[Closed] Labrador Puppy - Advice please

Sounds pretty much spot on ,Labs are ace . Enjoy your pup he is crying because he is scared and It will take a bit of time for him to settle in but he will be fine.

Oh and get some pics up.

I've always ensured dogs have water and don't put him to bed until you go.

He'll get over the wetting.

I'll try and keep this succinct but our labs are kept in the kitchen, have never been left in a cage, had water at night and fed twice a day (Burns), just after/before our meals.

The first few days the will cry quite a lot then eventually calm down. Make sure he has plenty to play with. Treats are a good reward with labs. They think with their bellies.

We've found the soiling take a few weeks to 'control', smaller and smaller pieces of newspaper or pads moved closer and closer to the door and eventually they will get the hang of it and hold it till they go out.

Just a quick note. We feed our's only on Burns High oats. Everything else seems to have high salt content that can play havoc with their hips.

Hope this helps.

Will take a bit of time but purely seperation issues.

You're doing well if he's going to sleep alone.

Worth removing water in the evening, a puppy only has a very small bladder and thus 6-8hoirs overnight is too long for him to cope.

The soiling bed would of distressed him I'm sure. No dog messes its own bed unless forced to, part of the now crying each night may be anxiety of what happened previously and a fear of it happening again.

Bear with him it will be worth it!

Rich - sounds like you are doing everything to be a great owner. It's very hard as those yelps are painful to listen to, they go straight to the heart. But IME they are very short lived and part of any puppy's adjustment phase. Each to their own, but I would advise against the bedroom/kitchen options! Good luck it will pass soon.

Good choice on dog but where's are photo!

Our brown lab cross whimpered at night for first week but we just ignored it and she soon got used to it. Do you have anything that smells of its mum? We had a blanket that we dropped off with the mum’s owner for a few day before collecting. Blanket was kept in it's mums bed so it had a familiar smell.

Just be patient.

Thanks folks for the reassurance. Here is the little pup:

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EDIT and any comments on the time of last feed?

My first post on this forum, so hello everyone!....,
Slowboydickie, just to concur with other reply's, sounds about right for a puppy adapting to new and unfamiliar surroundings, stick at it, he will get better!
However, if your still having problems at present, TOP TIP!.... get one of those heat bags filled with beans, or a water bottle you can trust not to burst, wrap it, in something youve maybe worn for a while ( doesn't have to be minging bum bags!) and put it in the crate with him at night time, mimics warmth of mum/ litter mates he's been used to up until now and gets him used to the smell of his new family at the same time, works a treat.....
Good luck & have fun!...

We had exactly the same problem with out Border Terrier. We had a crate for her that she slept in but we left the door open and had training mats in a corner away from her sleeping area. We also had one section of the kitchen penned off so she had her own area.

Dottie was the same with the crying too but it generally started around 05.30. We would ignore it and only go down to greet her when she stopped. It took a while for her to sleep through the night but she got there eventually. Now she doesn't bother getting up until it's walk time!

Stick with it. You're doing everything right.

Get him to DTFU 😉

Our lab is a year now, and like you we got loads of conflicting advice. So to add to it:

With your night-time routine, if stuff works for you then stick to it, but I would seriously advise against encouraging him to have a crate which he also uses to toilet, or giving him free run of the kitchen to toilet. It is more stressful for you, and harder work - but i would be getting up every couple of hours to take him out, then put him back in his crate to sleep. Our lab took less than 2 weeks before he was ok to be crated from midnight to 6am with no accidents, and we built pretty quickly from there. You're sending mixed signals at the moment that he is OK to crap and pee inside if he is desperate.

One thing we found: ours was crying each morning just before we got up. We had been feeding him pretty quickly after waking up, and he was actually demanding food. As soon as we started making him wait an hour or so after we got up before he got breakfast, the morning crying stopped.

I agree with you on not sleeping in the bedroom, and building up time alone. We've done this and ours is more than happy to be left (he puts himself to bed when he sees us getting ready to leave).

