Immediately, go to a bookstore or order on line, "Labrador Retrievers for Dummies." It will be the best $15 you spend on this dog.

Second, enroll in a training program the absolute soonest you can. This is the prime learning time for the pup, and the time when he is easiest to train. Do not cheap out and take a Petsmart or Petco course, go to a dog trainer who does it for a living. A local independent pet or feed store or your local Lab Rescue can advise you. Some trainers won't take the dog until all he has his shots, but others will.

Third: take a zillion pictures right now because he isn't going to stay this size for long!

Here is a link that might be useful: Labs for Dummies

TY graywings-book ordered. I have already googled trainers in our area and it looks like they all want to wait until he has all the shots. But I figured a trainer would be the best way to go! I know we all need it as much as he does.

Any tips for now -adjusting for us and for him?

We got a fuzzy lab puppy for Christmas five years ago. I sympathize with you.

My best advice, get pup started on chew bones RIGHT AWAY. I can't tell you how many shoes Zelda destroyed. Once we found chew bones she quit shoes.

Crate training is wonderful. I couldn't do that with Z because DH hated the thought of the yellow bundle of puff in that mean old crate. Sigh. We tried puppy training, but again, DH wouldn't follow through (plus the trainer was at odds in philosophy from us). You need to decide what you want the dog to be...since you got a lab, do you want pup to be a hunting dog? Labs need a job, they need to work, so make sure you work pup. But also, labs can be prone to hip problems, so don't let pup jump too much until they're older. Labs are also crazy till they're at least 3 years old, then they tend to turn into couch potatos. But our Zelda is still crazed when it comes to playing catch.

Max, on the other hand, is not a true retriever. He'll chase the ball, but won't give it back. He IS a tater. (We got Max when he was 2, so we didn't have to puppy train him).

We now have an older puppy, who is working on potty training (80% there) and is a chewer. Hoping the older dogs help train her to behave.

Max & Zelda

Aurora

Raising a puppy well is similar to 'attachment parenting'. You must have that pup first and foremost on your mind. Know what it is doing every single second.

Take the pup outside and *stay* with it. When it goes potty, tell it what it is doing. "Go potty. Good boy. Go potty." (Don't say this in a real excited voice. Rather a soothing voice.)

The trick is to take him outside after every single nap, after every single meal, after every single play session. Stay with him quietly and let him do his thing, then praise him for going potty (or whatever words you will use for it).

My dogs have all been trained to 'go potty' on command because I stayed outside with them and gave them a vocabulary for what they were doing.

Puppies are harder than babies. Luckily it is for a shorter time period. I took my pups with me whenever possible while housebreaking, so I didn't have an accident. English bulldogs are not easy to house break but I've trained 3 who would rather die than relieve themselves inside the house.

Good luck with your new furbaby. There is nothing better than a puppy. I have never hired anyone to train my dogs but I've been around dogs my entire life and my parents wouldn't hear of a misbehaving dog. I learned early to take charge. (Never ever hit or kick a dog. Even yelling is bad, IMO.)

Consistency is the most important thing. Not only from the alpha dog (you) but also from all the other pack members. You all have to use the commands and you all have to use the same commands.

Potty vocabulary is important, as Golddust mentioned, especially when you travel. When you don't have a locational trigger for elimination, it is essential to have a verbal trigger.

I can't imagine where we'd be without a crate. It is our dog's safe place and he is happy to head in whenever he needs to. He actually "asks" to be put to bed at night. It's a cave, not a cage.

Training is not for dogs, it is for their people. We are the ones who need to be trained. (see paragraph 1)

Have fun but don't forget it's a lot of work. Do the work now and you'll have a lifetime of fun!

TY guys very much for all the tips. It has been a 24 hour job so far but I understand this is a very important stage. We need to start working now. He has done well with the crate and just cried a bit at night after he went inside after pottying. Last nite he pottied immediately after going outside with me but man it's cold out there!

How long before he can sleep longer than 2 hours without pottying? Do we feed him just 2X/day? How about water? Thanks again!

Their in-crate time and the length of time they should be able to hold their urine is about equal in hours to their age in months. So 2 month old puppy has a 2 hour schedule.

