The wife and I are getting a new golden retriever puppy on Thursday. Really excited and a bit nervous, as I've never had a dog before. Any tips or recommendations? TIA!
New Puppy Tips
- Thread starter no2cyclones
- Start date
Have small reward treats for when the puppy goes to the bathroom outside. Once they are potty trained, puppies are WAY easier & less stressful.
*edit: Oh, & obviously have some carpet cleaner handy. Nature's Miracle is a highly recommended brand.
*edit: Oh, & obviously have some carpet cleaner handy. Nature's Miracle is a highly recommended brand.
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Socialize it well. With other puppies and gradually to older dogs. IMO - almost nothing worse than a dog that can't behave itself well around other dogs.
Also - I'm a big fan of what my old vet called the "potato treatment". (not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean exactly). But have the dog get used to being handled - paws, gently on the ears, come up behind it when it's feeding. Get it used to people being the boss. Particularly if you have or it will be around kids. We had a dog when I was younger that was extremely food protective. Made sure that wasn't the case this time around.
If you have a puppy obedience class over there, I'd recommend looking into that. I did the DMOTC one here in DSM. Well worth it.
Also - I'm a big fan of what my old vet called the "potato treatment". (not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean exactly). But have the dog get used to being handled - paws, gently on the ears, come up behind it when it's feeding. Get it used to people being the boss. Particularly if you have or it will be around kids. We had a dog when I was younger that was extremely food protective. Made sure that wasn't the case this time around.
If you have a puppy obedience class over there, I'd recommend looking into that. I did the DMOTC one here in DSM. Well worth it.
On that note - the second you see the puppy really start sniffing around, get it outside. Don't wait for an accident to happen - just get it outside. it'll understand pretty quick. i also got ours to pretty much obey a command of "go potty" and she'll pretty much go on command. Well - until she got treat wise and would just pretty much assume the position for a half a second then come up for her treat. But if she really has to go - she does. Someone gave me that tip way back and that is about the best one I can think of. To get your pooch to pretty much empty out on command.... so nice when leaving home or going on a trip with the dog.
Another tip given was once you have them pretty much trained, put a bell or something on the door so they can alert you they want to go. This one is tougher because if you have an outdoorsy dog (like most bigger breeds are), it may just keep banging away at that bell just to be let out for no real reason.
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when potty training, ALWAYS use the same door until they have the hang of it. I tried to cheat and take our golden out our front door in the middle of the night, set us back a good month.
-Be consistent and stick to it - If you don't want your dog on the furniture, don't let them on at any time
-Socialize, socialize, socialize - Dogs and people... bring him/her anywhere you can
-Patience and lots of it
-If you don't catch the dog in the act of doing something you don't like don't expect him/her to understand why you are upset (aka they pee and you find it)
-Take them to the spot you want them to do their business EVERYTIME
-Praise/Treat after they go outside/do something you like
-Buy a gentle leader - It's great to teach your dog how to walk without pulling and I put it on my dog all the time inside the house to calm her down.
-Don't let your dog jump on you now and pet him/her, it may be fun and innocent as a puppy but it won't be so great when they do it as an adult. Only pet your dog when it's on all fours, have your friends do this as well so your pup learns this is the only way to get the attention they want from others as well.
-Socialize, socialize, socialize - Dogs and people... bring him/her anywhere you can
-Patience and lots of it
-If you don't catch the dog in the act of doing something you don't like don't expect him/her to understand why you are upset (aka they pee and you find it)
-Take them to the spot you want them to do their business EVERYTIME
-Praise/Treat after they go outside/do something you like
-Buy a gentle leader - It's great to teach your dog how to walk without pulling and I put it on my dog all the time inside the house to calm her down.
-Don't let your dog jump on you now and pet him/her, it may be fun and innocent as a puppy but it won't be so great when they do it as an adult. Only pet your dog when it's on all fours, have your friends do this as well so your pup learns this is the only way to get the attention they want from others as well.
