New dog, now what?

[v.t.]

We got my DS a budget dog ($25 8 mo. old chocolate lab!) I will do a vet check and then the shots and neutering at the animal clinic. Where is the best place to get all the accessories and food? Main thing we need right now is a ant proof food bowl, the ants are eating more of the food than the dog is.

Thanks for any suggestions, we are new at this!

 

[Dopey420]

Don't leave the food out all the time. Feed the dog once per day, at the same time, then put the food away.

 

[pixiewings71]

We have a storage bin for our dog (and cat) food, it seals tight so the ants can't get in. We got it at a pet store, you'll need a good quality water and food dish, leash, collar, dog tags, you'll want to get flea and heartworm meds from the vet (ask when you take him in for shots). Don't forget things like toys (Kong's are good) and baggies to clean up after him.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I am posting from my phone so pardon any typos.

I would recommend feeding twice a day rather than once a day it is much better for your dog. Feed a high quality dog food. Supermarket dog food is usually not the best. A high quality dog food will cost you more but is a better value because you will feed less and it will maintain your dogs health. Dog food is much cheaper than veterinary bills.

Speaking of veterinary bills you might want to consider pet insurance? Labs are known for ingesting things they should not.. be sure your yard and home is puppy proof (just as you would for a child).

Many foods that are safe for people are deadly to dogs, grapes, chocolate, broccoli, onion are just a few. Do a google search for a complete list and be sure that your children and their friends understand this.

Buy only high quality toys, cheap toys can splinter and bits of rubber can break off. This could cost you a lot of money in veterinarian expenses not to mention risking your dog's life. Hard toys can cause your dog's teeth to crack or break. (I have been very happy with all of the Kong brand toys I have purchased.)

A good heartworm medicine is a must, never- never- never buy a heartworm medicine at a grocery store. Many cheap heartworm medications are actually very dangerous and beware of imitations from non reputable online sources.

I would highly recommend avoiding any dog toy with stuffing in it especially for a lab owner..

If it's an outside dog of course be sure it has shade and shelter, but also keep in mind how hot pavement can be if you're taking your dog for a walk. If you can not hold your hand flap to the surface of the pavement for at least 6 seconds it is too hot for your dog's paws.

Okay I will stop now before I completely overload you.

 

[cglaura]

A trick for ants in the food bowl....fill a dinner plate (or any shallow container with a wider circumference than the bowl) with water, then put the bowl on that. The ants drown before they can get to the food...no ant trail back to nest...will stop them from trying in a matter of time.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Make sure you socialize the dog. Whether it be dog parks, doggie daycare, or walking the dog through petsmart. For me, finding a good trainer (to train me) was very helpful.

 

[DisneyLover83]

I second the feed twice a day, also only put the food out for 10 or 15 minutes then take it away. Make sure to feed at the same times everyday, should help solve the ant issues. If its the food bag that the ants are in then buy a Rubbermaid type pet food container, we bought outs at Petsmart, works great and we keep it in the garage even!

 

[benniecooper]

I third feeding twice per day. A chocolate lab is a large breed dog and needs to eat more than once a day.

If you have a PetSmart near you, join their PetPerks program. They have monthly sale rotations and food and treat deals are there to be had. PetSmart accepts manufacturer's coupons plus they also have coupons instore and online sometimes.

 

[kristenrice]

We just got a new puppy too! She is a yellow lab/bullmastiff mix and she is 3 months old. Right now, she's about 25 pounds but she is could be 100 pounds when fully grown. I have to keep reminding my kids (and my husband!) that some of the stuff she does now might be cute (nibbling, jumping, etc), but if you don't want her doing it when she is 100 pounds, don't let her do it now! This was something we worked hard on when we had our Rottweiler puppies. Labs can get fairly large too so I second the PP who said to make sure the dog is well-socialized. Leash training is also important if you plan on letting the kids walk the dog. My 7 yo DD likes to let the puppy lead and I have to remind her that SHE is in control. NOT the dog.

We are taking our pup to PetSmart for puppy school starting Thursday. We did not get our Rotties professionally trained and they ended up very dog-aggressive. They had to be privately boarded and could not attend any sort of doggy day camp because they were so aggressive towards other dogs. They were fantastic with people, especially kids, because they were raised around children and other people.

Soft things to chew (not eat!) are a necessity because puppies chew on EVERYTHING. Our vet said that a good rule is that you should be able to "dent" the item with your thumb. If you can't, then it is too hard. We thought Nylabones would be great, but they can actually break a pup's teeth. The Kongs are much better...and if anyone knows where to get them cheap, let me know! I can't stand spending $15-$20 on a single toy, but they do last forever. We still have one from our Rotties and they were 8 and 9 when they died. Our new puppy uses it now. We also bought a Kong ball instead of a tennis ball to use for "fetch".

