Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Picking up new puppy next week questions

I will be picking up a 7 week old lab puppy next week in dallas while I am down there. This will be the first time I will have had a dog for a long time and my dog skills are a bit rusty. This is a free puppy. my son is setting up the deal for me. Seems the owner had a litter and is tired of selling them and is giving the rest of the litter away. A few questions. Most my questions are about transporting her back to colorado and the use of a crate. I have never used a crate so I know little or nothing about them.Also I have never had a lab only pointers, so this is also a new area for me. My son is going over to see them tonight and is also going to find out if she is from parents that hunt. (my first question of course).

1. how is the best way to transport her (12 hour drive)?
2. should a puppy be crated when you aren't at home? Or at night?
3. when should training start?

thanks tom

How exciting!!

We really like the plastic kennels with a wire door for transport and use the same style at home. If you can have one just for home, an all wire kennel would probably be a better choice.

If you have someone coming with you, I'd take turns holding the pup while the other person drove....but that's just me.

Thanks nebraska,

I figure the wife will end up holding her. Of course that means the pup will bond with her and decide she is her mom. Hate when that happens. not the first time this has happened though and wife is not even a dog person, but dogs love her. tom

I never let a dog travel unrestrained in vehicle. A pup can squirm out of the passenger's arms and create a distraction for the driver. Keep him in the crate when the car is moving.

Figure the 12 hour drive will take more like 14 or 15 hours. Little guys have to be aired at every opportunity. Withhold food at the start of the trip, and give water sparingly during. If you feel like you must feed the pup during the trip (a pup can go half a day without eating), count on being stopped for an hour or more, or until you see him move his bowels. House breaking begins the moment you lead him away from his littermates.

Keep the pup crated whenever you are not directly supervising him. Housebreaking goes quick and easy when there are few or no accidents without an immediate chastisement. Get a small crate, or one with a partition, and get a bigger one when he's grown some. Too large a crate will encourage him poop in the corner.

Training begins at minute #1--whether you know it or not. Puppy training is gentle but firm guidance without coercion. Formal obedience starts at about 6 months.

The main thing in training a puppy is patience on your part and being consistant. The best advice I can give you is "Never Correct Your Dog When Angry" because that is abuse and the dog will not forget it.

Well no puppy after all. My son went to see them yesterday. He said first of all the lady claimed that the mother had died giving birth. Second the puppies did not look like they were from the same mother/father IE short coats, long coats. The puppy she had to offer was crying the whole time and the lady said oh yeah she does that all the time. The deal breaker was the fact she wanted them spayed/neutered. I don�t have an issue with that since I was planning to have that done anyway, but you had to pay in advance to the dallas lab rescue. I think he said it was $90. Of course I live in Colorado so I am not going to drive down to dallas to have a dog spayed. She did not care when my son told her that and did not yield. I am thinking that given all the above that she is fronting for the lab rescue to get rid of some pups they got stuck with. But then since I am a suspicious old fart , I don�t trust people much anymore.

Guess I will go back to plan A which was to acquire a dog from proven hunting stock. Of course now I have to decide if it will be a lab, or a GSP, or a GWP. tom

Good call Tom,

Get a hunting dog from proven hunting stock. IMO, if papers have little importance, don't overlook cross breeds (from proven hunters/fence jumpers).