macka

You need to supervise! And when you can't, restrict her access with a puppy pen/baby gates/closed doors etc. Your pup could die from eating a bunch of things in the average home's pantry. Not to be taken lightly.

Ok, think I've got a bottle of Malaseb lying around somewhere as well so I'll give it a go, thanks!

double post

I have been using Triocil shampoo but only wiping out the inside surface - haven't massaged into the ear like you have suggested, so maybe that's the problem. Ears aren't inflamed, just a bit smelly.

As per title, what's the best way to clean floppy dog ears? With the weather warming up a bit Leia's ears need some more attention. Not sure my method is the best one. Thanks

You might want to look at changing her diet - more bone so the stools are firmer - should help avoid this problem. I have never had to do it nor get it done at the vet for my 2 year old, and never for my parents old dog either. Thank god!

Expect a similar interrogation process from the breeder's end. If you don't get asked a lot of questions that are aimed at establishing your suitability as a home for the pup, look elsewhere! Yes, true. Also I wouldn't discount NSW breeders - some are willing to fly your pup to you, given the lack of breeders in your area. there are quite a few listed on DOL with puppies or expecting puppies: http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/puppie...W&Submit=Go

Ivory kitten, there is quite a good thread here about how to buy a purebred pup, and what questions you should be asking a breeder before committing to them: How to Buy a Purebred Pup For me the main things would be... Make sure your breeder is ANKC registered Make sure both parents have had their hips and elbows x-rayed and scored, and their eyes checked for PRA. See below for details on what you are looking for. You should sight these documents before taking your puppy home. HIPS: Each hip is scored out of a possible 53. The lower the score, the healthier the hip; therefore a score of 0:0 would be perfect. On the score sheet these individual scores are added together to give a total rating. So a 4:4 score would be a total 8 and this is then given a rating against Australian and International averages. In Australia the median score of Labrador Retrievers is thought to be about 12, so you should not buy a puppy from parents who scored higher than this. ELBOWS: Elbow Xrays are "scored" very differently. An elbow score of 0:0 is perfect whereas a score of 3:3 is seriously affected. Each additional point above 0 reflects a millimetre of variation (or gap) in the elbow joint. Ideally both of your puppy's parents will have scored 0:0 for their elbows. EYES: Labradors can be affected by PRA, a type of progressive blindness. A simple cheek swab can now indicate whether an animal is Clear, a Carrier or is Affected. A CLEAR bred to a CLEAR will always result in CLEAR offspring. It's a good idea to actually visit your breeder before committing, so that you can meet at least one of the puppies' parents, and see the conditions in which the pup is being raised... Are they being brought up inside the home or outside in a kennel? Is their environment clean and safe? Is the mother a healthy and friendly dog? Since you are buying by distance, could you perhaps send a relative to go and have a sticky beak before hand? Alternatively, talk to the breeder on the phone and ask lots of questions as per above...if they sound dodgy they probably are!

If you're going to use a clicker the idea is to click during the desired behaviour. A marker word and plenty of praise also works though - keep a few treats in your pockets so you have them handy when she goes.

Are you actually standing with her to make sure she goes before coming back inside? If she is still going inside on a daily basis even with the door open I'd say you really need to go back to basics: take her outside every 2 hours and always after play/food and don't come back inside again until she goes. When she goes where you want, give your chosen toileting command and praise like crazy. It's not expecting too much of a 4 month old to be at least starting to look to go outside, particularly if you are leaving the door open. However clearly she hasn't quite got it yet so just make it as simple as possible - don't rely on her to take herself out yet, do it for her until she gets it.

Hi Suen, So glad to hear things are going better. I don't know if other's have any suggestions but I found that my dog doesn't really play very much by herself if she knows I am home. She has a bunch of toys outside but only really plays with them if I am out there with her. However I do put her breakfast inside one of those treat dispensing balls or in a kong sometimes just before I leave for work and when I get home they are always empty - so she must play with them when I am not there. If she knows I am home though she won't play - she just waits at the door to be let in. I don't really mind though since mostly whenever I am home she is inside with me anyway.

Ah ok, that makes some sense at least.

Seven usually they show you how to start your basic obedience training, help answer any questions about toilet training or anything else, and it's a good opportunity to socialise your pup with other puppies in a safe and controlled environment. Thanks for the responses guys, I am booked in...

As someone who just recently went through the process of selecting a new lab puppy I can say I have seen this happening in the advertisements here on DOL. Right now just looking at ads from NSW only, there is a bitch for sale on mains register who "can be transferred to the limited register on request for a greatly reduced price." There is also an ad for an upcoming litter which states that all puppies will be sold on the main register. They have not even been born yet! Yet another ad states "The pups are priced at $1000.00 Limited Registration as Pets. Main Registration is available upon negotiation to responsible parties." We can only hope the negotiation only applies to pups suitable for main registration but it doesn't necessarily read that way. Going back to what was said earlier about breeding for colour, there is also an ad for puppies in which the chocolate puppies are priced $200 higher than the yellow puppies. These are the ads that NSW lab puppy buyers are looking at right now! You have to wonder what this is going to do to the breed over time.

