd find them shredding and tearing it apart! They never toileted in a specific area and we tried to make an area where they could sleep by putting their vet bedding down but they hated it because it was too hot! Our last litter was only of 5 pups and I'm not sure how I could handle any more this time round!! Does anyone know the best way to train the little angels to do their business on the paper? And did anyone use special floor covering to make cleaning easier? Ahhh the joys of breeding lol Thank you!

KJ - our pup is going really well. We took him to the vet on Saturday and they are amazed how quickly he has improved. He no longer has welling around his eyes, he just has a few white spots on his lips, muzzle and a couple around his eyes. We have reduced his steroid intake to half the amount he was on last week and his course of antibioitics for the inflammation will continue for the next 5 days. He is such a strong little guy!!

Hi all Could someone please PM a copy or an example of a health guarantee for pups leaving your kennel. Thank you

KJ - our pup was just over 6 weeks old when i noticed the bump and it was pretty much striaght after his vaccination. We thought it had to do with the entropion but it wasnt He is now 7.5 weeks old and after being on the meds for the last 3 days he has really improved. The swelling around his eyes has gone down heaps and is almost all gone, he just has the white scarring now which hopefully will disappear. Do you know how long it took for your pups scarring to fade?

Thank you for the photos KJ, the photo of the pup 2 weeks later - was that after the pup was on medication? Our little guy's eyes are much worse as its affected both his upper and lower rims of his eyes and parts of his lips. His ears have tiny bumps but they shouldn't get enlarged now with his medication - fingers crossed. Do pups get worse after their 12 wk vaccination? Although I know its required, I am hesitant in letting this little guy have his at 12 weeks in case he gets worse or relapses Is this possible if strangles is associated with the vaccine? Yes - first sign we saw was a lump form on his upper eye, it seemed to spread very quickly within a day or two. Ensure you vet gives you the right medication etc if you do ever come across this. Our little fella was diagnosed wrongly twice before anyone knew what was going on...they say its a rare disease

Thanks KJ, any photos you have would be great The little guy is doing better today, his lymph gland is still enlarged but nowhere near as big as yesterday thank goodness. It doesn't look like the strangles is spreading more around his eyes and lips which is also great. He is definitely one tough little puppy!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and info. I think we have gotten his case of the strangles quite early, he hasn't lost any hair and the swelling is only around his eyes and a little on his lips at the moment (besides his huge lymph gland). I really hope it doesn't get any worse than this so hopefully the antibiotics and steroids kick in and start working straight away. He is fine in all other aspects, unbelievably he is probably one of the most active of all his brothers and sisters and the swelling etc doesn't bother him whatsoever. The vet was quite surprised that he was handling it well and not scratching or rubbing his face. We had to tell the new owners of this little guy that he wont be fit to travel next week, we're hoping he has a speedy recovery. Stuff like this really challenges you when you're breeding

Hi everyone, This is related to my post 'inverted eyelashes' but I thought I'd start a new one about Puppy Strangles. My pup has now been diagnosed with this horrible disease. We got him to the vet straight away after discovering a huge lump on the side of his face which actually turned out to be his lymph gland! He is now on a course of antibiotics, steroids and topical eye ointment to help him. Anyone experienced this before, and how long did it take for your pup to recover? Was there much scarring? Poor puppy is going through the wars at the moment Thanks in advance

Hello again all, An update on the little pup with suspected entropion. After seeing 2 vets he is showing mild signs of entropion. His eyes started to get swollen and so we took him back to the vets straight away. He is now on antibiotics and an eye ointment to help with the inflammation. He's been on this treatment for 2 days now and although it doesn't look to be getting worse, it doesn't look better either. Now I have just noticed a big lump the size of a big marble on the side of his face (upper cheek under his ear) and its only just appeared within a couple of hours! What is going on to this poor puppy?!? We are booked into the vets first thing in the morning but I'm worried about him now. Anyone had this occur before? He is supposed to be going to his new home next week and flights have been booked for him

