6 East To Follow Tips To Calm A Brittany Spaniels Down

Brittany dogs are like small children, they have tons of energy, and they will demand that you play with them all the time. Daily walks are not enough to satisfy these dogs’ need for activity. They want you to engage in playtime, or they are not happy.

Brittany spaniels are a high-energy dog breed, but they generally calm down as they approach adulthood, so just before they are 12 months old, however, only slightly. Hyperactivity is part of their nature throughout their entire lives. These dogs can calm down indoors, but they will need to let off steam outdoors.

If you own a rambunctious Brittany Spaniel, undoubtedly, you want to explore ways to help your dog calm down. In this article, let’s explore ways of assisting owners in coping with such a dog. To better understand Brittany Spaniel, it helps to get a clearer picture of their personality and their breeds’ purpose.

Are Brittany Spaniels Hyper?

The Brittany was initially bred as a hunting dog that originated in Brittany, France. It’s uncertain when this dog came to be, but the breed was immortalized in tapestries and paintings from the 17th century. Those artworks depict hunting scenes.

The Brittany Spaniel is also recorded in a hunting description from 1850 and written by Reverend Davies. His notes describe the breed as excellent retrievers and pointing dogs.

Brittany Spaniels are indeed a hyper breed. Their temperament is like that of a setter or pointer than a spaniel. They may have the appearance of a spaniel, but they have the spirit of a hunting dog. Hunting dogs have boisterous personalities, as it goes with the territory.

Brittany Spaniels desperately need an outlet for their energy. It would help if you took them out for long walks, hiking in the woods, and swimming. They need lots of engagement from their owners, as they thrive on the attention you give them.

An inactive lifestyle will only lead to excessive barking, hyperactivity, and destructive chewing. You must be sure that you can provide sufficient exercise and mental stimulation.

Aside from providing enough exercise, you might also consider enrolling your Brittany Spaniel in obedience training, tracking, and agility.

How Do You Calm A Brittany Spaniel?

1. Don’t let him freely roam around your home

When you first bring your tiny buddy home, you must control his movements in your house. This means that you don’t allow him to wander around your house freely; he must understand that it is a privilege he must gradually earn.

Only when he is 100% housebroken, has learned all the rules, and is calm in your home can he have more liberty. Ensure that your home is puppy-proof, making sure that he is close to you at all times, even if that means keeping him on a leash.

If your dog isn’t housebroken, you need to keep him in a pen or crate when you’re busy and can’t interact with him.

2. Encourage calmness

You must instill both mental and physical calmness in your puppy. When you’re not with him, you must keep him safely confined to a pen or a crate.

Teach Yes and No. He must learn to walk nicely and wait at gates and doors rather than rushing through. It would be best if you taught him the Sit and Stay commands.

When your Brittany puppy disobeys your commands, correct him, however, gently. If you are too harsh with him, he will become more fearful and difficult, as these dogs are sensitive.

Ensure that you and your household are calm, and be mindful not to have loud music playing or the TV blaring

3. Using the reward system

You can use rewards such as a toy or treat as an incentive for your puppy to obey your commands. Brittany Spaniels are known to jump on people, bark, and chase other animals. Do not reward such behavior; instead, correct your dog; be firm but not harsh.

When your buddy displays good behavior such as standing still when you brush him, going to the bathroom in the right place, and treating guests politely, you must reward such behavior and offer praise. Offer a treat or a toy and lots of praise.

4. Provide daily opportunities for exercise and activity

It would be best to equip your new family member with an active lifestyle to channel their boundless energy. This dog breed is excitable, but they have many excellent traits that need nurturing to bring out their best.

You can get your Brittany Spaniel to calm down indoors eventually, but you must tire out your buddy. We are talking about at least two walks a day for about thirty minutes.

Other activities like swimming, running, hiking, and playing fetch will exhaust him so much that he is sure to be calm at home.

5. Practice early socialization

Brittany Spaniels can become excellent family pets that are polite and gentle with everyone, including other animals and strangers; however, they need early socialization.

