New puppy.

joes girls

Hi all,
We are getting a labrador pup next week, she will be 7 weeks old.
I want to train her to be a house pet, to stay inside with us. So any advise would be great.
Also i feel a bit sad that she will be leaving the litter and her mammy to come live with us, so how can i help her feel at home as soon as she gets here, plus any other more general tips would be great.
thanks:)

star-pants

Hi there,

firstly just to say 8 weeks is usually the preferred time to take a pup, or older if possible.

Have you bought all the bits you need for the pup?
Bed, food and water bowls, toys, brushes, towels?

You need to find out what food the owner is currently feeding the pup and get some of that, if in the future you want to change it that's fine (once it's done gradually over a few days) but for the moment, stick to what the pups currently getting. Find out what time the pup is normally fed at, at this point it's probably 3 times a day.
I wouldn't really say feed the pup after 7 anyway, otherwise that's going to mean poops over night (not saying they won't, but less chance if they get to poop before bedtime).

An idea also is perhaps drop a blanket or towel over for the mother to lie on, get her scent on it, and take that with you when you get the pup so that the pup will have something in it's basket to help comfort it. Other things are putting a ticking clock beside the bed at night (simulates the mothers heartbeat) and wrapping a warm hotwater bottle in a towel in the bed so the pup feels like it's curled up with others.

The pup will cry for the first few nights, that's normal. Best idea is to ignore at first, so they don't get the idea crying = me getting attention. Don't bring them up to your bed at the first cry etc, bad habit to get into, it's not easy to break once you do. They remember things very quickly.

The pup won't start to have control over it's bladder etc until around the 12week mark, so you can't give out to it for going in the house at the moment. You need to bring the pup out regularly, after big drinks, after feeding, and every couple of hours. Bring the pup outside and lots of praise when they go and they'll learn going outside = praise.
Even if the pup is mid wee, bring them outside to finish & praise.

Some people find crating methods work also - I haven't done it so I can't give advice on that part.
But if you're not using a crate, you need to keep the area that the pups in (if you're asleep or out for an hour) a confined area, because if they've lots of places to wander, it means there's lots of places to go.

You say you want it as a house pet - that's fine to have a dog indoors at night and parts of the day, but a labrador is a big dog, they will need lots of exercise as they get older and will probably want to play in the garden etc.
Make sure your pup is wormed (I'm not sure if at 7weeks the pup will have been wormed/started it's vacc's but ask!!) and if the vaccs aren't started, get them started when you get the pup asap, things like parvo are so dangerous.
Do not bring the pup out for walks until maybe 2weeks after the final vaccs. Otherwise you're allowing the chance of infection. I assume you don't have any other dogs? IF you do, make sure their worming/vaccs are up to date first. And I wouldn't really bring any other dogs over to the house until your pups vaccs are well done.

That's all I can think of right now, but do ask questions and people here will answer them, there's a lot of experience in this forum

kildara

To add to what star-pants said above; once you have her fully vaccinated (at least two weeks after you get her) introduce her to as many different sights, sounds, smells, weathers, social conditions as you can. Introduce her to people, other animals (cats, rabbits etc), bring her to kennels so that she is a well rounded pup.

See if the breeder will keep her for another week or two. Even this short time extra spent with her mother and siblings can impact greatly on how she turns out as a dog.

Oh - most importantly - put pictures up here for us to see!

joes girls

Thanks guys, rang the owner this morning, he said the pup will be 8 weeks old on thursday(im getting her tuesday). Also the food, said he will give me enough for a few days, it's a mother and pup feed. Should i keep her on this, or just get a puppy feed?
She wont have her vacc, and i forgot to ask him how old does she have to be to get them, im sure ye can tell me:).
The hot water bottle is a great idea, thank you. Going shopping on friday for all her bits and was wondering should i put a collar on her and do i need to worry about fleas?

andreac

The pup should really have at least one vacc by now. Did the breeder say why it hasnt been vaccinated yet as most breeders vaccinate their puppies from 6 weeks.

I would urge you to get the pup to the vet to get its vacc's sorted straight away and make sure the pup is not taken outside until these are done as they are at a high risk of catching infections such as parvo, lepto which can be fatal.

Also, the pup should have been wormed from birth too so ask the breeder have they been worming the pup, as if its hasnt you could have an infestation of worms in the pup which wouldnt be nice, so the pup needs to be wormed every motnh until its 6 months then every 3 months thereafter.

When you bring the pup to the vet they can give it a flea treatment if its necessary.

You can get a puppy collar and let the pup get used to it from the word go, but dont leave it on un supervised, take it off when you arent around just in case.

Sigma Force

If buying from a breeder I wouldn't recommend buying from one that hasn't at the very least the first vaccination done 1st vax includes a health check by vet unless you at the very least get this done don't hand over a cent.
Labs can have hip problems also so ensure the parents of the dog have sound hips and are in good general health.

Also if handing over any money get a receipt.

joes girls

Saw both parents, and they are very fit and healthy looking, full of energy. Also spoke to vet today, she is going down to him the morning after i get her, Also just on the not bringing her outside till she has got all her vacc, is it ok to let her out in my garden?

joes girls

this is her:)