Tips on Raising a Labrador Puppy

Labradors are very active dogs. If you are looking to share your home with an active puppy that is fun to play with then the Labrador is a great puppy to get. Labradors love to play more then anything else. They can play fetch for hours, wearing out your entire family one person at a time. Pickle in the middle is a great game to play with a Labrador puppy with the Labrador being the pickle all the time. Labradors are great for batting practice. You can hit the ball and let the Labrador go after it and bring it back for you. Labradors love to help you with your batting practice.

Labradors are smart dogs and they want to please you but there need for play often gets in the way of good behavior. A Labrador has energy to burn and I often wish my Labrador would just share a tenth of his energy supply with me. They are easy to housetrain and hardy. A Labrador can be comfortable in cooler temperatures but they can still get mighty cold if left out too long on a cold day.

Swimming is a Labradors favorite activity, although not all Labradors are good swimmers. It took my Labrador about four year before he could swim well. There were a couple times when he was a puppy that we played fetch in the water with him and we were not sure he would make it. His head would actually go under water and it scared us good a few times. My Labrador never was able to resist water so when he was in the car with us and we would drive by a lake he would get uncontrollably excited. My suggestion is if you are driving with your Labrador watch out for lakes.

Labradors are not picky eaters but they don't eat a lot either. For a dog there size it is a bit amazing how much food they eat compared to the exercise they get.

Shedding is a problem with Labradors. I would advise a good brushing every so often to get all the loose hair out of the dog. The Labrador loves getting his hair brushed as long as he does not have a ball to chase at the time. Everything in my Labradors life revolves around the balls he can play with. A ball is more important then food, shelter or water. If you have a ball you can get your Labrador to go anywhere with you. A tennis ball is irresistible to a Labrador.