Congratulations! We got a new puppy almost exactly one year ago, and are still training. I kept Bella's crate next to the bed and took her outside about every 2 hours or so. Luckily, we have an outside door to the deck in the bedroom, so it wasn't a huge deal. I always told her to go potty, then immediately brought her inside and put her back into her crate, with minimal interaction so she wouldn't think it was time to play. After a week or so, she would go into it herself when she came back in. I also think keeping the crate in the bedroom at first helped her transition. She never whimpered. After a couple of weeks, I moved the crate to outside the door, then to its permanent place in the sunroom. We still use the crate at night, but not when we leave during the day. We've always treated when she goes in and when she notices my going to bed routine, she just goes to her crate. We also use a leather strap with jingle bells on the back door, and every time we took her outside, we told her to ring the bell and pushed her nose to ring the bell. She learned that really fast. She was great for the first few weeks; she didn't have any accidents in the house, and always came when called. I later read that a lot of times owners think their puppy is trained because they always stay by their side at first and come when called. When the puppy begins to discover the world, that "training" is kaput. What was really hard was the groundwork for a well behaved dog: training basic commands every day, not letting her up on the furniture (This is our choice, not everyone's - we do let her up on the bed occasionally but only when invited), not letting her in the kitchen when we're eating, making her sit and wait until we tell her she can eat, not sharing our snacks with her, making her wait until we walk out the door before she can walk out. It is hard work training a dog, but wow, is life better with them! And after they learn the basic commands, you can teach them fun stuff, too. Bella shuts the cabinet doors or drawers, and puts the toilet seat down (she was easier to train than....never mind). Share a picture!
Dee

Also start socializing him now! The puppy socialization window closes by age 14 weeks, so now is the time to introduce puppy to other dogs, cats, birds, all colors shapes genders and sizes of people, loud noises, toe nail clippers, ear cleaners, baths, leashes, fences, etc etc etc. Once the socialization window closes, it is MUCH harder to get a dog to accept new things. Not impossible, but definitely more difficult.

Also, never allow the puppy to do anything you don't want a 90# dog doing. That means no jumping on people, no getting on furniture if that is going to be the rule, no puppy piddle pads (you don't *really* want to encourage puppy to pee and poop in the house, do you?), no "play biting" etc. It's not fair to the dog to accept a behavior for a while, then change the rules on him.

The fastest and most effective training for me has been the tethering method. Puppy gets attached to a member of the family via a 6 foot leash every single moment that he is out of the crate. If puppy does something wrong, person on other end of leash corrects puppy AND gives puppy opportunity to do the right thing. If he chews on something he shouldn't, then you take the off-limits item away and offer a toy with lots of praise. If he starts to pee or poop in the house, he gets scooped up and taken outside and praised immediately upon finishing his business. If he jumps on someone, he gets pulled down and told to sit, then rewarded. The only way to be absolutely consistent with puppy is to have him tethered. You can't correct him even 2 seconds after doing something wrong because dogs just don't have that kind of temporal relationship skills. He'll have no idea what you are punishing him for if you don't literally catch him in the act. The more often he gets away with misbehaving, the more likely he will think it's OK, the harder he will be to train out of the behavior.

Remember that dogs understand a few basic commands, but they do not speak English. Yes, they look sad and remorseful when you yell at them for something they did a while ago (you find poop in the house, for example). But they don't understand WHY you are yelling. And soon puppy will associate your coming home to being yelled at, which is not something you want. If you don't catch puppy in the act of misbehaving, you cannot punish him.

And speaking of punishment, it is only "punishment" if the correction succeeds in reducing the incidence of undesired behavior. Some people put their dog in "time out" when it gets too rowdy and jumps on people etc. But as soon as the dog is let out of the cage, the dog is immediately back to jumping on people. The "punishment" doesn't work. The dog has to be taught not to jump by being corrected WHILE IT IS JUMPING, and then be given an acceptable alternative behavior (sit, down, stay, etc) that he can learn and perform and be rewarded for doing correctly.

Don't try to train the dog when it is all hyped up. They train much better after they have been exercised and had all their whim-whams let out.

Wow, sorry I typed so much. I've had *many* dogs and puppies over the years, mostly rescues, some without any manners at all, and these are the tips that have hoped me most. Hope they help you too.

Congrats on the new pup!

Congrats on your new puppy. Being owned by labs my entire life, I am a bit partial and very, very happy for you and your family.

Meghane's tethering idea is a great one. Trainer taught us that trick when I brought a new puppy home to an older cantankerous (sp) female lab. She had many health issues and just wouldn't tolerate puppy behavior. It is very true, you have to train the humans in the house as well.

