Joan of Arc

4 labradors with the same favourite toy!! Empty soft drink bottles Oh and if you have big or very active dogs, especially those retriever orientated -sewer rings - from the local tradelink etc store - almost indestructable. Other than that our eldest girl loves to retrieve so her favourite toy is anything you leave laying around, inside or out including newspapers, pamphlets, even OH's breifcase if you ask her too.

Try the bell at the back door so Harry can let you know he wants to go out. Eventually though he will learn to come and get you and go back to the door. Hang the bell near the door, sit him down, take his paw and tap the bell so it rings. As soon as the bell rings, bridge and reward =- 'Yes good dog" etc and give him his treat. Do that a couple of times each time you take him out to toilet. The very first time he does it himself make sure you make a big fuss of his achievement, reward him straight away and then take him out to toilet. As soon as he has toileted, bridge and reward again - "yes, good boy" and then his treat. Its all about association - I make this noise I get a treat - I go out and pee I get a treat. I want the treat I do this task. Labradors are so easy to train becasue they are so food orientated. have fun

DITTO Your baby is beuatiful and looking at the way she is laying I am sure Shellbyville will agree with me that she will have good hips. As far as her eating stones and other foreign objects, I would introduce the 'leave it' command. When she goes near them say 'leave it' and as soon as she looks away or walks away, give her some positive breach word such as 'bingo' or simply 'yes' and then reward her with a treat. Keeps us up to date on her antics and lots of photos.

We have Labradors that play all day in the rain and its only about 7 degree hear today and they took themselves for a swim. Some dogs jjust love the water and I'm not at all 100% certain it has anything to do with breed.

What a terribly heartbreaking story, it bought a rush of tears to my eyes that I found hard to stem. I hope you have closure for both you and Tess but you have the comfort of 11 beautiful years to hold together. RIP beautiful Tess :rolleyes:

Harry is absolutely gorgeous and you will have a liftetime of fun with him. What you have done is make a really positive start with him. Not all pups are that easy when you take them to a new home but you started in the right direction from the beginning. Make sure you keep the boundaries clear at all times and he will know what he can and can't do. Also make sure he is never bored, because bored puppies, especially Labradors, can be very destructive. Good luck and more photos are he grows would be wonderful.

Hi Sam. Good on you for doing something out of the square We feed all raw foods, lamb, beef, chicken and kangaroo, minced or chucnks. A good quality biscuit. Raw eggs, shell and all. Sardines in oil twice a week, table scraps, bread - wholemeal bread is great for putting a little condition on a slightly built dog. We give them chicken necks and frames a couple of times a week and alternate them with lamb flaps or necks - never beef bones. They get yoghurt, veggies, tables scraps, and yes any offal but I am a little cautious with the offal - dont over do it - and anything we eat they eat. Just be aware of the things dogs CANT have such as onions, chocolate and grapes. Of course we have Labradors and they eat anything although we have one that wont eat anything with celery in it.

What a difficult question - as you say they dont laugh and you cant sit them down for a deep and meaningful to ask them if they are happy. So I guess I look at this way, are they happy to see me when I come home from work? Well yes they jump around and race to and from the gate and the back door until I go outside to see them. Thier tails are never still, although as Miranda says that is not a dead set indication - but for Labradors it is often called a happy meter. Do you meet all thier needs, food and water, warmth, play, love, affection etc? If youanswered yes then perhaps they have nothing to be unhappy about. I do know that if one of us goes out and takes all the dogs except our boy, he sulks at home until the girls come back and when they went missing he spent about half an hour in the back yard howling this mournful noise. Eventually it was breaking my heart so we bought him inside, he was a little more settled then but looked almost depressed until the girls were returned to us.

Our labradors sleep outside summer and winter, I admit that today they looked pretty cold but they all bundle up together. They have two good kennels to share between four of them but often enough you'll find them out on the grass amongst the frost at 6 in the morning. Like others if I put blankets in thier kennels they just become tug of war toys - why waster good blankets. But I like the carpet idea, might see if OH can tack it down a bit so it doesnt become a toy.

Hey cavmad, OH received a birthday gift a few years ago and it included a box set of dog biscuit recipes and biscuit cutters. Its not with us in our present address but will grab it early next week and contact you then. In case I forget just PM a reminder on Sunday night.

Its cool, any advice is willingly given so that you and your pup are healthy and happy. Like most DOLers, we can only tell you what we would do, we dont have any formal qualifications of any sort just our own experiences.

Its cool Erny Just commenting on my experiences in NSW but not sure if it is actually a requirement here either.

Thanks for the info, are the eggs and sardines additional to their biscuits or instead of? and can you feed these from 8 weeks? Oh additional sorry I didnt make that very clear and like j76 I also use chicken necks but not all the time. Only because I use them to vary the diet a little so this week they might get a little bit of mince for a couple of days if I buy it and next week chicken necks. As you can see there is no hard and fast rule. Just remember that Labs do tend to chock on the weight so if you add one thing you might need to eliminate or lighten another. And whole eggs, raw, shells and all, in the wild no one supplied the bitch or her pups with an egg separator and a pan to cook them. As for crate training make it fun for him. So the first time he goes in the crate he gets a treat, now he might need the treat to tempt him to even enter the crate. But use the treat as a reward and eventually you should be able to say "in your bed" or similar and he sill just go to his crate. But it does take time and patience and what he gets right today he might forget tomorrow.

