Our Little Labradog!

[Lucian08]

Hello!

We adopted our lil fella Lucian on Wednesday.

He is a 9wk old Labrador.

He has seemed to settle in at home reasonably well so far. We distract him with HIS toys when he starts to chew or looks like he wants to chew something that is not his - for example my sons fingers!!

He has had a couple of accidents inside, which we expected, and we can't complain TOO much, seeing as he seems to only pee on the hard, easy to clean floors! We take him outside the minute he wakes up for "wees & poos", and regularly throughout the day.

He has already learnt to stay away from the cat, because Cat = Boss.

I took him for his 1st walk around the block yesterday. It was only a 5 minute stroll but I want to get him used to being walked on the lead sooner rather than later. It was quite a lovely walk! Lucian does prefer to walk with the leash in his mouth as well as my hand, but seeing as he wasn't chewing it, rather just holding it along with me, I let him do this. He followed me more than got 'walked' but all in all, for his first 'formal' outing, I can't complain!

The only 'issue' I guess you could call it, with Lucian, is that we are not sure how to stop the whining & barking when he is out of view of people or left by himself to go to sleep.

We do not want him to be a 'house dog' but he will be allowed inside to share special time with us as a family etc. I have put him in the bathroom with his blanket & cushion and a couple of his toys, and he usually goes to sleep but then not long after, he wakes up and whines and carries on until it becomes ridiculous. We have gone in, told him "No", settled him back down and then he starts all over again.

He also does this when I put him outside during the day to have some outdoors time.

He has now slept in our room with us, and last night with our son in his room, and there were no issues there, but this is not a solution, and I know if we keep it up, we will have 'done our dash' so to speak.

We are aware it's only early days, and he is learning his boundaries, the same as we are learning to set those boundaries. If anyone has any tips or pointers to help Lucian and us with this one factor we would be eternally grateful!

I look forward to getting to know you all and learn from you wise ones!!!!

PS: Sorry the post was so long!!!

Here is our little Lucian.

[bathurstgirl]

Oh he is so beautiful. I have a labrador as well. He is still cute and is 9 months. Slowly starting to get a bit better behaved...

[NoodleNut]

The only 'issue' I guess you could call it, with Lucian, is that we are not sure how to stop the whining & barking when he is out of view of people or left by himself to go to sleep.

We do not want him to be a 'house dog' but he will be allowed inside to share special time with us as a family etc. I have put him in the bathroom with his blanket & cushion and a couple of his toys, and he usually goes to sleep but then not long after, he wakes up and whines and carries on until it becomes ridiculous. We have gone in, told him "No", settled him back down and then he starts all over again.

He also does this when I put him outside during the day to have some outdoors time.

He has now slept in our room with us, and last night with our son in his room, and there were no issues there, but this is not a solution, and I know if we keep it up, we will have 'done our dash' so to speak.

We are aware it's only early days, and he is learning his boundaries, the same as we are learning to set those boundaries. If anyone has any tips or pointers to help Lucian and us with this one factor we would be eternally grateful!

What a gorgeous pup and a lovely name might I add.

With our pup (now 6 months) we have her crated (wire one that flat packs) in the kitchen as, like you, we did not want her in our room or in the kids room overnight.

Noodle acted up as you describe Lucian does. I made sure Noodle was toileted and had fresh water attached to the inside of the crate and then went to bed and completely ignored her. Hard I know.

We did this in the middle of the week .. very bad idea .. everyone was awake at the kerfluffle and OH not impressed as had important early meeting at work the next day. We then lapsed for a day and tried again on a friday night. Put Noodle in the crate with a lovely frozen chicken neck 9 or two stuck together frozen ora pigs ear or something he will like) and went out with the family Friday night shopping for 1.5 - 2hours. When we got home she had been asleep and must have started to learn that making a racket gets you nowhere .. also less stressful for us.