I know you will have many years of love and companionship from your new pup. Labs are like no other dog. They don't ever play by the book and they always manage to do something you wouldn't think possible. Ask me how I know this?

Have you taken any pics you can share? What color is your pup and have you chosen a name?

Best wishes!

Congratulations on your new pup!
Everyone gave you great advice. I grew up with Labs, they are fantastic dogs.
Right now I have a Boxer who was trained when I got him. There is NOTHING better than a well trained dog. It is amazing how much better our relationship is.
I'm thinking of getting a puppy in the next few months and have been reading Cesar Millan's new book, it is about raising a puppy. I highly recommend it!

Good luck!

Beth

Meghane is a vet and gives excellent training advice. Our trainer said the very same things and stressed the importance of the socialization by 14 weeks. I think this is something many folks don't think about or realize. Remove his toys and give back to him. Remove his food and give it back or add a piece to it while he is eating so he doesnt learn to guard his toys or food. Take your dog everywhere you can,especially in crowds and around noise.Introduce him to people of all ages and ask people to meet your dog and pet him. We even took our guys to track meets ( starter pistols)and field hockey games ( girls running with sticks after fun looking ball)where ever our lives took us. We were advised to avoid popular dog spots on the ground on our walks and adventures until they had all of their shots- fire hydrants, the floor of pet stores, where others walk their dogs, dog parks etc.
Get a harness right away for walking your dog until you get him trained in loose leash walking. That was the best thing we did! My understanding from our trainer is that pulling behavior is reinforced if they are allowed to pull on the leash when wearing a collar. But when wearing a harness, the pressure is on their chest and not the neck and thus not reinforcing the need to pull. We walk our dogs on harnesses for fun and if the leash is on the collar, they must loose leash walk. If you get the harness before training you wont inadvertantly train your dog to pull. Trust me on this one- Cooper is 100+ lbs and Bailey is 75. And I can walk both of them at once and have control. And we keep training on this.
Don't necessarily dismiss the Petsmart trainers. We lucked into a wonderful trainer at our local Petsmart when we stopped in for somthing- one that had a college degree in animal behavior and was also a volunteer primate trainer at the local zoo. She also was involved in service dog training. We took both of our dogs up through the advanced and clicker trainer with her. Or should I say, we were trained!
She recommended a book Culture Clash( i think) that we bought when Bailey was too little for class- it is an amazing book.
Have fun! The more training you do the more fun you and your dog will have!

Thank you guys very much for all the wonderful and detailed advice. His name is Max and he is a black lab. We had our first scare already as he has had some diarrhea for the last 24 hours. Took him for his first vet visit this am. He didn't have any active parasites so she wasn't sure but told us to watch him and gave us some probiotics. We have to keep a close eye on him. Right now all 5 of us are exhausted. He acts his normal self and still eating, drinking, playing and no vomit so ok there. Whew!

She did tell us as far as socialization that until he finishes his Parvo shots he still could get it. So I guess we have to weigh that in any classes he could take. I like the tethering idea. Just use his harness? That is basically what we have done for the last 4 days just without the tether. That's why we are so tired!

Thanks again! I feel like we have entered a whole nother world! I will try to post a pic soon.

Loved Meg's advice too! I just wanted to pop in and comment about the harness idea... Personally, I don't think harnesses are great for training unless you are training it to pull something.

I have used harnesses in the past but only to seatbelt my dogs in the car. I prefer either a collar or gentle leader type of set up for training.

Great name! Having a son named Max, I admit to being a tad biased toward the name. LOL!

Oh Meghane! One more question... My vets always say not to take pups out until they have *all* their shots, which puts them older than 14 weeks. I tend to agree with you. My dogs were always very socialized dogs before the vets started giving this advice.

It puts us owners in a hard position to either go against the advise of our vet, risk getting the pup sick (then having the wrath of the vet come down for being an irresponsible dog owner...) or being the compliant pup owner and ending up with a dog who isn't the best when taken out and about. My current dogs fit into the later category because I listened to my vet.

Next pups, I don't plan to listen to my vets advise but I don't want to risk them getting sick either.

