new 5 month old lab puppy

Question
I have 2 questions:
1. We have a very well behaved, loving, a bit possessive about her own bed and toys, female boston terrier (2 yrs and 7 months old). We are planning to bring in a lab puppy about  4-7 months old. Should we go for another female? male? what attitude should we look for?

2. the new 5 month old lab, if we decide to bring her, needs to be house trained. we are both working. is it advisable to leave her in the crate for 8 hours or we can leave her with her bed, toys, paper/pee pads in the bathroom for about 8 hours?

thanks,

VA

Answer
Problems aren't that common, but going with a male reduces the chance even more.  She is still young enough she may be happy to have another young puppy to play with.  You may want to stay away from a highly dominant puppy.  Since you are going with an older puppy, you might see if you can find one that has been living with a smaller bred dog.  If you don't have a source for the puppy, check http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm or www.petfinders.org

Labs can be difficult.  You often have to leave a Lab puppy in a crate.  A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work. Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding time for more than one dog.

It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first. What the puppy wants more than anything else is to be with others, you, anyone else in the household, and any other pets. In our modern society, even if we are home, other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have. The only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around. Leave it some toys. Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter. Don't leave anything in the crate the dog might chew up. Rather than relaxing and catching a nap in their den, some puppies protest by fouling the crate. I haven't had this problem. I see many questions suggesting it, and saw my daughter fight the problem.

A wire grid in the bottom of the crate will help keep the puppy up out of urine and to a lessor extent stools. They are available with the crates, but expensive and hard to find. A piece of closely spaced wire closet shelving from a home supply place is cheaper. This reduces the mess, making the protest much less effective. The longer haired the puppy, the higher it needs to be. In warmer weather, you can just haul the crate out and hose everything off. When the puppy sees you coping with the situation, and you stand your ground, most of them give up and learn to relax, and that you will return. One more thing that may help is using a smaller crate, or blocking off part of a larger one so the puppy can't fouled one spot and retreat.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy. Very few houses even have a safe room. How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing else? Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else. In addition to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have intestinal blockage from the pieces. I had a friend that left her dog in a "safe" room. It ate a hole in the floor covering. The safe rooms fail to give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires. Nor do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving itself.

I hate to see a puppy or even an older dog shut up all day.  If you can't make it back for a mid day break, see if a neighbor or professional dog walker can.  We have never had trouble housebreaking even 7 week old puppies left 4-5 in the day time.  At 5 months, it might be OK to leave it at a doggy day care.