Hi all, thanks for providing the forum, I hope it comes in as helpful as I hope.

We got our pup, Mosby Theodore Pupperkins Thomas 11-17 at 6 weeks old, making him 11 weeks today!! He's not AKC, but that wasn't high on our list. I actually was wanting a female, since they seem more docile and my last yellow lab/border collie was female and was the best dog I've ever owned. But as soon as I saw the father with his deep red hair and Mosby with a nice red coat and deep red ear hair, I didn't care about gender anymore and couldn't resist him at that point. I always have had a thing for redheads (ask my redhead wife, haha)

Can anyone point me in good direction for him? Training and such mainly? He's pretty well potty trained now, but we are having a problem with him nipping/chewing/biting on myself, the wife, our 3 year old and 11 month old and toys that aren't his. I know he's playing, but I need to curb it and also curb him getting overly excited when someone new (like my Mom) comes over to visit.
Thanks again and in advance!!

Welcome to GRF. the price of admission for all dogs is....photos. Just kidding, but we do love pix.

Theres a lot of good info on here if you search around. Also suggest you poke around the puppy section and read what others have asked and been told.

Another good thing to do is training--it's the best way to both train and bond with your dog.

There are some really good free books online that you can download, too. I highly recommend them: http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads

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

Welcome to the forum and welcome to bitey puppy hood! I agree to search for threads on biting puppies. I went through it with Vinnie and now were in the terrible teens. One thing I had to do for awhile just to save my skin literally was to have lots of toys handy and lots of patience.

And yes, pictures are required.




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Jodi

Welcome! I have an 8 week old now named Charlie, so I can relate to the biting problem. What we do is as soon as he opens his mouth to play bite, we stick a chew toy straight into his mouth so he bites that instead. If we aren't quick enough and Charlie still bites us, we say "ouch!" in a loud, pained voice (usually don't have to fake that!) and we get up and walk away. That way Charlie sees that biting makes his playtime stop. We are seeing slow improvement good luck!!


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Welcome to the forum! Pictures?!?! I definitely recommend training right away - whether its in the home or starting puppy class. Goldens are really high energy and weigh a decent amount so good manners are a must! As for biting - teach no bite right away! I just use a stern "NO" and replace whatever he was biting with an appropriate toy. When it comes to biting people I'm much more stern - I do a little grab on the mouth (closing it shut - not in a violent or aggressive manner) and say "No Bite". They pick that one up really quick - i have no tolerance for biting because I have 4 year old baby sisters who visit a lot. Both my 3 month old and 5 month old now only ever nip when they get over excited and even then that's rare Hope this helps. There are a myriad of great threads on this site, you're going to love it here!

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"Nothing can bring more happiness than a Golden Retriever"

One of the reasons you're having so much trouble with him nipping is that you brought him home a couple of weeks too early. Those last two weeks with his mom and litter mates would have started him on the road to learning bite inhibition. I'm not saying it wouldn't have happened if you brought him home at 8 weeks, but it definitely would have been an easier process to teach him. Can't change that now, though, so here's a few links to help you out:

Teaching Bite Inhibition | Dog Star Daily

Bite Inhibition Training | Karen Pryor Clicker Training

Teaching Bite Inhibition - Whole Dog Journal Article

BTW, I wouldn't "do a little grab on the mouth". A lot of times this will escalate the problem, depending on the puppy.

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Karen, Chance, Lucy and Savanah RB



“Everyone needs a dog to adore him, and a cat to bring him back to reality”

This is a good point, its always worked for me but some dogs don't react well to negative reinforcement. There are a million different ways to teach a puppy not to bite - hope you find one that works for you!

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"Nothing can bring more happiness than a Golden Retriever"