We then took her for a little walk and play, toileted again and put her in the crate about 11pm (this way the kids were well and truly sound asleep and wouldn't wake up short of a 747 jet skimming the top of the house ... yes, she carried on .. shut the bedroom door and refused to go to her. She did eventually settle. We continuted this practice until she was happily going in the crate at night. Now she is 'portable' and we can take her anywhere to sleep, inside or out (our crate has a canvas cover which is waterproof), in the tent camping .. etc. No concerns about her roaming around the house, toileting in the wrong place (she has never toileted in the crate. It is cool in summer and I put a soft bed in it during winter). Must admit to being a crate convert.

We initially started with a pen in the kitchen with the crate in the pen (see photo) but have only used the crate now for the past few months. The pens are useful outside should be need to contain her (like when she was speyed last week and we wanted to keep her quiet) when tradesman visit, camping etc.

At this age if you decide to go the crate idea you will need to still toilet Lucian during the night. At 9 weeks I was up at 2am and 4am and 6am with Noodle (felt like a baby in the house again!!). Noodle sahkes and her tages rattle and I know she needs to go out now. She is in the crate at about 10:30/11ish each night and usually wakes at about 5ish when my OH lets her out and then she comes back in at about 7am to spend time with the kids before they head off to school.

Re: Outdoor time .. We bought Noodle an Aussie Dog toy .. it is a bungee rope that hangs from the carport or similar structure with a yellow ball on it that rattles (you can also put dry kibble in it so it falls out when puppy pupps on the hose hard enough .. knowing labs are keen on their food ... excuse me if I am wrong in this assumption .... your pup might have som eof his dinner in the ball rather than additional treat food) and a fireman's hose about 20cm long on the bottom. I put this out for Noodle when I go out and some toys (lots of toys that I rotate) that she only gets when I go out. When we are home or on the weekends all of this stuff comes inside and reappears when I have to go to work for a few hours each day. I have noticed that she does not seem to pine for us and is busy entertaining herself on the Aussie dog .. I have another similar toy that is a rope on the end of a bungee and she also plays tug of war with this (this game is banned in our house with humans but she can play it with her toys on her own).

[TerraNik]

As NoodleNut mentioned, the best thing to do is just try and ignore the whining/whimpering. I know it is very, very tough, but the more you give in to it, the more he will learn that "if I whine, I get to come inside! (or similar). Only go out to him once he has quietened down. This is extremely taxing on your nerves and you just need to tell yourself that it is only in the short term! Soon he will learn that whining gets him no where and being quiet gets him what he wants.

As you said, it is time to set the boundaries. What you set now are the boundaries you will want him to have as an adult dog. So if you want him sleeping in your room as an adult, by all means do it now, but if you don't, then I would agree with NoodleNut's suggestion of crating him. It has worked wonders for our Jedi (who sleeps in our room, but in his crate). He sees it as his 'bed' and will go in there whenever he wants to sleep. Some dogs take to it straight away, others require some 'encouragement'.

In terms of walking him, I know that some people don't think it's necessary, but I still stick to the 'no walks or meeting other unknown dogs' until the C5 vaccination at 10-12 weeks. At his age you don't really need to walk him, but if you want to get him used to the lead you might want to just walk him in the backyard just to be safe. You never know the dogs that might be out at the same time as you that may not be very welcoming to Lucian, plus you don't know if they are vaccinated. Either way, if you're unsure have a chat with your vet.

Anyway, welcome to Lucian! He is suuuuch a cutie!!!!!!! I love baby labs (adult labs too!)!!

[blacklabrador]

The pup is safest on your property until ten days after the 12 week vaccintion.

Parvo virus is constantly at epidemic levels, lives in the soil for years and will easily kill a pup of that age. The more public footpaths he comes in contact with the higher his chance of picking it up.

Keep him in your yard and hope that no parvo virus has been shed there by dogs living in the yard previously.

