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The Go-Home Guide
The Go-Home Guide: Your Labrador Puppy’s First 90 Days
A Labrador breeder’s playbook for the stretch that decides what kind of dog you end up with.
By Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA. Family-raised Labradors in Sanford, FL.
The bookThe Go-Home GuideThe full 90-day playbook, by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA.See it on Amazon
The short version
- Eight weeks with the breeder. Ninety days with you. This hub covers the second part.
- Five free guides below pull one idea from five chapters of the book.
- The book has the full week-by-week playbook, the printable schedule and the shopping list.
- Written by a small family breeder in Sanford, FL, for any Lab owner, whoever bred the puppy.
Most new Labrador owners get a puppy, a bag of food, and a hug goodbye. Then they are on their own for the hardest three months of the dog’s life. That gap is why Dr. Paul Borosky wrote The Go-Home Guide. This page is its home on the web. Start here, read the free guides, and decide if you want the whole playbook.
Why the first 90 days matter so much
By the time a well-bred puppy reaches you at eight weeks, a good breeder has already put in hundreds of hours of handling, socializing and early crate work. Your puppy shows up with a head start. The next ninety days decide whether that head start grows or gets wasted.
Science backs the urgency. The window when a puppy accepts new people, places and sounds most easily closes early. Miss it, and you spend years managing a nervous dog.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior calls the first three months of life the most important time for puppy socialization, and says socialization should start before a puppy is fully vaccinated.
“The breeder started this dog. You finish it.”
Dr. Paul Borosky, The Go-Home Guide
What the book covers
Thirteen chapters in three parts. Each one ends with a single rule you can remember at 2 a.m.
| Part | Chapters |
|---|---|
| Before Go-Home Day | Meet Your Puppy’s First Family. What Happened in the First Eight Weeks. The Two-Week Countdown. |
| The 90-Day Playbook | Go-Home Day and the First 72 Hours. Days 4 to 14, Routine Is Everything. Weeks 3 to 4, The Socialization Sprint. Weeks 5 to 8, Manners Before Obedience. Weeks 9 to 12, The Foundation Five. The Day 90 Checkpoint. |
| The Reference Section | Feeding a Growing Lab. When to Call Your Breeder vs. When to Call Your Vet. English vs. American Labs. The Teenager Warning. |
The appendix adds a printable 90-day schedule, a go-home shopping list, and a guide to what should be in your breeder’s go-home packet.
Read the free guides first
Each guide below takes one idea from one chapter and builds a full web page around it, with Florida notes, our own dogs, and sourced facts. Read them in order and you will have the outline of the first ninety days.
A study led by Newcastle University found Labradors and Golden Retrievers were slower to obey their own owner’s “sit” at around eight months than at five months. By twelve months, most were back to normal or better.
Watch: the short version
Who wrote it
Borosky Labradors is a small family program in Sanford, Florida. Not a kennel. Puppies are born and raised in the middle of family life, around kids, grandbabies, dogs and cats. Tishauna Borosky runs the day-to-day with every litter. Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, handles the business side and wrote the book. The methods came out of their whelping room and their own six Labs: Sadie Mae, Dunkin, Remi, Emmie, Luna and Louie.
The book is written for any Lab owner. It does not matter if your puppy came from us or from another breeder. The job in front of you is the same.
Where to get it
The Go-Home Guide is on Amazon. If you are getting a puppy from us, you will hear the same advice at pickup, and Dr. Paul is a phone call away after.
Looking for a puppy to go with the book? Our next litter is Luna and Louie, due at the end of November 2026, white and cream English Labradors. See upcoming litters for how reservations work, or browse the full Lab Essentials library for breed care from puppy to senior.
Common Questions
Is The Go-Home Guide only for Borosky Labradors puppies?
What ages does the book cover?
Does the book replace my veterinarian?
Where can I buy it?
Raising a Borosky puppy?
Our next litter is Luna x Louie, white and cream English Labradors due at the end of November 2026. Deposits open once the puppies are born. Every family gets this same playbook at pickup, plus Dr. Paul’s phone number.
See upcoming littersCall (321) 948-9588