Blog | Hidden Pond Labradors

Staying Home Isn’t So Bad When You Have a Labrador

Posted on March 31, 2020

It’s been a tough time for many people around the globe during this crisis of COVID-19. We are hoping everyone is practicing social distancing and healthy habits while the world fights this virus. There are many ways to keep your mind busy and less stressed if you’re working from home during the week and trying to keep active on the weekends.

Here are Some Tips from Hidden Pond Labradors

Hidden Pond Labradors wants you to know that we understand everything that you may be going through this time. It can be stressful working from home, but a Labrador dog by your side will make everything less stressful.

Take Time for Breaks – When working from home, you’ll need to set aside some time for a few breaks. These breaks with your Labrador are critical for your mental health and the health of your dog. If you have a backyard, make sure to go outside with them and play around with them. Make sure they are staying as active as possible by playing fetch or running around. If you don’t have a big enough yard, at least take them for a short walk twice a day making sure you keep your distance from other people.
Don’t Put Your Dog in Another Room – When continuing your work from home, it’s important not to social distance yourself from your Labrador. Stressful situations can be relieved with your Dog in the room. Even if they are sitting there being a good boy or girl, they will give you the peace you need to be productive and up-beat.
Set Daily Routines for Your Lab – Humans and dogs benefit from routines and schedules. Make sure you keep your already scheduled walks, feedings, and playtime. You also might have to adjust the schedule to the circumstances.
Get Creative Indoors – It’s tough to keep active indoors, but there are creative approaches you can take to keep things interesting for you and your Labrador. For one, playtime can be adjusted to homemade puzzles and scavenger hunts with your dog. This could be applied to mealtime as well!
Continue Training – Another way to distract you and your dog from the outside world is to continue with training and developing tricks. In your regular schedule, you may not have the time to teach your Labrador new tricks, but now, you just might. If they don’t know how to roll over, play dead, shake paws, or spin around, set aside time during the day to develop these tricks with your Labrador.

Quarantining with Your Labrador

We know it can be difficult to practice social distancing, but it’s important to keep a positive attitude while this pandemic is going on. With a Labrador Retriever, you’ll not only have the benefit of having a companion by your side, but you’ll also spend time with a loving, loyal, and caring dog. Labradors are incredible family pets, and they always want to share their love with you.

Hidden Pond Labradors provides Labrador Retrievers for individuals and families. We treat these Labradors like our own with care and love. They only want the best family to accept them in their home. Contact Hidden Pond Labradors at 607-857-1461 today for more information and questions on how to stay active with your Labrador during these times.

Old Dogs: Tips for Keeping Older Labradors Healthy & Happy

Posted on February 26, 2020

Labrador Retrievers are amazing family dogs to have. They are warm and friendly with every type of person. When they grow older in your home, it’s important to keep them healthy and happy in their old age. Making sure they have the right amount of exercise and a healthy diet is vital!

Here are some tips on how to keep your Labrador Retriever healthy and happy in their old age:

Healthy Diet for a Labrador Retriever

Some ingredients in dog foods have been known to be unhealthy. What you want to do is give your Labrador Retriever the best quality food for them to live long and healthy lives. Hidden Pond Labradors suggests to feed your dog TLC Pet Foods because of the natural and wholesome ingredients in the food.

The Benefits of TLC Pet Food:

Antioxidants for disease protection
Defense against allergic reactions and inflammation
Smooth Digestion
Stronger and healthier muscles
Helps to prevent obesity

Exercise Level with Older Labs

Just as humans grow older, Labrador Retrievers also have to watch their weight gain. The right amount of exercise when growing old is needed in order to regulate the weight gain. A good tip is to talk to your vet about calorie intake with their food and seeing how you can adjust their diet and exercise habits to prevent health problems.

It’s very important to keep them active in their old age. They may not be able to hike up mountains or go on runs with you anymore, but they will benefit from shorter, yet more frequent exercise activities. Short walks and playdates at dog parks will give them enough exercise and activity to keep them in shape.

