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Goldens Born on October 2012

57K views 614 replies 38 participants last post by  Ernie D 
#1 ·
Dog Dog breed Canidae Mammal Golden retriever


Born first week of October. Please excuse his eyes, I was trying to capture a good shot while he was in the middle of playing with his chew toy.

Hi! We are new to this forum. We just got this adorable pup today and look forward to many happy years together :)


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#263 ·
Hey everyone! What a whirlwind holiday season this year! It seemed to blow by with the dogs. They were right up in our laps while we all unwrapped our gifts and slept politely in the hall while we had guests over for Eve's dinner. I was really proud of them!
Peaches had her vet appointment yesterday. She weighed in at 14.4 pounds at 10 weeks 1 day. She has perfected fetch and drop it now. And she patiently sits and waits for every new situation. She hasn't really changed too much. She is just a little more energetic and very lovey to us. She has gotten herself on quite a schedule and is ready for bed at 730 to 8 every night. She gets right in her crate without any issues now and just settles right down. She now sleeps a full 8 hours until its time to potty around 4 am. Then she sleeps till 6 am.

She also has made huge strides in house training. She goes to the door and waits. the first time we didn't recognize it and she pooped by the door on the tile. But all other times we've been on high alert. I wish she'd bark but she just waits but we're happy about that!

Really she is an excellent puppy. I couldn't ask for more. I really love her and her personality suits our family perfectly.

I have some photos but they are all too big so here is two of the smaller recent ones.
Dog Mammal Vertebrate Canidae Dog breed


Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae


Mammal Dog Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae
 
#264 ·
Oh, Peaches is still such a cute little fuzz ball! And she looks so small to me, compared to Thelma Lou, who weighed 12 lbs at her appt on the 26th. Maybe because I see her next to Katniss? I don't know. She's definitely fluffier than Thelma Lou!

She sounds like such a good fit for your family and I'm so glad she's settled in to a good sleeping routine. Does she not nip/bite you? You didn't mention it. That is our biggest issue right now. We are working on "easy" and "off" which she does fairly well for me, but not so well for the rest of the family, especially the 9yo. Maybe because she has Kat to teach her how to behave. ;)

Thelma Louis an excellent sleeper. She goes to bed around 9 and sleeps until 7:30 or even later if the house is quiet. And she's really good at holding her potty, if not quite so good at letting us know when she needs to go out. She does occasionally whine at the door, but it's not loud or long so if you don't catch it, she'll just move on and find a spot on the floor-usually only poop. She hasn't had an accident in several days, but I think it's just because we take her out on schedule still, not because she's letting us know. Thankfully she doesn't have to go very often, though, so it mostly works out.

I'm so impressed at her "fetch" and "drop it." Good job! I'm still trying to figure out how to get TL to lay down. I've tried all the training tips, but she doesn't respond the way they say she will (like moving the treat in a diagonal line down and she is supposed to lay down to get it. She just looks at it and then at me and stays sitting.) so we're still sticking with sit and shake and come. We've had to keep her on a leash outside most of the time now, because she's discovered fun hiding places in the hedge and runs right for them if we let her. :) But that's good, because she's getting better about being on the leash. And we've been taking her out the back door every time but had to change it up b/c the other day we went out the front and she was really timid about walking through the front door! Didn't think about that before. So now we switch it up on her. :)

Have a great weekend. Hope everyone else finds time to check in, too!
 
