MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

House Training

Puppies do not really have control over their bladder or bowels until the are at least 10 weeks old. I have sort of paper trained them (this is just a result of using newspapers in the puppy room). They do have to know where the paper is and you should put down several pieces in several different locations in whatever room the puppy is in. If the puppy goes to the paper consistently, slowly move it to the door. This will make the transition to outside easier. You should, however, take them outside immediately after they wake up and about 10 minutes after they eat. They all pee right away when they wake up and poop after they eat (usually). The signs that they want to pee or poop is they sniff around a lot, tuck their butts under a bit or squat. If you notice this, take them out side immediately.

After they are 10 weeks old you should start house training intensively. It is not a difficult procedure but you have to be consistent. Large dogs are usually easier to train than small dogs (not sure why). If they have an accident (and they will) show it to them right away and then put them outside and say "bad dog" when you show it to them. It won't take them long to pick this up. Make sure you do this right away, because they won't understand if you do it later.

All dogs tell their owners in a different way that they need to go out. You will learn what you dog does. I have one dog, Morgan, that used to just sit by the door and hope you noticed. I have a decoration with three bells on the door knob that she now rings when she wants out. I didn't teach her this she just started sniffing the bells when she sat at the door and it made us aware that she was there and she now associates going out side with sniffing the bells, which incidentally rings them!!! My other dog, Boomer, grabs your hand and pulls you to the front door. I didn't teach him this either, not sure how this happened. Another dog I had just paced between you and the door, he would do this for hours until you noticed. You will have to get to know your dogs signal or teach him one. It's really very easy, it just takes time and patience.

If you are out during this training process or at night it would be better to confine the puppy to a small room with papers down on the floor (if this is possible, it depends on your situation). If you leave them in a large cage, they will pee and poop in it and it will make a very big mess. If you leave them in a smaller cage they can go for a while without peeing or pooping and they won't usually pee or poop where they sleep so the smaller the cage the better (at first). As they become trained you can leave them for longer periods either in a small room or in a cage. Once they are house trained they are usually very good for quite a while either in a large or small cage.

Caging

Some people do not believe in caging a dog. However, I guarantee those people did not raise a Lab. They can be very destructive. I recommend crate training almost right from the beginning.

Depending on you situation, until they are house broken, a small cage or small confined area that you can put paper down on would be better. If you leave them in a small cage they usually won't pee or poop in it, but you can't leave them in the cage all day, only a few hours. Until they are older, it would probably be better in a small room with newspapers down on the floor (this of course depends on your situation, it may not work for you and you can probably come up with a solution that works for you). Once they are house trained you can leave them in the cage for many hours before they need to go out.

When you go out they should always be left in the cage. Do not put any food or water in the cage with them, they will just make a mess. You could put in a chew toy and a blanket. However, I always found that anything I put in the cage got shredded. Do not make the cage a place of punishment, only a place to put them either at night or when you are out. It will become and a safe place for them and they will not fight with you to go in. Make sure there is nothing within reach of the cage. Believe me, they can stretch their paws along way in order to reach something to pull into the cage to chew up (gloves, coats, shoes, etc.)

Labs are very family oriented dogs. They become very attached to their families and do not know what to do with themselves when they are left alone. This is why you need to cage a Lab until they are at least 2 years old (maybe older). They are very destructive and can chew their way through many things very quickly. They will even chew on drywall or wood trimming. Save yourselves much aggravation and buy a cage.

Chewing

They don't usually destroy things when you are home, aside from the odd shoe or two. Some dogs are worse than others and need to chew. If your dog likes to chew, buy rawhide chewy togs (buy a few kinds as some dogs are picky about what they like to chew) and have them available. If you find them chewing up something, discipline them and give them a chew toy. They will soon learn only to chew on their toys. I can not guarantee this however, my Boomer used to love shoes (the smellier the better) and he would sneak them out of the garage and go around the corner of the house that has no windows and chew them up!!! I lost a lot of barn shoes because of this - he loves horse poop. Ripley as well has a chewing preference, she loves underwear.
Do not let them chew or grab at your clothes or bite at your face. This can lead to very big problems when they are older and it is much harder to stop them once they have grown up. Teach them right away about watching your face and clothes. Be very firm when you discipline them about this. Boomer learned very quickly exactly how much pressure he could put on your hand (he grabs your hand and drags you to the door to go out or when he wants you to play with him). He is very gentle about this now, but we had to teach him to be gentle. It can be very cute when they are little and they grab your nose or your chin, but it would not be very funny if they did it when they are full grown.

