Hi! So here's my question.
I decided to adopt (what we think is) a pure bred black lab puppy in a Wal Mart parking lot when we were stopped for supplies while driving through west Texas while moving across country. We didn't intend to adopt a puppy, but they were selling her among other puppies who were all obviously malnourished and infested with fleas and ticks. She was completely listless, but otherwise in the best shape of all the pups.
The guys who were selling them said that she was 5 months old, and considering how badly fed and taken care of they were, I didn't know for sure. But now we've had her for 2 weeks, and she's gained 10 lbs (any other dog and i'd be afraid, but she's actually healthy now!) but she's still only 15 lbs. My guess is that she's 3 months old now, but i'm not sure. Any thoughts?
Also, does anyone know how to stop her from playing in her water bowl in the house? I know she's a water dog, but that's just ridiculous!
Answers:
Jeez. Part of me wants to say thanks for saving an animal but a part of me wants to say why did you do it?! You're just supporting their backyard breeding. I would have called local animal control, or police so they could call animal control because those animals were defiantly abused. It's hard to tell just how old the dog is by what you're saying, I'd take it to the vet and ask what they think. Your dog is only 15 pounds?! When I adopted my dog at 2 months we weights about that, now she's 4 and weighs about 35. I have a lab mix. If you have a pure bread lab it should not have any white, if it's got white, there's some sort of mix going on somewhere along the way. With the water bowl, just keep picking her out of it and say firmly 'no' dont yell at the dog though. But she will soon learn not to do it.
She was probably 5 weeks, not 5 months when you got her, due to the size.
ARegarding the age - the vet should be able to tell you by looking at teeth, etc. The water bowl-she is most likely playing, you'll just have to keep saying no. I bet it is funny watching her drag it thru the house lol. Thank you for providing a good home to a animal.
got any pics? Its hard to say for sure.. if this really was a lab, and she was at a healthy ideal weight, at 15 pounds, Id say 3 months.
However, she also wasnt taken care of very well, the growth may have been stunted because of that. You also do not know for sure what her breed is, you are just guessing.. she could be a mix with something smaller in her.
Your vet should be able to guess.. she needs to go for shots and deworming anyways.
take her to a vet. they should be able to check her out. and look at her and give u an age.
your dog wants to go swimmming it seems like...get a small swimming pool and let ur dog play in that
Never buy pups in a parking lot.
People will pick up free puppies that look pure bred , but aren't. They will then sell them as pure bred.
Puppies at 3 months are teething, but have mostly baby teeth. By 5 months, you would see more adult teeth than baby teeth.
Puppies like to play, yours likes water.
A vet may be able to help you with her age. But with the water bowl, the only thing to do is say No and put it out of her reach, but she'll still play in it, my dog Leo did that all the time and he would spill it all over the floor, and since hes a big dog, thats ALOT of water.
A vet can give you a definite age, but you can get a rough idea yourself by looking at her teeth. If her adult canine teeth are erupting (the color of cream, thick, rounded tip), she is closer to five months. If she still has her baby canine teeth (color of skim milk, thin, sharp pointed tip) she is under four and a half months of age.
The water bowl thing is tough. You can try giving her water at specified times so that you can prevent her from playing in the bowl. An elevated water bowl may help. Or, if you are using stainless steel, try a plain ceramic bowl; it shouldn't have as much of a reflection as steel, which may be what she is playing with.
Haha! I'll tackle the water bowl first. Most Retrievers do this because of instinct. They love the water. One of my Golden's here with me now used to tip his completely over and then roll in the water and just have a grand old time. I have learned over the years with these dogs that some will and some will not do this. So I got out a old dish stand and placed the water dish in the low stand. He could not get the bowl to tip over nor could he pick his paw up high enough to get it into the water bowl again. He finally just gave up. Look for a low water dish with a low stand so he can't play in the water any more.
Now the age of your pup. There have been others who have questioned here who also picked up a pup in Texas that they were told was one age and come to find out they were much younger than they were told. The pups teeth will be a dead give away as to the age of the pup. If you have not yet seen any teeth falling out than your pup is under 5 months old.
The very best person to tell you is a vet. She will need her vaccinations anyway so get her in for those and then tell the vet you have no idea how old the pup is. He can pin point it much closer than any of us here.
Good luck with your pup!
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