The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Dogs => Topic started by: Leri on July 05, 2011, 01:13:00 pm
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Never had a lab before but my husband has (he says they break your heart). My daughter wanted one so here she is. Cadi our nine week old choc lab pup. So far an angel :-)
Any training or keeping tips or advice happily received - thank you :-)
She will be house dog, family pet but also working gun dog. We have six other dogs - outdoor/kennel/utility room dogs - spaniels and sheepdogs.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/eleri368/cadi188.jpg)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/eleri368/cadi187.jpg)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/eleri368/cadi186-1.jpg)
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Wonderful, we have 4
;D
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She's lovely :)
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What a lovely puppy - she looks as if she will be very well loved :love:
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All I can say is our labs are so easy to train as they love thier food. Our chocolate one sticks to me like glue on her walks, she joins the others but then comes back. Our 2 young ones are 18 mths and still will destroy my things like socks, pens, glasses, plastic stuff, not taken shoes since they were young. Labs often chew plaster off walls if they get board, also wood stuff like table legs, the closer the strain to working dogs the more board they get but with other dogs and children you should be fine.....usualy they grow up and chew no more but don't hold me to that one!!!!!!!!!! We are very proud of our Labs and your little Chocolate drop looks ace!!!!! Oh keep the pup on puppy food for as long as poss, around 12-18mths as they need to grow good strong bones!!!
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Thank you :-)
She's got working blood on her mother's side and show blood on her father's side. Mother is a lovely sleek black lab, father choc. She eats little and often at the moment - going back and to to her bowl for little bits, she is on dry puppy food. She can 'sit' and will 'fetch' a ball. Got to teach kids to teach her 'dead' instead of drop it like they have with our other dog. She is quiet at night, quietens down once all lights are out - think we have been very lucky. She doesn't seem scared of anything - her curiosity has caused a few clatters but she takes it all in her stride :-)
Think she is going to be a pleasure :D
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Both puppy and daughter are beautiful!
My first two dogs when i set up home myself were litter-mate sister labs. They chewed everything, including chair spars, were very affectionate, playful and easily trained. I think you're going to have great fun with her :)
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Thank you :-)
She's got working blood on her mother's side and show blood on her father's side. Mother is a lovely sleek black lab, father choc. She eats little and often at the moment - going back and to to her bowl for little bits, she is on dry puppy food. She can 'sit' and will 'fetch' a ball. Got to teach kids to teach her 'dead' instead of drop it like they have with our other dog. She is quiet at night, quietens down once all lights are out - think we have been very lucky. She doesn't seem scared of anything - her curiosity has caused a few clatters but she takes it all in her stride :-)
Think she is going to be a pleasure :D
She looks lovely! 'Dead' means 'put it into my hand' remember, not 'drop it on the floor'! So the kids must learn that whatever she brings them must be taken from her with thanks and without worrying how disgusting it is. ;D Don't grab things from her, encourage her to place them in your hand, eventually getting her sit first. The 'hold' command is a good one to teach in the early stages so she learns to hold onto the retrieve article until you are ready to take it. Tell the children never to chase her - always to run away from her. They can play hide and seek - they can hide from her and call her so she learns to hunt for them. She will eventually ahve to elarn spcific retreive commands - long straight retrieves, hidden retrieves, memory retrieves, split retrieves, but if your husband shoots he will know all that. A good retriever trainer will be worth paying for. She will also need to learn sit/stays as Labradors sometiems have to sit still for long periods on a shoot and it can be dangerous for them to roam even short distances. Obvioulsy she must ealrn the 'emergency stop' as all dgos should, adn also an instant recall.
There are a lot of excellent gundog training books around. A well trained gundog is worth it's weight in gold. Have fun and enjoy training her!
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she's gorgeous ... I love chocolate Labs! :love:
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Your daughter is beautiful too!!!!Our chocolate Lab is more strongly built than my others with a wide head, she always brings me something when out on a walk, tonight, a small dead frog!!!
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Just a thought - you probably already know this, so forgive me, but keep a check on how much exercise she gets for the first 9-12 months. I think its 5 mins per month of age, eg 3 months old only 15 minutes etc.. Just gives time for hips, elbows etc to get strong. Especially important for big dogs like labs and setters etc.