If you want to lead train him properly keep the lead out of his mouth. It's cute when they take the lead but it teaches them all the wrong lessons about being on lead. Lead training should initially take place over about ten metres. If the pup follows then you praise it and take the lead off. Do it again later in the day and increase the distance gradually. If you don't teach the pup correctly from the start you may end up with a dog that you can't walk easily on lead.

Enroll in puppy school at your local vet so you have some guidance. Once the pup is 12 weeks old take it to obedience to do the basic puppy course. This is the minimum you should be doing with a labrador pup.

[Lucian08]

Thanks guys! I will be taking all that information on board.

I have seen a couple of people make comments about "crates" but I had no idea what they were on about. Now I know!

Seeing as Lucian is going to be ultimately an 'outside' dog, is it still a good idea to 'crate' him at night?

I set up the bathroom tonight, with his cushion, blanket and some of his favourite toys. He had newspaper to pee on and I left a small clock radio on so he could have some 'background' noise.

I was gone for about 4hrs, and when I got back, he was sound asleep on his cushion and surrounded by torn up newspaper, which of course, I had expected!

He didn't seem too distressed and we went outside together immediately for 'wee' time and he was promptly rewarded when he went when I asked him to.

I only remembered today that Lucian isn't fully covered until he has had his C5 on July 1st, so have now decided to keep him at home until after then, but thanks for reminding me.

I hear what you are saying about the lead in his mouth, cute yes, but practical in the long run? No. Thanks again for that too!

We have already decided that puppy school/obedience training is where we will be taking Lucian once he is fully covered by vaccinations.

All in all, he has already become a valuable member of our family and we hope to have many more joyful years with him!

[NoodleNut]

I have seen a couple of people make comments about "crates" but I had no idea what they were on about. Now I know!

Seeing as Lucian is going to be ultimately an 'outside' dog, is it still a good idea to 'crate' him at night?

Our pup is outside and in when we are home (not all the time but she does like being with us). I like the crate as I don't have to worry about her disturbing neighbours and finding possums, birds or just generally shadows that might take her fancy and encourage her to let out a bark. Noodle is also protected from teh elements .. although with that coat of hers she would be quite fine outside. Mind you Noodle does not shed so we can have her inside and not worry about hair everywhere.

Have a read about the crate idea .. I must admit Ithought they looked pretty cruel until I did a bit of reading and realised it was just a den and it could be a place that was safe, portable and comfortable. I also like the idea that she is not wandering the house and doing things she shouldn't. I can also control the toileting at night as she wont go in her den which means 100% 'success' each time she toilets as it is outside.

When you say that Lucian will be an outdoor dog do you also intend to have him sleep outside at some point or always inside at night.

Oh, one other thing .. our last dog many years ago was terrified of thunder storms (and fireworks) .. got worse as he got older .. I was hoping that the crate would be a place Noodle would feel comfortable retreating to if there ever was a storm with lightening or fireworks.

[blacklabrador]

Puppy schools are often held in vet surgeries on clean floors and attended by other vaccinated dogs.

If you don't take him to puppy school between 8 - 12 weeks then he's missing out on a vital socialisation stage and spending that period on his own with no other dog contact.

Puppy school at the vet is pretty safe before the second vaccination.

[Lucian08]

NoodleNut ~ Yes, Lucian will eventually be sleeping outside. It is rather cold at the moment and as we don't have anything protected yet for him to sleep in, he is sleeping inside. I WILL be looking into the crating idea though. It sounds very beneficial. We are also planning on getting Lucian a 'house'/kennel for sleeping in outside.

BlackLabrador ~ Thank you so much for your wealth of info. I will ring around our vet clinics on Monday and see whats available.

I have a specific question for you: Is Lucian allowed to socialise with other dogs (friends & Families) that have been fully vaccinated? Or is it best to wait until Lucian himself is fully covered?

Thanks again everyone!

[NoodleNut]

NoodleNut ~ Yes, Lucian will eventually be sleeping outside. It is rather cold at the moment and as we don't have anything protected yet for him to sleep in, he is sleeping inside. I WILL be looking into the crating idea though. It sounds very beneficial. We are also planning on getting Lucian a 'house'/kennel for sleeping in outside.

