Housebreaking
All dogs can be housebroken if you are consistent, as well as
persistent, in training them. We recommend crate training because it
teaches direct housebreaking.
When indoors, keep your dog in the crate or under very close supervision. Take your dog out frequently, and give your dog praise for relieving itself. It won’t be long before your dog gets the concept of only eliminating outdoors. For the first few nights your puppy is home and crate training starts it is a good idea to keep your puppy’s crate close to you so it can hear your breathing and if it whines it’s an easy shhhh for a correction. If your puppy is too noisy try covering the crate with a blanket. A stuffed animal in the crate with your puppy when it first comes home can help ease separation anxiety.
Feeding
Labradors LOVE food, three feedings a day are usually adequate for
young puppies. At around 6 months puppies can be cut back to
twice a day, as an adult most dogs can eat one meal day, but for
labs two is recommended. We recommend stainless steel dishes for food
and water because they are easy to keep clean. When feeding your puppy,
make your puppy sit and wait for the food until it placed on the floor
and you say ok. Do not leave the dish down for more then 15 minutes,
this will teach you puppy to eat his food at his allotted times.
Bathing & Grooming
In general, especially with Labs you only need to bathe your dog once
to twice a year (unless it has gotten into something very smelly.
Bathing too often removes natural oils, making your dog’s skin and coat
too dry.
Brush your dog at least once a week t stimulate your natural coat and oils and is a great way to keep an eye out for external parasites and skin irritations.
Check your dog’s ears regularly, especially if your lab spends a lot of time swimming. Keep them clean and dry.
Get your puppy used to be groomed as soon as you bring your puppy home.
Grooming should be a comfortable experience for you and your dog.
Brushing Your Dog’s Teeth
It is important to brush your dog’s teeth regularly to prevent the
build up of plaque and tartar. The teeth should be brushed at least
once or twice a week. As with grooming, this will be easier if you
accustom your dog early in life.
Routine Healthcare
Establishing routine health care from an early age can prevent disease, prolong your dog’s quality of life.
Picking a Vet:
It is important to find a vet you feel comfortable and trust with your
animals. If you are unfamiliar with vets in your area, ask friends and
family in the area who they use. If your vet’s bedside manner,
personality, or actions, make you uncomfortable, or of they do not seem
to know a lot about your breed of puppy find another one.
Vaccinations: some
of the most common vaccinations produce immunity to distemper,
hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus, and Para influenza. If you plan
to kennel your puppy you will also need to get him a kennel cough
vaccination. Puppies receive a series of these shots until
they reach the proper degree of immunity, around 3 – 4 months. After
these initial shots your dog will require annual boosters as well as
rabies.
Parasites: Gastrointestinal parasites are
common among puppies . They are easy to treat if caught promptly. Left
untreated, they can cause serious harm. Your vet may ask you to submit
stool samples from your dog during routine visits to keep these
parasites in check.
Another common parasite is heartworm. The
heartworm gains entry through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Heartworms can be life threatening if left untreated. Veterinarians
usually dispense preventative drugs whenever mosquitoes are active.
Spay /Neuter: Spaying
(for females ) or neutering (for males) is a surgical procedure that
makes your dog unable to reproduce. If you don`t plan to breed your dog
or compete in the show ring, you should strongly consider spaying or
neutering your dog. There are many benefits to spaying é neutering
including preventing unwanted litters and overall health.
Exercise
Your dog needs regular exercise to stay fit and healthy. Labradors have varying needs for exercise, some are more active and require more activity and others are less active and can o with less activity. In general labs love to play outside, retrieving, swimming, and hiking are all great activities for you and your lab.
Labrador puppies are growing and changing quickly. We screen for any hip and elbow dysplasia in our parents but environmental factors, such as improper nutrition and exercise also play a role.
Your lab puppy should be kept from climbing stairs himself until he is about 6 months; carry your puppy or use a lead to control how he goes up and down the stairs. He should also be deterred from jumping onto or off of furniture or in and out of vehicles.
