As long as you know you're in for some REALLY hard work, then a puppy would complement your homelife nicey! But I am concerned there being 2 young children which are already hard work, then the addition of a labrador puppy. If I had such young children and was a first time dog owner, I'd go for a small breed until the children are bigger. Not as much as a handful Still require training, yes, but everything is on a much bigger scale when you bring home a lab compared to a small yappy dog
I've had small breeds my whole life and I have no dependants, and bringing a lab home was still a shock to the system for me! Worth the effort, yes, but it's a LOT of effort, more so than raising kids hehehe. (Not that I have any kids, but it's the impression I get! )
Best of luck in your decision And if you do bring the pup home, don't forget to show us photos!!!!!
Welcome, I dont have kids but hand on my heart raising Ruby for the first year was the hardest thing I have ever done. The time and effort involved with raising a pup is so underestiamated - they will have strange things that you need to work on. Ruby was timid and scared of everything so we had to work on that, your dog may be bombproof and you will need to work harder on manners (jumping up etc etc) We used to do 3 or 4 short training sessions a day with Ruby as she was hyper looney pup too.
My sister has 15 month old twins and jeez can I imagine doing that as well as having a pup NO NO NO. Hehe sorry to sound negative but just my opinion. We waited 5 years until our lifestyle was right to introduce a dog maybe waiting a year or so would make all the difference to you too xxxx
Hello & welcome to LF! If you are up for all the hard work it will be worth it, I personally wouldn't be able to manage kids, let alone kids and a dog. And I warn you, once you've got one, you'll want another one!!
I can only agree with what others have already said.....yes pups are very hard work.
We got Fudge when our son was 8 and she had him in tears many times with cuts and bruises and he didn't have a pair of socks left of pj bottoms without holes in when she had finished her nippy stage. I was also childminding at the time with 2 3 yr olds....it was hard work watching them with the pup as well they quite often would go too hit the pup especially if it had nipped and they did it slyly too when they didn't think I was watching.
One thing in your post I picked up on was this
Quote:
We've been to meet out potential new puppy and I love her already. She'd had her first vaccination is hip and eye scored and the mother was nice. She's 12 weeks old.
Pups can't be hip scored or eye scored at such an early age. Both parents need to be...and you must see the certificates for both. The total hip score for each parent should add up to less than 16 . Elbows if done should be 0 and eyes clear. An optigen eye test would be a bonus .
Sorry if I have read the above wrong and this is not what you meant
Hi and welcome to LF
I am very new here myself but you will find that this is a great forum with lots and lots of first hand advice.
Here's my experience , having always had labs in the home from being 5 years old myself I have wanted a lab for years but it has taken me till I now before I felt in a position to give a dog the home it needs.
My daughter is 12 I work for myself (but blue comes too) and hubby works full time but I didn't feel I wanted to go through the puppy stage so we got a rescue boy who is 3.
There is no way I would have considered a pup when daughter was young for the same reasons as everyone has given but I hate to sound neg.
My mum got her 8 wk old pup last Wednesday and has not had a full nights sleep since!!! boy that girl has some lungs when she doesnt want to be in her crate.
I know you have fallen for this pup (hard not to) but have you thought of giving a rescue lab a home?
Many like mine have been in a loving environment and they are only being homed due to there owners change in circumstances.
I know I am biased but Blue has been a joy he is house trained , knows most of the basic commands and has really fit into our family plus at 3 he has grown out of the bonkers stage , well if he ever had one he is very laid back lol .
Most good rescues will fit the dog to you i.e temperament ,are they used to children etc .
I have found giving Blue a home to be one of the best days of my life he is such a joy.
Maybe think of a puppy for the future when the children are that bit older?
Sorry to ramble on
Hope it goes well whatever you decide.
Hi ive just been reading this post and wanted to add my experiance !
not sure if youve picked your pup up yet or not ..
Ive got 3 children at home 13 9 and 2 ... and having got our pup when he was 12 weeks if i had my chance again id definatly have waited until my youngest was at schoo full time
We had jealousy issues ... my toddler would growl at the pup somtimes he accidently poked pup with a stick because he said it wss HIS stick ... and now pup is very wary of my son! ...
I caught the incident and i delt with it but as people in here know i was in a right state about it all
You need eyes in the back of your head 24/7 ... worth the effort yes! definatly i wouldnt be without Bosun i love him to bits BUT ... i know if i had my time again i would wait .... purley just so that the tantrum stage is out of the way and also my son would know how to share and know more of the bounderies! ...
hi there. I got a puppy when my daughters were 2.5 and 1.5 it was hard hard work. It was this time of year and the pup took ages to potty train basically because I was doing so many things at once I was not able to dedicate the time to make sure she was outside every hour and keep an eye on her. We had her for two years (she was killed by a car when we moved house and hubby was walking her a gate was left open in the park and she made her way out ahead of him straight into a car) and these two years were made up of me feeling incredibly guilty because I was not able to give her everything she needed of course she was loved of course she was fed and of course she was walked but I just couldn't give one on one attention to training and a walk was mostly because I had to but was in a rush etc. After she died I pined for another dog but tried hard to be sensible five yrs later I got sonas (last year) my girls were 8and7 and my son was almost 5 but just about to start school. The difference was incredible and am so glad I waited it is great to enjoy a walk without feeling guilty about rushing it and they were older so more able to understand the rules. which they did and they still got nipped and scratched! but they realised quickly how to avoid it. It is a terrible stage puppies go through but you will need to keep her in a separate room or crate for certain amounts of time while you doing messy games witht he children or changing nappies of feeding etc etc the pup will protest as they love to be near you at all times! after a lot of hard work and patience labs make wonderful pets and are great with kids but it doesn't happen automatically! I wouldn't dream of talking you out of it just offering my experience but I am sure you know what you are capable of. Perhaps starting the pup walking with your pram early on will help her to walk nicely beside it but heelwork is an ongoing process and not one best practiced in a rush on the school run! no one ends up happy lol(speaking from experience!!)
Best of luck and please if you do get a pup today please come and introduce her and if you have any thing you need to ask about please do no one will say I told you so if you stumble across a little problem, I don't mean to sound patronising and reading this back it does sound that way but I can't explain myself any better sorry
Best of luck.
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Still require training, yes, but everything is on a much bigger scale when you bring home a lab compared to a small yappy dog 
