OT-Dog

We have two dogs and we leave them at 7:30 each morning and get home around 5. One is a German Shepherd and the other is a Shepherd/Husky cross. We take them for a walk in the morning and then when we get home they greet us at the door and then ask to go outside.

You can handle this by regular house training or crate training. We used crates for a while but the Shepherd got bored and chewed on his crate so we decided to let them wander the house. From a very young age, a dog will not make a mess in their crate ( their bed) if they can help it.

Dogs are capable of holding their bathroom urges for that length of time.

If you let the dog wander the house, you have to make sure that they aren't going to chew things. Ours are a bit older and don't have the teeting problem. As well, there are balls, dog toys and cats to play with if they get bored.

To be honest, it doesn't sound like you have the lifestyle for a dog right now, particularly a lab, which needs a lot of exercise throughout it's life, not just when it's a puppy. To be fair to the dog, you will need to make arrangements to have either a dog walker come to your home 1-2 times daily to give the dog a much needed potty break and exercise, or else you will need to send him to doggy day care, if such things exist where you are. No dog should be forced to hold his pee for 10 hours on a daily basis....could you? And even a "12-week old housebroken one" will require training once you get him home, and according to my friends who own labs, that training is ongoing for many months, even years.

I have always loved dogs, but for most of my life, between travelling and working long hours I realized it was selfish for me to get one just so that I could have it for the short amounts of time I could devote to it. So I had cats which were quite nice and pretty independent, and spend time with me when they want to Over these last few years, my schedule has settled down a lot and I have more time for a dog and adopted a wonderful shepherd mix from a shelter. On my long work days, I bring him to a friend's house, (my friend works from home and also has a dog and a nice fenced in yard so he gets plenty of exercise). I give her $10 a day for her troubles, because doggie day care would cost me $25 per day and a dogwalker would charge $12-15 for a 30 minute session, so I feel it is money well spent.

Also, you should ask yourself, why a lab? When choosing a dog you should choose one that suits your lifestyle. Labs are energetic dogs, yes they are wonderfully smart and loyal companions but if they do not get a lot of exercise they can develop behavioral problems. They can also be easily trained to be service dogs, because it requires them to use their brains, which can also be tiring. A bored dog will develop behavioural and sometimes health problems. Plus, purebreds are prone to more health problems than mixed breeds. Check your local shelters - there are many mixed breeds out there that will make wonderful pets, and might even be able to tolerate long, lazy weekdays better than an energetic breed. My lovable mutt Tucker is one such dog and I have known many others like him do a little research. there is a great show on the Animal Planet channel called Dogs 101, that lists a few breeds in each episode, and what lifestyle they are good for. Or go to your local library and get a book on dogs, and find one that will meet your needs for companionship, but will also get something out of the relationship as well - after all, like any good relationship, this one is a two-way street. Dogs are wonderful companions, I couldn't imagine my life without one anymore, but I have changed my lifestyle to allow one in.

I don't know where else to ask this, and everyone here is so knowledgable so I thought I'd ask. My fiance and I are saving up to get a puppy this winter (most likely a lab). We're not sure how young he'll be, could be anything from a tiny baby to a 12 week old housetrained pup. My fiance is laid off in the winter, so with the exception of plowing a big storm (he does snow removal) he'll be home all day with the puppy from like November till about mid-March/early April.

My question is, what happens when he goes back to work in the spring? Is it ok to leave the dog home all day by himself? How does he go potty? When we're both working, we leave the house around 7:30 am and one of us doesn't get home until about 4 or 5:30pm. We really don't have anyone that can come by to let him out mid-day and we work too far to come home for lunch or anything. I haven't had a dog since I was a kid, and my mom didn't work so someone was almost always home. How do you do it if everyone in your house works and the dog is stuck inside all day (FYI, we have an indoor cat so we cannot do a doggy door, plus our back door is a doorwall....our side door isn't within the confines of the fence). Is a dog not possible for us?

Here's what I would do. I would look into labrador rescues or shelters and get an older dog. My husband and I were planning on adopting from a labrador rescue organization in the area, but we ended up finding a 1 year old purebred yellow lab at a shelter in the next town over.

The older dog would be better because it would most likely be house trained from the get-go, and you won't have to worry about messes when you are gone. Also, labs are SERIOUS chewers. I've had labs all my life on a farm, and I've seen some of our labs kill off orchard trees, drain a pond because she chewed the overage drain down, etc. Your baby will need TONS of toys to keep him busy.

We crate trained our lab and he LOVES his crate. We have it covered with a sheet on the sides and it's like his own little man-cave. :-) Don't use it as a punishment EVER and he will love it.

If you do choose to get a puppy, you can buy a crate that will have a panel you can use to minimize the amount of moving space. If they are in a small space, they won't mess in their crate because they don't want to be in it.

Our lab doesn't get let out every mid-day, but they're really good at holding. We don't crate him anymore because he's really good about focusing attention on his toys and not my shoes. We take him on a walk or play fetch (his version of crack cocaine) in the yard for about an hour off and on all day, and he's good to go. :-)

I hope you can get one!! Labs are THE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD!!! Of course I'm bias though. :-)