Your Brittany puppy needs plenty of exposure to people, other dogs, unfamiliar sights, and noises from day one. This will nurture your dog’s softness without making him shy, fearful, and overall unbearable to live with.

You can bring your Britt to a local dog park; naturally, it will be hard at first. Your puppy will be very nervous. Initially, bring your dog to the park, and if he can only handle a few minutes at a time, allow it.

You can gradually increase your time at the park, use your leash to control your dog, and stop him from attacking people and other dogs.

Use treats to reward his good behavior, encouraging him to keep up the good work. Eventually, he will love the dog park and seeing people and other dogs.

6. Be the leader

You must command respect from your puppy from the day you bring him home. Your Brittany Spaniel must see you as the leader of the pack.

Dogs in the role of the alpha don’t enjoy being in charge; it causes them a lot of stress, they prefer to be followers. But they will take over if you don’t step up and take control.

You need to prove yourself as a calm, confident leader. You can show authority by walking into a room ahead of your dog, eating your meals before your dog, and generally showing your dog that he doesn’t come first. Your four-legged friend will be happier and more at peace because he has an owner he can trust and look up to.

Will My One Year Old Dog Ever Calm Down?

Will My One Year Old Dog Ever Calm Down

Many vets and dog behaviorists get this type of question regularly, with varying ages. If you’re new to this dog breed, you may expect your Brittany Spaniel to calm down when he is 12 months of age or whenever he reaches his full size – between 12 to 16 months.

A perfectly healthy Brittany Spaniel will reach physical maturity and meet all his physical milestones. However, mental maturity isn’t always guaranteed.

Brittany Spaniels are often hyperactive, playful, overly clingy, and struggle with social anxiety throughout their lives.

Many Britts seem to calm down only slightly with age, with some owners reporting a calmer dog by 10 or 11 months of age.

This doesn’t mean their dogs have mentally matured; it means that their dogs’ movements are more controlled and sophisticated. Your Brittany Spaniel won’t do so much romping but more deliberate jumping and running.

Knowing that this is a high-energy dog breed, as their owner, you must match their energy. An owner of such a vibrant dog must love the outdoors and enjoy running, jogging, hiking, and walking.

Exercise is essential, but discipline in the home is equally important. If you fail to gently and lovingly discipline your dog, he won’t listen to you in the long term.

He will be unpleasant, displaying unwanted behavior like barking, digging, chewing, jumping on people, etc.

If your Brittany Spaniel badly behaves at home, you need to start nipping it in the bud now. Please don’t be harsh with him; there is no need to shout or call him names.

When you catch your dog doing something wrong, say no firmly, clap your hands loudly to get his attention. If you usually give him treats, no more, he needs to know that treats are to be earned.

Final Thoughts

The Brittany Spaniel temperament is very like that of a hunting dog. This breed is intelligent, loving, playful, curious, loyal, and generally everything you would expect of a hunting dog. However, be aware that you will be kept busy.

Do not get a Brittany Spaniel expecting it to calm down at a certain age; they are biologically predisposed to being high-energy.

However, be intentional about bringing calm into your dogs’ life. Create a harmonious environment in your home, and make sure that you are providing sufficient exercise opportunities.

If you take the necessary steps to raise a balanced, polite, well-adjusted Brittany Spaniel, you will have a best friend who is excellent company outdoors and in your home.

Table Of Content

• Are Brittany Spaniels Hyper?
• How Do You Calm A Brittany Spaniel?
• Will My One Year Old Dog Ever Calm Down?

from Pet Dog FAQ https://www.petdogfaq.com/what-age-do-brittany-spaniels-calm-down/

What Happens When You Breed A Chocolate And Yellow Lab?

Black and brown Labs are melanistic colors. Their genes are on the brown locus. However, yellow Labradors rely on alleles found in the Extension locus, the purpose of which is to dampen black and brown genes.

Breeding a chocolate labrador with a yellow labrador can be complicated with unexpected results. There are six possibilities for offspring color combinations, and much depends on the parents’ genotype.