Goldust for training you are right a collar and a lead are preferred. BUT if you don't know how to train your dog to loose leash walk at your side, using a harness for walking until you do can avoid inadvertently reinforcing pulling behavior. We train our dogs on collar and using a harness is off training fun time. They have learned not to pull in the harness either. I don't know the name of the harness we use- but it is very comfortable for them. Many trainers recommend them these days.
You can socialize your unvaccinated pup with dogs that you are absolutely sure are fully vaccinated. Invite them over to your house or go to visit them.
You can take the into the pet store if you keep them in the cart and let them see the other dogs and let people come up and talk to them. Just no on the floor or nose touching. Like human disease I think there is common sense to avoiding doggie diseases.

Just wanted to jump in about the collar issue. My guys do not wear collars unless they are going out of the house or yard. Had an issue with SIL's dogs getting fetched up in one another's collars, one lab ended up asphyxiating. Terrible. From that day forward my dogs have not worn collars just to hang out in the house or the yard. Collars can also be a danger when you put your pup into the crate. Be sure to take his collar off before he goes in.

I use the harness type or break-away collars. Dogs don't have to be pulling something to use the harness collars. In fact, labradors are prone to laryngeal paralysis, and not wearing a collar is one way to prevent that from happening. Years of pulling on your dog's throat can be detrimental.

Good luck with Max. Enjoy and most of all be patient!

I'm with Cooper too on the PetSmart training. I've had excellent trainers there and some that are not so good---and I've experienced the same thing with private trainers. I wouldn't dismiss PetSmart as "cheaping out" at all.

What I like about PetSmart training is that you get excellent socialization for your puppy--with other dogs and other people. There are lots of distractions in the store (stinky fish, rodents, smelly dog food aisle, children running by, etc) that you must test around. Usually there is a Lowe's or a HD in the same complex and several times we have walked our dogs there to get other kinds of exposure. We've even "tested" there by making our dogs sit and stay while large scary carts with lumber went barreling by, etc.

PetSmart training is also good exposure for your own children too to get involved and learn responsible dog "manners" and training. Take them with you so the whole fam is on the same page.

I found an excellent trainer at PS that I stuck with (we went from beginner, intermediate, to advanced too). She helped me get my pooch ready to test for the Canine Good Citizens Program and he also licensed to become a registered therapy dog. Right now we're almost done with the Click-n-Trick class which he's been gobbling up--- he knows how to "high-five", "gimme ten", take a bow, play dead, play peekaboo, etc. It's been fun.

Best wishes with the new pooch!

There was a recent article in the latest AVMA journal about socializing puppies prior to finishing puppy vaccines. The overwhelming consensus is early socializing outweighs the risk of infectious disease by a long shot. If your puppy is on a regular vaccine schedule (every 3 weeks) and deworming schedule (every 2-3 weeks) then the risks of taking a puppy into the big new world are MUCH less than being surrendered for behavior problems later on. More dogs are killed every year for behavior problems than for every other health problem combined- that includes parvo, distemper, GI parasites, etc. Keep your dog protected with vaccines every 3 weeks and deworming every 3 weeks and get that boy socialized !

My Lab is also Max, but he is chocolate, not black. My black labs growing up were Ms. Mike and Lizzie (actually a black Lab/English setter mix). Labs in general respond VERY well to early socialization- take advantage of it! My boy doesn't know how to act like a dog because he was not socialized with other dogs as a puppy. Because of that, he gets *very* disgrunteled when I take in strays and foster puppies. He doesn't know how to communicate as a dog. My other dogs are well-socialized and therefore much happier even when there is super-cute puppy competition. Mac definitely suffers with his lack of early socialization; my other dogs are really good with new additions of any age and any personality. Max is now 9 years old and he *still* can't handle puppies in most siuations. It's because he was a sickly puppy and was only exposed to other people and not other dogs that he behaves the way he does.

The Petsmart puppy courses in my area are pretty good according to some of my better clients- the ones who would know. Getting a puppy used to other dogs is great! Don't wait until vaccines are done, it's too late. Get the dog outside NOW! Experiencing new people and situations NOW! Before it is too late.

Congrats on the pup! I would suggest Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer), too. He has books, dvds, and his tv show. Entertaining, but also very informative for new dog owners. I would also get him socialized with vaccinated dogs. This may have already been answered (I just skimmed the messages), but you need to have fresh water available all the time for your dog. Also, if you find he has an accident after he has been house-broken, just put some dry food there after you clean up. He won't go there again-dogs won't poop where they eat! When we first adopted our newest two, one of them had several "accidents" and I scattered kibble around. Ended up scattering it pre-emptively in lots of places and no more accidents ever!

Have fun! Labs are wonderful!