Lab puppy?What I need to get.

Question
Hi,
I am looking at getting a chocalate lab for Christmas for my children. I know someone who's lab is having puppies in October and She is going to call me when they are born. She said she would hold the puppy for us until Christmas. I need to know how much food to give  a lab puppy and what I should get in preperation for our puppy. Any advice?
Thank you-Ana

Answer
Hello and thank you for your question, Congrats on getting the new puppy labs are awsome dogs with the nicest of temperments.

You'll need as follows *Before bringing pupy home

Crate/kennel large enough for the dog when it is fully grown, the crate must be large enough for the dog to turn around in without bumping into teh sides....again it must fit him as an adult. Crates are hadny... if you get called in to work on a weekend and tehre is noone home to watch your puppy place him in his crate with a blanket/food/water and a safe cchew toy and maybe some newspaper in the front and your house will be in one piece when you get back home, it works great for a bed also if its in a place where the dog can get to it they will go lay in it...mine knows the word 'crate' now and when I'm off to work I say crate Haylie and down she goes and opens the crate door with her nose/head and gets in and sits down!

Food/water dishes, metal or glass are best tehre easier to clean and they will not be chewed, there is also some talk of allergies being triggered by plastic feeding dishes and toys.

Bedding, this can be a old blanket of yours without any loose thread or holes to get caught in or you can by a big fancy bed from the pet suppliers its up to you.

Toys, Nyla bones and kong are about the only fool proof toys out there for larger breeds here are the links to tehre homepages: http://www.kongcompany.com/
http://www.nylabone.com/toys/

These are avalible everywhere inpetstores and even walmart and zellers and some grocery stores they are by no means rare toys. THe durable kongs and durable nyla bones can not be chewed to pieces and I personlly use them. I do have alot of squeaky and tug toys for my own dogs but I find if my lab or jack rusell terrier getshold of a soft plush toy or a rope toys they chew them up, its quite difficult to have toys for a growing teething puppy and toys for two adult dogs lol.

You'll also need leash and collar and id tag, the collar shouldnt be stiff leather a soft nylon collar is best for a puppy, THe collars I stand by are the ones that buckle like packsac buckles the ones that 'click' and unclick together and apart...the buckle style collars that buckle like belts can get caught on something and the dog will strangle itself weathers with a snap together fixture collar if the dog for instance were to get its collar hooked on a nail or board of say the outdoor porch teh snaop would open with the squirming pressare from the puppy, they are safe to walk with thou I have never ever had one open during walking/running or pulling...be sure to get a fair qauility one teh dollar store ones open when you pull at them. The leash shouldn't be chain, leather is ok but some puppies chew there leashes for the first few months...turning and grabing the leash and tugging at it so an expensive elather leash at first might be useless later, A mid weight nylon leash is perfect again be sure its good quaility and check to see teh clasp is working correctly as well.

You will also need puppy food feeding what the breeder was feeding for the first week at lest is what you will want to do, if the food does seem good enough to you or you'd otherwise like to change it mix the new food in gradually over a few days to aviod runny stools and vomiting. You will deffinitly want to be feeding  a Large breed puppy food.

Puppy shampoo is needed also, choose something that is just for puppies as it is ussally tearless and it easier on the puppies skin.

A tooth brush with *Doggy tooth pase is usefull as well if teh dog will be eating any canned food or soft treats if you brush even once a weee it will be benafical.

Rawhides and knuckles are favorites of my dogs they keep them occupied while cleaning the house or when just wanting to give them a treat.


I think thats about it if you need help with anything else feel free to ask