Golden Retriever Puppy

[schmutzie]

I have a lovely, 2 month old golden retriever girl.

She's the best thing since sliced bread and has brought joy in our house. But I'm a little insecure with regards to the best/natural way to raise

on of these energy bundles. Have read a bit on the net, but keen to hear from other owners, specifically in Thailand.

Forgive me if some of my questions are stupid (and I do realise this is still only a small baby girl):

Potty training -

She pees and poos all over the place. Worst is she sometimes does it on the bed or picnic mattes in the living room. Our house is easy to clean in general, but my concern is how or when she's likely to learn to stop and do this outside.

We have a front yard/car space where she can go, but no dedicated litter box or similar. We currently take her for walks 1-2 times per day. But it's not always she evacuates, and even if she does there's always more left.

We try to take her outside when she evacuates to try and make her understand that this is the place to do it.

Advice online suggests to be aware when the dog is "ready" and to take them outside before it happens. But you get like 2-3 seconds warning from you see her sniff and then crouch and it's usually too late.

What's the best way to potty train?

Nipping/mouthing -

I understand that this is how she learns about the world and dogs will chew just about anything they can, especially with new teeth. It's not a problem as such. But my question is if it'll gradually subside or do we proactively need to adjust her nipping habits all the time. Advice online is to provide alternative biting options when something "wrong" is being chewed, eg. ball or other toy. Eg. take the expensive shoe away and give a tennis ball.

My concern is more that she likes to bite hand/feet/hair/arms etc. It's her way to play. It's OK, but will it go away slowly as she matures?

However, it's never done aggressively and always with a happy, wagging tail...

Talking -

She likes to talk more and more. Especially when she's hot. We initially were a bit worried that she seemed to talk a lot in the middle of the night as she'd suddenly wake up at 2am. That thankfully doesn't seem to happen anymore. Basically aircon will make her relax completely. But what are the guides with regards to puppy talk? Hungry, hot or just happy. How do you tell?

Any other tips on raising a Goldie here in Thailand would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[villagefarang]

The online training techniques are as good as you will get, I think. There are no real shortcuts. Just as with a baby, they need constant supervision in the beginning. Our puppy needed to pee almost every hour when she was that age and chewed on every piece of furniture and me. You have my sympathies, as I know what you are going through.

After two years our Golden has stopped chewing on anything but toys, is house trained, never gets on furniture or even pushes open a cracked door. She is, however, still a bundle of energy and in need of constant company and companionship. Even with other dogs around, what she really wants is our attention.

She begs us to sit and watch her swim in the pond. She will dive and chase fish for 30 min as long as we stay there watching. We leave, she leaves. A 7km hike to the dam helps to drain energy for awhile but it also makes her that much stronger and eager to go again.

Air-conditioning seems to help a lot and it is a good excuse for me to have it on and stay comfortable myself.

[schmutzie]

@villagefarang

Thanks. I agree, she doesn't function well without company/attention. Likes to stay close to where ever you are in the house.

And LOVES water, no doubt about it. At least showers are no big deal with a golden.

I try to take her for long(ish) walks but it's hard for her with the current heat.

[villagefarang]

Another thing about a Golden is that beautiful long hair. It will add tons of fiber to your diet. Don't overdo the exercise during this time of year. Wait till she gets older and the weather cools down a bit.

Being a big dog it takes a couple of years to fully mature so watch the jumping and things that might put too much strain on her joints. It is not easy to keep them from overdoing it, however.

[grumpyoldman]

I raised a Golden Retriever in my youth.

One thing you cannot start too early is training using hand signals. People thinking their dog or dogs can understand what they are saying are insane.

First hand signal- with index finger pointed out and a little knock on the nose is "no" !

For potty training, show your dog the poop, may have to rub her nose in it, give her the index finger on the nose and a "no", and toss them both outside. Once she smells the poop outside, she'll get it. Also, be sure first thing in the morning and last thing at night you take her out to pee and for sure a "good dog" petting when she pees outside. She'll get it after awhile.

