Double Lab Love

OMG Corvus - so so sorry for hi jacking - talk about pushy behaviour by me My sincere apologies - I just went off on a tangent when I saw bub's post... For the record - my Tippi is the bossy / pushy one and tries it on all the time - but is quite happy to toe the line when she knows she has to...She likes to test the boundaries... Tango is a lot less pushy and tends to follw Tippi's lead - but he has always been a very good dog - never really mouthed / been cheeky so as a result tends to get in trouble alot less...... so my training with him has been very different to Tippi's.... It is almost like he has learnt from her what NOT to do !!

Hey Bub - your two are JUST gorgeous !! They have the cutest names ! Can I ask how old your two are ?? I have two nearly six month old Lab puppies (not from the same litter though) and life has been a challenge but so rewarding I know it has been done too death in these forums ( I joined Dol forums about a month after the puppies came home at 8 weeks) so was a little naive when buying two puupies the same age... BUT I would really love to hear how you coped with two and any advice you could give me on training / "bonding" etc would be greatly appreciated - if you had a little time to reply... They have been very good so far - considering how clueless we were re buying two puppies - and things have been going well but we are heading into the dreaded adolesence time so I guess paw warned is paw armed Thank you in advance... DDL

Seriously what is with these people... what part of on lead do they not understand I have two young Labs and we are trying very hard to train them on walks and to heel nicely and it all comes undone when some boofhead comes along with their dog off lead. Ours still think anyone canine or human is their new best friend and it gets so frustrating when these boofheads thinks it is so "cute" that their dog wants to play with ours...and even though we have asked them to call their dog off etc they ignore us... It is downright dangerous for their dog ( bolting across busy roads etc) and I can't understand how people can be so selfish as to put their own dog at risk like that.... As others have already said it makes the daily walk a potential disaster zone and our dogs love their daily walk ( as do we ) so we still want to keep doing it but it means walking the kids " on the offensive" and keeping an eagle eye out for morons. Really it just shouldn't have to be like that..... Why are there always poeple that spoil it for the rest of us ...

thanks aussielover, i hope my girl has the same bladder control soon! Hi Shebu, Your set up sounds very similiar to ours and I had two 8 week old Lab puppies to contend with We have no real shelter outside and a big back yard that was too big to let them have full access - esp as OH and I both work fulltime - but luckily no stairs. We did bring them them home early March so weather wasn't an issue then and like you we have a sunroom which is now their den - and we didnt crate train either. What we did was to fence off a part of the yard next to the sunroom and put a big gazebo over it to shelter them but there was a small part of the yard which they could lie out in the sun if they wanted to. We put a massive kennel out there for them as well ( blankets etc) which they were both happy to snuggle into at night. They were allowed into the sunroom whem we were home and supervised as they were too destructive in the first couple of months and we did put newspaper in there for them which we toilet trained with great success (her) and varying degrees (him) We have spent ALOT of time in that sun room since March !!! On the weekends they were allowed out in the "big yard" - again fully supervised - to see how they went... But like your puppy they were much happier toileting outside (which they did in their small yard) so we just left the sunroom door open and encourged them to go out after play / eating /drinking and making a massive fuss of them - my neighbours think I am complete idiot But it did eventually work... OH and I had a week off work early May and were confident at the end of that week they were fine to be in the big yard ( plus they were getting too big!) so we pulled down the barrier and they have been running around ever since - but kept the gazebo up for shelter. They now sleep in the sunroom at night on their snuggle beds (for the last few weeks) and we have had no toilet issues We also been gradually introducing them to inside the house - one room at a time - and they have been really good with sitting on their blanket and watching TV with us at night Although I think the time where we can leave them inside unsupervised overnight is still a long time away..... judging what they did to the cushions in my sunroom 3 weeks ago Sorry for the long winded reply - and hope it makes sense .... but having a sort of similiar set up - I thought it might help..... And always nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel - I lost sight a few times after a couple of particlularly challenging days with them :D