new lab puppy

Loopie

Hi everyone!!!!
OK, I posted here a while ago as my parentswere looking for a new puppy, they were thinking along the lines of smaller terriers, JRT etc. However, they had a change of mind and went with a lab puppy instead.

So we got puppy a few weeks back - cute doesn't even begin to describe her. Gorgeous, mischievous, nutjob, greedy, escape artist.. you name it, she's it. And we love her!!!!

I'd like to train her to be a good, obedient dog (while she enjoys it too). Is she too young to start this at 11 weeks?

Secondly, she "play" bites - now I tell her no, she hasn't quite grasped what that means. It's like she has a think and then goes again. She's getting stronger and I don't want her to bite as she gets older. Is this something they grow out of or should we continually tell her no, where she'll eventually get it?

Any help, much appreciated!

Did I mention how gorgeous she is?????

Shanao

A great way to stop them nipping when they're young is to make a loud yelping sound, or a high-pitched Ouch. Puppies playing stop the instant one yelps and as soon as her mouth closes on your hand at all, make the sound so she thinks she's hurting you and she'll back off. Most puppies catch on pretty quickly. I use a high-pitched 'Ah' now if either of my two start getting too boisterous and they've learned to back off. Unfortunately puppies dont understand what 'No' means so you have to teach her.

Training should start immediately. My older dog was gotten at eight weeks and easy to train, the second dog was almost five months when we got her so she was a little more difficult to train (not to mention her previous owners let her get away with murder). Labs are highly intelligent and bred to work so they love having some direction.

tk123

Lab and retrievers can be mouthy - i know because I have a retrieved The ouch thing just encouraged him so we'd say his bold word ('too bad!!!') fold our arms and turn our back to him. If that didn't work he was put out of the room for a few seconds. He soon learned if he bit it was game over! I started training him early - it burns off their energy and he loves it! He won the show in his little puppy class for rolling over lol and everyone always says how good he is because he can do loads of tricks - i still think he's bold thou lol!!! As well as sit, down look at starting leave it/take it for when they go to steal everything, pick stuff off the floor etc. I got The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey and found it very good.

Loopie

Shanao, TK123. thanks to you both.

I'll try the yelping approach first, and take it from there. I bought a Gwen Bailey training book so hopefully we'll have her playing dead in time!!

LucyBliss

Now really! What are you playing at here, OP?! You can't just come on here and tell us about a gorgeous lab puppy and not post pictures. I may have three dogs that I adore of my own but I am always ready to 'ooh' and 'ahh' over other peoples dogs and puppies..

I grew up with Labs and they are very intelligent dogs. Hard to teach at first because they're usually so hyper and silly, they're born with ADHD. But when it comes to things like biting, it's never too young to start saying "No!" and moving the dog's muzzle away from your arm/leg/neck/face every place Labs decide to chew on you. I would suggest starting housetraining as early as possible, every time she pees grab her up and run outside with her - even if you and the house get covered in urine. We successfully housetrained one Lab without issues, but that was one out of five. The other four were extremely hard to train, especially our last Lab who is 13 now, our only bitch too, she was still wetting in the house at two years, but she was just exceptionally disobedient.

Labradors are the best dogs in the universe if you ask me - I love them so much! Sure they ate most of my favourite childhood toys, or my best shoes when I was a teen, or my poetry when I was a tortured goth, not so amused when one of them ate my orthodontic retainer, the Sky remote, and my mother's glasses, but you just have to love them anyway!

Favourite memory of a Lab had to be our dog Fionn, I was seven, my brother was four, our neighbours were similar age, us kids were elbow deep in the Lego box digging out blocks, while Fionn had his face in the box munching down Lego like it was Pedigree Chum. It turned up all over the lawn, chewed but otherwise intact!

djPSB

get her somethin that she can bite.. i.e. get a bone from the local butchers and cook it for her.. dont let her bite anythin else.

Labs are amazing dogs, the training has to start from day 1. The things you can train them to do are unbelievable. As you probably already know, they love food, and would eat all day if they could, so using food as a reard is the best way to train them.. when they do something good, reward them with a treat..

However, I know a few people who have labs, and they are very bad mannered, this is not the dogs fault. They are a nightmare when they are not trained properly, even jumping up on tables and counters to grab food. So my advise is to start the training early.My lab thought herself to open the door of the house, which was annoying as I had to go close it after her every time. Then I thought her how to close it after coming in, so now anytime she opens the door, she comes in and jumps up to close the door behind her, and she gets a treat from time to time as reward!! and yes please post pics

Whispered

Beautiful dogs! But people can tend to forget just how hard working they are. So loads of playing and mental exercise to help tire her hout would be great. Every lab I know loves to swim and she's never to young to learn, so if we get an exceptionally warm day and you know of a safe, shallow and slow moving river you should bring her down and paddle yourself, she should follow you in and she'd love it. a few mins in the water would tire her out without being rough on her joints (Keep a close eye on her though!) Tired dogs are so much more content and easy to train.