Hand signal-closed fist for sit- give her the closed fist,push her butt down to sit, give her a little snack treat.

Hand signal-open hand toward the dog "stay" (this one will take awhile,have to walk away, give her the "no" signal if she moves).

Never too early to start leash training. Snap your fingers call "heel" and pull the leash so your dog is walking beside you at a heel. This is really great because once she's trained there you can chuck the leash.

Teething-do they have those leather bone chews here in Thailand? I dunno.

Anyway, good luck and start training your dog right away, once they understand the hand signals, Goldens are really smart.

[draggons]

Great dogs and full of energy. As Villagefarang says online training techniques are as good as you'll get. We have Eleven of the monsters and wouldn't part with any of them now.

[villagefarang]

Great dogs and full of energy. As Villagefarang says online training techniques are as good as you'll get. We have Eleven of the monsters and wouldn't part with any of them now.

Wow, what a bunch of beauties. Our one little 40 kilo monster is all we can handle. I cannot imagine two, let alone eleven. My hat is off to you. I don't know how you do it.

[draggons]

patience, lots of patience

[schmutzie]

I raised a Golden Retriever in my youth.

One thing you cannot start too early is training using hand signals. People thinking their dog or dogs can understand what they are saying are insane.

First hand signal- with index finger pointed out and a little knock on the nose is "no" !

For potty training, show your dog the poop, may have to rub her nose in it, give her the index finger on the nose and a "no", and toss them both outside. Once she smells the poop outside, she'll get it. Also, be sure first thing in the morning and last thing at night you take her out to pee and for sure a "good dog" petting when she pees outside. She'll get it after awhile.

Hand signal-closed fist for sit- give her the closed fist,push her butt down to sit, give her a little snack treat.

Hand signal-open hand toward the dog "stay" (this one will take awhile,have to walk away, give her the "no" signal if she moves).

Never too early to start leash training. Snap your fingers call "heel" and pull the leash so your dog is walking beside you at a heel. This is really great because once she's trained there you can chuck the leash.

Teething-do they have those leather bone chews here in Thailand? I dunno.

Anyway, good luck and start training your dog right away, once they understand the hand signals, Goldens are really smart.

Thanks, will try some of this. Like you say, she's a smart girl and more than that very keen to please.

If she does something and sees that it pleases you, she'll definitely keep it up.

Don't get me wrong wrt my original post - she is a lot easier than I expected from a puppy. I just want to feel confident that I'm doing the right thing.

The joint thing is a concern. Will try and keep the games from being too intense. Hard not too get too excited when you how much she loves it though.

The vet advised me to be careful to not overfeed her as he said growing too quick could be one way for hip dysplasia to occur, which is my biggest worry.

[schmutzie]

Another thing about a Golden is that beautiful long hair. It will add tons of fiber to your diet. Don't overdo the exercise during this time of year. Wait till she gets older and the weather cools down a bit.

Being a big dog it takes a couple of years to fully mature so watch the jumping and things that might put too much strain on her joints. It is not easy to keep them from overdoing it, however.

Thanks. So far my girlfriends black hairs have been outnumbering the blonde ones, but seems like she's starting to change color so surely more hair to come. She's getting bigger quick!

[bprinceuk]

I raised a Golden Retriever in my youth.

One thing you cannot start too early is training using hand signals. People thinking their dog or dogs can understand what they are saying are insane.

First hand signal- with index finger pointed out and a little knock on the nose is "no" !

For potty training, show your dog the poop, may have to rub her nose in it, give her the index finger on the nose and a "no", and toss them both outside. Once she smells the poop outside, she'll get it. Also, be sure first thing in the morning and last thing at night you take her out to pee and for sure a "good dog" petting when she pees outside. She'll get it after awhile.

