How are you potty training during the day?
Not the best on puppy advice but wanted to send along tons of patience. It will pay off big time.
BTY, even with older dogs, they can push my buttons some times.
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Kissing Bandit
How are you potty training during the day?
There are few things you need to keep in mind. So far 90% of Quincy's life has been spent with his breeder, his mom, and his siblings. 10% has been with you. His whole world got turned upside down the day you picked him up. I'd stop throwing things for him for a least a couple weeks. When you go out, let him sniff, let him explore. Praise the heck out of him when he wee's or poo's. When you go outside with him, take a small handful of his kibble with you. As you are wondering around with him, every time he look sat you say "puppy, puppy, puppy" in an excited high pitched voice. More that likely he will come running to you. Treat him and have a party. Do this for about a week, then change to his name. After a week, "Quincy Here/Come" or what ever word you plan to use for recall. Every time you call him and he comes to you treat and have a party. Even if you don't call him, and he comes to you, treat/party. Coming to you has to be the best thing in the whole world.
Trust me, Labs are food motived, and he will get it pretty quick that coming to you equals good things. Even at 14 months, I still give Bruce a treat about 25% of the time when he comes to me.
Once he get the whole recall thing, start tossing things for him, and treat/party when he brings it back to you. Never keep tossing until he doesn't want to bring it back. Always leave him wanting more, and as he grows and you are working on all the basic obedience stuff, have him sit/stay when you toss a bumper, but only release him to get it one out of four times. You make him stay and go pick up the other three. This will teach him every retrieve is not his.
You are going to go through so many ups and downs over the next year, it will boggle your mind. Don't worry about it, it's all part of the process. Just keep in mind you are now dealing with a baby, and patience is probably the most important thing for you to have with Quincy. Raising a Lab puppy is a journey not a destination. Enjoy this time while he's a baby, it goes by way, way too fast.
Lots of good advice up thread, so I'll just focus on being your cheerleader! Lab puppies are overwhelming! Practice patience, keep your sense of humor, and take lots of pix. You've got this!
Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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Miss Kimber, CGC, 6/15/2005-1/27/2018 forever in our hearts
Mom4four (05-13-2015)
We are crate training so he goes out every time we take him out of his crate, we dont even let his feet hit the floor. And then we take him out as often as needed when he is not in his crate, I would say at least every 30min depending on what he is doing or if he has just eaten etc. And of course if he naps on the floor and wakes up....out he goes. When he is not in his crate we say lets go potty and make a big deal about walking out the door. There have been accidents of course but more our fault than his. Never realized how much harder it is to tell when a male is going to pee than a female! He just stops and pees,sometimes doesnt even sniff. Was alot easier to see a female start to squat. We are using the keyword potty outside also.
Ok, so its ok to wait on the retrieving? I thought we needed to continue with it since the breeder was already working with him. We never did any type of training with out other lab other than the basic sit, stay etc. The breeder has offered to help us work with him, he trains dogs in field training I think?? I was very impressed with the retrieving Quincys parents do and it is definitely something I want to teach him.
He does love to chase anything you throw! He loves to play
Yes, you can absolutely wait to start retriever training. Most field trainers will recommend a very solid base of obedience training before you begin formal gundog training. This doesn't mean you can't play fetch with the pup, but it should be done in small doses, even skipping a few days now and then. The only absolute don't I would recommend. Don't play any kind of chase games with the pup. If you've tossed a item, and the pup doesn't bring it back, do not chase him. Completely ignore him, and once he does give up the item, either to you, or just drops it, it's game over. Don't reward by continued fetch play for incorrect behavior.
Absolutely, getting him to follow YOU in a game of chase can be helpful when teaching recall also. Make it a happy game, reward him when comes to you and stop the game immediately if he does not follow you.
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Tammy
Maxx and Emma Jean
Ozzy - 10/2002 - 06/2011 - Rest well my sweet boy. You are forever remembered, forever missed, forever in my heart.
Absolutely!!!! This will pay dividends in the coming months. We have a shed in the back yard. When Bruce arrived, we'd be out in the yard and he'd be nosing around doing what puppies do, and I'd slip off behind the shed. Within seconds he'd come barreling around the shed to find me. I'd treat and have a party. To this day, if I go out of sight, he will RUN to find me. I did this two times today, and both times he came flying around the shed to find me, and as soon as he did, it was treat, and party!!!
As I said before, coming to you has got to be the best thing ever, every time. Once they figure out coming to you = good things happen, it will make your life a whole lot easier!!!
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