Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:54 pm Post subject: New 1st puppy! Any advice!?
Hi, this is my first post here, just hoping for some advice or pointers really as I have just put down a deposit for a yellow lab (a girl) who will be ready in two weeks time, the owner said shes 6 weeks at present.
I have never had a puppy before, my partner grew up with dogs though. We also have a little boy who will be almost 22 months when the puppy arrives, so nearly 2. We have lots of garden space with grass and slabs area and a large grassed area outside of our gate too, so lots of space for the puppy to run round in in-between walks.
I could just do with some advice on where to start really, some questions I have are-
What age do they need their injections, how much are they on average and do I just go to my local vet? Will I have to book in?
Equipment, I know I'll need Bowles, bed, bedding, collar, lead, toys. Is there anything else?
When can they go on their first walk?
What food is best to feed them and when can that change? The breeder said he will five us a bag full of food to tied us over.
The puppy isn't been kc registered as I negotiated the price down and he said to compensate he wouldnt register her, but the others will be so I thought this is ok, and untill I ask for the price to be lowered she was going to be reg. We only want a pet, no breeding or Anythinglike that so that dosnt matter to us.
I saw the motor there with the pups and she was lovely and didn't fuss about us touching her pups and came up to me and let me stroke her.
In the ad it said ex pedigree, does anyone know what that means?
Sorry for the long post! Hope someone can advise! Thanks
Welcome to LF. The first bit of advice I would give you would be to pay £10 to become a full member here, it will be worth the money tenfold for the questions you will have in those early days.
It would be well worth you crate training your puppy, it is advantageous with a young child and a puppy to know they are both safe when you can't be watching them both.
Secondly, good insurance, you hopefully will never need it ... but if you do you will be very glad to have it in place.
You can find links to help you in the puppy section of the forum.
You will need to register with your vet, and arrange a check up, vaccinations are usually given at 10-12 weeks. Your puppy will also need worming 2 weekly until 12 weeks, then monthly until 6 months, then every 3 months, use the vet wormers for this.
Hopefully your breeder will be able to give advice on food, worming etc when you collect your puppy.
Good luck, does puppy have a name yet?
____________ I am only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand !
Thanks no we havnt decides on a name yet, just compiling a list at the mo! I like miley so far though but will
Have to see what my partner thinks!
So the crates do the puppies go into them and stay in there for a while, are they big? I mentiong this to my partner and he lauged at me and said you
Don't put dogs in crates But I thought I'd read about it!
I thought about insurance, is it likely to cover health checks too or just if they are poorly or need medication or surgery? Of yu
Make a claim does the price then go up? any recommendations to a particular one? I've not even looked yet but I will.
Crate training is invaluable for a puppy in my opinion, especially a Lab that is likely to chew most of your house if left to its own devices!
There is so much to learn about raising a pup, as mentioned the answers to the questions you have posed and more are covered in the puppy section of the forum.
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:40 pm Post subject: Re: New 1st puppy! Any advice!?
Pup_Pup wrote:
The puppy isn't been kc registered as I negotiated the price down and he said to compensate he wouldnt register her, but the others will be so I thought this is ok, and untill I ask for the price to be lowered she was going to be reg. We only want a pet, no breeding or Anythinglike that so that dosnt matter to us.
Hi, I presume ex pedigree is meant to be short for "excellent pedigree"?
I haven't bought a dog from a breeder because all our dogs are rescues, but it seems odd that they would allow you to negotiate the price and then withhold KC registration. I understand from comments on here that it is only around £13 for a breeder to register a pup with the Kennel Club, if they are entitled to.
I'm not the best person to help on this front, but as you are new to all of this, have you checked that the parents have had the relevant breed health tests, with good results? Hip scores, eye test and preferably elbows too? Others will be better placed to advise on this score as it's not something I've been through.
Insurance will cover you for illness and accident, not for routine things such as vaccinations, neutering, microchipping etc. I'd certainly recommend it - and bear in mind that cover for accidents will be there as soon as you start a policy, but illness cover won't kick in for 14 days. I use PetPlan mostly, though have one with M&S, but people use all sorts of companies. I'd advise going for a "for life" type policy so that you know you will have £x amount of vet bill cover each year, rather than finding it runs out for a particular condition. Though hopefully you won't ever need to claim
Hope that helps - if you're not sure of anything, do ask, as there will always be someone who can help or direct you to someone who can
We collect our puppy on Feb 8th, and have been preparing for over 3 months.
My best advice is go to the "puppy stuff" section and read all the stickies and by a Gwen Bailey puppy book. Also a labrador book might help to let you know what to expect from this breed now and in the future.
As to the crate, we are doing it after reading all the advice on here. We feel that having a safe place so she can have time out and to sleep. We have also bought one for the car for use until she is grown and happy to harness.
The best thing is to regsiter on here and keep posting, keep asking.
There are a lot of stickies in the puppy section with loads of information, including socialising before/while being innoculated, crate training, etc. As has already been suggested, pay the £10 subscription fee, which will allow you to ask as many questions as you have
Personally I don't crate but if I had a 22 month old running around the place, I would definitely have one, as they should never be alone together. Lab puppies bite a LOT and is something you will need to work on from day 1. They do get better, but it is going to be a good 7 to 8 months before you get to that point.
Insurance is another must IMO. You never know what is going to happen and if you are suddenly faced with a £1,000+ vets bill, would you be able to pay it? Even if you do then decide to insure afterwards, any pre-existing condition won't be covered by any insurer. So a broken leg from an accident, probably won't be covered by any insurer again.
I could go on, but it's probably best if you read all the stickies, then ask anymore questions you may have.
____________ Owned by Bella, Shadow & Cats ....
Never forgetting Harry : 18/01/11 - 14/05/11 RIP
Hello
I crate trained all three of my dogs, just make sure you get one of the largest ones and avoid the fabric travel crates A lab can eat his/her way out of one in minutes Even as a small pup They love to have a safe space of their own,
Good luck
Seb is my first dog so know what you are going through. We weren't going to crate train him but very quickly became aware that it was the easiest/best thing to do. Crates are about £25 on eBay so get one just in case.
Do you know if tour breeder is getting her first jab done? If not you'll need the first one at 8 weeks (ish) and then the second at 12 weeks. Your vet is likely to say she can't go out for another week but lots of people do to try to socialise their dogs. We took Seb out. There's a thread about this in the puppy section, read it and make up your own mind on what you think is best.
Have you considered whether you are going to use puppy pads or just train her to go outside to use the loo straight away? With a baby I would just go with outside but again there's a thread on this and it's up to you.
We have Seb insured with the lifetime cover from Petplan. They aren't the cheapest but my friend is a vet and told me to go with them.
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:03 am Post subject: Good luck
Congratualtions on your new puppy!
I have to say becoming a member on here is def a good idea! I've had dogs before but have found the advice on here really helpful and sometimes is just reassuring to know someone's going through the same things
I was anti cage but when Gus was about 12/13 weeks I caved in and I have to say he loves his cage! He sometimes pretends he needs the toilet just so he can get to his cage! Tho I like to refer to it as gus' room,
I would say def get a really light collar or even ribbon to get her used to wearing a collar, gus didn't encounter a collar until 11 weeks and we had a terrible time with him!
There's loads of advice and tips on here about anything and everything! Best advice is to take lots of pictures and enjoy the sleepy puppy times the grow very quickly and sleep less and cause more mischief!
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New 1st puppy! Any advice!?
But I thought I'd read about it!
A lab can eat his/her way out of one in minutes 
Even as a small pup 
