De Winton Golden Retrievers
Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada
Tips On Bringing Your New Puppy Home And
MORE
Sleeping
Feeding
House Training
Disciplining And Training
Play
Tips on Bringing Your New Puppy Home
And MORE
I know this may sound silly, but be expecting to have
a two year old toddler in the house. Goldens love to
chew, even past their teething stage. Provide your puppy
with good quality toys. The cheaper ones will only be
destroyed in five to ten minutes. I've gone through many
and have learned the cheaper toys are actually the
expensive ones. Toys that are for children are unsuitable,
expecially if they are small and easy to break. Ensure
children's toys are kept out of your puppy's reach as he
or she could choke or cause serious damage by swallowing.
In the time period between three to fourteen weeks; it is
crucial to introduce your pet to as many new experiences
as possible. For example: other dogs, water, car rides,
bathing, handling of their paws to allow for easier nail
clipping, people, children, loud noises, vacuum cleaner,
just to name a few. By doing this your pet will not fear
a situation as much or at all if you hadn't.
Get down on your hands and knees. Now you can see your home
from a dog's perspective. Look around and see what trouble
he or she can get into. Are there electrical cords to chew
on, plants ready to be attacked and torn up with glee, books/
magazines, an antique tableleg to knaw on? There are great
products on the market such as 'bitter lotion' which tastes
just terrible and can be sprayed onto precious furniture
and even walls to discourage your pup from chewing. If
your Golden can't be supervised, provide a safe area where
it can be housed. This could be a pen in your basement,
a blocked off area in a stairwell landing, a kennel or a
run set up in your backyard. Ensure if your Golden is
housed where there is a cement floor, to seal it with a
good cement paint. This will save your cement floor from
damage as urine will penetrate the surface holding the
smell despite your gallant efforts to eliminate it.
Sleeping
When your puppy comes home, it maybe upset leaving all
it's litter mates and both moms. All the familiar scents
and sites it has known are now replaced with new ones.
A towel provided by you
will have been scented with it's mother and litter mates
which makes a great 'Security Blanket' until your puppy
adapts to its new arrangements.
If you wish your puppy to sleep with you, be prepared to
get up in the night to allow him or her to go outside
to do 'it's business'. Pull their food and water way
about four hours prior to bedtime. This will cut down
the repeat visits to the backyard in the night.
If you choose to kennel train your puppy, he or she can
be placed in their kennel in your bedroom for bedtime sleep.
Your Golden may whine to get out. They do in most cases
adapt to a kennel well, but be prepared for yelping and
crying that may lead you to believe your puppy is being
murdered. You need to be firm and patient at this time
or you may end up with the puppy in your bed which you may
not want to do for the long haul. Dogs generally like to
bed close to their master as they are pack animals. If they
are housed far away, they think they have been bad and
are a castoff because of some wrong doing.
One suggestion is to invest in EAR PLUGS
Bedding should be of natural fibre like wool as it absorbs
moisture yet keeps your pet warm. I recommend buying
blankets from thrift stores as they are less expensive.
Goldens love chewing and tearing so an expensive quilted
bed could be destroyed in a matter of minutes. A five
dollar blanket over a fifty dollar designer bed destroyed
has its merits.
Feeding
Provide your puppy with the best nutritional food possible. What I have learned
with the sad experience of laying my Melissa to rest burdens and sickens me with what the
commercial dog food industry is doing to our beloved pets. To learn more on the Pet Food Industry
CLICK HERE
NO CHOCOLATE!!
Chocolate will cause extreme damage to your pet's liver.
Please Do Not Give Your Golden COOKED Bones
If you provide bones for your golden, ensure they are NOT cooked. Cooked bones will splinter.
Always supervise your golden if providing UNCOOKED bones. Cooked bones can cause much damage as you Golden will swallow
them whole and won't be able to, in some cases to digest
or pass them. This can be a costly operation to remove
the bone.
House
Training
Kennel training is excellent for house training your
Golden. I suggest to not put newspaper down in their
pen. Goldens love to tear paper and eat kleenex. All
you will have is a smelly mess and newspaper resembling
wet papermache. This mess is much harder and timely
to clean up. The newspaper ink penetrates your linoleum
floor plus your pet gets newspaper ink on their paws
which now can be tracked on your carpet. Keep a bucket of
disinfecting cleaning solution close
at hand to clean their area.
With house training, my best advice for all aspects of
training and discipline/obedience is patience and
consistency. Goldens are very active with tons of
energy to burn and a keen sense to please you.
A good sign to watch for when your Golden is going to
need to go to the bathroom is directly after a sleep/nap.
Immediately take your Golden out the same door to a
certain/specific area to do its business. Also you will
observe during play with your puppy, he or she will stop
the play. Your puppy will then start heading for a corner
with their tail up and nose to the ground pacing at
a frantic rate. Quickly gather up your Golden and head
for the door using a specific command such as :'outside'
or 'go pee'. A client of mine uses the command 'hurry up'.
You choose the command that best suits you and your family.