Hi guys Just wondering when you send away your litter registration papers? Is it after the pups have left to their new homes? Or before they go? Do you send them away while the families have put a deposit down for a pup but not made final payment yet? Just thinking if you were to send them before the final payment is made and then the family cancelled, you'd have to transfer the pup back into your name or straight into another buyers...is that correct? What do you do? Also, do you find it a problem getting Limited Register Agreement Forms back..I know this has delayed me sending off my registration papers

Thanks everyone for your advice and opinions. It so hard when there are no studs available to your liking in a remote area. We hope to purchase our own boy later on in a few years, but thats a while away. I'm a bit worried how my girl will be away from home, she is very friendly but I wouldnt want to stress her out....hmmm so many things to weigh up ...

There are no vets with facilities for AI where we live, so live mating are the only option unfortunately

Hi guys I was just wondering what the process is when you send your bitch for a stud service interstate? How does it all work? How long do you leave your bitch at the stud owners property? What are rough costs to have your bitch serviced and kept with the stud owner? What happens if your bitch fails to fall pregnant? Is it common to send your bitch away or interstate? Thanks in advance

You can see inverted or double eye lashes with teh naked eye. Yes it could be something else including an over active tear duct which usually settles down. How old is the pup and what breed? Puppy is 5weeks old and labrador. Vet said that she saw the eyelashes do go in to a degree, but didnt actually say "yes she has inverted eyelashes". Hence the reason she gave us the ointment for conjunctivitus. Perhaps I should get a second opinion from another vet?

Hi guys We have a puppy who had watery eyes for a few days, he is acting normal in all other areas (playing, biting, running etc) so we took him to the vet. The vet said it may be conjunctivitus - but because other pups were not affected it was unlikely. She said that the pup may have inverted eyelashes and gave us some ointment to put in his eyes twice a day. We've been doing this for the last 5 days, they dont seem like they've improved so we're thinking it is inverted eyelashes. My questions are: 1. Could it be something else thats making his eyes water? 2. Have you experienced puppies with inverted eyelash problems? 3. If so, what was the treatment and how did the pup recover? 4. Is this common in labradors? Thanks in advance!

Thanks everyone for their replies and thank you MissMonaro for posting those links. I have added a link to our website so anyone enquiring about our chocolate female is aware before contacting us. We did end up selling her last night and the new owners arent concerned whatsoever after they checked the link and I spoke to them about it After checking over the little girl with the markings, some have already seemed to have disappeared under her feet. The one on her chest is still there though and probably wont disappear as it is quite long. I think it makes her unique in a way I've tried to attach a photo of her but my files are too big

Hello Labrador Breeders Can anyone please tell me your experiences of 'bolo pads' in your litters and what you think about them. One of our chocolate pups has a white stripe on her chest and patches on the pads of her feet. We are finding buyers all keen on purchasing this little pup but after we mention that she has these markings they back off, probably questioning if our dogs are truley purebred or not. How do you react to things like this? Thanks in advance.

Wow 12 hours between pups - thats incredible. I didnt think it'd be possible. My vet said that because of the long labour and it took almost 8 hours for the last puppies to arrive that they lose oxygen and/or blood (cant remember) and thats why they can end up stillborn?? My girl wasnt panting more heavily than usual, no shaking, shivering etc.

