Colors : Black, yellow, chocolate. Overall Grooming Needs : Low. Labrador retrievers are sturdy, solid dogs. They are almost square in appearance, with a strong body and sturdy legs.
The maximum height for a male is 24 inches, which puts them in the medium-size dog category, but their sturdy build can make them seem much larger. Weights range from 85 pounds for a large male to 55 pounds for a smaller female. Field line bred dogs are often taller and somewhat thinner in build. Labrador retrievers are easily recognized by their broad head, drop ears and large, expressive eyes. Two trademarks of the Lab are the thick but fairly short double coat, which is very water repellent, and the well known "otter tail.
The feet are described as "webbed," with longer skin between the toes to aid in swimming. The Labrador retriever is a moderately fast maturing breed, reaching adult height from six to 12 months, but possibly still filling out up to 2 years of age. Many Labs reach 12 to 14 years of age. In general, Labrador retrievers are excellent family dogs, as long as you keep in mind their need for exercise and training. These are dogs bred to work and work hard and they love to have jobs to do, particularly retrieving.
Labs are usually good with other dogs, other pets, and children as long as training has toned down their natural exuberance.
They are strong dogs and need some obedience training at an early age or they can be seen dragging their owners down the street at will. Owing to their energetic nature, Labradors who are left alone or not well exercised can become destructive — chewing, digging and barking to excess. The field line dogs are especially high-energy dogs, while some of the show line dogs become perfect couch potatoes at an early age. Chewing can be a problem because the strong retrieve urge gives them an oral fixation.
Sturdy chew toys, exercise and training all help with this. Obviously, Labradors have a number of endearing traits or they would not be so popular. They are intelligent and fairly easy to train, partly from their desire to work with people. They are "easy keepers" and can become overweight if they are not exercised and food portions adjusted as needed.
Labs are excellent family dogs because they do want to be with people and many do not do well as kennel dogs. Labradors do tend to be protective of their families and homes but are usually happy to greet company, too. With the strong retrieving instinct, they can develop into destructive chewers if not given appropriate toys and guidance. Labs may tend to "mouth" people and the solution is often simply to give them a toy to carry around, so their mouths are already full!
These are very strong dogs and early training is necessary to have a dog that walks nicely on lead. The wonderful double coat that keeps the Labrador warm while retrieving in icy water also gives this breed top billing as shedders. Normally, their coats do fine with a quick weekly grooming, but at shedding time daily grooming is needed. The amount of exercise they need varies with the different lines: field line dogs can run all day, whereas show line dogs only need moderate exercise.
Early in the s, some of the multipurpose dogs used in North America mostly Canada by hunters were shipped back to England. Many of these "water dogs" were of the Newfoundland type, but the smaller ones were often designated "St John's" dogs. In England, the breed was developed and refined probably with some flat-coated retriever input into the breed we recognize today. They start to get fully alert and aware of their environment and may recognize you and other humans that are frequently around.
Once a puppy is around four weeks old, they start to learn the most important things in life related to social development. They will learn to not bite all the time and how to interact with their siblings.
This is also the time they will start to understand discipline thanks to their mother. She will start weaning her puppies and teaching them manners, like acknowledging she is in charge. As the owner, you can start introducing food to your puppy when they are around four weeks old. Start small and begin to give them more food as the mother continues to wean them. You should also continue handling the puppy every day. However, be sure not to separate them from their siblings or mother for over ten minutes each day, since this can lead to issues with training and socialization.
During this period, let the mother dog take care of discipline; you should not correct the dog for mouthing or housebreaking mistakes until later in life.
Although not all puppies go through a fearful period, most pass through a time where they are afraid or terrified of nearly everything, including items they used to be okay with. To help ease them through this process, avoid traumatic events, loud voices, or harsh discipline. You should also make sure your pooch has plenty of human contact during this stage. If you want, you can start leash training and even teach simple commands such as sit , down , stay and come. In terms of development, you will notice that your puppy can sleep through the whole night and starts to develop better control of their bowels and bladder.
We rub the Snuggle Puppy on litter mates and mom to get their scent. When we get home the Snuggle Puppy helps our puppy feel comfortable and adjust more quickly to his new environment.
Many puppies will go to their new homes at around 8 weeks old. We recently put together a blog post on our sister site detailing what you can expect from an 8 week old puppy. At this point in development, a puppy can be compared to a juvenile. They will be more independent and may ignore the basic commands that they know very well. You can also redirect your dog to a toy that they can bite.
Either can end up teaching your pooch that it is okay to fight with you and challenge your authority. When your puppy is between four and six months old, you should expect them to be somewhat bratty, showing more willfulness and independence.
They are more likely to test your limits and may try to show dominance over children or other family members. Counteract this by keeping up the training with basic commands and obedience. If they fail to listen to you or come when called, it can be dangerous as it puts them at risk of injury when in public.
It can also hurt future responses to you, making them less likely to listen. This is also when your dog will be teething, so give them toys like frozen dog Kong toys to relieve pressure and pain. Chewing behaviors will also start growing at this point so look for some safe chew toys to keep your dog entertained. This is when hormonal changes start to occur and is the ideal time to spay or neuter your pup.
UC Davis published a study comparing the long term health effects of neutering in Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. After six months, your pup is already in the final stage of puppy development but is still young. However, these are just standards set out by the AKC and are not necessarily indicators of whether or not your lab is healthy.
Why do Labradors Eat Grass? Skip to content When is a Labrador Fully Grown? Updated January 20, Physical Stage of Growth for a Labrador Retriever Labradors are medium to large dogs with a working background.
Labradors, cute as they are, do grow up to be sturdy dogs. But what about 12 month old Lab? Or an 18 month old? As well as growing taller, Labs will continue to put on weight until around 18 months old.
So, getting training in early is important to raise a well behaved dog. Dogs reach adolescence somewhere between 5 — 10 months old. Why Dog Behavior Changes as They Grow Just like adolescent humans, adolescent dogs are going through many physical changes. Well, the same is true for dogs. Also, as dogs grow up, the world around them changes. We, as owners, change the rules.
Adolescence can be a very difficult time for a dog! Related Questions How big should my fully grown Labrador be?
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