Barb, I'm hoping we have a better experience than you did too. Rocket had to learn to share us all when my sister's Lab started coming to NH with us on weekends. He really enjoys his cousin, even though at four, he's still somewhat of a pest. I've wanted a Frenchie for quite a while too. Always the timing didn't work because the Lab was so nuts and we really are a one dog family. The breeder is letting the little guy go because he has only one testicle descended. He won't be able to be shown like that I guess. Anyway, when I'd pretty much given up getting one because of cost and timing, it seems to have all fallen together very well. I only hope the rest of the way will go well too. Here he is last week when I met him. He does not have a name yet. Any suggestions? Here is a link that might be useful: Pup in sweater

okay, so the spinal tap was negative and basically the neuro vet referred to an internist next. Now, I wasn't with my neighbor when she picked Mandy up today, but she said the doc mentioned Cushings ( which I had already been sniffing down that path this morning in my research). I've had a little more time to dig around tonight and here is what I have come up with after putting symptoms and observations together. I *think ( will clarify in the AM) her ALT's were slightly elevated on recent bloodwork, of course we have the idiopathic seizures ( which btw she has not had another since last week and no head pressing or circling), increased thirst and urination ( including in the house which she has never done), she had developed some new "bumps" on her body in the last several months ( all checked, nothing bad by themselves), she pants way more than she used to, she's more lethargic and not interested in playing anymore, I have observed some random muscle weakness and tonight my neighbor made a comment about Mandy getting fatter...not an increase in food but I read there can be muscle redistribution to appear as the dog is getting fatter, and she has German Shepherd in her which has a higher disposition for it. Gonna call our regular vet in the morning and get her input. Not a direction I would have gone, but I kept going back to the increase in thirst as a point of reference and there are more symptoms of Cushings than anything else that has been explored.

I tried not to be too emotional in my reply because one thing may very well be the case: The OP may have the potential or will to be a responsible dog owner and just need a little direction Calmly showing that doghouses, while they are popular, especially here in GA where all the rednecks leave their dogs chained to a tree in every weather extreme, it's easy to assume that dogs live in dog houses and that's OK. Well it's not OK, well not really. It kind of depends. The most ideal situation, no matter what is to start this puppy off right. This isn't a breed that does best living outside. You may think just because dogs pull sleds and have a heavy coat means they do fine in cold... well no they really are kind of like humans in the sense they have to get acclimated to temperatures. They said a few words about this on our TV news a week ago when we had lows in the teens. I'm willing to giv ethe OP the benefit of the doubt. Last time I checked we still do not have a badly needed licensing/permit system for obtaining dogs and so most people are without a basic education on modern day pet care and management. The OP probably will not return after reading the replies or will say something nasty. Although we feel very strongly about people leaving dogs to rot in their yards and never have any human contact, it is because a lot of us see what can happen. So OP, I hope that if even you don't reply, please, please, please pick up a book on puppy care. Browse the Internet for some information, get involved with a local chapter of your labrador retriever society. You will make friends, have a much happier dog and you will be a model pet owner who can then teach others the ropes some day. We must all start somewhere and we all make mistakes. This is an easy one to fix. Instead of using a doghouse, although thoughtful of you to construct one, go to pet supply store and get a durable wire dog crate that will accomodate a fully grown lab. They grow extremely fast. Train the dog to use this crate by making it a rewarding experience. The crate, being indoors, will be a much safer housing instrument for the puppy and will enable you to potty train the puppy like a breeze. Find some places where you can solcialize your pup and sign up for puppy obedience classes. Labs are extremely intelligent and you will be amazed if you bring out the potential in your dog. Please give your dog daily walks. Labs need a moderate amount of excercise and keeping a dog inside or in the yard all the time will make the dog go batty. Sort of like cabin fever in humans, the dog feels the same way. Go for all your vaccinations and take your dog in at least once a year for checkups. That's really all I can offer you at this point other than to say If you have any questions, click on the my page link and send me an email privately, and I promise I will not give you a hard time.... only support. On behalf of the other posters I submit an apology for we really don't know what's up here. Please let us help you and you will soon understand why we feel the way that we do.

Sounds like a special pup. Are you sure you want to add in hours of cooking, calculating and general brain power when you have a new baby in the house? Even my adult rescues do a great job scrambling my brain waves...... See dogaware.com for a lot of information on feeding a dog fresh food. Good reading, books to refer to and so on. I've been feeding fresh food since 2007, that melamine scandal right when I had an elderly dog come up with kidney disease did it for me. I've fed cooked and I've fed raw. Raw is so much easier and you waste less - bone. I haven't fed a pup, understand you feed the same amount as you will the adult dog but divide the meals up so pup can physically take it in and digest it. I check the diet against the NRC numbers using a nutrition database and the calculator from Monica Segal's book 'Optimal Nutrition' and adding a bit of this or that to be sure it meets the goals. I did have success cooking a basic raw diet by cooking a whole chicken, removing skin and meat and cooking the bones in a slow cooker until the bones were soft enough to puree in a blender. Then I took double the weight of the raw chicken in liver, beef and pork cooked and blended/chopped that then mixed all the meats and the bone puree together. Any cooking liquid is part of the meal, keep it all. My raw fed dogs get a multi vitamin/mineral supplement, vitamin E and fish oil according to size as well. To feed I calculated 2% of the dog's ideal weight, conveniently was 10 ounces. If the raw ingredients weighed 300 ounces and the cooked 260 then I'd feed that dog 260/30 a day. You can imagine the mess doing all this but the elderly dog no longer tolerated a raw diet. Dogs need a lot of meat. You can add in 25% mushy rice or pureed veggies to the basic diet if you like. That dog that needed 10 ounces of raw? He needed nearly the same minerals and vitamins as an adult human but packed into 600 calories a day. Any recipe that doesn't have calcium added or isn't mostly meat isn't going to work for a pup. Or make up a tasty topper of meat/fish/egg/liver and substitute that for anything less than 25% of the total calories pup needs. No need to be so precise about how much bone and all that is in there if you do that but you still need to figure out the calories per ounce or cup or whatever the topper has.