What Color Puppies Will A Chocolate And Yellow Lab Have?

As mentioned above, there are six different possibilities for litter color combinations:

1. All black puppies
2. All chocolate puppies
3. Yellow and black puppies
4. Yellow, chocolate, and black puppies
5. Yellow and chocolate puppies
6. Black and chocolate puppies

Labrador genetics is complicated, and people are often surprised by the color of the litter they have bred. Coat colors, like diseases, can remain unknown from one generation to the next.

Even for numerous generations if they carry the recessive gene. Let’s explore the different color possibilities based on the parents’ genotypes and discuss how to mate a chocolate Lab with a yellow Lab.

What is the reason for these six combinations? Have a closer look at the diagram to discover why? The yellow Lab possible genotypes are on the top and the brown genotypes down the left-hand side. Inside the diagram are the possible litter color combinations.

EEBB EEBBEEBB

EEBB Yellow Yellow Yellow

Black Choc Choc

lack Choc Cho

Black

EEBB Black Black Choc

Choc

There are three ways to be a yellow Lab and just two ways to be a chocolate Lab, as shown in the diagram. A chocolate Lab can either be Eebb or EEbb.

A yellow Labrador can be any one of three possible genotypes – eeBB, eeBb, eebb. Anytime two lowercase ee’s come together, they cancel out the three different possible color combinations of bee genes.

Upon studying all the possible combinations, you will see possibilities for all three colors in a litter from eeBb mated with Eebb.

If EEbb breeds with eeBB, all the puppies will be black because they have the dominant big B and one big E.

‘eee’ genes are powerful. These genes provide the genetic information that creates a yellow coat, and they can cancel out or influence the ‘bee’ genes that make black and chocolate. Each dog will inherit two ‘eee’ genes, one from each parent, and two kinds of ‘eee’ genes.

The big E (dominant gene doesn’t interfere with the ‘bee’ gene.

The little e (recessive gene) can mask or cancel out the ‘bee’ gene that could otherwise produce black or brown coats, and the result is a yellow dog.

How To Mate A Chocolate Lab With A Yellow Lab

When considering pairing a chocolate Lab with a yellow Lab, your primary concern must not be the color of the litter; you should aim to breed puppies for health and longevity.

The motto of a responsible dog breeder is “Breed to improve.” Responsible breeding means being able to evaluate the positive and negative points of your dogs before deciding to mate them. The ultimate goal of breeding is always to produce better quality pets.

Understand the commitment to raising a litter. In the first few weeks, the dam mostly takes care of her puppies’ needs, but things can go wrong, like a dam producing no milk, or one of the puppies gets sick, and so on.

In such cases, you must step up and support the dam and the puppies and provide for their needs. It’s a lot of work! If you know you can put the work in, and you have a chocolate female that you want to mate with a yellow male or vice versa, please consider the following steps:

How To Mate A Chocolate Lab With A Yellow Lab

Step 1 Select An Appropriate Mate

When deciding on a mating pair, you must first consider the sire and dam are registered with the AKC. If they are, you can register the offspring with the AKC.

When choosing a male for your dam, it’s essential to mate dogs that match well together. Choose a male Lab that will strengthen your females’ weaknesses and enhance her best qualities.

So, if your dam has a dull coat, find a mate with a good coat, ensuring that he comes from a dog line with good coats.

It’s crucial to seek the wisdom of other breeders, who can help you consider all the factors that determine your dog’s appearances and traits.

Two vital considerations when making your selection are health and temperament.

When it comes to health, Labs are subject to many hereditary illnesses. Some can be life restricting or, worse, fatal. The primary breeding goal is to produce offspring not affected by known genetic diseases prevalent in your breed.

Step 2 Know Your Genetics

A responsible breeder must have a decent grasp of genetics. Genetics will determine your future litters’ health, looks, temperament, and soundness.

Finding a mating pair, the appearance of the dogs must not be the only deciding factor. Instead, you must base your choice on understanding the animals’ genes and how they are inherited and expressed.

