Well, I went and did it. Ella Mae is a 6.5 week old Fox Red Labrador, and she comes home on 7/27. I spent a couple hours at the the home and played with Ella, Ella's mom and dad for a good long while and really felt good about them and the breeder. I had never heard of a Fox Red Lab before and was undecided on a yellow or chocolate when I found her.

I've been around friends' labs most of my life, but I've got zero experience with puppies or training. Maggie is going to help us out on a lot on that with her Perfect Puppy Package. But I'm on my own for the first week of Ella being home.

The first thing I'd like to know about is food. I want to buy her quality food and Orijen has been suggested to me, but by someone with a small dog. Any suggestions on a brand would be greatly appreciated. Also, how much will she need and how many times a day? Should I get her one of those bowl that force them to eat more slowly?

The next thing I'm unsure of is the crate. I was all set to buy a wood one that looks like it's a piece of furniture, and I was going to get a large one as she will likely be about 80 lbs. My mom suggested though, that a crate needs to not be too roomy because the whole point of potty training with a crate is that they'll not be inclined to pee where they are confined. Makes sense to me, but again, I'd like to hear from your experience. I suppose I can start with a small plastic one for now if need be.

Last question - It was suggested to me to get a bell and place it by the back door, and that I should ring it every time I take her out and she'll eventually learn to ring that bell when she wants to go out. Seems like a good idea. What do you think?

And onto the obligatory pics..

Ella


Ella's Dad


Ella's Mom

Congrats. Labs are great. I had one that was the best dog I have ever had. Mine lab was 102lbs so he was big.

I would definitely get a bowl that slows his eating. Mine was crazy about food.

Be warned they will try and eat all kinds of things as puppies when they have their puppy teeth. Mine one day chewed a wooden windowsill.

Training is definitely good. While my lab was incredibly friendly he was also incredibly strong. He could pull you across the grass if he wanted. Even with his size, he was also incredibly gentle. Many of the kids in the neighboorhood knew him by name and would come out to pet him and say hi when we walked. Never had worry about him meeting people or other dogs.

The only thing you had to worry about with him was him steeling your food.

I’m no expert, but I can tell you what we did with our German Shepard who is now almost a year old.

- we did the bell thing, and it worked. He rings the bell to go out now...of course it isn’t always to go potty, sometimes he just wants to go out and play, but if he rings it two or three times in a row, we know he is serious.

- my wife got a crate with a removable divider in the center. It’s nothing fancy, just plastic coated wire with a plastic tray in the bottom, but we were able to basically cut it in half while he was small and open it up once he got too big. He does seem to prefer a cozy crate, not a roomy one.

- We didn’t do anything special for food. We feed him purina pro plan puppy food. Mostly because that is what the breeder started him on and we could get it locally and online for reasonable prices. We feed him three times a day, but plan to reduce to two once he stops growing so damn much! I’m sure there is better, but It works for us.

EDIT: oh, forgot about the bowl. We just use a normal steel bowl, and the 3-a-day feedings has been enough to keep him from eating too much, too fast.

And yes, they will chew on anything. Mine ate some trim off the front door (it’s wood) and ate a hole through the carpet and pad, down to the sub floor. Never ate shoes though.

- Bret

Labs can be voracious chewers. A yellow Lab I had scoffed at all the normal things to keep her away from things... even powdered cayenne pepper.

As far as crate size goes.. we bought a big one from the start, it’s worked for our German Shepherd.

Your pup is going to be use to whatever the breeder is feeding, so switch him slowly. Origen is an excellent food. Fromm is great too. There’s a good handful of very good dog food makers that have yet to have a recall. You’ll get a hundred opinions on this.

Good luck!

We followed stuff from the Monks of New Skete
https://newskete.org/our-dogs

They have a puppy book.

Buy the larger crate size and use the divider to they puppy basically can't urinate in it without laying in the pee. That will encourage learning to hold it for outside time.

Crate: Get the large one with the divider so you can make it small to begin with and increase size as the dog grows.

Be aware of the recent FDA announcement re: grain free foods and the possible correlation to DCM in dogs, particularly large breeds. The study of this is ongoing and what I have read indicates that there is not yet a clear and direct correlation, but it is something you should be aware of and consider.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health...art-disease-n1025466

My 2 cents.

Plastic crate. It traps hair and any accidents that happen. Wire and wood, the accidents will be on your floor. Plastic crate is easy to fit in a vehicle also and it's the preferred method for transport for safety. Crate train the dog like hell on fire. It will save your ass in the long run.

