A Dog is Man's Best Friend

Everyone who owns a Labrador retriever puppy knows training them is the very first thing you should do when you get your puppy. You may want to get your puppy professionally trained, but let's face it, unless you are rolling in dough, you may want to consider training them yourself. Labrador retriever puppy training is not hard to do, and while saving you money, you will also bond with your puppy which is very important to do when they are young.

If you're wondering where you should start, I recommend you start with house training. If your puppy is going to be living in your home, and in America alone 90% of our dogs do, then you will need to make sure your lab has good house manners. Labradors are a very loyal breed of dog and will listen to you well which makes training them a breeze' sometimes. Nevertheless, it still takes patients from you the trainer but if you set a routine and stick to it, you should have no problems.

Obedience training should also be on your list of things to teach your Labrador. After all, you don't want your lab to grow up to be a big bully, jumping on guests, barking all night, it really becomes a pain. The easiest solution is to train them when they are young. It's never too early to start training your lab; unless they are younger than 8 weeks, if that's the case you may want to wait.

The Labrador retriever was bred to be a hunting dog retrieving game from the water and bringing it back to the hunter, so getting along with people is in their nature making them a great family dog. They do however require exercise regularly though; otherwise they may become bored and want to act out. Swimming is the best way to keep your puppy in shape. It's easy on their delicate joints and will give them a good workout.

Exercise can be a bad thing to. While your puppy is still less than 18 months of age, the bones and joints in their legs are not yet fully developed. If they are taken for long walks on hard surfaces like a road, these joints may become damaged causing problems later like arthritis. Keeping this in mind is important and a good rule of thumb is to exercise your lab only 10 minutes a day until they get a little older.

As you can see Labradors make great pets' but you already knew that. While training them is important to do, don't forget to spend some quality time with your puppy. As I mentioned before, bonding with your lab early on is important to do, your lab will respect you and listen to you better, and if you keep it up, you will have the dog you always wanted in no time.