My husband and I brought a 9 week old labrador home on Saturday. For context, we looked after our friend's labs in the past and decided that we're ready for a puppy ourselves. The first night was stressful for everyone involved – he wouldn't pee outside, he would pee the moment we got home, woke us up multiple times at night, but we expected that.
Thankfully from the following day we had more luck. He started peeing outside (consistently in the same spot which helps), we managed to avoid accidents at home by carrying him outside and not letting him touch the carpets on the way out. He's sleeping through the night in his crate which is amazing. Apart from the first night, he usually sleeps from 10:30pm until 5:30am which is great! The vet saw him the other day and is happy with the overall health of our pup. We're developing a nice bond between us.
Now to the stressful part. – toilet break is almost too stimulating for him. There are rocks, grass, dead leaves everywhere (it's a tiny rear access path behind out block) he wants to sniff and lick everything. He was sick one night because he ate some dead leaves, so now I try to limit how much sniffing is happening. This makes me worried that I might hurt him by restricting him and holding the lead right. – he's quite hyper, especially the last 2 evenings. I think that he's overtired, but we are unable to force naps, as he doesn't seem to fall asleep on his own. He normally whines when he's in the crate and when I open the door when he's quiet, he sometimes runs into my lap – absolutely adorable, but not sustainable in the long run. – his puppy biting is getting more and more annoying/painful. We were at ours wits end today when he started going absolutely mental and biting everything around him. We resorted to putting him in his crate and leaving the room. When we came back after some time (maybe a minute?) he seemed a bit more chill…
And now some questions: – Is it too early to give him timeouts? Does this create negative association and add to the separation anxiety, or make him hate the crate? – how can I make sure he doesn't eat anything that can potentially harm him. Should I try to distract him or lure him with a treat, or just control his movements with a lead? – how can I start forcing naps? He doesn't mind being in his crate if someone is next to him, but he has never settled to sleep on his own. Do I just ignore the whining and sit next to the crate? I don't want him to have separation anxiety.
I understand that he's a baby. A week ago he was still with his mum and his brother's and sisters and now he's in a brand new place with brand new people. I want to give our pup the best possible home.
Thank you for listening to my rant.
submitted by /u/Limp_Parfait
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