A dominant arrangement of inherited diseases requires just one anomalistic gene. It takes only one parent to be affected for the condition to manifest in successive generations.

Some conditions can be difficult to detect if the effects are mild and seem to skip generations.

A recessive arrangement of inherited diseases occurs when dogs possess two abnormal genes. A Lab with one normal and one mutant gene can be carriers. They can appear normal but pass the mutant gene to their puppies.

Defects in the chromosome structure and number can result in genetic diseases, producing severe defects. Dogs usually have 39 chromosomal pairs where genes are located.

Polygenic disorders arise from the collective function of many different genes. The precise number of genes and their unique functions are indeterminable.

Inheritable patterns can vary from one generation to the next. Polygenic inheritance often copies either recessive or dominant inheritance, leading to false conclusions about underlying genetic anomalies.

Step 3 – Finalize Stud Contract

When you have completed the essential health checks and selected a suitable mate for your dam, you must draw up a contract with the stud’s owner before breeding occurs.

The contractual agreement must be typed and printed; it should stipulate obligations and circumstances. Both parties should sign the contract, and each receives a copy.

The studs’ owner sets the fee and the type of payment. The male dogs’ owner might request a stud fee or a selection of one or more of the puppies.

The contract must state that the sire’s owner isn’t duty-bound to sign the AKC registration application before receiving the stud fee payment. The AKC cannot settle any disputes between the parties regarding contractual agreements and breeding arrangements.

Step 4 – Health Checks Before Breeding

If you expect good quality puppies, the parents should receive ongoing maintenance. Regular Veterinary care, genetic screening, pre-breeding tests, quality nutrition, and exercise are essential to produce healthy litters.

The female’s mental health needs attention as a well-adjusted female is likely to be a better mother than one with a hostile temperament.

The female will need a pre-breeding physical exam by a veterinarian about one month before breeding. Vaccinations must be up-to-date, and her vet must examine her for parasites and offer treatment if necessary.

Both the male and female should be checked for brucellosis, an infectious bacterial condition causing possible sterility and miscarriage in affected dogs.

Step 5 – Natural Breeding

An ethical breeder will not breed a female in her first heat to prevent imposing the pregnancy stresses on a young, still developing animal. It would be best if you also permitted enough time for recovery between pregnancies, so avoid breeding a female on consecutive heats.

Most dogs mate within the tenth and fourteenth day of the females’ reproductive cycle – if the female accepts her partner, mating every second day for a total of two to three matings is sufficient.

Natural breeding happens when the sire mounts the dam from behind. When pelvic thrusts cease, both dogs won’t part for up to half an hour; this is called a tie, during which a male might move until he is rear to rear with the female.

It would be best if you refrained from separating them during the tie as it can cause injury to one or both of the animals. Eventually, they will separate by themselves.

Step 6 – Artificial Insemination

When natural breeding proves to be problematic, artificial insemination is an alternative solution, and it is a straightforward procedure.

The AKC accepts the resulting offspring if insemination involved using fresh semen, frozen semen, and fresh extended semen, and as long as correct procedures are in place.

Final Thoughts

The science of Labrador genetics is undoubtedly a fascinating subject. As we can see with the chocolate and yellow Labrador, they can produce offspring of any of the six color combinations when paired.

However, a breeder’s primary focus is to improve the quality of their dogs and seek to produce healthy, well-adjusted puppies for future generations.

Make sure to provide a warm, dry, and calm whelping environment for your female when the time comes for her to birth her puppies.

from Pet Dog FAQ https://www.petdogfaq.com/breed-a-chocolate-and-yellow-lab/

What Color Are Chocolate Labs At Birth? Fact Not Fiction

Labradors are immensely popular as pets due to their intelligence, gentle nature, and trainability – they are also very patient with children. Everyone can agree that all Labradors are adorable puppies. In recent years, brown Labs have increased in demand, with more people favoring puppies with chocolate coats.