Good luck with your new furbaby!

 

[terryshell]

While larger dogs do need to eat more. Dog's DNA is like 99% similar to wolves which are larger and most of the time eat once a day. Just feed your dog high quality food and enough serving and I believe it will be fine.

 

[v.t.]

Thanks for all the information. The lab is actually 8 months old and we got him from an older lady who had to go into the hospital. He has been kept indoors, is very calm and does not chew on things. We are even having to teach him how to play fetch. I am concerned that he is underweight, so we will get him on a better dog food. We did not want to switch (on Purina) until he was comfortable with his surroundings.
What is the best dog food?

 

[kristenrice]

Thanks for all the information. The lab is actually 8 months old and we got him from an older lady who had to go into the hospital. He has been kept indoors, is very calm and does not chew on things. We are even having to teach him how to play fetch. I am concerned that he is underweight, so we will get him on a better dog food. We did not want to switch (on Purina) until he was comfortable with his surroundings.
What is the best dog food?

We've always used Iams, but I think the key is to look at the ingredients and make sure that meat of some sort is the primary ingredient. We feed our puppy the Iams Large Breed Puppy formula which has chicken as the primary ingredient. Since she is expected to be more than 90 pounds at maturity, she should receive "puppy" food until she is 2 years old. I would think that your lab should receive puppy food until at least 18 months old since he/she will probably be close to 90 pounds at maturity. Our pup is VERY active right now and she is a little underweight. We've decided to add a can of the Iams wet food to her diet. She gets a half-can in the morning (mixed with a 1/2 cup of dry) and then we place 1/2 cup of dry food in her dish. She gets a total of 3 cups of food per day. She doesn't get the other 1/2 can of wet food until all of her dry food is gone. We don't want her to shun her dry food because we are not planning on feeding her wet food all the time. At $1.25/can (and she is supposed to get 3 cans PER DAY), we cannot afford to make that her primary source of nutrition.

 

[doxdogy]

Wellness is a good dry dog food. When you switch him over, introduce it slowly. Mix it with his regular food over about a period of a week. As others suggested, don't leave the bowl down on the floor.

If the previous owner did not socialize him much, it is easy to socialize him. Take him some place and just sit on a bench with him and allownothers to interact with him.

Labs are great dogs. Our Katie was a lab/shepherd and she was the best. We had her for 14 years and I still miss her.

 

[mountdew1]

Thanks for all the information. The lab is actually 8 months old and we got him from an older lady who had to go into the hospital. He has been kept indoors, is very calm and does not chew on things. We are even having to teach him how to play fetch. I am concerned that he is underweight, so we will get him on a better dog food. We did not want to switch (on Purina) until he was comfortable with his surroundings.
What is the best dog food?

Switching should be done gradually, over the span of a week or two. Slowly phase out of the old and phase in the new.

The best dog food is subjective. Most high end foods tend to cost significantly more, but often contain little to no grain meal, and often use human grade foods. Sites such as http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ can help you to see which foods use more higher end foods and less fillers. Some people like Blue or Wellness, (both dry) others like the tube o'meat (in the fridge at the pet food store), and still others feed them fresh food, both meats and veggies. There are a few articles on the site I mentioned that go into what most people tend to think a good dog food contains. Often your best selection and advice will come from a local pet food store. The chains are just now starting to stock the higher end foods. And at least around here, cost the same if not more than the local stores. We feed our lab Wellness, but at $50+ a 30lb bag, it's not for everyone.

Toys - for a lab, look at items in the tough chewers section. Kong is usually good, Nylabone make good chew toys, and there are several "combat" grade plush/pull/chew toy lines out there. Pretty much look at it and pull on it. If it looks like it could have come from a claw machine at the arcade, a lab will probably destroy it. However every dog loves different things. Ours loves to chew empty milk cartons (plastic or paper). And by chew, I mean rip to shreds and chase around the house and play tug of war. Try different things and see what works. Always swap out toys. Leaving something around all the time can get them bored with it, but changing them up every few days helps to keep it fresh new and exciting.

Most of all, get training and plenty of exercise. Most dog behavior problems can be solved really fast by those two things. A well exercised dog is going to be too tired to get into any trouble. We do at least 2 30 mins walk a day. But she sleeps like a baby after 30 mins at the dog park.......