Firstly congratulations on your choice of a Labrador as a lifetime companion. Given affection, rules and great care you will be rewarded with the unquestionable devotion of a wonderful breed. Everybody has a different opinion on what to feed thier dogs and you really have to find what works for you AND your pup. All I can do is tell what we feed our dogs. Each Lab gets a small cup of quality biscuit and a piece of neck or flap each night. On top of that they get at least twice a week, an egg each, a tin of sardines in oil, they often get some yoghurt on thier dinner and two get an evening primrose oil capsule every night. As for exercise we allow play to be the major part of thier exercise until after their final injections. Then when they can safely go outside thier boundary fence to socialise we go to obedience classess once a week, a swim once a week - small pups have small swims and they grow together. Then they go for a couple of walks each week. Of course we have more than one so to a certain extent they are self exercising in thier play. Althoughthey arenot allowed to run riot together all day - they are separated for a large part of the day. I would suggest that a 30 minute walk is far far too long for a pup and would limit it to 5 - 10 minutes builidng by 3 - 5 minutes over a period of about 5 -6 months. I doubt you would be looking at a 15 minute walk until they are about 12 - 14 months. If your pup is going to be alone for a period each day I recommend you purchase a Kong, fill it with peanut butter, mince and rice mix or anything you pup likes. Give this to him/her as you are leaving the house, it will keep him occupied for quite some time as he tries to extract every last piece of food from that Kong. If he is busy doing that then he is certainly being amused. You could hide bits of biscuit in the yard for him to find or scatter a handfull of bicsuits all through the grass. Our dogs love to forage for thier biscuits - its just like tracking for them, which for us is part of thier hunting skills for us to use in other sports. One thing I can assure of is that Labrador puppies, any puppy really, if they are bored can be very destructive in your garden or yard. The Kong, along with any other devices you develop for him to play with will prevent that boredom.

Hi Mercedes. Just curious - is this a 'generalistation' or do you actually know for a fact that the local obedience club affiliated with the OP's state controlling body has a "great beginners classes, qualified instructors" and that the OP's puppy "will experience great socialising as it should be done"? You won't get flamed. Franchise businesses are like that. Similar to the answers given to the OP to her question, it isn't about the "name" of the place, but about the qualifications, reputation and capabilities of the person who runs it. Yeah Hi Erny From experience every obedience club I have been a member of over 30 years that has been affiliated with our state body has had qualified obedience instructors and often offer show training as well. Also from experience our pups have enjoyed a safe socialisation where other pups including our own are well supervised, taught what is expected of them and expected to behave. A simple phone call to your local obedience club will soon tell you if thier instructors are qualified, if they are affiliated with your state body etc. I am not pushing just those clubs Erny because I have also seen some clubs that you wouldn't encourage your enemy to go to. The point is we have to give as much information as possible so that OP can become a discerning dog owner. JMHO

I agree with the others it depends on whose running the PPS, but why not just go to your local obedience club (affiliated with your state controlling body), they will have great beginners classes, qualified instructors and you and your puppy will experience great socialising as it should be done. OK so now I 'm prepared to be flamed here but I would never rec Barkbusters - We had friends who took thier dog to barkbusters despite our protestations. Three months after the dog had finished its "training" with them we were visiting fo rhte weekend. The dog was out of control and they were sick of giving it verbal commands that it never seemed to obey. One simple 5 minute observation and a thrown metal dinner plate - then I recommended they visit thier vet - YEP the dog was deaf.

Search your yard for plants such as wandering dew, olive oil plant and some grasses that are known allergens for dogs. Can I suggest that you might also watch to see if it has anything to do with how often your dog comes inside. I have a friend whose dog is allergice to thier wool carpet. EPO capsules are fantastic, dont bother to open them, just given them the capsule. I can vouch fo tthe EPO shampoo from Groomers its great

Well with Labradors the fact that they'll eat anything is an advantage but we just wrap the tablet up in a peice of cheese or meat and "gonsky" With the pups I break the tablet into smaller pieces and make sure I give them tablet before thier meal, that way they are hungry and anything and everything will go down the throat.

rikili Dont remember a thread about collars with velcro but we use cat collars from the supermarket. they are usually very soft and pretty cheap. The only problem comes when you have big litters - there's a lack of variety of colours.

Walk, swim, walk, swim over and over as often as possible. Of course I am not sure where you are situated but its not too cold yet for a good dog to have a swim and some breeds, such as certain gundogs, could/should swim all year. But that is work they will enjoy and swimming will certainly tire them out. I also agree with someone elses comment about allowing them in while you eat. I fyou had two young children would you put them to bed everynight or lock them up while you eat? Becasue your dogs are teenagers, and I can tell you I wish my teenage students were as easy to train as our teenage dogs. Like teenagers, your dogs need to know what the boundaries are and what the ramifications are if they cross those boundaries. If you eat in front of them, make them sit quietly on an inside bed or in a certain spot. Where they can see you at the dinner table but dont interact with them - this is thier quite time while you have your dinner and they will very quickly learn that. And Shellbyville is correct - blankets from Vinnies are really cheap and easy to replace - but a hint, dont tell Vinnies you wan them for the dogs. Sometimes they get a little upset. Good luck.

Yep Lamb flaps and can I suggest two slices of wholemeal bread everyday. We had a very fine Lab girl and believe it or not we couldnt get weight on her. A dane breeder suggested the bread and it worked a treat.

Raw eggs are fine - who would cook them for her in teh wild

"It (they) too shall come to pass and all will be OK" Just keep an eye on her and if you are worried have a quick word woth the vet - she should be fine.

That's the girl Molly!!!! :rolleyes: See? patience, understanding, boundaries and no labels of "aggressive dog". Molly has passed a big test today and so have you because now you have the key to her control.

Shepmax, have only just seen your thread and am dreadfully sorry for your loss. RIP Zana