The bowl that slows down them eating, definitely.

Feeding, twice a day.

Pups can't hold their water or stool so the dog needs to be taken out to potty every 4 hours (or less if you can manage it) 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Set an alarm and wake up in the middle of the night then go back to bed. Reward the dog every time it potties outside. Use zooks, a small tic tac sized treat.

If the dog goes potty in the house, a stern "no" then put it in the crate immediately. When it uses the bathroom outside properly, a treat, and massive amounts of love and affection "good dog" and petting profusely.

Food, research the best kibbles. Go by the stool. Forget everything else. You want a nice solid stool. When they are that young, sometimes that is very difficult. Pick one of the top rated brands and buy small bags in the beginning. Feed, check the stool. It takes time. You want to find something the dog really likes to eat (they'll fester at feed time and try to inhale it) and food that provides a solid stool. If the kibble you chose isn't working, make sure you transition to something else. Don't immediately switch. Keep feeding original bag and change 10-15% per day until you've done the full switch.

The bell is a good idea. I train my k9's to bark. "Need to go potty" will get a loud bark or disinterest.

Start obedience training now. Sit, lay down, stay, etc. It takes many reps. Humans take 7 reps, k9's may take 27 reps to learn. Reward with a treat. Or you can not feed a meal and use the kibble to train. This method is highly effective and you can train, even a pup, to do all the basic commands by holding a meal back, and training commands feeding the k9 one piece of kibble at a time for learning to sit, lay down, stay, etc.

Have fun with it and have lots of patience. Never strike and never yell. A firm "no" and place the dog in the crate for timeout. If it whines ignore it, do not ever react to the dog whining or crying, EVER. If you do they'll learn they can whine you into doing what they want.

Feed in the crate, water bowl in the crate. Teach the dog that the crate is their home. Never ever stick a finger in that crate or anything else. When they learn it's their home you'll life will be so much easier.

The crate should only be big enough for the dog stand up and turn around in. That being said buy a crate big enough to house the full size pooch. I used boxes to fill the large crate and shrink the useable space for the pup removing them as the dog grows.

Beautiful pup! I almost got a charcoal 3 years ago and ended up with a different breed.

Congrats! She's a cutie, and her parents look awesome.

I'd get a plastic or wire crate, not wood.

For food, there is a dizzying array of choices, including tons of high-quality and high cost foods.. As Sailor1911 mentioned, there may be a problem with grain free, or "boutique" foods, or foods that rely heavily on legumes - it's unclear exactly what's going on.

My approach is to have 2 or 3 foods, in different forms, the dog can eat. This increases nutritional variety and reduces the chance of your dog getting too much of a "bad thing," in case there's a recall or some other issue with ingredients. Also, incase one of the foods is out of stock, discontinued, etc., it's not a big deal where you have to suddenly switch to a totally new diet.

So, what I'd do is find a kibble, preferably with some grain ingredients, and start transitioning to that. As long as Ella doesn't start to show signs of food allergy such as licking the feet/belly/groin, and her stools firm up as she adjusts, you should be good with the kibble.

Next, I suggest adding a dehydrated, canned, or freeze-dried food or two. For my current dog, I especially like a food that requires water to be added since he almost never drinks water. I feed dry kibble in the morning, since it's quick and easy, and then mix together a freeze-dried and a dehydrated foods in the evening.

Currently these are the foods I'm using:

https://www.chewy.com/honest-k...rain-turkey/dp/34274
https://www.chewy.com/stella-c...amb-dinner/dp/168120
https://www.chewy.com/canidae-...real-salmon/dp/53857

I'm transitioning away from two of them because they share potato in common as an ingredient, and my dog has been licking his feet some after meals, so I want to eliminate potato and see if the licking stops.

You can use https://dogfoodadvisor.com to check on any foods you are considering.

A special bowl is optional if she doesn't bolt her food, but one of the advantages of using one is that it provides a bit of challenge for the dog. Daily mental and physical challenges can be extremely helpful - Ella will need things to do every day. If you don't provide them, she will create them. Better she's focusing her energy in non-destructive ways, provided by you.

I feed about 1/3 of the morning kibble via Nina Ottosson puzzles, and the rest in a slow feeder bowl.

Here's my boy working his puzzles for food:


Link to original video: https://youtu.be/dWWdFUOFN5c

Regarding asking to go out, I use the bell, and my dog will ring it, but only if I'm out of the room and can't see him standing at the door. You could also teach her to "speak" and then require it before opening the door. I did that with my previous dog, and it worked reasonably well.