I always laugh about that last one. My dog understood that I was the boss pretty early on. I don't advocate swatting or anything, but I'll scold harshly - and with a Vizsla that goes a long way. But my wife doesn't. Our dog would jump, nip, play with her extra rough. So much so there were several tears in her sleeves or pant cuffs. Told my wife there was a fight for #2 in the house and she lost. Still that way - pushes her out of the way on the bed or couch. Hillarious.
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post lots of pictures!
though I do agree on the don't let them jump on you part. Some friends have dogs/friends with dogs come over and while I am an animal lover, I hate that their dogs run and jump up on you. Especially when they aren't little dogs! Our dogs at the farm never do that and I never realized how much I appreciate that they don't!
though I do agree on the don't let them jump on you part. Some friends have dogs/friends with dogs come over and while I am an animal lover, I hate that their dogs run and jump up on you. Especially when they aren't little dogs! Our dogs at the farm never do that and I never realized how much I appreciate that they don't!
With puppies it is real easy to play rough with it letting it bite your hands and such. IMO that teaches them that biting is ok.
Unfortunately, my gf has to deal with this...my dog won't jump on ANYONE but her and it's obviously a power struggle. It's fine after 5-10 minutes and I use the gentle leader when she comes over to keep her off, but it does get old and I've tried everything in the book to get it to stop. We've used spray, treats, etc and it's still an ongoing issue.
Tug of war is another. I love playing tug. But make sure only with designated toys and interrupt it often with "give" and make them give it up. Every now and then mine shows up with socks or something to get attention. Cute as hell - but can get annoying. Not the best for the socks either.
My dog has a sock fetish... so weird. She doesn't chew them or destroy them in any way, just walks around with them in her mouth.
Same, my dog will get a safe distance from me and make sure I see her just enough and then whine, obvious ploy for attention. I've found it's best to just ignore it instead of chasing after her and giving her the attention she wants.
After mine got a bit older it stopped. But it was really up to my wife to finally get more assertive. I could scold the dog - and it'd end. But then it was just "don't jump on mom when dad is around" kinda thing.
Still cracks me up when she pushes my wife out of her spot in bed or on the couch. So damn funny. Just got a new cat about a month ago. Looking like my wife may get bumped to #4 on the pecking order. Playful as hell -kinda cute. But it attacks feet as you walk by - stuff like that. My wife grins and bears it. I don't like cats :wink:
Take this from a non dog owner. When you go to visit in-laws, make sure it's ok that you bring your dog. Family events are not as fun when everyone is worried whether the dog is going to **** on the carpet, knock over wine on the white carpet, bite the kids, constantly bark, etc.
Same here. Ploy for attention. It's funny because she'll come walking through but far enough away. A "I have something I'm not supposed to" game. Clever little thing. Then she'll play keep away. The whole "give" thing comes in really handy there. I suppose I don't really help the issue - as I give in and chase her for a while most of the time.
Went to a training seminar for bird dogs to check into this. The guy advocated shock collars on the single condition - you have to try it out first. I did. Didn't get past 3 (outta 10)
I have one myself - but rarely end up using it. But it does go along with what was said earlier - you have to TRAIN a dog with an e-collar. Just jolting them does nothing. I went bird hunting with some guys (friends of a friend) who would nail the dog when it would do any random thing they didn't like. Almost sadistic actually.
Lots of good stuff here that I don't need to repeat.
For the potty training. What we did was let them out a bunch. A puppy can't make it through the night. Set an alarm and let the dog out. This one's harder but the pup can't make it through the day either. We took turn coming home at lunch for a couple months. I love that we have 2 dogs and never had an accident in the house.
I'll second the bell idea. We don't use it anymore because it's not too hard to hear a st bernard go to the door. They're not exactly sneaky. If we could teach them to close the sliding door, I wouldn't have to keep it locked to stop them from going out and leaving the door open.
For the potty training. What we did was let them out a bunch. A puppy can't make it through the night. Set an alarm and let the dog out. This one's harder but the pup can't make it through the day either. We took turn coming home at lunch for a couple months. I love that we have 2 dogs and never had an accident in the house.
I'll second the bell idea. We don't use it anymore because it's not too hard to hear a st bernard go to the door. They're not exactly sneaky. If we could teach them to close the sliding door, I wouldn't have to keep it locked to stop them from going out and leaving the door open.