Do you crate train your pups before they go home? I like getting them used to crate at 7 weeks.

Do you feed them in seperate feeding bowls? If so, a what age do you start? I start at 7 weeks.

TIA

Good questions! Yes, I crate train my pups before they go home. Usually 2 to a crate and then a couple of days before one goes home he or she gets to sleep alone for a couple of nights so it's not such a shock. They also get several long car trips (2+ hours) so they get used to driving also.

If a pup is getting too fat or too skinny, I start splitting them up at feeding time. Otherwise, I just feed them together.

My pups have an airline crate (door removed) in their outside kennel.

A wire crate in their x-pen with the door secured open.

This way they have access from a very young age and get used to them before going to their new homes.

I don't feed in separate bowls.

We just said goodbye to our litter this weekend , and yes, i introduced crate training a week before they all went to their new homes, and yes, at about 7 weeks i started feeding in separate bowls.

Being in a new home, all alone for their first times, i expected them to howl a bit regardless, but still glad i intro'd the crate because my keeper girl is already comfortable here, and i think out of all of us who had a pup in this litter, i slept the most last night :-)

The early intro to the crates in the vehicles was a very good thought, as we travelled 10 hours+ on friday with four, 9hours+ on saturday with just two of them, and home 8 hours on sunday with just one. Not a peep out of them the entire drive- and the hotels overnight were a cinch since they had been intro'd to crates earlier.

I would recommend that routine to anyone.

Glad to hear that some are using separate feeding bowls, I wish everyone did then maybe there would be less "wolfing down" behaviors in labs.

I haven't crate trained a whole litter yet - do you just line up a bunch of crates and get up whenever someone cries in the middle of the night?

My routine : I introduced crates to our pups- i wouldn't say they were crate trained when they went home- but i did get up in the night to take them all out. All the puppy owners and the one i've kept have stated how well they did their first and second nights- hardly a whimper out of them and no accidents so far. They, and I have been rather diligent about getting them out for several potty breaks though.
I had 3 crates lined up in the house and had them in and out of them. Up until 7 weeks, they had an open crate in their puppy room.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

I haven't crate trained a whole litter yet - do you just line up a bunch of crates and get up whenever someone cries in the middle of the night?

"Glad to hear that some are using separate feeding bowls, I wish everyone did then maybe there would be less "wolfing down" behaviors in labs."

We have never fed our litters in separate bowls.

My mother has 2 (mother and daughter) that wolf down their food.

My keeper from my last litter eats slowly.

So whose to say?

I've always fed in flying saucers, every blue moon pup eats faster but it's been the pup, not the way they are fed. They dont go home eating any faster or slower due to flying saucers, my experience, agree with Patty, whose to say!

How do you know that these pups wouldn't eat slower if they were raised eating in separate bowls if you never tried it?

My experience: 3 dogs who inhale their food who were not feed in separate bowls as pups and 2 who eat normally that were. $.02

I have found that puppies are born with their "eating habits". I can see when the litter is being weaned - which ones are the faster or slower eaters. If I see any that aren't getting their share - I make sure they get a separate dish. I also start them on separate dishes at about 6-7 weeks. They don't always stay in their own dish, but I do try to make sure that they each get what I prepared for each one of them.

Labradors, by nature, are a very clean breed. The crate shouldnt be an issue for them.

As far as feeding in a group. It is the best way that I know to make sure that all are doing well. When you competitive feed all the pups should be in there after the food. If you have one that isn't
bells and whistles should go off that something may not be right with that puppy. Good way to head something off up front.

"How do you know that these pups wouldn't eat slower if they were raised eating in separate bowls if you never tried it?"

I don't. But my point was that my girl was fed from the same bowl as her littermates and she eats slowly, so does her mother.

So again - whose to say?

I'm not arguing with your original statement just showing that it can go both ways