Grooming Habits for Labradors

It’s also beneficial to keep up with frequent grooming in a Labrador’s old age. Investing in a soft-bristled brush, flea comb, and a new nail-clipper is necessary with your dog’s health. They need to be groomed more frequently, which means weekly clippings and brushing sessions will be needed.

Labrador Retrievers are incredible dogs to have. At Hidden Pond Labradors, we provide happy and healthy Labrador puppies for families to take home as a new member of their family. If you’re looking for tips on taking care of your Labrador Retriever, or you just want to add a member to the family, contact us at 607-857-1461 today!

How to Get Your Labrador Retriever Off the Leash

Posted on February 8, 2020

Trusting your Labrador Retriever is key if you want them to be off the leash. A strong trusting relationship between you both has to be in place in order for this to happen. Here is how you can get to this point with your Labrador Retriever.

Fenced in Yards and Dog Parks

If you have a good amount of land or a large fenced in yard, it’s good to let your dog roam free in the yard without a leash. This is one of the most important things to do when trying to train your dog to be off the leash. Playing fetch with them at fenced in parks and at home will help them be comfortable being themselves off the leash. Bringing treats for them also helps the progression of the training.

Make Sure They Have Good Behavior

This is important to establish before you take them to any public venue. Make sure they are well behaved around other dogs and people. If not, this is an important training task to take care of before you take them out to parks. An obedient Labrador Retriever will ultimately do much better off the leash at home or out in the public.

Your Personality and Your Dog’s Personality

Every dog is different even if they are of the same breed. They have different personalities that determine their behavior around other people and at home. Your personality plays a major role in the development of your dog’s personality. They often mirror yours, so it’s important that your discipline and behavior is healthy for your dog. Check out how dogs’ personality reflects their owners’ personality.

Hidden Pond Labradors

Here at Hidden Pond Labradors, we breed beautiful and amazing Labrador Retrievers of black, yellow, and chocolate coats using the highest quality grand champions. We create a loving and caring environment for them to live in at our 87-acre property. If you’re interested in a beautiful Labrador Retriever, contact us at 607-857-1461 today!

The Labrador Retriever Resume

Posted on January 17, 2020

Everyone wants to know why Labrador Retrievers have such an extensive resume for a dog. Labrador Retrievers are one of the best dog breeds when it comes to having a pet for the family or yourself. They also are very friendly and welcoming. Their resume consists of family pets, service dogs, search and rescue dogs, PTSD dogs, etc. We want you to know why Labrador Retrievers are the best all-around dogs.

Labrador Retrievers as Family Pets

Labrador Retrievers are rated one of the top dog breeds for family pets. Why is this? It’s obvious when you notice many families owning them. One of the main reasons is because they are playful, loving, patient, protective, and reliable. With every dog, you must train the right way. When Labradors are trained right, they are the best family dogs out there.

They are highly intelligent and learn well when training, so you shouldn’t have any problems in that area. They get along well with other animals and people as well. They love getting attention, which makes them great for kids.

Search and Rescue Dogs

Labrador Retrievers are one of the prime breeds selected for search and rescue dogs. The fact that they are extremely quick and successful learners, training them is very efficient for the search and rescue tasks. It takes a great amount of stamina, endurance, and agility to be a search and rescue dog. Labrador Retrievers are naturally smart and assertive.

Search and rescue tasks consist of tracking, nose work, water search, and persistent searching. Labrador Retrievers are naturally talented at these, which gives them a higher advantage over other dogs that are training for search and rescue.

Service and PTSD

With their loving and comforting personalities, Labrador Retrievers are incredible service dogs for people who may have health and mental issues. Service dogs are trained for comforting people with Epilepsy, PTSD, and depression. A loving Labrador can be a lifesaver for some people.

Hidden Pond Labradors

Hidden Pond Labradors breed beautiful and healthy Labrador retriever puppies from a long line of black, chocolate, and yellow Labs. If you’re looking for a family member who’ll improve your life and theirs, contact Hidden Pond Labradors at 607-857-1461!

We take pride in our ability to provide some of the best family dogs in the world. We love our Labrador Retrievers and so should you. We highly recommend taking one of these amazing puppies home with you. You won’t regret it!

