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6 wk old lab pup

19 14:33:09

Question
Me and my bf just adopted a 6 wk old labX. The first night we put him in his kennel and he woke up throughout the night whining and barking. He ended up in bed w/us for most of the night and he'd keep waking up. How do we stop this and make it so that we can sleep through the night when we live in an apartment? When's a good time to start training him also? Any recomendations on how to properly potty train him? What about a proper feeding schedule? WHatever recomendations you have would be great! He seems to be a chewer too....

Answer
6 weeks old is very young for a puppy to be taken from its mother.  It isnt recommended to wean large breeds like labs until at least eight weeks, preferably ten (thats the breeders fault though not yours). he should still be being fed every four - six hours minimum.  Use a dry puppy food (iams, Hills or BETA are good and have large breed variants) and make it really soft.  Gradually move up to three feeds a day on totally dry food by about twelve weeks.  
Continue to feed puppy food until at least 6 months, then you can move up to junior food if the brand you choose has a junior variant.  feed this until about 18months old, if there is no junior variant available continue with the puppy food until about 12-15 months old then move on to adult food.
Whatever you do dont let him sleep in your bed again or he will learn that this is what happens when he makes a fuss and he will never stop.  dont go to him at all when he is making a fuss, wait until he is quiet then go to him and praise him.  
in an apartment you are probably best to crate train your puppy - but 6 weeks is a bit early so you'll just have to be vigilant with putting him outside for a little while (this will help him learn though).  
puppies are capable of learning things like potty training and sit/stay commands from about eight weeks.  be patient with the potty training as his pelvic muscles may take some time to develop fully but he should have the sit/stay fairly well by twelve weeks.  you can also begin lead training at twelve weeks and dont forget he should be attending puppy socialisation classes as soon as his vaccinations allow it.  If you can socialise him with a neighbours fully vaccinated dog from as early as ten weeks.  Make sure that by this point he has also been introduced to children, cars, wheelchairs, washing machine noises, horses, sheep etc.
Most dogs will be fully potty trained by 5 months, earlier if you crate train.
Labs are chewers - best thing is to give him things he is allowed to chew on - a good quality kong or nylabone is best and tell him off when he chews anything other than his toys, especially if it happens to be your finger.
Hope this helps
good luck with your puppy.
Sarah