#265 ·
I, too, am hoping to hear how our other pups are doing! I'm so glad that Thelma is doing so well. I can't imagine Peaches sleeping that long, it would be in my dreams to not have one potty break in the night, ha ha.
I haven't tried lay down yet with Peaches. I pretty much tell Katniss go lay down and she does and then Peaches will watch and follow. I need to work on more with Peaches. It just seems to be going by so fast and a lot of our exercise and training is going out for a walk and then fetching. I need to practice more inside stuff. Perhaps I will do that tomorrow.
I feel like I have a newborn baby, my days are passing by and I feel like I haven't accomplished a thing besides making sure my family is fed and clothed, ha ha.
As far as biting, yes, you are right, Katniss helps in that department. Peaches does bite when she gets excited but we hold her muzzle shut and say no bite and she usually stops for a while. If she tries biting on my shirt or robe we spray bitter apple and boy does that work like a charm! we don't even correct her. We just quietly spray the area she is biting and she moves on. She hates that stuff and we LOVE that stuff, ha ha!!
Well, I am off. We just got home from The Hobbit and my brain is fried. That was so boring to all of us!! Now I need to play with the puppies after they were in their crates for so long. No rest for any of us! LOL
 
#266 ·
Sorry for the delay in updates! We have been quite busy and actually got engaged on Christmas! So a lot of my GRF time has been converted to online wedding planning time. We've already decided that Charlie will be the ring bearer :)

But on the Charlie front, he just amazes me every day with how fast he learns and grows. He knows "sit" perfectly at 9.5 weeks, and we're working on "fetch". "Down" seems unattainable at this point LOL. He loves to jump up and put his paws on the ottoman - he needs to quit it.

Accidents are getting less frequent and he usually goes to the door when he has to go. The only issue is that sometimes he waits until the last second and will pee right by the door if we aren't quick enough :( But Charlie never poops in the house or messes in his crate at all, which is good.





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#268 ·
Charlie was actually involved! We were opening up Christmas presents and I thought we were done, when Adam "noticed" Charlie chewing on another little present. It was the size of a necklace box so I didn't really get too excited. But then in the box was a note saying to look on the tree. And in one of the ornaments was my ring! It's so gorgeous and special. The band belonged to Adam's great-grandmother and is engraved on the inside with their wedding date in 1928! He then had the diamond and halo added which is what I've always wanted, but I really had no hand in designing this :) here's a picture:

Finger Nail Ring Nail polish Red


And here's some Christmas pics of Charlie, since that's what we're all here for!
Being an angel:
Dog Mammal Vertebrate Canidae Golden retriever


Hanging out under my mom's tree:
Christmas tree Christmas Dog Canidae Christmas ornament



A little impromptu family photo on Wednesday night:
People Love Canidae Dog Puppy love



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#270 ·
Congratulations, Amanda! What a sweet story. :) When will the wedding be? My youngest sister just got engaged, too. Lots of romance in the air this year!
Our oldest son just got married in September-a word of advice: give Pinterest (and yourself) a break. Go for personal and meaningful-not necessarily pin-worthy. ;)
I love the pictures-Charlie looks like he's pretty happy with his new digs!
 
#271 ·
Awwww congratulations on your engagement!!!!

I have been away from the forum for a while. Libby is growing so fast and I believe in a month or so will be as tall as my 1 yr old boxer! Everyday I feel as though she gets bigger. Her personality is really showing this past week. She is a super love bug.

We havent had any accidents in what feels like a couple weeks. Shes so smart when I'm upstairs she will ring the bell so I can hear her when she needs to go out and when I'm downstairs and I can see her she just sits by the door and waits to be let out. I didnt teach her that! :p:

I feel like she's been a pretty easy puppy overall.

She still jumps on people out of excitement which is such a hard command to teach. But so far I've just been telling people not to pet her until she "sits" Hope that works. And she's still a wild puppy the moment we leave the house to go on walks. Can you believe she's going on 13 weeks this Saturday!!!??? Time flies!
 
#272 ·
New Year check in:
How's everyone doing? I assume just as busy as we are. Thelma Lou is growing like a weed. She has long muscular legs and her body is getting long as well. Her mother was on the smaller side and we thought Thelma Lou would be as well, but I am wondering if she is going to take after her father, who is big and muscular and 85 lbs. Her paws are still much too big for her body.