Generally speaking, chocolate labradors are born entirely brown, varying slightly from light to dark. Their coats often lighten with age as their fur grows longer. Occasionally, brown puppies are born with tan markings over their eyes, chest, feet, and under their tail. 

The AKC cannot show chocolate-colored dogs featuring these markings in conformation classes. For these canines to be considered real chocolate labs, their nose, paws, pads, and eyes must be the same color as their coat. However, some fading on the nose is permitted.

It is worth noting that chocolate Labradors share most of the same physical and size traits as their black and yellow siblings; the only significant difference is their hue. This article will explore the history of the chocolate Labrador, Labrador genetics, and other heritable issues associated with their color.

Where Did Chocolate Labs Originate From?

Labradors originated in Newfoundland and were initially known as the St. John’s dog and Newfoundland dog. It’s believed that the Labrador Retriever came from crossing a French St. Hubert’s dog and a Greater Newfoundland dog.

When English fishermen migrated to Newfoundland, Canada, in the 1500s, they used Retriever dogs to help them catch fish and retrieve nets.

These dogs thrived on hard work, even working long hours, swimming in freezing waters. After a long day of hard toil, these dogs returned to the fishermen’s homes and played with their children, proving to be excellent pets as well as working companions.

The retriever was first noticed by the English gentry visiting Canada in the early 19th century. These noblemen returned to England with excellent specimens of the breed.

In 1807 a ship (called the Canton) intended for Poole, England, was transporting some St. John’s dogs for the Duke of Malmesbury as part of his breeding stock.

The Canton shipwrecked; however, two dogs, one black and one brown were discovered and believed to produce the Chesapeake Retriever. The recessive colors of chocolate and gold/yellow appeared in the early litters occasionally.

These recessive dogs were unwanted and considered as ‘off colors’; they were often culled. English breeders standardized the Labrador during the second half of the 19th century to include brown and yellow dogs. The AKC in the USA recognized the Labrador breed in 1917.

The popularity of the chocolate Labrador began to increase slightly in the 1920s and 1930s, as that color was considered fashionable.

The 1960s saw high demand for chocolate Labradors. In recent years, the appeal of the brown-coated Lab has declined due to some of the negative hereditary traits connected to the coat color.

How Is Labrador Coat Color Determined?

Genetics determines Labrador coat color; if you wish to breed chocolate Lab puppies, you must test the potential parents for genetically heritable colors.

Crossbreeding two chocolate Labradors results in an average of 73% brown offspring and 27% yellow/gold puppies.

A chocolate Labrador can still carry the genetic code for other colors. However, a reputable dog breeder will understand how genetics functions to select certain colors and prevent hereditary illnesses.

For a complete picture of how genetics works, a gene contains two alleles, one per parent that, when paired, creates a genotype, distinguishing a phenotype. In other words, genetic coding in the genotype manifests specific physical or behavioral characteristics.

Alleles are designated by a capital letter (for the dominant gene) and a lowercase letter (for the recessive gene). Tw0 dominant alleles create dominant traits, as is the case with black Labradors.

When a dominant allele is coupled with a recessive allele, the dominant trait can override the recessive or produce a mixed trait with its phenotype. Chocolate Labradors are an example of this.

Both chocolate and black Labs derive their color from a pigment called eumelanin. Labradors with high levels of eumelanin pigment have black coats.

If they have a little less, they will have brown coats. The B locus in a canine’s DNA produces the genetic instruction for black or brown coats.

The B locus is central to a pair of genes called B genes. One of the pair comes from the dam, the other from the sire. Capital B is a dominant gene, and lowercase b is a recessive gene.

The dominant black gene will always cancel out the brown gene. Only Labs with a matching pair of the b gene will look brown.

* BB produces a black Lab because he has two genes for a black coat.

* Bb creates a black Lab because the dominant B gene overrides the recessive b gene.

* bb produces brown Labradors and will provide the instruction for less eumelanin in the coat.

How Rare Is A Chocolate Labrador?

Chocolate Labradors have remained steadily popular throughout recent years. Nevertheless, the dominant black color means that the demand for chocolate labs remains limited, ensuring continued rarity within the breed.