I'm a control freak about dog food. Mine gets fed obscenely expensive stuff called Canagan, because I like to know what has gone into his food and I don't want him eating what I consider to be low quality junk which has been shoved in to increase the profit margin for Nestle and Mars... For that reason I personally wouldn't feed Skinners, James Wellbeloved or Wainwrights. I also don't understand why any dog food would ever add salt and steer clear of everything that does this. This is very much a personal thing though and what is most important is that you're happy with what you're feeding.

For final meal, I'd give it to him a little later, but not so late that he gets his massive energy buzz late at night and then won't settle. You could try leaving him to about 8pm... We also leave water all night, but this is because Indy is really bad at drinking, so we want him to have it whenever he wants.

Enjoy him being this age which is stressful and amazing in equal measure - I wish I'd taken more photos and videos when ours was little...

As everyone else has said - you're training is spot on,

it just takes time for the pup to adjust. The first 6 months are critical in setting trends for life. In these months the pup is most adaptable and capability for learning/change is at its highest. So try to be harsh but kind during these first weeks, even though the cries might be heart wrenching at times! Definitely do not talk to the pup after you have told it you're off to bed, dont visit during the night and definitely don't sleep next to the crate unless this is a habit you wish to continue!

With regards to last feed, again it will just take time for the pup to adjust to you're new feed schedule, only takes a couple of weeks, so set the precedent now for when you want meal times to be. At his age with a breeder he is possibly used to just grazing from a bowl of food always available, so you just need to give his stomach time to learn its new schedule. 6.30pm is an alright time for dinner IMO

With regards to diet and hips - best one out there for pups is Hill's (from vets/pet super stores). Extremely nutritionally balanced. Feed only a very high quality diet for the first 18months as that's when bones and joints are maturing. Steer clear of Bakers, especially as you have a chocolate lab. They only need to sniff calories to see them on their hips!

Did you see the parents hip score certificates?

Highly recommend puppy training classes too after vaccines are complete. I don't see these as training aids really, but more like an excellent chance for socialisation of your dog from a young age. You can also then ask other pup owners how they're getting in with dogs a similar age to yours too

Only skim read this thread as at work but one thing I would suggest if your having problems at night is try something called "adaptil". It comes as a spray or plug in diffuser and is basically a pheromone that the bitch produces when she's feeding and it acts to calm her pups. Works very well in this sort of situation.
Don't get to bogged down in fine detail re feeding - just get into a routine and take him outside to toilet after eating then praise him when he goes.
May take a bit if time but it'll be worth it. 🙂

Oh, and don't withhold water.

Our puppy is now coming up for 10 years old, chocolate labs are very loyal lovely dogs but do have some issues; I've had 4 in total, in all 3 shades of lab, here's my experience over the last 40 years in brief;

He will always be hungry (don't fall for it, they will steal and look very cute when dissapearing up the garden with tonight's roast dinner)
I feed mine twice a day (field and trial duck and rice)
Keep the weight of him/her down as this can cause issues with hips, joints etc.(mine is 35kgs but did get upto 41kgs when living with mum and dad briefly and was being titbitted)
Don't over walk him when young build up to it gently.
Watch out for the ears, they can clog up with gooey horrible stuff and might need cleaning or a trip to the vets for some drops.
They love being brushed and it stops the doggy tumbleweeds from building up.
Oh and remember whose the sofa really is.
Enjoy him they're never around for long enough.

Good luck.

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Adaptil is getting bought as we speak. Will check out what good food brands are sold locally. We got a sample of Hills from the vet and comparing it to Skinners is have almost double meat content and much less salt, but will see what is sold locally. I think we will stick to no contact in the night since that is what we have done for the last few says. From the lab forum it seems this is a strongly contentious point.

thanks again. Need to get this licked because the chances of three rides a week is remote right now.

Our springer is just coming up to 6 months old, I think we were lucky as she's been really good.

Some good advice above, but if your struggling over night try locking him in his cage at night (he wont want to go to the toilet in there) but taking him out every 3 or 4 hours. So go to bed at 12, let him out at 3am and 6am then build it up by 30 minutes every day, in a week you've got it sorted! Worked a treat for us...