Why is my Labrador Retriever Having Accidents in the House?

Posted on December 27, 2019

Sometimes are dogs have accidents in the house even when they are potty trained to go outside. There can be plenty of reasons why this is happening, which means it’s important to not panic because this can happen from time to time.

Health Problem

It’s important to clear this up right away. If you’re Labrador has been housetrained for several years, and usually goes to the bathroom outside, it’s good to have them checked by a vet for any health issues resulting in them going to the bathroom indoors all of a sudden. They could’ve eaten something that wasn’t good for them without you knowing.

Medical issues including UTI’s, bladder stones, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, Cushing’s disease, etc. can affect their bathroom habits. It’s important to bring your Labrador to the Vet to rule these medical issues out, so you can figure out if there is another problem.

Separation

Sometimes your dog can have accidents while you’re not at home. This can be because your schedule has changed at work. They’re not used to being separated from you for certain amount of time, so separation anxiety might be the cause of accidents in the house.

There could even be a situation where you go on vacation for a week, and you have someone dog sit for you. Even though someone is there to take care of your dog, they could start going to the bathroom inside because of their separation anxiety since you’re not around.

There can be many causes of the accident problems with your Labrador. It’s important that you make sure nothing is medically wrong with your pet first, and then get down to the other behavioral problems.

Hidden Pond Labradors

Get Ready for the Winter with Your Labrador

Posted on November 25, 2019

Labrador Retrievers are very active dogs that love to play and wander around outside. As winter is upon us, it can be difficult to keep your Lab active in the cold temperatures. It’s extremely important to make it a habit to take your dog out at least once a day for some exercise and play time.

Here are Some Things to Do

Hike – it’s winter time, but also a perfect time for a peaceful hike with your Labrador. Getting outside during the winter is great for exercise. After, you’ll both be tired out for the night. One thing to make sure is you bring water for the both of you and keep warm. Don’t stay out all day.
Play Inside – make time to play with your dog inside during the colder months. Since you probably won’t be taking a hike every day, it’s important to spend time with them inside playing tug of war.
Walk – walk your Labrador every day. A good thing to do is take them out in the morning for a short walk and take them at night for another short walk around the block.
Doggy Daycare – since you won’t be taking your Lab to a dog park that often during the winter, it may be a good idea to take them to a doggy daycare for some playtime with some of their furry friends. This gives them a chance to play and sniff during the cold months.

Labrador Retrievers are active dogs, so when winter comes around, it’s vital to keep them busy and active, so they don’t get bored and start misbehaving in the house. If they’re active during the days when you are home, they’ll get tired easily in the evening.

Hidden Pond Labradors

Tips for Training Labrador Puppies

Posted on November 11, 2019

Bringing a Labrador puppy home can be an incredible thing. They make amazing family pets because they become a part of the family as soon as they enter your home. Training them the right way will cause less of a struggle in the future for you and your family.

Here are some tips to help you:

Obedience is Key – Labradors tend to be good learners when you teach them the right way. If you work on basic commands as soon as you take your puppy home, it will help with the training process. Sit, stay, come, drop it, and fetch are all good basic skills to teach at the beginning. Also, when eating, don’t feed them table food. Make it known that their food is in their bowl. If you start with this, they won’t end up taking advantage of begging or stealing any human food.
Exercise Helps – Labradors tend to be high energy dogs, and when they need to go out, they need to have some sort of activity and exercise to keep them active. Make it a priority everyday to take them to a dog park, take them for a walk, or go to a park to play fetch. If you don’t, they’ll end up exercising their energy in the house, which will cause problems with behavior and obedience.
Socialize – Labradors are great socializing dogs, which means it’s important to take them out to meet other dogs and friends and family. This is vital to their training because it will get them comfortable being around other people. When you have visitors, you can train them to not jump or get too excited at the door. Having them around other dogs and people won’t make them so anxious.

Hidden Pond Labradors

Hidden Pond Labradors trains search and rescue dogs for these types of cases. Whether there is a missing person, natural disaster, or you’re looking to track a loved one who is lost, we have those loving and caring dogs for you. Please contact us at 607-857-1461.