We've been making some good strides-still, biting is the most difficult thing we deal with. My favorite times with her are right when she wakes up (she's so cuddly) and when she curls up at my feet (like now) chewing on a stick or a toy. She's getting prettier every day-my husband's aunt called her the beauty queen of dogs. :)

Potty training is still coming along. I determined yesterday that we are going to train the bell. She goes outside most of the time, but it is usually not because she signalled us, rather we just took her out. So, while there are fewer accidents, I wouldn't consider her house-trained.

Yesterday was her first scared time. Some people moved in at the end of our block, with two barky dogs-one big black, scary dog. I'll just stop here and say that I am probably unlike most people on this forum. I consider myself a cat person. I love my dog, and goldens in general, but I am not a big dog lover. Anyway, this big dog is in a fenced yard but he has a big, scary growl and bark. I really hate it, actually, because up until now the neighborhood has been so happy and kid friendly.
So we were taking our walk last night around the block and it was dark. She was sniffing along at everything when we got close to their house and then that dog started barking. She couldn't see him (in addition to the fence, there was a hedge in between us with just a small break) but that bark scared her. The boys and I tried encouraging her along but she was pulling back on the leash and didn't want to go past their house at all. I ended up picking her up and a carrying her. Her entire body was shaking, poor thing.
This house is on our usual, and practically only, walking route, so it's something she's going to have to get used to. Once we got past their house she wanted down and then was playful again.

My chore this week is to find a hotel that will allow dogs when we go visit my in-laws in a couple weeks. It's my father-in-law's 80th birthday and we are all dropping in to wish him happy birthday. The hotel we usually stay at does not allow pets of any kind so I've got to do some looking around. I don't think we can (or want to) board her and I can't think of anyone here I would leave her with for three days. Staying with the in-laws is not an option.

And other than that, life is back to normal. :) Hope you're all having a great week!
 
#274 ·
That is very interesting that you are not a dog person because our whole household is not either. Well, my husband loves all animals but we love cats the most. We have three of them, ha ha. We love our two dogs but basically I love other people's dogs from afar or not at all. Especially mangy little yippee dogs, LMAO!
But I'm so amazed at how much our dogs are like people and I do love them so much. they are a lot of work, though. Everything seems to revolve around them and we're not used to that. Cats are so easy!

That is too bad about your new neighbor's dog. We have a couple of dogs like that but not right on our walking path. We actually take a different path to avoid some dogs that are so aggressive and have a short little fence. It makes us nervous. I'm sure TL will get so used to them but I hate listening to dogs get worked up like that.

I would say it sounds like TL and Peaches are about the same on potty training. Peaches goes to the door and barely waits for us and if we don't catch her in time she pees. It was bad yesterday. She pee'd three times! So I think she is mostly going outside because we are quick enough to take her not because she is holding it on her own and telling us and then going outside. But I'm not going to complain because she does run to the door and that is tile there so not a pain to clean and it shows she is trying to get outside.

This week Peaches changed SO MUCH. She is HUGE! She just went from short, pudgy, fur ball with a little head to tall and her head got bigger (or her round belly got smaller, ha ha) and her weight seems to have soared. It feels like she has gained about two pounds in a day. It is strange when i look at her, really look at her, because she is more like a big girl puppy and not a baby any more.

As for biting, she does bite but it must not be that much because it doesn't faze me. She mostly bites if she is playing and she plays like that with Katniss and not too much with us. Now that I'm getting more sleep and getting back to a schedule again I'm focusing on more commands. I am working on Off! because she suddenly started jumping up to get our attention and I really worked on Down all day yesterday. She gets it when I use a treat and lure her but not if I just stand up and tell her down. Katniss learned it in a matter of seconds, but Peaches, not yet!

I can't wait to take her to Puppy Kindergarten! I look forward to meeting other puppy owners and learning effective ways to teach her things. I also look forward to getting Kat into her obedience class. She is so good but she doesn't listen 100% outside. That is where I want help, on her recall. Peaches is good at recall, especially outside, but I think that is because she is at that puppy age where she wants to be right by my side and Katniss is like, cya guys! ha ha.