We always suggest when your puppy first comes home to spend time playing at home in the back yard over long walks. You can leash train a puppy easily enough in your backyard for longer walk later. Playing with your puppy gives them enough exercise when they are young, and they will just lay down when they are done. Off leash dog parks are a favorite for dogs and puppies, but puppies should not attend them until their vaccinations are done and have had time to work (4 months should be safe).
Puppies are full of curiosity and need to learn the boundaries of your house and yard. You need to be consistent with them from the moment they come home with what they can and cannot do. While they are learning it is important to put all your breakables out of reach from curious puppy noses paws and tails. Every outlet and electrical cord is an irresistible play thing so it is recommended to cover them or tuck them up to keep them away from sharp puppy teeth, Make sure your household plants are safe for your puppy or well out of their reach. Puppy proofing your yard means fencing off or covering your pools and hot tubs and ensuring that all chemicals for cleaning and vehicles (especially antifreeze) are safely stored where your clever puppy will not access them.
A crate is a great training tool for puppy owners. It also serves as a den like place for your puppy.
For Labrador puppy owners’ crates help reduce destructive chewing, accidents in the house, separation anxiety, as well as keeping your puppy from harmful household products.
We recommend you provide a crate for your dog throughout its lifetime. When they are introduced to their crate at a young age they learn to enjoy just hanging out in their crate. With many crates you can remove the door or leave it open it when it becomes unnecessary.
There are 2 types of crates; the hard plastic crates and wire mesh crates.
We use the wire mesh crates for our labs; they can still see everything going on. Also they come with a divider to grow with your puppy.
The hard plastic crates are required for airline travel. If you plan on travelling with your puppy this is the way to go. If you go with the larger crate use a cardboard box to make the inside of the crate smaller for your puppy.
We introduce our puppies to a crate before they go home. Once they are weaned from Mama we give them a crate without the doors. It becomes their sleeping area. If puppies remain with us past 8 weeks we start them on individual crate training. Before 8 weeks, we set it up with a playpen and pee pads.
When you first get your puppy home it is a good idea to slowly introduce him to his crate. The crate should be an enjoyable place for your puppy. Place your puppy’s favorite toys, treats, and a bed in there as well as safe chew toys (tuffy and kong toys work or nyla bones). A safe smoked bone or treat to occupy them works well too. Use treats to invite puppy into the crate giving them to him once he goes inside. Do this for a little while to get him used to entering and exiting his crate. Once he is comfortable with this exercise, leave him in it for a few minutes with the door closed while you sit there. From there you can do things in the room for awhile while your puppy is in its crate eventually graduating to leaving the room for increased periods of time.
The first few nights in a crate can be challenging for puppy and puppy owners. It is best to place the crate in your room or close to it so that you can reassure your puppy with your voice if they whine or feel frightened. A stuffed animal or hot water bottle can help your puppy in the first few nights as a make shift litter mate. If your puppy whines try soothing him with your voice, if he cannot settle try taking him out for a potty break, when you come back in if he does not settle try putting a blanket over the crate. You will learn the difference between the “I want attention whine” and “I need out whine”.
For house training purposes crates work really well if used correctly. If you cannot supervise your puppy he should be in his crate. It keeps him safe and out of trouble. Puppies need frequent potty breaks, so make sure you are taking him out a lot.
If your puppy is hanging out with you in the house playing or cuddling watch for signals that your puppy needs to go out (circling sniffing etc). Until you learn your puppy’s signals it is best to set a timer to take them out regularly. If you take your puppy out after play and or cuddle time and he doesn’t potty, put him in his crate when you go back into the house. Leave him in his crate for short periods of time then take him out again or when he whines (whichever comes first). If he potties he gets to hang out some more freely if he doesn’t he gets to hang out in his crate some more. It will not take your lab puppy long to learn that attention and treats come when there is outside potting.
