drifter

Thanks for all your replies. We built the run after reading a book on raising puppies before I got her (it's been 15 years since my last pup). It said that allowing a young pup too much freedom initially can be quite frightening for them as well as giving them the opportunity to get up to mischief :D I don't recall it saying at what age this is no longer an issue though. The yard is quite secure but maybe we'll just extend the run for now until she's a little older. Just didn't want to be an over-protective 'helicopter' parent

I have a Labrador pup who is now nearly 5 months old. She currently has her crate plus a 3m x 1.5m run that we put her in if we have to go out, which she is very happy in. I'm just wondering at what age it's ok to let her just stay in the yard, with her crate on the back deck to go in and out of as she likes? We are on an acre which is fully fenced. If it's not for a while yet should we extend the run to give her some more space as she grows?

Ouch but thanks for the links, I'll check them out

That's great- thanks secretkei, I'll definately try your suggestions. I know she's too young to know the rules yet, I guess I'm just after some techniques to try to learn these two rules in particular. I'm sure your tips will be a great help.

I'm just wondering if someone can give me some advice. We have a 4 month old labrador puppy. We also have 3 children aged 3,7and9. This is our first puppy since we have had children. She is an inside dog and is crate trained. Our house rules are that she is not allowed on lounges or beds or allowed to jump up on anyone. This is particularly so that the kids can have a place to retreat to if they want a bit of peace and space. Daisy however doesn't really like this rule ;) and will jump onto the lounge often, especially if she's excited and will then jump all over the kids. When I tell her to get down she doesn't and growls and snaps at me (just playing I think)if I try to grab her collar to get her down and when she's on top of a 3 year olds head sometimes you just have to physically move the dog. She also gets incredibly excited around strangers and other dogs to the point where my 3 year olds friends are frightened to come to play because of her. I lock her away from the kids if this is the case but I really don't want to have to do this. I have tried hard to socialise her well but you can't let kids get hurt while your exuberant puppy figures out what the rules are. I have done puppy preschool with her and she is enrolled for obedience classes but they don't start for another 3 weeks (I was hoping to start at the beginning of July but because I couldn't make it to the first class they wouldn't let me start until the following month) Sorry for the long post. Any help really appreciated.

I signed up for both of these when I got Daisy a couple of months ago. The purina one came really quickly- had a little packet of puppy food which I used as training treats as they were really small plus a pretty cool squeaky chew toy. The eukanuba one took about six weeks to arrive but has a puppy info book and a vocher for a free 2kg bag of dog food which I picked up the other day. Score!

My 4 month old pup is exactly the same. It is driving me crazy! I swear she will be outside and then come in to wee! Or she will wee inside just near the open back door. I toilet her after every rest, meal, play and at least every 40minutes or so. If she does go inside I always take her out anyway and try and get her to go again even if it's just a few drops so I can heap on the praise. I guess I just have to hope she gets the hang of it VERY soon

We have a 42" for our lab puppy (she's 17 weeks now). It lives in the corner of our bedroom at night and she loves it. During the day she is just wherever I am although we have built her a run in the backyard for when we go out. She hated the run initially but I moved the crate out there and now she is very happy to go out there. Only problem is I have to carry it out in the morning and back in at night and it's flippin' heavy! I'm thinking of getting a soft crate for in the house- just have to work out how to break it the OH As for the bed, I got the crate from vebopets online and they had mats made to fit for $20 so I just got a couple of those. They wash and dry really well. I also got one of their crate covers- cheap and very lightweight with little window flaps you can open up to let breeze through.

The puppies I believe come with 6 weeks insurance and I'm pretty sure it is pet plan they use, have googled a few and the ones that cover everything incliding vaccinations and desexing are standing out to me. We are just waiting on puppies to finish all their health checks to find out if one will be available to us, and have just heard from another breeder who is expecting new arrivals any day now, so soon we will be off to do some more visiting I have just signed up with petplan a few weeks ago. I checked out quite a few but liked that this one covered 100% of the claim less the excess whereas others seemed to only cover 80%. I did look for ones that covered more everyday things like vacc's and desexing but could only find ones that covered say $50 or so towards it. For the extra premiums they charged it didn't seem worth it but I'd be interested to know if there are any that cover more than that.