I really have let myself go these last few weeks. I'm such a schedule orientated person for myself and I love my exercise ritual and all that but I've been so out of sorts. Matt started his school back up this morning and hopefully that will get us all back into rhythm. I cannot stand TRADOC! We've been in 18.5 years and it is so hard when he is clumped in with the whole TRADOC and have to show up at 4 am from block leave or before the weekend, or for anything that they fancy. Everyone in his class has been in a while, it doesn't make sense but what can you do? It was a mess this morning with the dogs at 230 am, the coffee pot set off Katniss and then she barked and then Peaches wanted to get up…ugh!

Anyway, hopefully the new puppy phase is fading and we can get on with our normal lives. I really would love to focus on other things and not just the dogs, if that makes sense. I think people are starting to hate talking to me cuz all it is dog this dog that!

Anyone else feel like the puppy is consuming your life??? ha ha!
 
#275 ·
I hear you. On the puppy thing and the TRADOC thing. ;)
You should post some new pictures of Peaches-have you weighed her lately? I think we'll weigh TL today. I don't know that she's a whole lot heavier but she is DEFINITELY taller and longer. She looks downrghit lanky.
Next week we are going to take a drive to meet up with some friends of ours who have an adult golden and just got a 5-month old golden rescue. I think it'll be so great for her. And still no luck on the hotel thing. I guess I am going to look at the surrounding towns. They live in a very small town....

Off to a very uncomfortable meeting.....one of the downsides of being here....
 
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#276 ·
I will try to take some photos of her today! I did weigh her this morning after I posted and she did gain 2 pounds! She was 16.6 this morning. I think she is exactly 11 weeks today.
That will be lots of fun to take tl to play with other dogs. she will be wiped out after that…
Not sure what uncomfortable meeting you have but good luck. Oh wait, if it is one that we all have to go to a class before then I'm sorry for you and for the one that you are meeting with. ugh.
 
#279 ·
I love Peaches!! She is still so fluffy! Thelma Lou looks much older in the face, I think. Plus her legs seem much longer. And she can RUN. On our walks around the block when we turn towards home and I say, "Let's go home!" She takes off flying. I have to run full out to keep up with her. I know they're not supposed to run much when they're little, but she LOVES it. It's only 4 or 5 houses so not too far, but she is stinkin fast.
 
#280 · (Edited)
I know God gives me days like today just in case there was a chance I was having some pride in some area of my life.
Sheesh.
So, I had to go to a meeting this morning. Shelby, you may have heard rumblings. It was a particular organization and a current issue. I'm sure you can figure it out. That was annoying.
Then this afternoon we decided to take Thelma Lou out for some socializing. We went to Lowe's first. She was afraid of the cars in the parking lot so I carried her. Then we got in the store and she spent the entire time pulling at her leash to try to get to people so they could pet her. I should have brought treats because she would only hold a sit for a second. Then she finally found someone who would give her the attention she thought she deserved. Licked her to death, squirmed all over, then peed on the floor. Nice.
So we left Lowe's. ;)
Went to Chickfila for milkshakes and had a homeless person approach the car wanting money to buy food at McDonalds. I offered to buy her Chickfila right there and she declined. Thus ensued a conversation with the 9yo about homelessness in general and how to help people help themselves.
On to Petsmart because her Christmas leash has now turned into a NCState leash since Christmas is over and we can't have that on our Tar Heel dog! I carried her then put her in the cart. One good thing that came out of the trip was that I met a lady who runs one of the training places here! She is ex-military and trains handlers but also does obedience and such. Had a really nice talk with her-Thelma Lou behaved for that, thank goodness. Spent another 80 bucks on her. How??? I used to buy shoes and expensive coffee drinks for myself. Now I buy leashes and elk antlers for the dog.
Then we came home and the neighbor was outside with her boxer, whom Thelma Lou is both terrified of and intrigued by. There was lots of scooting across the grass, rolling on her back, and other submissive behavior but she couldn't being herself to get close enough to let Helga sniff her. We stayed outside for a good ten minutes with them, then stayed another five minutes trying to get her to go potty. Finally gave up and came inside. Took off her leash and she walked right over to the carpet and peed. :mad: Seriously?
So. Cleaned it up, pretended everything was fine like I'm supposed to, got her dinner, went to the bathroom myself and came down to take her outside. Stood another 10 minutes or so outside, repeating "go potty!" A million times and came in. Smelled something funny and found out that she didn't need to poop outside because in the 2 minutes I was in the bathroom after she finished eating she had pooped on the floor.
Now she's snoozing peacefully away in her puppy jail. If someone wakes her up, I may have to get ugly......
Sigh....
 