Continual breeding of black dogs will only produce black offspring. If dogs with a Bb gene only mate with dogs with a BB gene, the b gene will carry on to future generations, never to be expressed.

Brown is a recessive trait, so both parents must carry it to produce brown offspring. Breeding litter from this shallow gene pool comes with some health risks.

While the gene for a chocolate coat is not bad for a dog’s well-being, issues arise when dogs are bred for color, not health.

Do Chocolate Labs Get Lighter?

Chocolate Labs usually keep the same brown shade their entire lives. Seasonal changes can bring about slight changes to your Labs coat.

Dogs experience molt to make way for new fur growth. After a blowout, the lighter undercoat will become exposed, combined with sun bleaching, it can produce what seems like a fairer coat.

You may notice your chocolate Labrador develop a fuller, thicker coat in the cold weather, which could make the coat appear darker.

Are Chocolate Labs Different Than Black Labs?

Brown-colored Labrador Retrievers have on average about 10% shorter lifespans than their black or yellow counterparts. They are also more likely to get ear infections and skin diseases than the other-colored Labs.

Are Chocolate Labs Different Than Black Labs

Aside from health, behavior is connected to coat color too. While it’s unclear that coat color is entirely to blame for certain behavioral traits.

Brown Labs contain different retinas to their black and yellow siblings. Retinal differences can contribute to some behavioral characteristics as observed in sighthounds like whippets and Grayhounds.

Even if the coat color doesn’t affect Labrador behavior, there is evidence to suggest it may affect how humans behave with them.

One study revealed that people who look at pictures of black and yellow dogs rate the dogs higher in emotional stability and agreeableness than brown dogs.

Labradors are famous for their high intelligence. However, chocolate Labs are considered far less intelligent. This should not be the case; if you notice that chocolate Labradors are not as smart as their black and yellow counterparts, this is irresponsible breeding.

Many chocolate breeding’s throughout America are irresponsible breedings. These “backyard” breeders have invested time and effort in achieving the chocolate coat color with no regard for health, intelligence, or temperament.

Intelligent, good-natured chocolate Labradors exist, although far less common than the other colors. It’s essential to find a knowledgeable, reputable breeder that cares about producing calmer, intelligent, well-rounded Labradors.

Are Chocolate Labradors Born With Blue Eyes?

This question is surprisingly popular, but yes, some chocolate Labradors are born with blue eyes; any dog breed can have virtually any eye color, much depends on genetics.

However, a Labrador with blue eyes indicates poor genetics. Labrador eye color should be brown in both black and yellow Labradors. Brown Labradors should have hazel or brown eyes.

Blue eyes on a chocolate Labrador is pretty, but it means unequivocally that this dog is not purebred.

When puppies are born, their eyes remain closed for 14 days, and at that stage, their eye color is blue until it changes to their permanent brown or hazel color.

When a chocolate Labrador is around the age of 4 to 4 weeks old, their eye color is more noticeable, and you should be able to predict their actual color.

Final Thoughts

What color are chocolate Labs at birth? We now know that they are born entirely brown, which remains consistent throughout their life. Some are born with markings on different body parts.

Unfortunately, these dogs were considered undesirable for a long time, but equally deliberate and irresponsible overbreeding of the chocolate Labrador has caused so many problems for the breed.

The future of the chocolate labrador seems to be improving steadily, with more reputable breeders choosing to produce Labradors for health, intelligence, and temperament rather than color. Chocolate Labradors are generally wonderful pets as they are friendly, confident, and playful.

Table Of Content

• Do Chocolate Labs Get Lighter?
• How Rare Is A Chocolate Labrador?
• How Is Labrador Coat Color Determined?
• Where Did Chocolate Labs Originate From?
• Are Chocolate Labradors Born With Blue Eyes?
• Are Chocolate Labs Different Than Black Labs?

from Pet Dog FAQ https://www.petdogfaq.com/what-color-are-chocolate-labs-at-birth/