BlackLabrador ~ Thank you so much for your wealth of info. I will ring around our vet clinics on Monday and see whats available.

I have a specific question for you: Is Lucian allowed to socialise with other dogs (friends & Families) that have been fully vaccinated? Or is it best to wait until Lucian himself is fully covered?

Thanks again everyone!

Hi!

Here is a photo of Noodle's kennel ... similar situation to you .. we have nearly finished an extension on the back of the house but no pergola as yet ... she has the kids cubby or their undercover sandpit though and this whopper of a dog house (I got some carpet squares from the local carpet place ... you know the ones you buy for between $2 - $10 depending on the size and put them in the kennel for an insulating effect....I figure she still needs some insulating at this age. There is another thread somewhere on kennels and one of the suggestions I had was to line the kennel with the carpet for a dog that does not have the double coat. The top of the kennel flips up for cleaning too.

[TerraNik]

BlackLabrador ~ Thank you so much for your wealth of info. I will ring around our vet clinics on Monday and see whats available.

I have a specific question for you: Is Lucian allowed to socialise with other dogs (friends & Families) that have been fully vaccinated? Or is it best to wait until Lucian himself is fully covered?

My vet told me that it was fine for dogs to socialise with other vaccinated dogs in a backyard after their first vaccination (6-8 weeks). So as long as you know that the dogs he will socialise with are vaccinated and it is in a safe area (e.g. inside your house or in the backyard) then it should be fine. Just use your discretion. If the other dog is sick, then obviously you wouldn't.

[black magic]

Hi,

I've got a 91/2week old black Lab. We crate her, and I'm so glad we do, it has made house training her so easy. Our wire crate has something similar to small castors on the bottom of it, so it is easy for me to move. At 6am when I wake up, I wheel the crate outside from our back sun room, and leave it on our patio, so she has it for the day outside. Then at 7.30pm I wheel the crate back inside ready for her to settle into for the night.

I have had her for two weeks, and for the first week I just put a baby gate on the door to the sun room, so she only had free run in that room, Her crate door was left open, and she came and went in her crate as she wished. I found that she always seemed to sleep in it anyway. Now she is quite happy for the door to be closed while she is in it at night time. We no longer have the baby gate up.

At the puppy preschool that we go to the trainer said to be fair to the dog, where the dog is sleeping now is the place that you should be happy with them sleeping for the rest of their lives.

In regards to crating her, I like the fact that she knows that is her special place, where no one disturbs her. (she has learnt this quickly) I've been making sure she gets used to us taking food from her bowl at meal times, and the other day I went to take a chicken neck out, she grabed what was left and ran and placed them into the crate knowing I wouldn't go there. She also collects her toys and places them in the corner of the crate to. Watching her and the way she treats her crate makes me believe that we have done the right thing by giving her one. I am definately an advocate for crates.

[Lucian08]

We have started putting Lucian in a crate at night. It goes outside during the day with him and he is free to go in and out as he pleases.

Unfortunately, we have had no sleep for a week now. He will not settle in his crate at night, and we cannot let him 'roam free' around the house. #1 - because he hasn't quite worked out how to ask to go outside for the toilet yet & #2 - because we don't want him to be a wholly 'inside' dog.

I know he is young, and he just wants to be near us, but neither of us are sleeping and I am at the end of my tether. I know he's a puppy and it will take time, but I am just not sure what to try next.

I am trying not to be mad at him when he cries and barks, because he doesn't know yet that he's not really supposed to.

Sorry about the whinge, I'm just tired and cranky.

Any more help would be greatly appreciated.

[Janba]

Have you made him a snug warm bed in his crate. When I first bring young pups home I put a basket or box in the crate that is the right size for the pup and make the bed in that. I also put in a large soft toy or a cushion for them to snuggle up to. Covering the crat - but not the front - can also help as it makes it seem secure and den like.

