A Puppy Love Guide; About the Labrador Retriever, Tips for Bringing Your Lab Puppy Home, and Doggone Delicious Recipes

A Puppy Love Guide

About the Labrador Retriever,

Tips for Bringing your Lab Puppy Home, and Doggone Delicious Recipes

Virginia Clark

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2016 by Virginia Clark

All Rights Reserved.

Table of Contents

Part I: About the Labrador Retreiver

Part II: Transition from Kennel to Home

Bringing your puppy home

What to expect once you are home

Introducing a baby

Introducing another dog

Introducing a cat

Greeting visitors

Feeding time

Housebreaking time

Crate training

Veterinary care

Grooming

Concerns about dog parks

Age to attend obedience classes

Leashing

Teething and Chewing

The Incidental Discovery

Part III: Doggone Delicious Recipes!

Part I

About The Labrador Retriever

According to the American Kennel Club, the Labrador retriever is America’s most popular choice as the preferred breed. The Labrador retriever makes for an excellent companion because it is loyal and good natured and is known to be a useful, hard working dog. Some of the breed characteristics include but certainly not limited to: Is the perfect breed for the novice owner, has a high sensitivity level, and can tolerate cold climates well. They are known to be loyal, friendly and affectionate with family, friends, children, strangers, and other dogs. They are easy to groom, shed moderately, and do not drool excessively. They are highly intelligent, their eagerness to please makes them easy to train; typically they do not bark or howl with frequency. They are very athletic, energetic, and playful, and not hyperactive or territorial. Their sincere devotion and higher intelligence makes them ideal for use as a therapy dog, guide dog, search and rescue dog, and assistance dog for the autistic and handicapped. They are known to excel as K9 dogs in searching for bombs and narcotics, are useful arson dogs, are used in counterfeit detection, and assist in water rescue situations. Because of their extraordinary sense of smell, Labs are often used as a tracking dog and as a cadaver dog.

Labrador retrievers are utilized as military working dogs because their distinct smelling qualities help locate wounded or deceased service personnel and enemy patrols; they can detect arms, ammunition, bombs, grenades, and detonators. They tend to excel in competitions including show, field, agility, and obedience.

The Labrador retriever comes in three colors: Black, Yellow (not to be confused with Golden which is a different, yet similar breed), and Brown which is also referred to as Chocolate. Yellow is the more popular Labrador retriever but there is no difference between the three, color aside. The Labrador retriever is a medium to large size dog with an average weight range between 65 to 80 pounds for a male and 55 to 70 pounds for a female. The life expectancy is about 10 -12 years.

Originally, the Labrador retriever was called St. John's dog (no longer in existence), named after the capital city of Newfoundland off the Atlantic coast of Canada, located near The Labrador Sea. It is believed that the St. John’s dog was bred with the Newfoundland dog and other regional water dogs and they became working dogs to the local fishermen beginning in the 1700’s. Their primary job was to retrieve fish that escaped nets, hooks, and towing lines and to help pull in nets.

In the early 1800’s, the Earl of Malmesbury and his fellow sportsmen imported a few St. John’s dogs to England. Noticing their good disposition and usefulness, they were to serve as retrievers for hunting on both land and in water. In the 1830’s the breed began to be referred to as Labradors, by the Third Earl of Malmesbury. This same Earl and his English friends are credited with saving the breed from extinction. Around 1880 in Newfoundland, the government had severe restrictions and high taxes on dogs. Families were only allowed to keep one dog and owning a female