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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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#147 ·
hey everyone!! We are home. We've been home about two hours. She has played with our friends, took a bath, played some more. Drank. Potty'd outside. She only wants to sleep in our arms. We introduced the crate. She loved it. Until the door shut. Full on howling. Like a wild wolf, sitting with her throat up howling. Matt kept saying, don't do it, don't fall for it but man, its hard! I let her out and played a little more. This might be a hard night, lol.
 
#154 ·
#152 ·
Yay for Thelma Lou coming home!! Good luck to you guys and I hope you got a good night's sleep, ha ha!!!
I can't wait to hear how it goes! It is a lot busier than I thought it would be with her coming home because you worry she'll have an accident. Or at least I am.
So far she has only pee'd and poo'd outside, she whines a little and has this certain way about her I've noticed when she needs to go out and then she goes potty right away.
I'll get more pictures later on today. It is hard, she wants to love all over me when I try to take pictures!!
 
#153 ·
Were you up bright (dark) and early this morning? And are you at home alone with Peaches today while the kids are at school and dad is at work? (Lucky....)

SO. What is your greatest piece of advice for the first day/night, now that you've made it through?
 
#155 ·
Were you up bright (dark) and early this morning? And are you at home alone with Peaches today while the kids are at school and dad is at work? (Lucky....)

SO. What is your greatest piece of advice for the first day/night, now that you've made it through?


I second this, those of us with later gotcha days need some tips! We will have a 3-hour drive home with our little guy on Friday. I'm anticipating several potty breaks along the way.
 
#156 ·
yes, I was up at 430 and matt took her to pee pee but at 5 that was it for her, she went down at 930 and 5 am was as late as she was willing to lay in her crate.
My breeder is on my face book and I mentioned on there she wasn't liking the crate. She said point a fan on her and she'll be out. It worked so well!
Also, the crate is important. I don't know where she'd go when we went to sleep without it.
So far she has gone potty only outside.I watch her like a hawk and have noticed how she acts when she is needing to go and she whines too. Wait for her to finish before you praise her, ha ha, she will stop midstream if I say a word before she is finished.
Oh and I suggest making your kids leave the room and just you and your husband get her adjusted to the crate. Otherwise it is just too much for them with all the excitement.
We used string cheese bits and her stuffed doll that she came home with to introduce her.
She is so sweet!!
 
#157 ·
Ooooh, I was hoping hubby taking her out before PT would buy me some time. I'm setting the timer on the coffee pot tonight! :)
I love all the photos you posted-she looks so cuddly! Did you use baby shampoo for her bath? I bought some for Thelma Lou and thought we'd give her a bath tonight, too.
So funny about her going potty and stopping if you talk to her. :) That could come in handy....
Interesting about having a quiet room when we are getting her used to the crate-thanks for the tip!
We are leaving in an hour or so to get her. Is been a crazy day today made more crazy by the word that one of my hubby's units is getting back from Iraq earlier than planned so that means a lot of work and planning the next couple days! Great for them, though. And being busy means we haven't had to sit around looking at the clock tick slowly all day.....and the time is almost gone! :)

Have a fun first-full-day and I'll check in later with our little baby girl....
 
#158 ·
Ooooh, I was hoping hubby taking her out before PT would buy me some time. I'm setting the timer on the coffee pot tonight! :)
I love all the photos you posted-she looks so cuddly! Did you use baby shampoo for her bath? I bought some for Thelma Lou and thought we'd give her a bath tonight, too.
So funny about her going potty and stopping if you talk to her. :) That could come in handy....
Interesting about having a quiet room when we are getting her used to the crate-thanks for the tip!
We are leaving in an hour or so to get her. Is been a crazy day today made more crazy by the word that one of my hubby's units is getting back from Iraq earlier than planned so that means a lot of work and planning the next couple days! Great for them, though. And being busy means we haven't had to sit around looking at the clock tick slowly all day.....and the time is almost gone! :)

Have a fun first-full-day and I'll check in later with our little baby girl....

Happy Gotcha Day, Thelma Lou and family! I'll be looking out for updates tonight or tomorrow morning. Also, very glad that one of your husband's units is coming home early, even if it does mean some extra work!
 
#159 ·
oh have so much fun tonight! I'm super excited to hear your update! And of course see your pictures. That is great about the units too!
And I have dog shampoo but my breeder said to use Dawn the first few times because there is a lot of fleas going around. Today at the vet's office, the vet was happy to hear I did that last night. She said the same thing.
 
#160 ·
It's 10:00. I feel like I should be sleeping now, since the puppy is, but there's still so much I need to get done today!
What a FUN day! My 9yo kept saying, "I just can't believe she's really OURS now!" :)
Little Thelma Lou had quite the day! We got home around 5, and she did not nap at all until about half an hour ago! We played outside in the yard a long time-the weather has been so warm. Every neighborhood kid came by to visit, friends brought her (and us!) presents, the cats seem to be handling things ok.....
We didn't get her in the bath tonight b/c it got too late and I didn't want her to go to bed wet. She drank a LOT of water-is that odd? She ate her dinner, she's doing pretty good with her name, she peed twice and pooped once-all outside. I think she should have peed more with all the water she drank.
She's SO darn cute. :) ill try to get lots of pics up tomorrow. For some reason I can only load one at a time on the iPad.
But she's here--hooray!
And we are all in lovvvvvee...
 
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#164 · (Edited)
Well, we made it! We've been up for 20 minutes or so and she has already peed and pooped outside.-I have been trying to get a picture of her playing with her blue elephant-it's so cute-but she won't slow down long enough for me to get one that isn't blurry. I took one of her outside with my 9yo when he got up.

Last night went surprisingly well! I had the night shift-we slept in the family room because it was the farthest away from the family without going down to the basement. The breeder had warned us that she gets noisy in the evenings and she did have a little barking spell, but she really took to the crate well. I put her elephant inside (we had left it at the breeders' so it had her mama's scent on it) along with a couple teeny pieces of dried liver. She went in it several times during the day and when we closed the door last night she was mostly ok. She cried and whined for a minute or two, but that was just when she couldn't see me. Then she settled down and went to sleep.

She woke up at 3:30, whining a little bit, so I took her out and she pottied right away. I would like to pause here and say how THANKFUL I am that we live in the South and that we are having an unusually warm December. It was actually pleasant outside in my jammies at 3:30am! Anyway, after she peed, she wanted to run around the yard and play. She LOVES being outside. And she is almost obsessed with attacking every leaf she sees. I didn't want to let her get too awake, though, so I brought her back and out her back in the crate. She stayed awake for a little while, but didn't cry. And the next time she woke up it was 6:08. :) I didn't sleep as well, because I was listening for her, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared.

Of course, as I am writing, she is in her crate in the other room and just started this pathetic whining/howling thing... :) oh well....

We have a pen type of thing set up in the kitchen and it has been so helpful. While I cook or clean, she can hang out in there playing and she's perfectly content. She has kind of self-policed herself to stay in the kitchen mostly anyway. I think it's because there is usually a cat sitting in one of the doorways watching her. She's used to cats b/c the breeder had one, and she clearly knows that the cat is her boss. She takes one look at them and just goes the other way.

We did have an accident in the house last night, which was totally my fault. Everyone had gone to bed (we have one sick kid here) and I decided to move her crate into the other room at the last minute. It was time to take her out (she had finished her dinner and had a big drink recently) but I just thought I could get it done fast and get back to her. I left her in the pen and when I came back she had pooped. I just moved her into her crate in the family room and cleaned it up. My bad.

I suppose that's all the time I have to write now-

I'm so sorry Peaches isn't sleeping! Is she crying or just staying awake?
 

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#165 ·
We call Peaches the Leaf Thief! That is so funny because she is obsessed with leaves as well, she loves the colorful red Maple ones the most :)
Dog Mammal Vertebrate Canidae Dog breed

Yesterday she was beyond excited when Savannah came home from school. She loves everyone in the family so much and recognizes them. We took her to the school to wait for our son and even though there were a ton of kids all around her, when Steve-O walked up she nearly jumped out of my arms to get to him. she knows him!
Pink Dog Canidae Bicycle Vehicle

Here she is this morning. She is fine with the door open, although since then she moved to the side of my bed. she doesn't like the crate!
Dog Canidae Puppy Goldendoodle Fur


I'm glad Thelma is doing so well! I think that was a big fault of ours, we got home so late she didn't have time to explore the crate like I wish she could have. She doesn't like it and howls and howls, even with all the tricks we've tried. Tonight we'll take shifts laying next to her. Hopefully this is temporary because I think it is a really great thing to crate train her and I know I need that because she cannot walk around my house as she pleases. We have no walls so there is not a room to close her off in.
I'm glad everything is going well for you guys and I find it so exciting that we are able to share puppy stories with each other!! Makes the experience just that much better!
 
#166 ·
Hmm sorry to hear about peaches and the crate issues.

Heres a little advice I have (some of which you may already be doing):

When she falls asleep for naps, stick her in the crate and leave the door open so she can walk out when she wakes up.

Stick her in there awake and put a treat in it, close the door for 5-10 seconds. Open the door before she is finished and praise praise praise her! Repeat and extend the time.

Whenever she whines don't let her out unless its a pottying issue. Because that will only reinforce the whining.

Put a blanket over the entire crate so it is more like a den.

The fan is a great idea, keeps them cool and the soothing noise helps them falls asleep.

Keep your crate by your bedside and if she starts whining even after pottying, then put your hand inside so she can know you are right there with her.

Keep lots of rawhide chews, kongs, stuffed animals in there for her as I'm sure you know.


Thats all I got. I hope you can try one of things things if you havent already. I know she will learn in time and will come to love it. Good luck. I know how frustrating it can be to lose out on sleep!

Blessings!:)
 
#167 ·
thanks Meg! Yes, we've done it all. In fact! She loves those bully sticks. I only let her have it when she is in the crate. So if she tries to take it out I take it back and toss it back in the crate. So do you know what that stinkpot did? She pulled it as close to the edge of the door and sat on the outside of the crate with her head on the inside chewing on the stick!
I'm trying something new tonight. I'm going to try our cat carrier inside the crate. She liked it in the car so she might like it.
I agree, we only take her out for potty and I time it so it is every 2.5 hours. Since she howls nonstop I can't tell when it is actually potty so that is why I time it.
 
#169 ·
eh that is another thing, she just grazes her food. I dunno. I'm not treating her so she will eat her food. But she does poop and they are good poops so I know she is getting something.
I think she needs more sleep in order to relax more. I'm working on that today. In my experience of having kids, the more tired they were the harder they were to get to eat and sleep. I think she is overstimulated on top of the no sleep at night.
 
#172 ·
What a day! Thelma Lou has had a great, but busy time. We took her on some errands with us (Home Depot, yes; Target, no), she played out in the yard lots, and has not had an accident inside yet. Not because she's asking to go out yet, we have been taking her out on schedule. But she's actually pretty good at holding it, and can go for a surprisingly long time without peeing. I have had to be gone a good bit of the day but the boys have had a blast with her.
The neighbors' dog scared the dickens out of her. They can't see each other, but that one (a springer spaniel) knows she's out there and barked like crazy. Thelma Lou stopped midstream peeing, and bolted for my son's lap. :)
Since I am such a bad photographer, I am letting my son take most of the pictures of her and I'll upload them when he emails them to me, but I changed my signature to one he sent earlier.

How's Peaches?? I hope she has a better night. How are you holding up?
I am worried about steeping in poo, too. Especially since I took her outside barefoot last night and early this morning. Ew. Baby poop is no big deal to me, but dog poo is another matter....
 
#174 ·
awww I love the light shining through the windows on her. So pretty! She is so light that it makes her look white in the photo.
yay, I'm glad she has been doing good. I haven't attempted to take her anywhere in the car besides her vet yesterday but around the neighborhood and school she has been bombarded by people and loves all of them! Also there is construction in my neighborhood and big trucks come by and at first she was scared now she just looks at them. She really has been sleeping a lot today. I think she is playing catch up. She didn't sleep a wink yesterday. Also, now she is eating a lot better. I put her bowl by the cats and they all ate together. I think she was used to eating with a group.
I am so hoping she does better tonight. She has climbed in her crate several times and slept. I put my shirt in there and she loves it.
I'll keep you all keep updated!!
 
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