Other advice, set up a daily routine and stick to it, usually it's best to provide the dog a lot of attention in the morning so she's ready to rest when you leave for work, errands, etc. My routine is: an hour walk, with breaks for obedience along the way, followed by however much play he wants when we return home (usually 5-10 minutes is enough), then the breakfast routine w/puzzles and slow-feeder bowl.

Also, if it's in your budget, doggy daycare is a great option if Ella is going to be home alone several hours a day. I started using it because mine had bad separation anxiety for the first several months after adoption. He's over that now, but I plan to at least let him attend daycare 2 or 3 days a week going forward, so he can continue play and socialize with other dogs. Dogs weren't meant be alone, with nothing to do all day, 5 days a week.

Edit to add: If it weren't for doggy daycare during the work week, which wears Tater completely out, we'd be doing evening walks, obedience and play. On weekends we often do our morning routine as well as evening exercise/activities/outings.

Exact same advice and experience as Sadlerbw:

• Big crate with divider
• Purina pro plan puppy
• The bell on the back door to go out

Our now 12 month old black lab Luna is a friendly and sweet dog. The bell on the door worked great. We put it up a couple weeks after we got home and she learned it in an afternoon. If she rings the bell she gets to go out, unless there’s some compelling reason not to.

Good luck.

Talk to your breeder about food. If their dogs (mom and dad) look good and like it then give it a try. I use Victors via Chewy.com. I also give my dogs meatball size bit of raw 80/20 hamburger from Same's. When I got my 8 month old male (who had been on Eukanuba, his coat was horrible (blowing it in huge wads of dry brittle hair..... I looked like a walking shag carpet after petting him) and he was very lean. Gradually changed over to the Victors and hamburger and his coat is great. He still is a German Shedder but it is not coming out in clumps or creating a cloud of floating fur when you pet him.

Crate Yes, you can get a bigger crate but you will need to divide it according to pup's size. Too big and pup will do their potty inside it....which will set you back on potty training. Crates are great for time outs (for you/family and pup) but will take some training to get puppy use to it. One suggestion is feed the pup inside his crate, associates positive experience. I also use peanut butter filled kongs: put a tablespoon or so in kong, freeze it, and then give to pup inside crate.Before you give pup PB kong, get them hooked on the joys of peanut butter; lick it from fingers or spoon. Give them a sniff and lick on PB filled kong, put it in crate, lock door with pup OUTSIDE crate. After a couple minutes of smelling delicious peanut butter popsicle, pup will be demanding to go inside the crate. Let pup in to get kong and then lock crate, go do what you need to do. My dogs now RACE to their crates when I open the freezer door to the kongs. As soon as I get close to crates, they take kongs and retreat back to crates for an so enjoyable peanut butter popsicle experience.

Check this video out, notice the dogs act at the 15:00 mark





Bells on doors work. My GSD female puts her head on my lap when she wants to go out. My new 8 month old GSD male rings the bells when he wants to go outside.

Potty time: That is exactly what it is, potty time, not play time or explore time. Both my dogs will do their potty business in the first two minutes they are outside. My sister's dog (a Labrador) has a 20-30 minute routine she has to go through without any interruptions (if she is interrupted, the clock countdown starts over). Immediately praise and give treats when your pup does their potty outside......over time they will speed it up to get treats and praise.

Obedience and training: start immediately, all positive with treats in short little sessions. Best done after some play to get the energy out just enough to get their focus on the training.





Socialize, socialize your pup. You can go it in your back yard at first, setting up a little obstacle course using some smaller rubbermaid bins. Have people come over and meet the pup (after a play time works, they are more focused and not as frantic). Then once all shots are done, some outside trips and visits to different places; new sights, sounds, and smells.


One last piece of advice as far as dog trainers go: The only time two dog trainers will agree on something is that a third dog trainer is doing it wrong.

One warning as far as labs go: watch out for the hyper speed wagging tail of doom. Once your pup is about 8 months to a year, all knick knacks on end tables and such will be launched at near lethal velocity by that hyper speed wagging tail!

I have never used a crate, just tie the puppy with a short leash at night. Take pup off and straight outside, potty trained in couple nights. Never tried a bell either, I train the dog to bark to go out and they learn to bark to come in. One last tip never use the word "NO" the word no and similar sounding words are to common, I use "nein" German for no.

Good luck, and you got a nice looking lab.