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That is important, some people forget the need for thier pups to sleep as well....they should not go up and down stairs until mature either....although sometimes that just happens but it puts a strain on thier hips etc!!!
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And save all worn out, single and shrunken socks. Stuffed socks make wonderful toys/retrieving dummies for labs.
She looks gorgeous and you will I am sure have great fun with her.
Oh and no other breed has the ability to clear a low table with one sweep of the tail more effectively than a Lab. Not even my Pointers who can do a fairly efficient table clearing job!
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oh she is adorable :wave:
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Beautiful! (Pup and daughter both.)
My BIL has a gorgeous talented working red lab. I am told that as my BIL is not a great shot, the dog has decided to retrieve for everyone else otherwise he gets long boring days... ;)
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Oh and no other breed has the ability to clear a low table with one sweep of the tail more effectively than a Lab.
... my GSD can!
A great whippy end thing she has, and every winter she mananges to singe the end in the gas fire, even with a guard up :D
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Labs Tales + Long stemmed glasses = ::)
Our male lab made dummies out of his blankets and sucks them franticly, it looks cute but the covers get soggy and smelly!! Rohan, our Yellow Lab, sucks Rhums ear, they both love that!!
Rhum our Chocolate Lab cannot swim as fast as the others so goes a little way out the attacks them on their way back!!!
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Thank you all for your advice! Do keep it coming :-)
:-/ Afraid I've been chasing her round the lawn this morning after my husband's boxers that were meant to be going in the wash! Oh dear - all wrong then!!
Yes - my hubby told me to be careful with her - that she has to grow up slowly - we have open stairs that the cats adore - but I'm not keen on and the dog is totally uninterested in thankfully - she just sits at the bottom and cries if I go up - but know they would be dangerous for her if she tried them.
So would it be worth teaching her drop it as well?
She does tend to have quiet mornings with me, asleep in her (cat) basket or on her rug, or under my feet when I'm sitting here on the sofa. Then a mad time running about chewing things she finds etc. later on - evenings are her most active time- which is difficult as she is just in the lounge with us then - the older dogs are in from the kennel and in the utility room that she has the run of to outdoors during the day! Can be difficult working her around all the other animals routines!! Lol
My MIL says there are some training books next door (in holiday cottage) she will get for me when present occupiers leave tomorrow - they are for pointers - but am sure will be a start. They have all had gundogs before - I had a working cocker - but just as a pet indoors in a house - before I came here to live -I think the poor boy only wanted to work - he would always run at birds etc when out walking. I suppose I stopped all his natural instincts :-( Now he lives here and is outdoors and part of a pack with the other 5 he is so much happier - he would pace my wooden floors before day and night. But he is no good as a worker - altho think he'd like a go at sheepherding!! Lol
Oh - and thank yoyu for the complimetns to my daughter too :-) x
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:-/ Afraid I've been chasing her round the lawn this morning after my husband's boxers that were meant to be going in the wash!
Ahhh, boxer shorts! I read it as boxer dogs, couldn't see why it would hurt to run around before they had their wash... ::) ;) :D ;D
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So would it be worth teaching her drop it as well?
For goodness sake NEVER teach a labrador to drop anything if you are going to work her! ::)Teach her to bring everything she picks up back to you and put it in your hand - and I mean EVERTHING ;)
Never run after her, hide form her just now and she will be insecure so she'll come and look for you.
Your pointer book might give you the basics as I ahve just told you, but they work totally differently to a Labarador so don't take that book any further! You need to get a book on training labs for work. This website is good - http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/training-a-labrador-puppy.html#Labrador (http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/training-a-labrador-puppy.html#Labrador) and there are numerous videos on youtube - Dogs 101 - Labrador Basic Training (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqo9q5-4DT4#)
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OMS she is so lovely. Good luck with the training. Hubby found his black lab easy peasy to train but of course he still has his faults, but retrieving on a shoot certainly isn't one of them.
Getting myself a wee chocolate coloured cocker spaniel soon.
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lucky you, shes gorgeous. we have a choc lab, hes great, so good choice ! :wave: