I joined the forum just over 24 hours ago & have attempted to put up a photo of my soon-to-be sixteen weeks old puppy Loki, but haven't been able to do so. I finally worked out that my photo was too large to attach to my message, so my husband has downsized it for me, & am going to attempt to attach it to this message. Fingers crossed. Wow .....it worked! So here is my lovely GR puppy Loki at the age of almost 14 weeks, photo taken a couple of weeks ago ....he is bigger now. He weighed 15.4kilos at 13 weeks old when he had his last vaccination. Heavier now, but he hasn't been weighed since then. Loki was out of a litter of five boys & he was the biggest in the litter. He is quite a character ....tends to try & dominate my 6 year old papillon, but only when I am in the room, so I am guessing it comes down to the green-eyed monster of jealously ....he will plop himself down onto my feet the moment little Jontay comes over to me. Apart from that, we don't have too many issues, & those we have, we are working hard to eradicate & he is responding well. Mouthing & nipping are now getting well controlled & jumping is mostly manageable. We are now even able to eat our dinner when he is in the room with us. He sleeps between 6.5 and 7 hours straight through the night, has never once pooped in the house since we brought him home at 7 weeks old, has been fully toilet trained since he was nine weeks old, & is training well to all the basic commands ....sit, down, stay, leave it, touch, & shake. He is now learning to retrieve a ball or stick when thrown & he is told to fetch it & bring it back. He has the fetch it down well now, but we are still working on the bring it back lol ... sometimes he will bring it back, but will hang on to it, but other times he will dash off madly with it. Occasionally he will actually bring it back & drop it in front of me, so I am hopeful it won't take long. He is smart young chap. And I think he is very handsome. He loves his twice daily walks, & always draws attention. He is great meeting up with new people ...doesn't jump up on them. He tends to sit on their feet, enjoying the fuss they are making of him. And he is great meeting up with new dogs too. No barking at them. I am thinking that maybe he might make a good therapy dog & we could begin visiting elderly people in our local residential care facility, when he is a bit older & has a bit more training behind him. I think there must be many elderly people in these places, who have had to give up a beloved pet when they could no longer live in their own home, so they might enjoy a visit from Loki. As a nurse, I know that petting a dog/cat is a great stress reliever for humans. Does anyone else do this sort of thing with their GR? If so, what age should he be before we began that, & is there special training I should be thinking of doing with him? Well enough of me going on .....I just wanted to introduce you all to my beautiful baby.

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welcome!!! it worked!!

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Thanks for sharing. Loki is quite the handsome boy. Our Max does some visits to a nearby assisted living facility where my MIL lives. He was at least 18 months old and been through advanced obedience at his first visit. Max has a very calm and friendly temperament. Good luck with your boy.

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Dave

Welcome Man, is Loki cute. Awwwww.

I've found when teaching 'fetch' having a 2nd ball in my hand does the trick. I say 'give' while I'm showing them the other ball. When they drop the one in their mouths after a 'give', I say "good boy!!" and throw the other one for them. Repeat. It's worked very well for me.

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Welcome to GRF. Loki is a very handsome fellow, and I love his name. However, if I recall correctly, the Norse god Loki was a troublemaker, and it sounds like your pup is not!

In the States, people usually get therapy dog training, and pass a special test. Then they usually work through a nonprofit group to make the visits. But I'm not sure about New Zealand. Here is one website that can give you information: Therapy Dogs International.

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Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

Thank you for the nice comments & the therapy info ... & the suggestion re fetch it. I will get hold of another ball & try that. Sounds sensible. Yes, Loki is the Norse God of Mischief & Loki can live up to that name occasionally. We've had our moments! But basically he is a good boy, as long as we are consistent & firm, but lots of cuddles & fun along with that. The main issue, as mentioned above, is his jealousy of our six year old papillon. They do appear to get on well, though Jontay has never been a dog who likes to romp about the garden. But they mooch around together. Once they come back indoors, however, Loki becomes jealous,& very possessive of me, & will push his way in between me & Jontay, if the papillon has come over for a cuddle. Loki can actually get quite bullying with him ...barking at him & sidling up against him ...of course he is already four times heavier than little Jontay, so I have to intervene & Loki gets firmly told off. If he continues to do it, I will place Loki into his play pen enclosure for a couple of mins timeout. If he still does it, I then do the blocking bit, putting myself between him & Jontay & moving around to block him from reaching Jontay. Loki then gets fedup & moves away & then I tell him he's a good boy & give him a cuddle. I guess this might go on for a while.

Great picture of your Loki, he's a good looking boy.

There is a Therapy Dog section on the forum, it has a lot of great info.

Here is the link for the Section-

Golden Retriever Therapy Dogs - Golden Retrievers : Golden Retriever Dog Forums

Since you are located in NZ, you might want to do a search to see if you can pull up any info on Therapy Dog organizations there.