Bringing a Labrador into your life is a very big decision. A decision you should only make with the complete knowledge of what you’re getting yourself into and the commitments you need to make. Labrador Puppies!
The Labrador Retriever
The Labrador Retriever was bred to be both a friendly companion and a useful working dog breed. Historically, he earned his keep as a fisherman’s helper. Hauling nets, fetching ropes, and retrieving fish from the chilly North Atlantic.
Today’s Labrador Retriever is as good-natured and hard working as his ancestors. And he’s America’s most popular breed. These days the Lab works as a retriever for hunters. Assistance dog to the handicapped, show competitor. And search and rescue dog, among other canine jobs.
In order to give your Labrador the very best start in life. While making the experience as stress free as possible for yourself. I strongly recommend you read as many of these articles as you can.
The following few articles discuss whether a lab is right for you. Whether you’re right for a lab, what you can expect and the requirements of you as a Labrador owner, which type of lab is most suited to you and how and where you can get one.
So you’re fully committed to becoming a Labrador owner? Excellent news, welcome to the club! Be prepared! It will make both yours and your puppy’s life much easier.
There used to be a lot of disagreement on the age at which you should start to train a Labrador puppy, how successful early training is and the long-term effects on the dog. But in more recent years, the majority of professionals have come to agree on these matters.
Removing a puppy from its mother and litter mates too early causes a range of problems in the puppies development. Many studies performed have shown a resulting increase in aggression, over-reactivity, learning problems, fearfulness and anxiety in puppies removed too early.
Discipline
A mother will regularly discipline a puppy for bad behavior during its first few weeks of life. The puppy may throw a tantrum and feel hard done by, but the mother will be stern…although they always follow the discipline with a little nuzzling and some love!
This early and regular dishing out of discipline teaches the puppy about right and wrong, that actions have consequences and bad behavior is punished.
Learn
A puppy will learn from its mother and fellow puppies about the strength of its bite and not biting too hard . It’s litter-mates will yelp with pain and move away, and the mother will snarl and discipline the puppy if it bites and hurts while suckling.
Also, the puppy will itself be the victim of too hard biting, so it gets some first hand experience of how painful it can be. This teaches the puppy that biting too hard hurts and results in bad consequences, so they slowly learn to control their bite. This is known as ‘bite inhibition’ and is a vital skill for any dog to learn!
House Training Your Puppy
Now of course, one of the most important things you’ll want to do with your puppy is to start the house training process as soon as possible! For a complete and detailed guide on everything house training, as well as an article that gets straight to the point!
Crate Training Your Puppy
Because the use of a crate is so extremely helpful during house training, and because crate training brings so many benefits to the life of a dog and their owner, I honestly believe that every person should read up on the subject to give themselves a chance of making a well-informed and educated decision on whether they want to use a crate.
Children And Labrador
The Labrador Retriever not only loves kids, he enjoys the commotion they bring with them. He’ll happily attend a child’s birthday party, and even willingly wear a party hat. Like all dogs, however, he needs to be trained how to act around kids. And kids need to be taught how to act around the dog.
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