Looking for advice, suggestions, and people to answer questions!!!

[Ridge's Dad]

Hello....I'm Ridge's Dad! Ridge is a 9 week old, full blooded, AKC papers, male Chocolate Lab. My girlfriend and I brought this young man into our lives. He's so sweet and smart! He loves leaves, and cracks! haha

So let me tell you about what we are doing with him and I would LOVE feedback!

I live by myself and my gf lives with her father. Ridge primarily stays with me, but will stay at her house probably atleast once a week. We both have crates "rooms" for him we are both keeping him on the exact same schedules at both homes. He is kept in his room no longer than 3 hours a time during the day and around 4 hours at night, unless his whining awakens us, and then we take him outside to potty. When he does potty, he receives a treat and praise. If we have an accident indoors, we pick him up and take him immediately outside to finish his business...side note...we just started "bell potty training" this weekend.

He receives 1 5/8 cup of Iams puppy food (yellow bag) and around 8-10 ounces of water a day (he weighd 6.9 pds) at the vet earlier this week. He receives no water after 8, to help with the overnight potty issues.

He plays a lot outside and walk/run some too! Indoors, he chews on his toys and plays with us.

Im sure Ill have tons more to tell later...but the potty training doesnt seem to be taking....we try to take him out 20-30 mins after food or big drinks...but he still does #1 and #2 in the house. We haven't even had him a week yet....so am I just worrying to much right now, or should we be progressing along better...???

Thank you all so much! Looking forward to hearing from you all

-RD

[Labradorks]

He's only 9 weeks. Just an infant. He also only has a certain capacity for holding it. At this point, nothing is really taking, it's just management. You need to take him out more, too. About every 10 minutes when he is awake (they sleep a lot at this age) and immediately after eating, drinking, playing and sleeping. Take him out on a leash, and put him down in the same spot. Stand still (like a tree) and when he potties, praise him (I use "good potty!"), reward with food, play, etc. and go back inside. If the puppy doesn't potty within a few minutes, scoop him up, bring him inside, put him in a crate with something to do, and try again in 10 minutes.

Also, are you sure the puppy is just 6.9 lbs? That is quite small. I would expect his weight to be about double that at 9 weeks. Has he been to the vet?

[Shelley]

He receives 1 5/8 cup of Iams puppy food (yellow bag) and around 8-10 ounces of water a day (he weighd 6.9 pds) at the vet earlier this week. He receives no water after 8, to help with the overnight potty issues.
-RD

1 5/8 cup of food is a very strange number to feed, how did you come up with that, did Ridge's breeder tell you that amount?

My puppies go home at 8 weeks eating 2.5 - 3 cups of a high calorie food, and weigh between 14-16, to 18-20 lbs. my puppies are eating 1 5/8 cup of food per day at probably 6 weeks old.

8-10 ounces of water? Again a very strange number. I allow unrestricted water to puppies until I introduce the crate for night time sleeping full time after 8 weeks old, then they just do not have free access to water during the jght when it is time to sleep. Can you imagine being thirsty and not being able to get a drink? Puppy kidneys are still developing at this age and water is good for them. You can wet their food too, but they should be able to get a drink of water when they feel the need, and restricting water will cause them to hoard water when they can, and could be the source of your housebreaking issues.


6.9 pounds is very small for a purebred labrador puppy, echoing the other poster, has this puppy seen a vet? Been on a worming schedule? Vaccine schedule?

[Shelley]

Welcome to the board and puppy hood too! Pictures are almost a requirement :-)

[JenC]

Even for a field bred Labrador, 6.9 pounds at 9 weeks is very small. My small field girl was 7# at 7 weeks.

Personally, I would feed 1 cup of food 3x a day or 1.5 cups 2x a day depending on your schedule. And I'd have a big bowl of water available at all times, though taking it up at 8PM is fine. As long as it's down again when you get up.

And a good schedule to follow for potty training....after every meal, after every nap, after every play session and then about ever 2 hours.

[POPTOP]

Hello and Welcome!

Going to leave the puppy training to those who know more than me; I home seniors. Although they often need potty training in the beginning, they do have the capacity to hold it where your puppy has not developed the muscle yet to do that.

Looking forward to pictures.

[Ridge's Dad]

Yes...in my post I said he weighed 6.9 pounds at the vet earlier this week. Thank you for the advice, I will try the good potty starting now!

[silverfz]

We have been at 2 cups and then moved to 3 with same food. R u sure it's not 6.9 kg which is inline. .potty training took a while but we took her out alot till she got it. It's time consuming. having had 2 young kids we thought the dog was faster.
. We just fed by weight but 6.9 is small. Put him on the scale at home quickly. Sorry Gigi is a chocolate lab , gsd golden lab mix. So she looks alot like a field lab. She was 13 lbs at 8 weeks and is at 63 lb at 8 months with big paws.... So no help.

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[Tanya]

welcome

for house training, sounds like he has too much freedom. on top of the schedule above, you need to go outside with them and ensure they pee. reward BIG TIME. I mean treats, praise, do a dance. Ignore all indoor accidents and just clean them up with odor neutralizing product. If he is on schedule to pee and he does not pee, he should be tethered to you (leash tied to you) or crated and then you take him back outside in 5 minutes. Limit his ability to get too far from your direct supervision in the house in general as well (baby gates, close doors) and keep your eyes on him. As you get to know your puppy you will notice a sign before he goes to pee, you want to grab him asap and gently carry him outside to potty. reward reward reward. supervise supervise supervise.

[Doreen Davis]

Welcome!