Hand signal-closed fist for sit- give her the closed fist,push her butt down to sit, give her a little snack treat.

Hand signal-open hand toward the dog "stay" (this one will take awhile,have to walk away, give her the "no" signal if she moves).

Never too early to start leash training. Snap your fingers call "heel" and pull the leash so your dog is walking beside you at a heel. This is really great because once she's trained there you can chuck the leash.

Teething-do they have those leather bone chews here in Thailand? I dunno.

Anyway, good luck and start training your dog right away, once they understand the hand signals, Goldens are really smart.

Believe that you are old school with your advise, one should never hit a dog on its nose, this is a dogs main tool of sences, and definately never rub his nose in his business, These sort of tactics went out of the window many years ago.

For house training, this takes a lot of patience, keep the door open so that the dog can go out into the garden, watch it and as soon as you see him attempting to squat inside of the house, pick it up and take it outside, when it does its business outside give it a lot of praise.

For chewing remember these are a very inteligent working dog and will become bored very easily. Give him lots of toys to keep himself occupied, try not to leave the dog in the house for long periods my its self.

Brian

[bprinceuk]

To teach your dog to sit, hold a treat in your hand above his nose and slow move your hand back a little towards the back of his head while saying sit. The dog will automatically lean backwards and sit while following the treat in your hand.

Treat your dog with kindness and it will reward you with its loyalty, think about it if some one hit you would you come back to them when they called you. Kindness and reward system is a proven way of training

[cmsally]

My Golden came with inbuilt intelligence and after a while it became clear she was smarter than me

Fetching seems to be an inbuilt instinct with her and after a while she became sorry for me that I didn't have this quality so about one out of ten times throwing the ball she will sit there and not go after it. Her eyes go to the ball and then to me.repeat.repeat.

If I go and get it I am rewarded with a lick and a doggy smile.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Schmutzie

You have probably heard of the Dog Whisperer. His techniques are truly amazing. He has a TV series on training dogs. In season 6 he did raising the perfect dog. I'm sure this would help you a lot.

If you PM me your address I will mail you a copy of it.

[grumpyoldman]

I raised a Golden Retriever in my youth.

One thing you cannot start too early is training using hand signals. People thinking their dog or dogs can understand what they are saying are insane.

First hand signal- with index finger pointed out and a little knock on the nose is "no" !

For potty training, show your dog the poop, may have to rub her nose in it, give her the index finger on the nose and a "no", and toss them both outside. Once she smells the poop outside, she'll get it. Also, be sure first thing in the morning and last thing at night you take her out to pee and for sure a "good dog" petting when she pees outside. She'll get it after awhile.

Hand signal-closed fist for sit- give her the closed fist,push her butt down to sit, give her a little snack treat.

Hand signal-open hand toward the dog "stay" (this one will take awhile,have to walk away, give her the "no" signal if she moves).

Never too early to start leash training. Snap your fingers call "heel" and pull the leash so your dog is walking beside you at a heel. This is really great because once she's trained there you can chuck the leash.

Teething-do they have those leather bone chews here in Thailand? I dunno.

Anyway, good luck and start training your dog right away, once they understand the hand signals, Goldens are really smart.

Believe that you are old school with your advise, one should never hit a dog on its nose, this is a dogs main tool of sences, and definately never rub his nose in his business, These sort of tactics went out of the window many years ago.

For house training, this takes a lot of patience, keep the door open so that the dog can go out into the garden, watch it and as soon as you see him attempting to squat inside of the house, pick it up and take it outside, when it does its business outside give it a lot of praise.

For chewing remember these are a very inteligent working dog and will become bored very easily. Give him lots of toys to keep himself occupied, try not to leave the dog in the house for long periods my its self.

Brian

I said "little knock' there Brian, I didn't say hit the dog on the nose, your words in my mouth are irritating.

My main point was hand signals and any dog trainer will tell you that's the best way for your animal to understand you.