Why Labrador Retrievers are Good Family Dogs

Posted on October 30, 2019

Having a Labrador as a family is an incredible experience. Labrador Retrievers are amazing family dogs, and we want you to know why they are.

Labrador Retriever Behavior

Labs have low aggression, even though they are highly energetic when playing. This is good if you have kids because labs always want to play and have fun. Plus, they will get the exercise they need with your family.

Labs tend to be very friendly, even with people they have never met, so don’t count on them being a good guard dog for your home. They are kind and gentle towards children, which is a relief because young children like to pull and climb on dogs. Usually they will be open to the playfulness of your children. They also are a type of dog that loves attention, which means they will be a great part of the family.

Labs are very smart dogs, They are trainable, and they are considered the number one breed for search and rescue dogs. If you’re looking for a well-behaved dog, labs are willing to learn new tricks lessons.

What They Need

Labs need exercise because they are a very active breed. Regular walks, as well as playing fetch or going to dog parks are the best for this breed. Having a Labrador as a young family will be good for everyone because it will help everyone stay active outside. Labs do shed quite a bit, so having their coat all over the house means they play a big role as a family member.

You will love your Labrador retriever if you have a family. They are even-tempered dogs, who just want to be loved as a member of your wonderful family.

Hidden Pond Labradors

Keep Your Labrador Happy!

Posted on October 15, 2019

It can be tough owning and taking care of a Labrador Retriever. Labradors are extremely friendly and loving dogs, and they love to play and exercise. You have to make sure you’re keeping them happy by getting out and staying active.

Tips on keeping your dog happy and healthy:

Exercise Your Dog – Get outside and be active. Take your lab to the dog park, go for a run, play fetch, and walk your dog twice a day. This will be beneficial for you and your dog because you will also be getting out and staying active.
Spend time with them – You may get distracted with daily life, whether that’s work, family, dating, etc. Don’t let that get in the way of spending time with your lab. Take time during the day to not only stay active and play with your dog, but to just relax with them.
Travel with them – There is no better travel buddy than a dog. Take a short road trip somewhere and bring them along. This is a bonding moment you will always remember and enjoy.
Healthy eating – Make sure to feed your dog their own food. Give them treats, but don’t feed them from the table. They will get into the habit of eating human food, which will not be great for them.
Clean Regularly – Clean your dog often because they will get smelly and dirty. Use a wash cloth and towel to get rid of the dirt. You can buy dog wipes for this. You don’t have to give your dog a bath regularly, but make sure to make time to bathe them occasionally, especially in the Summer when they are active playing outside. In the other seasons, make sure to wipe them down with a wash cloth and towel when they come into the house.

Hidden Pond Labradors

How a Labrador Retriever Can Change Your Life

Posted on September 11, 2019

Labrador Retrievers are incredible dogs for people. They are very friendly and energetic and love to be around people. But dogs can be a very big responsibility. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not! Getting a Labrador Retriever could change your life forever.

Labs make our lives better

If you’re living alone, a Labrador Retriever can be a great companion to come home from work to. It’s nice to be living alone when you’re young, but sometimes it can get lonely. Anyone who lives on their own will get lonely at some point, and a lab will change that completely. They rely on you for food and shelter, which means their loyalty to you is unwavering.

What you’ll be getting with a Labrador Retriever:

Companionship
Loyalty
Enthusiastic and Energetic
Loving and Friendly

They are also great family pets. They are gentle dogs who just want to be loved, and they will stick by your side at all times. One thing to think about when considering getting a Labrador Retriever is will you be better off in life with one? These are all great traits for a dog, and if you’re having a tough time in life with all the stresses that come with it, a Lab might just be the answer for you.

Depression and Anxiety

We see more and more of the younger generation struggling with stress and anxiety that is leading to depression and loneliness. It could be the amount of digital content and social media influencing that’s out there. A connection to all information can be dangerous at times. We reflect on ourselves and make baseless judgements about our own lives. If you feel lost and alone, your Lab will always be there to make you feel loved and wanted again. When you have a terrible day at work, you can come home to the most loving person in the world.