For the biting I second (third?) the above advice of yelping and removing all attention from the pup. I yelp, pull my hand away and whip around with my back to the dog. Stop the game, ignore for a few mins every single time she mouths and she will learn very very quickly not to mouth. You, and everyone in the house will need to be consistant though, at least when training starts. Once she learns you'll be able to go back to play fighting

EDIT: regarding the above advice on bones, I never feed my dogs cooked bones, only raw, then others would never feed raw, so do a bit of research and see which you're happier with. Also a pup's stomach can be that much more sensitive so bones should be few and far between and too large for her to crack or swallow.

Training starts from the min she arrives in your house, whether you know it or not I'm sure she's already picked up on a few things without you realising it. I was surprised when our newer fella arrived, to see him ignoring me when I went to the fridge, but thundering over to my husband when he did the same thing. This was 2 days after he arrived! It's never too early for obedience training, just be very gentle, patient and consistant.

mikemac

Our retriever wasn't long figuring out that kettle = tea = biscuits. He hears the kettle and he'll sit by the press where the biscuits are.
And knows who gives food and who doesn't.

They definitely love food, they'd eat until they get sick, love to sleep too
So be mindful of overfeeding, they easily gain weight

OP, get a bone or rubber toy or something the pup can chew on. It's likely they'll get attached to it and go for it everything they come inside.
Also very likely the pup will take it outside and lose it :rolleyes:
Will keep her occupied and stop nipping you

When she gets a bit older take her swimming. Even just to start off paddling and eventually they'll head off swimming.
Well that's what they are bred for, soft mouths to retrieve ducks and such when out shooting.

tk123

We tried a few things for chewing but found puppy nylabones the best OP - my guy had the keys and a little stick thing and it was pefect for him. Now that he's bigger he has big boy nylabones and he never destroyed stuff in the house chewing.

ISDW

djPSB wrote: »

get her somethin that she can bite.. i.e. get a bone from the local butchers and cook it for her.. dont let her bite anythin else.

Labs are amazing dogs, the training has to start from day 1. The things you can train them to do are unbelievable. As you probably already know, they love food, and would eat all day if they could, so using food as a reard is the best way to train them.. when they do something good, reward them with a treat..

If you get a bone from the butcher, please don't cook it, cooked bones can splinter inside the dog. To kill any germs, freeze the bone, or pop it in boiling water for just a minute or two.

djPSB

If dogs are given raw bones, they get a taste for a raw meat..

E.g. give a dog a raw lamb bone, dog begins to like raw lamb. Lamb sees lovely lamb in the next field. Dog attacks lamb.

This happens.

Zapperzy

djPSB wrote: »

If dogs are given raw bones, they get a taste for a raw meat..

E.g. give a dog a raw lamb bone, dog begins to like raw lamb. Lamb sees lovely lamb in the next field. Dog attacks lamb.

This happens.

Complete myth. I feed my dog raw chicken wings and he hasn't savaged anything yet, I'm still alive and my cats still alive. Even before I started feeding chicken wings he would chase any livestock if given the chance it's in his nature, so I take precautions and don't let him off the lead. If a dog is a known livestock chaser you just don't let them off the lead around livestock, regardless of wether or not a dog has eaten raw meat their not going to chase and kill livestock anymore than before. Think about it how would a dog associate a piece of raw lamb with the large wooly animal running around in the field? Does cooking the meat in your opinion reduce this killing urge?

andreac

djPSB wrote: »

If dogs are given raw bones, they get a taste for a raw meat..

E.g. give a dog a raw lamb bone, dog begins to like raw lamb. Lamb sees lovely lamb in the next field. Dog attacks lamb.

This happens.

Ha ha, are you serious?? How on earth do you think a dog connects a piece of meat with an animal standing in a field Sorry but thats actually the funniest thing ive heard in a long time, lol.

** NEVER, EVER GIVE A DOG A COOKED BONE**

ISDW

djPSB wrote: »

If dogs are given raw bones, they get a taste for a raw meat..

E.g. give a dog a raw lamb bone, dog begins to like raw lamb. Lamb sees lovely lamb in the next field. Dog attacks lamb.

This happens.

OP please disregard this old wives tale, it is more dangerous to give your dog a cooked bone than it is a raw one.

I would absolutely love to have a dog that is so intelligent they can make the connection between a bone they are given to the fact that it came from the wooly animal, that doesn't smell anything like the bone, in the fields. Think of what you could do with that dog - total world domination:D

Many, many people feed a raw diet to their dogs, and haven't got an animal that is running around savaging them or other animals.

However, I would never let a dog off lead near livestock, nothing to do with feeding raw bones or meat, just doggie nature.

Loopie

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply, much appreciated.

Regarding photos - I have loads taken but not a clue how to get them onto the site. Will figure it out and post some. Promise.

So we've been doing the whole yelping thing, and I have to say it seems to work as she does stop immediately. Thats not to say that she didn't try to bite again (particularly loves toes!) but I understand it will take time so we're all happy to keep working at it until she totally gets it.

She's a little dote, not a bother on her sitting on command now too - smart lady!!

I will give her bones, but not for a while yet, would her stomach be a little delicate for them at the moment?

Thanks!