 

[ceecee]

You need to feed him twice a day. There is no such thing as a "budget" dog! I second Wellness dog food, I have researched a lot of foods they have a large breed formula and my labs both eat it. It costs a little more, but one of my labs gets ear infections with corn so we switched to a corn free food.
Kongs are great toys for a lab. Ours love stuffed toys too and when we had one they would last (she would remove the squeaker and then carry the toy around. With two they fight over them and tear them up. Heartworm meds are cheaper at 800petmeds than the vet (maybe-check first since he will need a test first). We get our flea med thru dog.com and Kroger has it now too in the pharmacy. They love to walk and play and that is all free!

 

[Dismom55]

Until you are sure your pup has all his shots keep him away from all other dogs and dog areas, dog parks, pet stores that allow you to bring in the pets etc. Pups are unprotected until they have all their shots, our vet told us this when we got our baby Boston Terrier last year, she was very very strick about this as I recall. She also asked me what brand dog food I had chose and approved the brand I had purchased even tho it was not the brand the breeder was giving, I knew enough not to suddenly change her, but to incorporate the new with the old a little at a time until she was switched when the type the breeder gave us ran out. Since our pup was 8 weeks old when we brought her home one of our first purchases was a cage that we could secure her in when we would not be at home, this insured she was save when we could not be watching her and it insured our furniture was safe from puppy teeth too. I got one that would be big enough for her at full grown size so we only had to purchase one. Also helped with house training, no accidents while we were not at home.

As far as chewing, we always get the nylabones, got them for our furry kids in the past and our pup has several they seem to keep her from chewing the furniture.

Hope you have a long loving time with you new furry kid.

 

[christymarie]

We also have a Chocolate lab that we have had since she was 1yo. Labs are eaters which means if the food is out they will eat it, basically until they eat themselves sick so definitely limit what food she has access to. We give our lab a half cup in the morning and a half cup in the afternoon but that is because she has a pretty quite life and gets some extra scraps from my autistic son so she tends to be about 5-10 pounds overweight.

We also love nylabones but make sure you buy the large ones so the dog doesn't choke even if the smaller ones are cheaper. You may also want to consider a Kong toy as they are very durable. We just threw away our extra large Kong toy after 5 years last week. She was still chasing that thing around the yard. Very durable and very worth the money.

 

[clh2]

I also agree with CeeCee - there is not such thing as a budget dog!!

Congrats on your new family member... did you know there is a "disrule" that you need to post pics? Want to know how I know about the rule - I think I invented this rule!

One place to check for crates is craigslist.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Switching should be done gradually, over the span of a week or two. Slowly phase out of the old and phase in the new.

The best dog food is subjective. Most high end foods tend to cost significantly more, but often contain little to no grain meal, and often use human grade foods. Sites such as http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ can help you to see which foods use more higher end foods and less fillers. Some people like Blue or Wellness, (both dry) others like the tube o'meat (in the fridge at the pet food store), and still others feed them fresh food, both meats and veggies. There are a few articles on the site I mentioned that go into what most people tend to think a good dog food contains. Often your best selection and advice will come from a local pet food store. The chains are just now starting to stock the higher end foods. And at least around here, cost the same if not more than the local stores. We feed our lab Wellness, but at $50+ a 30lb bag, it's not for everyone.

Toys - for a lab, look at items in the tough chewers section. Kong is usually good...
Pretty much look at it and pull on it. If it looks like it could have come from a claw machine at the arcade, a lab will probably destroy it.
Always swap out toys. Leaving something around all the time can get them bored with it, but changing them up every few days helps to keep it fresh new and exciting.

Most of all, get training and plenty of exercise. Most dog behavior problems can be solved really fast by those two things. A well exercised dog is going to be too tired to get into any trouble. We do at least 2 30 mins walk a day. But she sleeps like a baby after 30 mins at the dog park.......

Google is your friend! www.dogfoodadvisor.com is great and http://dogfoodanalysis.com/ is also helpful.

Be sure to check for pet food recalls and it would be a good idea to review the recalls from 2007 as well. You will get a feel for which companies have repeated recalls. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/ or
http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/default.htm

DON"T feed jerky treats. At least till they can find out why so many dogs are dying or getting sick from eating them.

I highly advise avoiding ANY product made in China, or from the US and canned in China, or really anything from China.

 

[Friendly Frog]

...Our vet said that a good rule is that you should be able to "dent" the item with your thumb. If you can't, then it is too hard. We thought Nylabones would be great, but they can actually break a pup's teeth. The Kongs are much better...