Jumping up

Another thing you should start training immediately is not to jump up. Do not let your puppy jump up on you when you are standing up. You can get down on the floor and wrestle and play with them, but do not let them jump up on you when you are standing up. It would not be very good if Grandma comes to visit and your 70 pound dog tries to put his paws on her shoulders!!! Teach them right away about this while they only weight a few pounds, believe me if is much harder to retrain a dog then it is to train one the first time.

OTHER THINGS

While Labs reach their full height in a little under a year, it takes at least two years for them to fill out and to mature. They are still considered "puppies" until they are two years old. So remember they could still do "puppy things" even though they look full grown.

One thing that they all seem to do and it is almost impossible to stop them is that they like to sit on your feet. I think it is just that Labs love to be touching their owners, whether you pet them or play with them, or they sit on your feet.

Another tip is don't teach them to speak (bark) for anything. Labs are not yappy dogs by nature, however, if you teach them to speak for food, they will bark all the time.

Labs also do not make good guard dogs. They will bark protectively, but they are not likely to do anything else. They will run away if someone they don't know moves quickly towards them. They are more likely to lick someone to death and will probably be quite happy to show them the cookie cupboard.

We also do not allow them to come to the table while we are eating. They are terrible mooches and will stare at you with those big, sad brown eyes the whole time you are eating (sometimes they drool while they are watching you). We make our dogs go to the front door and lie down until we are done. We then always save them a tid bit or two and call them over to the table. This dosen't take a long time to train, but you do have to be consistent.

Whether or not you allow your dog up on the furniture is up to you. Two of our dogs sleep with one of my daughters in their beds, although they are always complaining about the sand they drag in, and the other one sleeps on a pillow in my room. She does, however, sleep in the bed with me when my husband is working nights or is away. We do allow them on the couches, but they can be trained to stay off them. However, be sure that once they are out of the cage and trusted to have run of the house, they will probably get up on the couch when you are not home.

They all seem to like to lie on a blanket or pillow and will curl up on them when ever they find one on the floor. We keep several around for them. Usually in the summer they don't sleep on them as much.

Another thing all Labs have in common is water. They love the stuff. However, this does not mean they like bathes, because mine hate bathes, however, they love to swim, lie down in and be squirted with water. Mine will actually play (all by themselves) in the lawn sprinkler. They will get in any unattended body of water, including ponds, pools, and bath tubs. This does not mean you can't have a pond or a pool with a Lab, but be aware that they are like this and either train them to stay out or teach them where the ladder is in a pool.

They also naturally retrieve things - hence the name. Morgan will go and get anything you throw and put it right in your hand. We did not teach her this she just does it. Boomer on the other hand will go an get anything you throw, but then he wants you to chase him. He will come and try to tease you with it until you chase him. He could easily be trained to give it to you, but we have not really had time and we don't hunt with them so it is not a priority. I don't believe it would be difficult to do, be aware however, that once they do this retrieving, they will do it for hours until you hide the ball or stick.

While Labs all have similar characteristics and temperaments, they do all have their own identities and are all very different. You will learn what works for your dog and what doesn't. nothing about dogs is written in stone and not all dogs respond the same way. So you will have to discover what works for your dog and what doesn't. One thing is true though and that is losing your patience with them doesn't help it only makes them more nervous. They will all be able to tell from your tone of voice whether or not they have done something good. Although, sometimes you do have to yell at them to get their attention.

These dogs can be trained to do anything. Most trainers will tell you that Labs (and Golden Retrievers) are the most easily trained dogs because they are very eager to please, smart and are slaves to their stomachs.