You want to take forever with the house breaking, up to you, a couple poopy noses and the dog will understand.

Sorry, never joined PETA, just wanted and did have a very happpy and great dog.

[Nienke]

I agree with the handsignals. Dogs are excellent in reading body language, and understanding of handsignals goes much faster than verbal cues.

Tapping or knocking a dog on the nose or putting the nose in the poo or pee are really outdated techniques, though. First of all, doing so comes often too late. Too late for the pup to make the association between him/her doing the actual deed in the 'wrong' place (the wrong part is in the mind of the owner and not in that of the pup. All the pup knows is that it is doing something very natural, and then got punish for doing something completely natural). If one chooses to punish the pup, which I do not advise, than one should do so 'in the act', meaning at the moment the pup is defecating or urinating. Punishing only 1 or 2 second after the act is done is too late for it to make the proper association.

Better is to keep a hawk eye on the pup when it roams around in the house. Right at the moment it gives any indication it has to relieve itself you pick it up, bring it outside, and at the moment it relieves itself praise it into heaven and give a delicious treat. Yep, even when the pup is still busy emptying itself. You can also choose to add a cue to the act, such as doodie, chi-chi or whatever suits you best.

If you're just too late and the pup is already doing it, then pick up the pup, you can say in an unpleased voice with an unpleased face "uh-uh", and take it outside to finish its business. And, of course, praise and reward for doing so.

At the times you can not keep an eye on your pup when inside, keep it confined in a crate/bench, but keep in mind that it has to be let outside not more than every two hours.

And then still, sometimes there is an 'oops' somewhere. If you are just too late, still pick up the pup and put it outside. Then go back and clean up the mess without the pup watching you doing so. And last but not least, make a note to yourself for not watching your pup good enough.

Cesar Millan or the so-called dog-whisperer is well-known under the dog behavior experts, including the three major American veterinarian behaviorist organizations WSPA, and ASPCA, for his complete outdated training techniques. According to CM pretty much all (problem) behaviors are dominant related, where the owner has to show s/he is the leader of the pack (in a forceful way, not in a protective way), and the underlying motivation of the dog for acting the way it does and the way dogs learn are often ignored.

Not only over-feeding can harm the hips, also pushing a pup's butt down in a sit and slippery surfaces can contribute to bad hips. Furthermore, the distemper vaccine can affect bone development and the rabies vaccine can influence hormones such as the thyroid which in turn can have a (negative) influence on ligaments and tendons.

[bprinceuk]

I agree with the handsignals. Dogs are excellent in reading body language, and understanding of handsignals goes much faster than verbal cues.

Tapping or knocking a dog on the nose or putting the nose in the poo or pee are really outdated techniques, though. First of all, doing so comes often too late. Too late for the pup to make the association between him/her doing the actual deed in the 'wrong' place (the wrong part is in the mind of the owner and not in that of the pup. All the pup knows is that it is doing something very natural, and then got punish for doing something completely natural). If one chooses to punish the pup, which I do not advise, than one should do so 'in the act', meaning at the moment the pup is defecating or urinating. Punishing only 1 or 2 second after the act is done is too late for it to make the proper association.

Better is to keep a hawk eye on the pup when it roams around in the house. Right at the moment it gives any indication it has to relieve itself you pick it up, bring it outside, and at the moment it relieves itself praise it into heaven and give a delicious treat. Yep, even when the pup is still busy emptying itself. You can also choose to add a cue to the act, such as doodie, chi-chi or whatever suits you best.

If you're just too late and the pup is already doing it, then pick up the pup, you can say in an unpleased voice with an unpleased face "uh-uh", and take it outside to finish its business. And, of course, praise and reward for doing so.

At the times you can not keep an eye on your pup when inside, keep it confined in a crate/bench, but keep in mind that it has to be let outside not more than every two hours.

