Labrador Retriever Dogs Blog

All training starts with taking advantage of your dog’s natural inclinations to reinforce the behavior you want. The only place your dog will not, by nature, mess, is its sleeping place. Crate training works with your dog’s instinct – he never has the opportunity to be "bad."

Crate training is fairly intense for you. The rule is: if you are not actively paying attention to your dog, your dog is in the crate. Period. Even if you’re in the same room. If you’re not watching your puppy, it’s in the crate. If you think "caging" your dog is cruel, get over it. It’s worse for your dog not to know the rules of the house.

Crate training is not an excuse to ignore your dog for hours at a time. A puppy cannot go more than a couple of hours during the day without a "bathroom break." If your dog learns to mess in its crate the behavior is very difficult to correct. It’s one of the biggest challenges when adopting strays or rescues from shelters. It can be done, but requires patience and dedication.

Dogs should be taken out at regular intervals; after meals, after naps and after play sessions. And "business" walks are not playtime. Put the collar and leash on, take the dog to a specific spot you want it to use for its toilet area, give your dog a command "go potty." If it does, reward it with praise and cookies, say "good go potty." Forget about public embarrassment. If you’re easily embarrassed, don’t get a dog. Of course you can use any words you want – a friend of ours used "hit it" with her dogs. She just had to be careful not to use the phrase under other circumstances.

Your puppy should also sleep in the crate, ideally in your bedroom. Dogs are social animals, they need to know their "pack" or family, is close by. If the dog wakes you in the night, take it out on leash. Give it 10 minutes to "do its business," go back in, pop him in his crate, say goodnight and go back to bed. Don’t let the dog out by itself, even in a fenced yard. Again, this isn’t playtime.

As your dog learns what’s expected of him, the next phase is to keep the dog on leash, out of the cage. Tie the leash around a belt loop so that you can go about your daily routine with both hands free. Keep one eye on the dog. When you see his "gotta go" signals, drop what you’re doing and go. Some people are successful in hanging a bell on the doorknob. They ring the bell whenever they take the dog out. The dog learns, over time, to ring the bell when it has to go. Others teach their dogs to "speak" as a signal to go out.

Our dogs are always crated when we leave the house. At this point, they see us reaching for their crate toys (which we stuff with a little peanut butter or kibble) and run for their crates. We don’t necessarily even lock the crates, but they are available to the dogs at all times. It’s their "room," a safe place they can always go to.

Just a note of caution and safety: never leave a collar or harness on your dog in the crate. It can get caught and cause problems.

Leaving your puppy alone during the day or at night when you go out can be a heat wrenching affair. I always felt bad when we had to leave Cooper alone when we went to work or if we had to go out for dinner at night or to a family event. What you want to try and stop is any barking that your puppy might do when left alone. It will drive your neighbours crazy and will lead to bad habits when they grow up.

If you are leaving during the day you can always try leaving a ticking clock nearby, the sound of the clock reminds the puppy of a mother’s heartbeat and is said to sooth and comfort them. Some people also try leaving a radio or television on to do the same thing. We always made sure if we had to leave after dark to leave a few light bulbs on. Also make sure that your puppy has some toys with them when alone so they can keep themselves busy. Just make sure it's nothing small enough for them to swallow. We always used rope toys.

I see more people asking the same type of behavioral questions about their labrador retriever puppies. My lab puppy is stealing my shoes, chewing everything in sight, eating everyting is site and even once where their puppy was in the habit of stealing a disposable diaper when given the chance. Many times people think that their labrador retriever puppy has behavioral issues or is being a bad puppy.

For the most part they are just being normal labrador retriever puppies. They are highly energetic, aggressive chewers for the better part of their lives and from what I have found nosey or very into exploring their surroundings. Of course you want to correct any outrageous behavior with positive reinforcement but don’t get too worried when they are young. Sometimes it’s all part of just being a labrador retriever puppy.

One of the most frequent question that gets asked on the labrador retriever chat forums has to be about puppies and chewing. I started the chat board almost seven years ago because my chocolate labrador retriever puppy was chewing everything in site. We were losing shoes, shrubs, socks and toilet paper at an alarming rate.

