Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Big dog trouble

A friend of mine recently bought a labrador and has had all sorts of trouble ever since.

Part of the problem is that he has never owned a dog before.  Like I mentioned in my previous article about what not to do, he did exactly that.  He sat in his house, decided he wanted a dog, bought a labrador and THEN bought a book to read up on it.

He did start going to puppy classes, and found that in the first twelve weeks he’d been doing everything wrong.  The puppy has chewed his way through furniture, wires, pulled plugs out, all the usual puppy things that dogs do when they’re bored.  It doesn’t seem to be a lack of exercise as to be fair, my friend has done all of that, but more due to the long working hours when the puppy is left to his own devices in the home.

Unless there is support available, the only way an owner can keep a large dog breed whilst working long hours is to have the support of close-by friends and family or to pay for a dog sitter or walker to pop in during the day.