littlelabrador

Hi. We are wanting to go away mid year for around 10 days. Its too long to leave Molly at the vet for boarding, as that is just cages (taken out to wee, etc). I want to find somewhere that she will be well cared for, happy, and is a good environment. Somewhere that has indoor/outdoor runs (if thats what they are called), so she isnt locked in a cage and can walk in an outside area, etc. To be honest, i have no idea what I am supposed to look for to know if a kennel is good or not - hence my question. I will probably have to supply her food as shes on a more expensive brand. Molly will be about 11 months, if that makes any difference. What do i look for, what is important to ask prospective kennels ? thanks !

Molly was desexed 3 days ago, and no problems so far. Shes been very good and isnt really bothered by the wound/stitches at all. She hardly ate or drank the first 36 hours after, but since then has made up for it, as usual. So, just need to wait another 9 days for the stitches to be removed, then we can finally organise doing the obedience classes. Not much else has changed, shes a great puppy, gets into a little mischief as they all do. She's tolerating more foods now, can eat most fruits, vegies, eggs, sardines, other fish, meat etc, with no diarrhoea so i think her gut just needed to 'mature'. Haven't got any more updated pics but she still looks the same, just a bit bigger.

Hi all, haven't posted for a while, December has been a really busy month. Molly is doing great. Shes 18 or 19 weeks now, i've lost track of it, lol. Growing well, about 14kg now. One question, Molly is being desexed in about 3.5 weeks time, and I just know she is going to be the one who will try and pull out the stitches. Is there some kind of stitching i can ask them to do, that is under the skin rather than on top ? I know human surgeons can do this, just cant remember what its called. I'm happy to pay extra if it stops her pulling them out. Once she is over the desexing, i think the obedience club will start its 09 sessions, so we hopefully will be doing that too. She's not naughty at all anymore, sits, stays, comes, still wont drop, but thats no big deal. Not so great with going for walks, pulls all over the place, but we've only been a few times. She gets a fair bit of exercise in our yard, so dont want to over do it. any advice on the stitches appreciated.

As poodle wrangler said, i dont know about the biting you being teething. Molly is also teething. I didn't think this happened until a bit later on , but i noticed the other day that she has all these really really tiny teeth coming through her lower gums, so i've been looking each day and they are getting bigger ! I therefore assume that these are the adult teeth coming up. Never even noticed the others disappear, lol. Molly is definitely chewing more, shoes are a favourite thing to try and steal, but she certainly is not biting us. And you know we had all the biting/jumping issues at around 11-13 wks. Shes 17 weeks today. How does she go with walking beside you calmly ? Molly's hopeless. I've only taken her on 2 walks so far, and both times she just pulled the whole time. Thinking i might get one of those Halti's before i try it again.

Ever seen a puppy chase bubbles ? too funny. Was blowing bubble solution for my daughter and Molly was going crazy chasing them, jumping up in the air to catch them, trying to eat them etc. Next time i get them out, i am going to video it and send it to funny home videos. After seeing what won $200K on that last weekend, im sure we can beat that.

haha, laundry door (bin is in laundry) stays firmly closed now ! and we take dinner rubbish straight outside to the main bin. we learnt.

no, shes not bad at all. she likes the camera. she seems fascinated by it, and will sit still, and look at me when i call her name, then about 2 seconds later, she will race up to try and get the cord, hahaha. a nice game.

lol, that was my thought too, not like she's going to crack it open and put it on the camp stove, haha. Must admit, i have been cooking her meat, but i think i will switch to raw soon. Just want to be sure her tummy is well settled down before i change anything.

I have not heard that eggs have to be cooked for dogs. The breeder said just a raw one cracked over the kibble was fine, which is what i've done. She actually had cooked egg yesterday, lol, when my daughter decided she didnt want the egg she asked for at breakfast and put the whole plate on the floor for Molly, who thought it was just fabulous ! haha. My mum always gave our other labs a raw egg too, supposed to be very good for their skin and coat. like sardines i think. I think the whole raw egg thing is probably like it is with humans, if they are pregnant, or immunocompromised but otherwise fine. I guess someone will tell us ! ah, Molly will sit still, Molly spends half her day sleeping, hahaha. Shes a labrador remember ! But i've got her trained now anyway to sit and stay, for a short time.

pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are the 'dew claws' ? what do they look like and where are they located ? do all breeds have them ?

here are some updated pics, taken a few minutes ago, of Molly, for anyone still interested. Shes really becoming a lovely puppy now, at 16wks this wk.

Im no expert like the others here, but our labrador was 4.4kg when we got her at 8wks. Shes now almost 16wks and is 11.8kg. Our breeder told us 1cup of dry food twice a day, plus a handful at lunchtime if they seem hungry. She was on supercoat and it was apparent quite early that she was intolerant of that. I really dont think the breeder (who had about 22 puppies from 3 litters all together) actually noticed. She had continuing diarrhoea/ very loose poos, and we ended up on a special vet food. Even on that , it was still about a cup for each meal. This is if you are not adding anything else. Molly is now on Hills Science Diet Large Breed puppy and is thriving. As the vet explained, it doesnt work out much more expensive than supercoat etc, because you feed less - ie, if you look at the pack of supercoat to see how much you are going to be feeding him at 9 months, its like 5-6 cups ! Not pushing any brand of food here either, just explaining. The advice from our vet was that a large breed pup should be gaining about a kilo a week. Molly gets about a cup of dry food, with a little rice, and either some chicken mince or beef mince, and about once a week, a raw egg. We arent using the yogurt yet due to her sensitive tummy. And when i say some mince, i mean about 2 tablespoons, not a huge amount. good luck. got any pics ??

Funny story. Yesterday i put an egg, cracked over the kibble, in her bowl for lunch. The breeder had said she had had egg, but as we'd had so many gut problems when we got her, Molly had not had egg in that time. She looked at it, looked at me, tried to start eating her lunch and backed off, jumping in the air, about a foot up, making 'roo roo' noises, it was soooo funny. She just had no idea what it was and looked like she was saying 'what the hell is this you've put in my food'. I left her licking it, and eventually she came out wagging her tail, so i think she liked it, but her reaction to it was just so funny. I'm looking forward to being able to add other things, kibble must get boring day after day. She has now had chicken mince, beef mince and egg, with no hassles. I've bought some sardines to try, but will leave it another week or so. Then i will try different vegies again and see what happens to her gut. Weighed her the other day and shes now 11.8kg, so shes gaining a little over a kg a week still. Not sure when that starts to slow down ? She is almost 16wks now.

Molly is fine. After my last post i did find a big vomit in her bed, so she had done that overnight and there were obvious bits of bone in it. Talked to the vet and they said just watch her. Its been a day and a half and she seems completely normal, so i think she will be fine. thanks.

thanks everyone. She seems okay so far, but here it is 5.30am ! I woke up at 3am because i could hear her whining and thought 'oh *&*^, but no, she seems fine, bouncing round the kitchen and just wanted some attention i think. It would only have been about 1/3 of a wing bone, ie one part of it, at the very very most, that she could have eaten, and even then, i think just bits of it crunched up. I will call the vet this morning to be sure though. I think as she had had her dinner, which was kibble and chicken meat, so soon beforehand, its probably been churned up with that and hopefully will just come through the other end with no damage. thanks.