You have to give into the fact that labrador retrievers are aggressive chewers. My chocolate lab is seven years old and he still loves chewing but we got through the puppy phase and he is now content with chewing his toys and not everything else in the house. It takes awhile to get there but there are some things you have to do.

I like to call it Puppy Proofing Your House. Think about it, labrador retriever puppies or any other puppy for that matter is just like a small child. You don’t leave things out in your house that you don’t want to them to get into. If you have ever been into a house where they have a new baby who is just beginning to walk or crawl you will see gates guarding the stairs, locks on cupboard doors and doors closed. Why not do this for your labrador retriever puppy. After losing my daughters third pair of shoes in less than a month I put up an interior door to close off the shoes and boots when you come in the house. It was then that I had a moment of clarity. I need to puppy proof my house like I would if I had small children.

Here are some tips:

1. Make sure you keep all of your doors closed to bedrooms and bathrooms when you are not supervising your puppy. If he/she cannot get into that room then they can’t destroy anything.
2. Consider adding an interior door or even a toddler gate to block off places such as the basement, kitchen or foyer where you leave your shoes.
3. Clear things off of tables that your puppy can reach. Put the remote control or cordless phone on a table or wall unit where your puppy cannot jump up and get them.
4. Put your newspapers and magazine away when you are not home. There is nothing worse than cleaning up dozens of shredded magazines.
5. If you have to, take the toilet paper off of the plastic roll and leave it on the sink counter. We lived three years of our lives this way and you get used to it. The toilet paper is not back on the rack and he doesn’t touch it.
6. Don’t leave food or snacks sitting out unattended, they won’t last long
7. Probably the most important, give your puppy lots of toys to chew on and reward them for playing with them when they do.

I think you get the main idea; a puppy cannot chew what is not there. Puppy proof your house and trust me you will be living a higher quality of life.

Visit us at the Labrador Retriever Chat Board where other lab owners are asking answering some of the same questions you have. Share your photos and enter our monthly photo contest.

Puppies are super cute and so much fun to have around. They are filled with energy and curious about everything around them. It is your job as a responsible pet owner to puppy proof your house to make it safe from them and to protect your belongings.

The first thing you should do when puppy proofing your house is to go room to room on your hands and knees. Look at the things in your home from your puppy's perspective. Think about what is at that level that may be interesting to him. You may be surprised to find many things that are potentially dangerous that you never even thought of before.

One thing you should be aware of in your household is the location of electrical cords. Make sure to limit your puppy's access to these areas. Puppies can chew through cords and get electrocuted causing serious injury or even death. Wrap cords up and store them away or lay down rubber or plastic runners that can be purchased at most home supply stores.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you want your dog not to develop the habit of jumping on people, it is advisable that it is subjected to puppy training. A puppy as young as a week old can already be subjected to training.

A pet owner should make an outline of a dog behavior program to stop from constantly jumping on people. Try to determine if the dog is getting mixed signals from its behaviour. If the dog jumps and it is given a pat, hug or even a treat, the animal will get the idea that this action is good and will always lead to rewards.

The first thing to do is stop giving rewards or show positive gestures when the dog is jumping. Read the rest of this entry »

You’re the proud owner of a new puppy. Unfortunately, you are also the not so proud owner of a soggy living room carpet. It doesn’t take long to realize this can’t keep happening. So what do you do? It might just be time to housebreak your new pet.

Housebreaking may sound painful but relax. It really isn’t all that difficult. It is your dog’s natural tendency to want to keep its living area clean so once the home is firmly established in your pets mind the problem will be resolved. There are several ways you can assist the process to move faster.

The first thing you want to do is be sure your pet is healthy to start with. If your pet has not been to the vet already, make an appointment. Your dog should be checked for overall healthiness and for conditions that would make house training difficult, such as cystitis and kidney or bladder dysfunction. While your pet is visiting the veterinarian, ask to have them checked for worms and parasites also by way of a fecal exam. Also bear in mind the truthfulness behind mothers’ wisdom when she said “You are what you eat.” A poor quality dog food, in addition to contributing to a poor nutritional state, can cause digestive problems resulting in loose stools, thus contributing to your pup’s inability to control itself. Read the rest of this entry »