Hi, I have a sixteen week old golden retriever puppy, I've been working with him to sit, shake,lay, and walk on a leash. He is doing pretty well, but at times he doesn't listen, he barks for no apparent reason sometimes, he is good by his self, but when people visit he gets so excited and jumps all over them and his good behavior goes right out the window. I understand puppies will be puppies, but at what age do I stop using the excuse, he's just a puppy, and expect to see more good behavior results
One of the most delightful traits of Golden Retrievers is that they keep their puppy ways into adulthood. At 16 weeks he should be in obedience class. Classes will teach you how to teach him so when people say "My isn't he well-behaved" you can say "Yes, and he's just a puppy".
Your local Golden Retriever club can help you find a good trainer/classes in your area.
Seriously, keep training but right now you need to internalize that it is not an excuse, it is reality. He is a puppy and he won't be perfect, he can't, he is too young. He needs time to mature into a perfect dog.
I never make excuses. Puppies are constantly in training, and while mistakes may be made periodically, they are not excused, they are corrected, and used as "teachable moments" (me being ever so PC...thought I'd try it out... And we keep moving forward.
You have to be consistent. I never allow Gibbs to jump on me or anyone that visits. If he does, he is always corrected with an "off" because like one said, he is always learning.
I join in with the puppiness is never an excuse for bad behavior group.
They can learn at 8 weeks old not to jump on people. If you expect and enforce good behavior, you get it. If you allow bad behavior by making excuses for the dog/puppy, you will get bad behavior.
It's much easier teach good behavior from the beginning than to try to correct bad behavior later on.
Preventing bad behavior is ever so much easier than correcting it. Start early.
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