And then still, sometimes there is an 'oops' somewhere. If you are just too late, still pick up the pup and put it outside. Then go back and clean up the mess without the pup watching you doing so. And last but not least, make a note to yourself for not watching your pup good enough.

Cesar Millan or the so-called dog-whisperer is well-known under the dog behavior experts, including the three major American veterinarian behaviorist organizations WSPA, and ASPCA, for his complete outdated training techniques. According to CM pretty much all (problem) behaviors are dominant related, where the owner has to show s/he is the leader of the pack (in a forceful way, not in a protective way), and the underlying motivation of the dog for acting the way it does and the way dogs learn are often ignored.

Not only over-feeding can harm the hips, also pushing a pup's butt down in a sit and slippery surfaces can contribute to bad hips. Furthermore, the distemper vaccine can affect bone development and the rabies vaccine can influence hormones such as the thyroid which in turn can have a (negative) influence on ligaments and tendons.

First class advise Nienke

[bprinceuk]

I raised a Golden Retriever in my youth.

One thing you cannot start too early is training using hand signals. People thinking their dog or dogs can understand what they are saying are insane.

First hand signal- with index finger pointed out and a little knock on the nose is "no" !

For potty training, show your dog the poop, may have to rub her nose in it, give her the index finger on the nose and a "no", and toss them both outside. Once she smells the poop outside, she'll get it. Also, be sure first thing in the morning and last thing at night you take her out to pee and for sure a "good dog" petting when she pees outside. She'll get it after awhile.

Hand signal-closed fist for sit- give her the closed fist,push her butt down to sit, give her a little snack treat.

Hand signal-open hand toward the dog "stay" (this one will take awhile,have to walk away, give her the "no" signal if she moves).

Never too early to start leash training. Snap your fingers call "heel" and pull the leash so your dog is walking beside you at a heel. This is really great because once she's trained there you can chuck the leash.

Teething-do they have those leather bone chews here in Thailand? I dunno.

Anyway, good luck and start training your dog right away, once they understand the hand signals, Goldens are really smart.

Believe that you are old school with your advise, one should never hit a dog on its nose, this is a dogs main tool of sences, and definately never rub his nose in his business, These sort of tactics went out of the window many years ago.

For house training, this takes a lot of patience, keep the door open so that the dog can go out into the garden, watch it and as soon as you see him attempting to squat inside of the house, pick it up and take it outside, when it does its business outside give it a lot of praise.

For chewing remember these are a very inteligent working dog and will become bored very easily. Give him lots of toys to keep himself occupied, try not to leave the dog in the house for long periods my its self.

Brian

I said "little knock' there Brian, I didn't say hit the dog on the nose, your words in my mouth are irritating.

My main point was hand signals and any dog trainer will tell you that's the best way for your animal to understand you.

You want to take forever with the house breaking, up to you, a couple poopy noses and the dog will understand.

Sorry, never joined PETA, just wanted and did have a very happpy and great dog.

My apologies if I miss read your post/meaning, I have always managed to house train my dogs within one week. Yes there are the occasional misshaps. As Nienke rightly put it one must watch the pup like a hawk and be very quick off the mark.

[grumpyoldman]

I think we are all in agreement that you don't hit your animal friend.

Has to be tough though to be there all the time with your pup, so you can jump up and take him/her outside when they are about to do their business. Maybe you all just have more time than I, who knows.........

Cheers, GOM

[anothertorres]

one the easiest ways to curb the nipping is to yell OUCH when the dog bites you. your dog does not want to hurt you, so if you show them that they have hurt you, they eventually will stop it altogether. no raps, hard or soft on the nose or butt needed.