The word/s or phrase you all use will key your Golden
into the act of doing its business outside, not in the
house. Repeat the command several times and praise your
Golden for a well job done. Give a treat after
'mission accomplished'. Before you know it, your Golden
is heading for the door. Watch for it. Even during
play, ask your Golden whether they need to go outside.
Sometimes they forget they have to go because of all
the fun they are having. There will be errors but not
to fret, firm reminders will get your Golden on the right
track. Puppies have a faster metabolism than adult dogs
and can't wait when they have to go. Bear this in mind
when accidents are happening.
Disciplining And Training
NEVER/EVER hit your Golden with anything when correcting
and disciplining. Use positive/reward response to a
correct action on a command. Use firm short words
with strength in your tone and repeat with command
and the action until they get it correct. Once they
get it right, reward with praise and a treat. If
their behaviour is out of line, a simple strong NO
should suffice but sometimes Goldens can be stubborn
and will test you; just like children. You may also find
once a male Golden enters puberty, about six to seven
months old, will test you for Leader of the Pack.
This behaviour is shown by refusing to do a command;
even growling or biting. Although this maybe disturbing,
this behaviour is normal and to not take offence by his action.
They need to know who is the Leader of the Pack. If the
bad behaviour continues, simply hold your Golden by
the jowls and lift their front legs off the ground,
just so their paws are not touching the ground, and
repeat NO quite firmly and stare them down. Once your
Golden averts its eyes, you have won the war. Be brave
and DO NOT back down. Sometimes it is necessary to
actually wrestle your Golden to the ground and on its
back with the stare down plus the strong command of NO.
This is quite effective if practiced within their first year
of training; when the males challenge for Leader of the Pack.
Dogs understand this procedure through pack instinct.
If you find damage or a mess and you didn't see it happen,
don't bother disciplining as your Golden will not understand
why, even if you are pushing their nose in it.
(Never do that!) Your Golden will think you are being
a big meany and will learn to only fear you. The only
person to blame is you for allowing the situation to
happen in the first place. Goldens don't associate
the bad deed with you giving them a reprimand after the fact.
Puppies love to chew on anything, even your ankles
and fingers. This can be quite painful as their milk
teeth are needle sharp. Try to not jerk your foot or
hand away from the puppy but cry like a puppy. You
will find your pup will release their grip quickly.
Goldens need LOTS of attention and you will find they
will demand it, especially the males. They are extremely
loyal and loving.
They Are Also Little Devils With Big Hearts
They like to steal your socks/underwear, anything heavy
with your scent. There have been many times I've found my
clothing in my Golden's bed . . . . .chewed. They do
this because they love you and it is also apart of their
bonding process. It can be cute at first but eventually
it does loose its charm, especially when you are trying
to get dressed and Fido takes off with your pants thinking
this the most funny thing and why aren't you enjoying
this game as much as I am? Take a deep breath and pursue
your Golden CASUALLY. Have your Golden "sit" on command,
gently remove the article from their mouth by opening the
back part; by their molars, and then praise your Golden.
The reason for training your Golden this way is in the
event they take off with a article hazardous to
their health or precious, you want it back undamaged.
Make the game giving the article back to you. By doing
this your Golden's mouth remains 'soft'. Hunters train
their Goldens to have soft mouths so when they have downed
game, the Golden retrieves the game without damaging it.
Do not play Tug of War with your Golden. This will ruin all
your efforts of keeping their mouth soft. It also promotes
aggression. In the near future, your Golden will be bringing
everything to you. I have woken up many
mornings with toys, socks, slippers, shoes, etc. in my bed
with a very proud Golden looking for affection for bringing
all these treasures to me.
Play
Goldens LOVE playing in water. If there is a puddle
close by, your Golden will find it. I recommend purchasing
a childs pool, the hard plastic type. Your Golden will
have loads of fun playing in it. Throw a stick into a
lake or river and see what happens. Pure joy for your Golden.
For the first couple of years do not encourage your Golden
to jump up. This can cause damage to their hips; especially
during their first years of development. Hip dysplasia
is genetic but also can be caused through injury by rough
play and also bad nutrition. Genetic Predisposed Hip dysplasia,
if very serious, will rear its ugly head within the first
year of development of your Golden. Euthenizing is the
most humane way in dealing with this problem. The puppy
looses its ability to use it's hind legs as the ball joint
will not stay in the hip socket. There is a hip replacement
operation available but it is very costly and presently not
done in Calgary, as far as I know.
Your Golden needs plenty of exercise so get out for walks/runs
to keep your Golden healthy and strong. Your Golden will sleep
better at night if exercised regularly plus you both will be
in great shape for it.
These suggestions and insights should cover you for a
couple of months to start. Further training should be
considered. Shop around for a trainer who uses positive
and firm applications. There are good ones and there are
some real bad ones. Get references.
All in all, just plain enjoy their vitality and wonderful
amusing and indearing personality which will captivate
you for many years to come.
Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
De Winton Golden Retrievers
British Columbia, Canada