Must have been hard but I think you have done the right thing! There are lots of lab breeders in QLD and a few of them are on this forum, pop into the Lab thread and have a chat! http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...30&st=13185

How have you tried? The crate isn't going to be automatically attractive to all pups - you need to make it attractive, and fun! Toss some treats in, praise like crazy when your pup goes in to get them, then give more treats while he's in there. Feed meals in there (leave the door open at first). Make it into a game: toss treats in, let him go in and get them, praise like crazy when he does, then let him come out again, and repeat. When you start to see him running ahead to get to the crate, give him something awesome, like a chicken neck or two, to eat in the crate and close the door. Let him out when he is done. After a while of doing this, maybe a week, you will be ready to start closing the door more regularly while he is in there. Great - start as you mean to continue - if you don't want him on your lap or feet as an adult, don't allow it as a pup. The crate should also be somewhere where he can see you - at least for the first few weeks - once he is comfortable in there you can gradually move it (metre by metre) to where you want it to be permanently. The crate has so many advantages over a bed if you can get your pup to like it - I really would recommend persevering! My advice is "Start as you mean to continue". IMO it is confusing for a pup to teach it to go inside at first and then outside later - why not simply teach him to go outside from the beginning? I have never liked the paper/pet loo method myself for this reason. What I would be doing is keeping it simple - take him to where you want him to go permanently, and praise like crazy whenever he goes in that spot. If you want him outside when you are not home why not set up a puppy pen with a kennel inside it outside? Again, the pen won't automatically be a fun place to go, so use the same games I suggested above for the crate to make it fun. You can also try giving him something really awesome every time you have to leave him - like a kong filled with peanut butter! That way he will come to associate your leaving with getting something tasty! Also make your comings and goings uneventful - don't fuss over him when you return, and never return to a whining dog. Good luck and enjoy your new puppy! Post some pictures!

No. probably not all labs ( or any pup) will chew /dig etc.. but most do, and first time puppy/dog owners need to be aware that these things are part of owning an active, strong puppy. We had labs and a toddler- no problem.... I have also seen toddlers bite the dust as the resident lab youngster does a bum waggle too close, or leans, or just runs thru the toddler It happens. Persephone, I find baby puppies (say up to six months) while requiring a lot of intensive feeding etc are pretty easy to live with. They eat, they wee and poo, they play and they sleep.. a lot. Come adolescence and increased physical size and activity levels and things start to change. It's one of the reasons I wish people took their dogs to training beyond puppy preschool. Most dogs need puppy highschool even more because its a bit of maturity that often produces the most challenging behaviours to manage and train. There's a reason why so many dumped dogs are adolescents. I totally agree with you Poodlefan, I just don't like blanket statements such as "you can't have a lab and a toddler at the same time." Better advice IMO would be to say "you can't have a lab and a toddler at the same time IF you aren't prepared to put in the hard yards to train your dog." Training is a lifelong project for ANY dog and should be ongoing regardless of the breed.

I have seen lots of recommendations on here for Gladesville Vets in Sydney, just wondering what their puppy school is like? Thanks

I also don't see why you can't have a lab and a toddler if you are prepared to supervise all interactions and put the hard work into training your pup. As long as you know what you are up for (and it will be hard work) and you are keen, I say go for it! Help yourself out by getting a baby and or puppy pen so you can keep them separate when you can't 100% supervise. Do yourself a favour and find a proper breeder though. Many will fly your pup to you if you ask them!

I actually think a calm response is better in this sort of situation as you may find that even you saying "no" and getting cranky with her is enough of a response to her attention-seeking behaviour to be an incentive to do it again. If you found time out was helping I would stick with that but just take her there calmly and quietly, don't pay her behaviour with any sort of attention from you, even negative attention. If you are consistent I think this will work. I don't think the time that you feed is as important as the way in which you do it. You are already using TOT which is brilliant - I wouldn't worry about whether she eats before or after you tbh. It won't hurt her to wait a little but it also won't help you particularly IMO since it would be easier to settle her down after she's eaten. Selective deafness is a normal puppy development stage, albeit a very annoying one. As long as you are confident she understands what you are asking you can try giving her a time out each time she fails to obey a known command. Again I wouldn't say "no" or anything to her, just the second her paws go up somewhere they shouldn't, lead her to the time out spot. FWIW this worked for me. You will need to address any inconsistency in your training - otherwise the dog is getting mixed messages and it's not fair to expect her to understand what she is meant to do.

Hi Suen, your puppy is adorable!!! I have had a similar problem in the past with my pup which is now resolved, so can offer you this advice: When you put the pup outside, or wherever away from you and he cries, you must ignore him until he is quiet AND calm. The calm part is important - my pup used to trick me by being quiet for 30sec, then as I was about to get up to let her in she would start crying again! Make sure he has well and truly calmed down before you return. By ignore I mean do not say a word to him, do not even make eye contact (it's better if he can't see you through a window etc - close the blinds if you have to). He likely does not understand what "no crying" means - by talking to him from his point of view you are simply giving him attention. Unfortunately, because your pup has gotten attention from crying in the past, he is now likely to cry even longer and harder when you first try the above. I have been there! However, you must persist, otherwise you will only teach him that crying gets attention in the end, and will only make the problem worse. When you leave him it helps if you can give him something to distract his attention from the fact that you are leaving him - a kong filled with peanut butter, for example. When you come back, do not make a big fuss, continue to ignore him for the first few minutes that you are back in his sight, before calmly saying hello. This way your coming and going is not such a big deal. Good luck!!

Hi All, For those of you who use food treats during training sessions, what do you use? Up until now I have been using cheese and frankfurters cut up really small, or carob reward drops, or sometimes those Nature's gift "trainers" which I cut up into 3s. What do you use?

It's normal for a pup to be a bit off their food for the first few days while they are settling in. Don't stress, she will eat when she is hungry. I wouldn't be leaving food out - give her 15 min to eat and then take the rest away. Also it is a tendency of new worried puppy owners to keep offering new and more exciting foods when their up doesn't eat - don't be tempted to do this, just stick with what the breeder recommended - otherwise you will create a fussy puppy.

I would also add that you need to start in your backyard and she needs to be perfect in the backyard before you take her out on the street where it is all very distracting.

Yes, go and see a good trainer - you will wish you had done it ages ago! Change of direction combined with a martingale collar is what has worked for us.