We had an ultrasound done on our bitch when she was 4 weeks. The vet said they saw 8 puppies but there could be maybe more of less as they couldnt get the best view unless she was shaved and stopped wriggling around so much. So we kinda expected 7-8 pups. When we had the first stillborn puppy (puppy no. 2), we called the vet immediately to make sure everything is ok as I was concerned about the green fluid etc. They said it was ok as the pup may have come away from the placenta too early. While on the phone, the third pup arrived and was fine. When she had the 7th pup mum actually went to sleep and we thought it was all over. Around 11:00am we noticed that it looked like she had started pushing again. I called the vet again right away and they told me that she might be pushing out any last placentas etc and if the pushing lasted more than an hour then to bring her in. After 20 mins she pushed out a pup. We totally didn't expect this. With the stillborn pups we rubbed them vigorously with a towel and also swung them up and down (with head and body support, its hard to describe without sounding nasty or too violent ) to get any fluid out of their lungs..which we could see did come out. If anyone has other ways to revive a stillborn puppy please let me know! Seeing stillborn pups is heartbreaking We took mum and pups to the vet that same day in the afternoon and the vet administered an oxytocin injection to get rid of any remaining placentas if there were any. Bisart Dobes - thanks for your tips. We will definitely try the raspberry leaf tablet next time round. Should we given more Sandoz calcium to help with the contractions or to make the deliveries faster? Our bitch is at a good weight, not overweight at all and is quite active right until maybe the last week before giving birth. She is 3.5yrs old and this is her first litter.

Hello everyone Some of you may already know I have a labrador litter that are a week old today I have a question about our girl's labour. This is what happened. Contractions started 1am First pup delivered - 1.40am Second pup - 2.45am (stillborn, however looked deformed - like fur and bones..very small) Third pup - 3.01am Forth pup - 3.55am Fifth pup - 4.03am Sixth pup - 5.19am Seventh pup - 6.50am (stillborn) Eighth pup - 12.30pm (stillborn) In between puppies she had a rest and when she started to push, a pup was delivered around 20-30mins afterward. After the third pup mum was absolutely buggered. We gave her Sandoz approximately 4 times (only 3ml per time). We noticed that not all puppies were in a sack when they were born. She also had a hard time delivering while lying down, so she'd walk around and out would pop a puppy. After the first stillborn pup there was a lot of green discharge. Is this normal? So would most of you consider this a normal labour or a difficult one? How could you speed up the labour next time if you were to breed with her again and is there any way we could have not lost the 2 that were stillborn right at the end. I figure the second pup born may have died earlier. Thanks heaps

Thanks for that Yesterday the pups were crying again and panting, this went on for about 4 hours and we had had enough. Mum had toileted them, we even assisted to make sure they were ok. I put one of the pups on the cool tiles and it settled down immediately and fell asleep. We took them all to the vet in the afternoon anyway and they all had higher than normal temperatures. So the vet suggested taking the dry bed out during the day as it might be too hot, and leaving the fan on very low for them. We did that today and it seemed to work. No noisy puppies

Alpha bet - thank you for the tips, they are the cutest little things and its hard not to cuddle them alllllllllll the time Persephone - thanks for that, I will have to check it out atm they are all quiet and content thank goodness! Its a big relief I tell ya!

Thats a good idea about the drink bottles! Will have to try that out I havent had a chance to check the temp of the whelping box yet, mum is sleeping in there at the moment with them and I dont want to wake the poor thing. She has been exhausted in the last 5 days. It is has been a hassle and worry to feed her too because she's off most of her food and I've had to resort to hand feeding her just so she gets something. I'm hoping she's producing enough milk although she hasnt had much to eat herself.

Yes, she is in with them so they feed as long as they like, and whenever she's not and they cry she checks to see whats wrong, most the of the time. But sometimes if they're crying for long periods and she feeds and toilets them and they still carrying on then she just lies next to the whelping box away from the pups. They have been good now for the last couple of hours and have had another feed so I'm thinking the fan might have been a problem. I did notice that it was mainly 3 pups that were crying the most and they are the smallest. The other two are big hogs and maybe they sucked most the milk out before the others got a chance to fill their little bellies.

Mum isn't panting, she is her usual self except I can see that she doesn't know how to settle them so she just ignores them now. I did try supplement feeding a couple of them but they weren't too keen on it. They have been quiet for the last hour now thank goodness. I'm thinking they might have been too cold, it was a very hot day and we had the fan the lowest speed but perhaps it was still too cold for them?? They have very round tummies and are crawling all over the place when they're not asleep which is a good sign I guess. Fingers crossed they were just a bit too chilly. Thanks everyone for your replies. This is our first litter so we worry out about everything :D