yeah I was about to reply to some earlier posts but realised they were from 2010! Oh man- just posted my reply and then read yours Never mind

I also had a bad first first experience with puppy school. There were only 2 other puppies, both very boisterous and poor Daisy spent the whole lesson trying to hide under my chair. The 'trainer' just let the other 2 play for the whole lesson and didnt really have any control at all. I took her along to a class run by the local obedience club and the difference was like night and day. There were about 10 other pups, all different breeds and the trainer is fantastic! She has total control over all the puppies (and their owners ;) ) the whole time. They do some basic command work and have a short period of free play where they are split into size/age appropriate groups and the rest of the lesson they are quiet while she educates the owners. Daisy and I both love it I didn't bother going back to the other class. Initially I felt like I was wasting my money by not going back but now I think it would have been a waste if I had. I really don't think either of us would have got any value from continuing there.

Your puppy is gorgeous Olivebaby Love the name too. I have a 10 week old lab pup (also gorgeous :D ) who also wakes hideously early! I had hoped that by about 4 months I'd be getting some sleep again but sounds like that's wishful thinking. Never mind- lucky they're cute hey, helps a little with the 4am starts

Thanks for all the replies. After a long discussion with our breeder (as well as the local vet, state labrador club and another breeder ) we decided to go ahead with our puppy purchase from her. Our beautiful girl Daisy came home with us last week and is now 10 weeks old. She is adorable, patient and sweet. She is also a weeing, pooing machine who chews everything she can get her teeth into! We all love her to bits and are so glad she's now a part of our family. Hope the photos work- my first attempt with photobucket :rolleyes:

We collected our beautiful new Labrador Daisy during the week. She is adorable and settling in really well. Went to puppy school today which was a bit of a shock for her though. The other pups were all a good month older than her and much more boisterous. Poor girl

We had a GD greyhound cross when I was kid. Had 2 GD's which were beautiful dogs but I was always a little scared of the greyhound cross. She was a cranky thing. Also had a chihuahua poodle cross. Now there was an ugly dog! A bit larger than a chihauhua with wispy, kinda curly greyish brown fur. When wet he looked exactly like a rat! I loved him though :D

She's yellow. Haven't decided on a name yet.....

Just wanted to introduce myself. Only 2 weeks until we get our beautiful little lab girl. Can't wait!!

Thanks for your replies. Your answers are similar to what I was told by the vet. The breeder has been lovely and very willing to answer all my questions and by the sounds of it breeds dogs with great temperaments which, when it comes down to it is most important to me. She tells me that none of their dogs have ever had HD which is comforting.

Great- thanks!

Thanks for your help- have re-posted in the labrador thread

I tried that but it keeps telling me I don't have permission to start a new post. I think I'm a forum failure!

Hi, I'm a newbie here so please be gentle! I originally posted this in the puppy section and it was suggested I repost in general- hopefully this is the right spot We are planning to purchase a labrador puppy (our first) and I'm hoping for some advice. Pups are 3 weeks old. Dams hips are 8:10, sire 1:1. Both elbows 0:0, PRA clear by parentage. Are these hip scores OK? I rang another breeder who said that they were slightly higher than normal but not really a concern, and I also rang a vet who said he wouldn't be worried by these scores. I guess I just wonder whether others agree with this. The breeder says that the dam has had a previous litter with no known problems. One of her pups from that litter was scored at 5:5. Anything else I should be looking out for? I'm trying to do the right thing by going with a reputable breeder but how do I know if they are?? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi, I'm a newbie here so please be gentle! We are planning to purchase a labrador puppy (our first) and I'm hoping for some advice. Pups are 3 weeks old. Dams hips are 8:10, sire 1:1. Both elbows 0:0, PRA clear by parentage. Are these hip scores OK? I rang another breeder who said that they were slightly higher than normal but not really a concern, and I also rang a vet who said he wouldn't be worried by these scores. I guess I just wonder whether others agree with this. The breeder says that the dam has had a previous litter with no known problems. One of her pups was scored at 5:5. Anything else I should be looking out for? I'm trying to do the right thing and going with a reputable breeder but how do I know if they are??