Important Notes
It is best to bring your puppy home when you have a few days to spend getting to know each other, settle in, and crate train. Three to five days and the crate thing should be mastered.
When you work full time and crate training won’t work due to time constraints there are other ways to keep your puppy safe at home.
You can use a small room, closing it in with a baby gate. A bathroom, porch, or laundry room can work. Make it a puppy safe room without a lot to chew on or get into. Place the crate in the room, water dish, toys, and puppy pee pads or newspaper.
We use the crate and attach a metal playpen to give puppies their own space. It can be moved to any safe room on the house. We also place toys, water, pee pads and chew toys in there.
| Abstract | Desdemona (Dezzy) | Kenya | Remy | Valor |
| Accapella | Draco | Kizzy | Renegade | Venus |
| Acoustic | Dream | Kuula | Rhapsody | Verona |
| Affinity | Dusk | Kuma (bear) | Ricochet | Voltaire |
| Ajax (Eagle) | Dusty | Leonidas | Ronin | VooDoo |
| Alchemy | Ebony | Levi | Rusty | Whysper |
| Allegra | Echo | Lexi | Ryder | Winston |
| Amaya (night rain) | Eclipse | Liberty | Ryley | Wrangler |
| Amber | Ember | Luka | Sable | Wynter |
| Amber | Espresso | Luna | Sadie | Zane |
| Amos | Estara | Lyric | Saffron | Zema (Winter) |
| Anais | Fable | Mac | Saga | Zephyr |
| Anika (very Beautiful) | Fetch | Mac Tavish | Sage | |
| Apollo | Forest | MacKenzie | Sahara | |
| Aragorn | Frost | Magi | Sandman | |
| Ari | Gaia | Magnolia | Sapphyre | |
| Asha (life) | Gandhi | Mahogany | Sassafrass | |
| Ashe | Garbo | Maverick | Serendipity | |
| Ashton | Gatsby | Meadow | Shade | |
| Aspen | Geisha | Midnight | Shadow | |
| Athena | Ginger | Mistaya | Shaela | |
| Atlas | Goliath | Mocha | Sienna | |
| Aurora | Grayson | Moondance | Sierra | |
| Austen | Gryphon | Muse | Sky | |
| Autumn | Gunther | Mysha | Slater | |
| Avalon | Harley | Mystic | Smoke | |
| Ashya | Harmony | Nairobi | Solstice | |
| Bailey | Hemmingway | Neptune | Spirit | |
| Bauer | Hershey | Nitro | Stardust | |
| Beauregard | Hickory | Nymph | Sterling | |
| Bedouin | Historia | Odin | Stone | |
| Bogart | Hudsyn | Odyssey | Storm | |
| Cadbury | Hunter | Ophelia | Sulfur | |
| Cadence | Huntress | Osiris | Sultura | |
| Cagney | Ice / Icy | Othello | Sundance | |
| Calypso | Indie | Panache | Symphony | |
| Capone | Indigo | Pandora | Syndyr | |
| Cashmere | Inka | Parker | Synergy | |
| Caspian | Ivy | Penumbra | Taboo | |
| Cedar | Jade | Peresephone | Tabriz | |
| Charisma | Jager | Phantom | Taffy | |
| Chrome | Jasper | Pharaoh | Tango | |
| Cinder | Jave | Phoenix | Tarot | |
| Clay | Jazmyn | Picaso | Thor | |
| Clyde | Jazz | Poet | Titan | |
| Cobweb | Jenim | Portia | Tolkein | |
| Cormac | Jersey | Quick Silver | Trinity | |
| Corvae | Juniper | Quixote | Trojen | |
| Cypress | Jupiter | Radar | Tryst | |
| Dagwood | Justus | Ranger | Tucker | |
| Dakota | Jynx | Raven | Tundra | |
| Dante | Kahuna | Rayne | Twilight | |
| Darwin | Karma | Reiken | Ty |