A couple more puppy training videos by another trainer I like:

1 - Talk with your breeder and vet about food options. Lots of very good options available.
2 - Get a large wire crate and use a divider to size it appropriately. Two $.99 HD spring clamps and a piece of 1/4" plywood works great for this.
3 - Feed small amounts of food a couple/few times a day as opposed to large quantities. To me the type of bowl is all but irrelevant. I simply use garden variety stainless bowls.
4 - Out for potty frequently. You'll have to learn as he does about how long he can hold his water. Lots of praise when he does potty outside.

For the first couple weeks your basic job is to help him become comfortable with his new home, and to start learning where to go potty, as well as starting to grasp a coupe basic commands (like come, or no).

He's an adorable puppy, and you're asking all the right questions. I wish you and Ella all the best.

Crates - plastic to start, then a larger metal one. You can get a larger one from jump, but sometimes it helps if they come with a divider to keep it smaller for the puppy. Realize they may go to the bathroom inside, vomit, etc so you will want the ability to clean it.

Discipline - the sooner the dog understands that you are the "alpha" and you train it to obey, the sooner life will be good and everyone (including the dog) will be happy. Remember, it's a dog, not a person. You can show affection, love them but IMO too many ppl act like the dog is a person, and this can lead to the dog to ruling the house.

We have large dogs (2 adult Great Danes - 175# / 145#, 1 puppy who will likely be 150#) and these are dogs that absolutely have to be ruled - that doesn't imply being mean or hurtful; but they are so large that they can do great damage to people, houses, furniture, etc - which you can be physically powerless to stop - so you have to control their minds by the power in your voice.

Good luck!

A wood crate for a Lab puppy, you be CRAZY. Lab's are Chewers for the first 2 to 3 years and that wood crate will either be sawdust or the cause of death for a puppy. Most larger metal crates come with a removable divider specifically to reduce the free space for a puppy.

Lab's are also very smart. If you pay close attention when the puppy is free and catch him at every mistake it will only take 1-2 weeks to house a Lab. Yeah, do you job and they will be trust worthy in under 2 weeks. BTW, with mine the last two time he went inside the house he was standing in front of me looking me right in the eye. What he was doing wasn't malicious, he was simply confirming doing that was the Big NO.

The next tip is based on experience that was heartbreaking. At 14 I had to put mine down de to 2 displaced disks in the back and 2 bad hips. The cause is all on me. McDuff had a huge ball drive when he was a puppy and he would go airborne at every opportunity. Me being foolish I encouraged this by throwing "bouncers". End result was his back injuries and bad hips. My tip here is that when playing fetch be careful to only throw grounders unless he will be landing in deep water. If you don't believe this talk to any Vet, he'll tell you that going up isn't at all harmful, it's coming down and landing that does the damage.

Finally, Lab's need a lot of exercise when they are younger and it's helpful to keep them active as they age. For the first 5 or 6 years I would suggest you take up jogging early in the AM while it's cool. Do 2-3 miles every day and you'll have a dog who is both healthy and happy. From 6 to 10 years plan on a 2 mile brisk walk and after that a nice walk for up to 1.5 miles. BTW, it's predicted to be 98 degrees tomorrow and consider this a reminder about Heat Stress. DO NOT take your dog out for vigorous exercise when it's over 84 degrees, instead do your exercise routine early in the morning or after dark at night.

PS; I am one of those lunatics who wakes up at 4:30 AM every day. Doing this allows me to get in my morning jog and take the dog out for his morning walk. Yeah, owning a dog can mean that you start getting some real exercise but that is a WIN/Win all the way. Not only will your dog be much healthier YOU will also be much healthier. Note, the current dog is a 12 year old Cocker mix who can still do a 13:45 mile when it's cool enough. He also scored as being 100% on target for weight at his last physical, perfect "tuck" and perfect form.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...540024854#3540024854


peas in a pod

quote:

get a bell and place it by the back door, and that I should ring it every time I take her out and she'll eventually learn to ring that bell

Oh yeah!
That’s a great idea.

Our dog learned to ring the bell in two days.
Dog learned quicker that I did.
Took me a week to learn I had been trained to let her out anytime she wanted, just by ringing the bell.

In and out, in and out, in and out.

Needless to say the bell is no longer on our back door.

as you train your puppy, house break, etc. choose a Phrase when he poops, repeat it everytime he does his business. (that is the phrase we used "do your business")

as the dog gets older, and you as well, it acts a key word reminding what he is outside for. you are not waiting for him to find a perfect spot or time or get distracted by other dogs business.

when it rains, or you make the quick stop at the rest area, it will shorten your stop.

thank me later.

john