New black lab puppy!

[Whitetail90]

I get to visit the puppy tonight. I will not get to bring him home until Dec. 18 when he is 9 weeks of age.

[Tanya]

I get to visit the puppy tonight. I will not get to bring him home until Dec. 18 when he is 9 weeks of age.

ah sorry I misunderstood the age

But he will require follow-up vaccinations after leaving the breeder generally three rounds of shots (so if he got one at the breeder, two more, generally 3-4 weeks apart) and then rabies (preferable to give rabies separately from the others).

[smartrock]

you get the puppy at 6 weeks? it's illegal in most states to sell dogs before 8 weeks of age.

a good breeder will pick the pup with the best temperament for your family and lifestyle (especially as you have young kids). they know the dogs (usually for 8 weeks but not in your case) and should know enough about buyers to know which pup is the best fit. the pups are still pretty young to be able to tell much between them, plus it's hard to tell on a short visit (the more outgoing one may be tired and appear to be the quietest for example).

He said in the first post that the puppy will be 9 weeks old when he comes home.

I agree with asking the breeder for guidance regarding which pup would be the best fit for your family without regard to the color of the puppy. While I'm partial to blacks, I'd be most interested in getting the right temperament, as Tanya suggested. With little kids, my choice would not be the most dominant, if such a thing can be determined. For their first dog, I'd be wanting a confident, calm puppy, not necessarily the shyest or the boldest. My boy, the older of my 2 dogs, was supposed to be one of the calmest of his litter of 6 or 8, and boy, oh boy, he was still a handful! My younger little girl was more of a spitfire than the older one.

If the parents of the pups are there, ask if you can meet them, if you haven't already. It's nice to see the parents' temperament as well. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Tanya]

He said in the first post that the puppy will be 9 weeks old when he comes home.

yes I totally missed that, I apologize for the error.

[Whitetail90]

No prob!

[Whitetail90]

Yes the parents will be there, and she encouraged me to visit with them as well before deciding. I can't get over how cute and chunky they are, and there legs are long!

[zd262]

So incredibly exciting for you! I can't wait to see pictures. Everyone here will give you lots of great advice about how to get a puppy off on the right foot. Classes are also definitely helpful and fun. If this is your first puppy I would recommend starting by reading Puppies for Dummies which can be found free online.

One of my personal favorite programs that can easily be implemented at home and used your whole life is the "Nothing in Life is Free" (you can also teach your children that at the same time ). The concept is basically anytime your dog wants something, they need to earn it. Oh you want to go outside? Sit at the door first. Oh you want to eat your food? Lay in that place until I tell you I can. Dr. Sophia Yin created a program around this called Learn to Earn, here's the link to her e-book on how to start a puppy off with it. I found it really helpful but you can also just google her or those terms and you'll find lots of free resources too.

Good luck!

[thndrkttn]

When we went to pick out pup, we knew we wanted a yellow girl. There were three; two very light colored girls and one darker yellow. We were originally going to go with one of the lighter two until we noticed that every time the dark yellow one heard the breeder's voice, she would stop what she was doing and pay attention to the breeder. Calm, attentive and alert. Yup, we'll take her. She's like that to this day although now that she's going on 11, her leave it command is somewhat to be desired due to her "selective hearing".

[MightyThor]

Yes the parents will be there, and she encouraged me to visit with them as well before deciding. I can't get over how cute and chunky they are, and there legs are long!

I loved being able to meet Thor's parents before we brought him home. We went to a mostly pet breeder who breeds for health and temperament and it was so clear upon meeting their dogs how much that meant to them. Super friendly, affectionate, well trained goofballs - just as a lab should be. It made us feel really good about the puppies! It also gave us a chance to see the environment in which the dogs were living and whelping. The love they have for their dogs seeped from every little touch and being someone who had been hesitant about going to a breeder, it made me feel so much better.

[Piper'sMom]

Depending on the personality of your four year old, some are better in quiet, contained environments than others , I would also recommend taking your oldest child to puppy classes with you. I did that with my youngest (she was 6 when we got Piper) and it really, really helped her to understand what NOT to do with the dog.

A lot of time people compare labs to landsharks and that really wasn't a problem for us, partly I believe, because the instructor was very, very clear on what would make puppy hyper and what puppy needed to succeed. How it might be fun to get down on the ground and play with puppy but really it just confuses puppy. How loud voices and running make puppy want to run and nip. Jada soaked it up and to this day will chastise my husband about repeating commands!

Congrats on your newest member of the family-it will be a great Christmas!