We have a 19 week old Working Cocker. We cage him at night in the kitchen, and he cried for an hour the first night, longer on the second, and after 4 hours of crying on the 3rd night i'd had enough, and went to him and just said "enough" firmly, didnt shout.

Now, i know you shouldn't do that,(I had surgery in the morning and didnt want to see my patients when suffering from sleep deprivation) but ever since he's been fine, no crying at all.

We both work full time, and go back to see walk and feed him at lunch. If we work away we take him to work, caged in the back of the van and walk him whenever we get a break, he's been fine, no chewing, no anxiety, good as gold and completely mental when he's with us just like Spaniels should.

Just stick with the routine, the pup will fit around what you need, as long as you give it all the attention and walks, fuss it requires it will be just fine!
I have always had terriers before and seperation anxiety and crying for attention always goes given enough time 😀

1. get a cuddly toy for the dog to bed down with.
2. its a lab, they poo, you'll think you've got it sorted then...
3. wait til' it starts chewing stuff. mine went through 300quids worth of stuff in less than 48hours at one stage... mtb shoes, mtb gloves, even chainsaw gloves... but even thats not as bad as a guy i met in the woods a few days later whos puppy lab had chewed through the feet of his brand new freestanding kitchen units.

3. wait til' it starts chewing stuff. mine went through 300quids worth of stuff in less than 48hours at one stage... mtb shoes, mtb gloves, even chainsaw gloves... but even thats not as bad as a guy i met in the woods a few days later whos puppy lab had chewed through the feet of his brand new freestanding kitchen units.

I know I mentioned the no crate thing earlier but as mush as I don't like them they have their advantages. Our current lab cost us various doors and frames, the steps down into the kitchen, sills, draft excluders and a £8000 kitchen.

They chew, but boy did this one chew:

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We've got two vizslas. One's an old boy, the other 13 weeks old now.

From my experience...

Keep the crate locked at night. Don't paper it. They will not soil their beds.

The crying stops after a few days. Make sure it's warm - heated pad, blanket over the crate. Buy some earplugs and don't worry about it.

Expect to get up early for a few months! 6:30 pretty consistently from day 1 with the new puppy.

Don't have them in your bedroom.

It gets better.

By the time they're 4 you'll enjoy them. 😯

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Had my cockapoo house trained by 10 weeks (as in, her going to the door 95 percent of time when needing the loo) and able to go through a full night without needing a piss/shit by 14.

The trick is to work out how often they need to go to the loo and get up in the night to take them out before they start crying. When they go to the loo.....reward them with a treat. You then increase this time until they get through the night - puppies have weak bladders and they need to learn to strengthen it - it can take longer depending on the individual puppy though. Mine being able to go through a night at 14 weeks is somewhat of a rarity.

Oh and I leave water in with her and things have still been relatively smooth - you just have to get up in the night and estimate when they need the loo.

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Here's mine in full flight , He is starting to get grey round the chops as he is 8 . Labs are easily the most loyal friends you will ever have.

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8½ weeks! our 9 month old Kelpie/Collie cross still takes a dump whenever it suits her, unfortunately this sometimes happens in doors, like this morning! Crated at night now to try and get her into the discipline. They get over the crying thing quite quickly so long as a good routine is established. Our 2 always get a wee treat before bed when they come in from the last walk -10.30 ish so their eagerness to get back to the kitchen is quite comical.

Sounds like a good plan overall but I'd question the food you're feeding.

Take a look at these, so many of the dried foods (even expensive ones) are just crappy fillers, poor quality meat bi products and grains. Not what you want to be feeding a growing pup.

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/my-perfect-dog-foods.php?store=1&b=1&inputbreed=Labrador+Retriever&inputage=2&inputweight=5&inputbudget=999&x=77&y=9

I've got mine on Markus Muhle, they love it and it seems a good compromise between price and quality but when they were pups I fed them Orijen which is excellent food.

I've got a labrador and a Labradoodle both excellent dogs but they do chew so keep a good supply of chewie bones and so on to hand or they will destroy the place.

dr johns silver working dog stuff, from your local farmers store. under a tenner for a huge sack.