A new Lab puppy next year

Question
Hello Labman,

I'm sure you remember me... i have three dogs now a Labrador retreiver, a jack russell terrier and a Boston terrier. I really would like to have another large dog perferbily another labrador retreiver, I could add the new member to my pack fall 2007. I have a few questions pretaining the subject...

I want to have this puppy perfesianlly trained in private one on one classes...do you know how these work and if they work well? what would I  need to be doing at home when not at the classes?  what would be the ideal age to inroll the puppy into these classes?

I am likely going to get another female dog my lab and boston terrier are females I perfer the females ways to the males my question here is do all males..neutered ones mount and hump things?  Would a male be a more courages dog then a female? my lab is a big coward when I walk her alone if she even hearanother dog in a yrad she will try pull me as fast as she can away from that spot if I walking all three together she will lunge at the fences and try get out of her head collar after the other barking/growling dogs.

And lastly how much exercise is Really needed everyday for a lab? I have had Haylie for almost three years and still do not know...she is getting slightly overweight which I plan to start correcting soon, I have a large yard and she plays with the other dogs several hours everyday just running through the yard and they all get a 10 minute brisk walk every morning but she is still very active inside.


Thank you for any advice or information you can give me.

Answer
I am no big fan of professional trainers.  Some of them I wouldn't even let walk my dog.  There are good ones out there, but some nitwits too.  They are expensive and may be a waste of time.  Do you have kids?  Let them take the dog to 4-H in early 08.  Whatever you do, drill the dog in what you learned between lessons.  Remember, the younger the dog, the shorter the training sessions, but the easier it is.  

Well bred, well trained, neutered males shouldn't be that bad about humping.  Some females do it too.  We had 4 dogs in the house this weekend, a 10 week old female Lab, an intact 7 month old male Lab, a  6 year old neutered male terrier mix, and a 13 old spayed, female Lab.  She was the worst of the bunch about humping followed by the neutered terrier.  Pile too many dogs of one sex into the house, and you may get 2 with a strong dominance drive.  That can be nasty, and more likely with females than males, even spayed ones.

I have had fear problems with both male and female Labs.  I have had happy go lucky ones of both sexes too, only fearing missing dinner.   

It sounds like your dog is getting as much exercise as many.  Just cut back on her food a little.  Cesar Milan has popularized more exercise as the solution to every problem, but what is really important is to match exercise to food level.  Yes, the more exercise you have time to give the dog, the better.  In the end, adjust the food to the amount of exercise  the dog is getting following this method, http://www.puppychow.com/products/popup_body_condition.aspx