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#281 ·
I don't think TL looks older because I think she has such an adorable puppy face to me but I do think her legs are longer!! I am very curious to see how she grows. I wonder if her fur will grow longer? Peaches should look just like Katniss as far as her body and so forth. I don't know how her face will be. She should have the same "face skin" as Katniss. That is what my daughter calls Kat's jowls. LOL. We love them, we pull on them and so forth. They are so soft, ha ha.
Peaches can run really fast but it is funny to watch since her legs are shorter. I do the same thing, I let them run home when we are in eyesight of our house. They love that!!
I feel ya on the accident in the house. That is how Peaches was the other day. Just one after the other and it was annoying. We couldn't even get her out in time. In fact, we worried that she had a UTI but it was fine the next day.
I'm so out of the loop I have no idea what you are talking about as far as your meetings went. It sounds terrible. The last job Matt had was beyond stressful for me as far as spousal responsibility and since we moved I have mentally checked out, ha ha! Plus we live around NO military so I just don't talk about it that much. Probably why I enjoy talking about it with you on here, ha ha.
Funny about the boxer. Our good friends have a super hyper boxer. He bounces all around our girls. Katniss was slightly intimidated, she wasn't sure how to deal with his jumping but later got playing with him. Peaches on the other hand immediately started growling and barking. She growls and barks a lot. She definitely thinks she is bigger than she is! Ha ha! Poor Kat is often on the other side of her sharp teeth and crazy growling but she does say enough sometimes and I hear Peaches yelp. She deserves that!
 
#282 ·
I know-Peaches looks like an exact replica of Katniss on a smaller scale. :) That's neat.
I don't know about Thelma Lou's fur. It looks fluffier in person than it does in pictures but its definitely not as long as Peaches'. It was wavy-er when she was younger but it's gotten pretty straight now. I think she and Libby look a lot alike. And there is another new pup on the board (I forget who) who has a puppy who looks just like her. Shorter does not mean less shedding, though, as I am currently demonstrating on my black running pants and t-shirt.
Today is our last day with the college girl home so we are heading out to find something fun to do. Have a good start to the weekend!
 
#288 ·
I laughed when I saw that picture of Charlie with the beer the first time! It really cracked me up. A dog after my husband's heart, right there.
Love the photo of you brushing L. So sweet. But it doesn't count since we can't see your face!!

I realized I do not have any photos of myself with the pups. I'm always taking them! So I jumped on photo booth and forced poor Peaches to take one with me. She wasn't impressed.
The quality is really low but at least I don't have to resize it! :)
oh and I threw one in with Katniss for good measure! I have no makeup on, lol!
Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae


Dog Mammal Vertebrate Canidae Dog breed
 
#289 ·
I laughed when I saw that picture of Charlie with the beer the first time! It really cracked me up. A dog after my husband's heart, right there.
Love the photo of you brushing L. So sweet. But it doesn't count since we can't see your face!!

I realized I do not have any photos of myself with the pups. I'm always taking them! So I jumped on photo booth and forced poor Peaches to take one with me. She wasn't impressed.
The quality is really low but at least I don't have to resize it! :)
oh and I threw one in with Katniss for good measure! I have no makeup on, lol!
View attachment 124345

View attachment 124353
You do not even need makeup!!!!! Haha I love peaches face..... I've seen that one before on Libby.
 
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