[bina]

OUCH btw is an excellent tool with many animals because when a person yells out the AYE or OUCH it sounds like a yelp and most adult mammals respond to a puppy/kitten/ whatever's 'stress' or 'pain' cry and back up or back off.. its not that the dog understands what OUCH really means. its the vocal sounds that cue the animal . it again is not that the dog or cat doesn want to hurt us, its that they are programmed to not injure or hurt their young, and our 'yelp' triggers , most often, that reflex. gradually u can turn the 'yelp' of OUCH to an actual command word.

works wonders with cats to remind them to sheath their claws also... with horses the 'OUCH' is usally coupled with an elbow in the side of the horse stepping onyour foot or whatever, rather like an other horse giving its 'grunt' of pain and responding with a nose shove or slight kick to the horse that nipped or whatever...

as far as sign language, that can really be fun as u can teach your dog visual cues and then incorporate them in to your conversation to get the dog to 'answer' questions. our favortie was asking nala (RIP BOXER GIRL) 'u barked all nite. arent u 'sleepy' (and here cueing her with two hands to side of head and tilting head) and nala would roll over on her side and 'sleep'... great crowd pleaser and helps at the vet when needng a check up also..

bina

israel

[schmutzie]

Thanks for all the advice. Duly noted and some being put into testing.

There's a small problem in that our outside area is concrete top - there's no grass or garden or similar for her to evacuate on. Plus from time to time she will be alone and as such will not be able to go outside. So, as her indoor evacuations have not really receded in occurrence I think the next step is to get a litter box of some sort with newspaper or "gravel" and apply some pot-ty trainer deo to this and try to make her use that. We can then move the box inside when needed. I'm confident that as she gets older she will start to simply leave the evacuations for walks (she does evacuate when we walk - and we encourage her to do this all we can, but there's always more left so to speak). I've been reluctant to go that route because I think of this a cat-like and that it'll make us lazy, but right now there's just pee and poo going on in abundance. Spreading vinegar seems to have no effect.

The nipping and mouthing is also happening quite a lot still. Tried the vocal cues but it has short term effect really.

As much as I appreciate there are probably some better "dog handlers" out there than me, I'm putting most of this down to her age and am thinking she will eventually change her ways. She's just a baby after all.

I'm encouraged that above all I seem to have a very happy girl and that's what counts. And boy does she grow fast!

One thing I would warn about is that on two occasions my girlfriend has over heard bystanders talk about her (when they didn't realise my girlfriend was the owner) and, perhaps jokingly, talk about "taking that dog". It's nice to have a beatiful pup, but be careful...

BTW, does anyone know a park or large grassy area that is well suited (and allowed) for dogs to roam in Bangkok?

[dotx]

I might be too late with this information, but here it goes anyway.

1. Never hit your dog for going to the toilet inside. She has no idea this is wrong and hitting will only cause her to mistrust you. Also, unless you catch her in the act, she won't understand why you're upset, so it won't help anyway.

2. If you do catch her in the act, say "No" firmly and take her outside if possible, so she finishes her "business" there.

3. Puppies have to pee every 3-4 hours. They can't hold it longer than that. So if you're walking her only once or twice a day, it's normal that she'll have to pee inside the house. She can't help it at this age. As she gets older, she'll be able to hold it for longer, so twice-a-day walks should be ok.

4. I have a rescued mixed labrador puppy. As golden retrievers, labradors chew on EVERYTHING. The other day I was sitting on the bed with my laptop and he kept trying to chew the keyboard. I mean, there are no limits. I understand this is how they explore the world, so I'm trying to be understanding. When I see him chewing something innapropriate, I tell him NO and remove the object or push it away. I also buy him tons of chewies. He's more likely to chew on new ones, because of the novelty, so I buy replacements often. They cost nothing compared to the cost of replacing every single piece of furniture in the house! He's 9 months now and a lot better than he was when he was younger. The OUCH thing worked really well to get him to stop gnawing on my fingers, btw.

5. Other than that, patience, patience, patience. They're so worth the extra work.

[cmsally]

Great dogs and full of energy. As Villagefarang says online training techniques are as good as you'll get. We have Eleven of the monsters and wouldn't part with any of them now.

Wow, you must need to buy tennis balls, in wholesale quantities!