Good luck with your pup - lab pups are such cuties

[Lucian08]

Hi Janba,

Yep, pup has his own little baby blanket in his crate that he has had since day 1. He has a favourite teddy that I let him take to bed with him at night as well and he uses that as a pillow. I got the crate from an animal shelter and it is the right size for pup at the moment.

He has been outside this morning, we are trying to get him used to being outside during the day. I let him in for a bit of "mum & me" time, and instantly he pee'd on the floor! He has been outside for about 45 mins and yet he waited until he came inside to pee!

So, back outside with him.

I know it probably sounds like I'm being a bad dog owner, but I'm just so over it today.

[Lucian08]

Update:

I have calmed down a bit now as the day has gone on. I have had a good ole chat with OH and we have made some decisions.

Lucian is now going to have 'outside toys' and 'inside toys'.

I am off to buy him a hot water bottle and a louder ticking clock than the one we have.

We are going to let him 'cry' for longer than he has been, and we will just have to deal with it. It is me that has the issue though, I can't let a little baby puppy whine like that, so OH is going to be my rock for that part!

He's about to score himself a Kong as well, and we will introduce that tonight.

I saw someone else had posted somewhere that we need to make outside more fun than inside, so that is what we are planning on doing.

As I left for an app this morning, I added an empty cereal box to his collection of toys and boy did he go ape with it! Cardboard is EVERYWHERE. But, cardboard is easy to pick up and he seemed happy with it.

Sorry about my little whinge this morning, but it was starting to get between OH and myself.

Will update you all tomorrow on how Lucian copes tonight.

[Joan of Arc]

YOu must make going to his bed an enjoyable experience. Every time he goes in when you ask him tell him he is a good boy and reward him with a little treat. Try putting a bone or chew toy in with him when he is put to bed. I would also recommend you cover the crate.

[NoodleNut]

Update:

I have calmed down a bit now as the day has gone on. I have had a good ole chat with OH and we have made some decisions.

Will update you all tomorrow on how Lucian copes tonight.

Hang in there .. I feel your pain .. can empathise as I was the same (the sleep deprivation is awful .. not since I breastfed the kids was it as bad ... BUT it doesn't last 12 months so hang in there) .. just hang in there .. shut the bedroom door, watch tv (if you have one in your bedroom) .. read a book .. anything to try and take your mind of the howling .. put a radio on or tv on in teh same room as puppy as this may help calm him down.

We have a cover for our crate ... see photos below.

[Lucian08]

Well, last night was our best night!

After implementing outside toys/inside toys yesterday, Lucian decided that it was much more fun outside and we spent some time yesterday afternoon running around with his new ball hang chew thing.

We made a specific 'inside family play time' before bed, and he was inside with us wrestling with OH and having a general good time.

We decided to try Lucian outside to sleep last night, on our back verandah which is enclosed so not exposed to the elements.

His crate is near to our back door and it faces in, so he can see us walking back and forth.

I covered the crate, set up his hot water bottle under his baby blanket, put his 'little man' inside, which he loves to use as a pillow, and he got a brand new Kong filled with treats to entice him.

I am pleased to report, that with only a few yips and barks overnight and various intervals, and only for about 2mins at a time, Lucian slept quite happily!!! Oh, and just in case you were wondering, we didn't close the crate, so he was able to leave at anytime and use the bathroom, just like he does when Im out during the day and he's outside.

I have removed his kong for today and his hot water bottle and 'little man', because I want these to be things he associates with bedtime.

He is now currently inside with me on an endless pursuit of his tail.

Oh, and he is enrolled in Puppy Preschool at the local vet.

We have realised where we went wrong in the very first days that we had Lucian home. Now, I think we are on our way to a happy and harmonious relationship with our dog!!

Thanks everyone for all your tips and ideas, I have taken them all on board and will continue to do so in the future!

Edited June 12, 2008 by Lucian08

[TerraNik]

It's good to hear that both you and Lucian are happier!!