DH just brought home a puppy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giant pee pads to cover the rugs. Amazon has huge ones. And baby gates. We got a dog and I did not want one but he does most of the work and all the walking. She just hangs out and cuddles with me.

Some dogs are easier and require less work than others. Labs are a working breed and require a lot of exercise, mental stimulation, and attention. Your situation sounds great, but I don't know if that's realistic for OP. At least not for a few years.

Labs are a sporting breed. They're bred to have enough energy to run around all day, and they love having things (pheasants, expensive shoes) in their mouths.

Any surprise lab is going to a random dog from a careless breeder, so yours may be different. But this was a completely irresponsible move on your DH's part.

I'd be furious, and I love dogs.

Sporting dogs are generally less work than working dogs. Working dogs are bred for stamina and focus to work all day every day. No one hunts pheasant all day every day. So for a retriever a couple long walks a day plus lots of nap time is usually fine. But they need to be real walks.

Again, for a full-grown dog, this is fine. For a puppy, a 15-minute walk + training and intellectual stimulation is plenty. Many short walks are better than 2-3 long walks at this stage.

You don't want to build the muscles before you build up the mind, unless you're planning to hunt, etc. Your average city-dwelling or suburban dog doesn't need these marathon walks, regardless of breed. There are plenty of other ways for them to get stimulation

[Anonymous]

OP, what did you end up doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH just brought home a lab puppy. I’m beyond mad. I’ve never had a dog before and have no idea what to do. We also have two kids, 7 and 9. The kids are thrilled. The puppy is very cute, but he’s already peed on our new carpet. DH is an idiot.

If you’ve never had a dog before I’m not sure a lab is right for you, even if you had known it was coming. Lifelong lab owner and while they are the absolute best, especially as family pets, they are big, strong, and energetic for at least 2 years. They house train extremely quickly but they have loads of energy so training is critical.

+1 Adult labs that have been well-trained make great family dogs, and it takes a considerable amount of consistent training to get them there. They're kinda bulldozers, can easily knock down younger/smaller kids, and need an outlet for all that working dog energy. So unless you're going to have them retrieving things, get an older one or go with another breed.

They're also mouthy AF. Lab puppies are part vampire, I swear... Those little needle teeth HURT too! Not a great choice for a family with small kids who are new to dog ownership.

+1, I adopted an adult lab who had been well trained by someone else. Fantastic family dog but still a lot of work just for normal dog reasons.
I've had many dogs but only one puppy. It's a lot and if you don't put in consistent labor you will ruin the dog.

As someone who has been rehabbing "rejected" puppies for decades now, can confirm. Skilled trainers can bring them back, at least most of the time/most of the way, but it's SO much easier to just train them correctly the first time. Buy once, cry once. Quality early-life training is critical for easy adult dogs.

If you don't know how to train dogs, never start with a puppy.

I'll even go so far as to say: if you have kids under 10, you don't have time or resources for a puppy.

While there may be occasional exceptions to this, it holds true often enough that people would be wise to consider just how many young creatures they're really capable of caring for. Until your kids can reliably get themselves up and about their business, they'll need the attention you'd need to spend training a puppy. It's just not worth the stress and chaos.

I tell this to every friend I have, particularly those that want a dog, "for the kids." I'm a dog person, had them before kids, do agility training, have worked with raising seeing eye dogs and training service dogs, fostered, even some protection work. So...I'm enough of a "dog lady" to me it's just kind of instinctual and rote and handling young puppies and kids is ok, but that's the "exception" category. Most people, especially first time owners, should avoid. This is how we end up with the dogs the anti-dog crown moans about. Puppies are cute, but they are WORK if you want them to be well socialized adults. And it's not just house-training, many dogs take a long time to mature, so if you aren't prepared to put in 100% expect a problem in your future. Just for reference, I sometimes tell friends considering it, I put in a bare minimum of about 3 hrs a day into training and exercise with my younger ones. They're great? Yes, but because of that. Recognize your limits to care for other beings, it's a huge commitment to meet everyone's needs and the pics of a 2 year old and a puppy are cute but not reality.

[Anonymous]

Why did he bring home a puppy? Sounds like he is trying to distract everyone from something...