[tania]

[edit: 3 months, not 3 weeks! sorry!]

Hi all!!

I am new to this forum! I just got a puppy 5 days ago and I wanted to be sure of what breed it is. Is it a golden or a mix? Her pic is in a link below (or my profile pic). I would love her the same being her a pure-breed or not.

She is 13 weeks. She is started Petco puppy classes and seems to love people and other dogs. One of my concerns is that she is very mouthy. I understand that this is common with puppies, but she will bite harder and constantly when I say a firm-but-not-loud "NO", or ignore her, or walk away (she will follow me biting very hard my legs). Redirecting doesn't really work. Sometimes she turns really angry out of nowhere. When she can't bit us she tear the newspaper apart 'violently'. Help?? Is this normal? Is she a bit over aggressive? Am I not understanding her? :bowl:

I am trying my best to train her not to be dominant. I eat first, she sits and stays before she eats.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!:wavey:
Tania

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/53d05 (her picture)

 

[Bentley's Mom]

She is adorable. Definitely looks like she has golden in her (the pictures a little small for my eyes She is NOT aggressive or dominant she is just a normal puppy. Puppy class will help and once she's done teething she won't be as bitey. As for the newspaper, Bentley would do that every time if I left them within his reach.

 

[Amberbark]

3 months?

Did you mean 3 months instead of 3 weeks? She is a cutie and looks GR to me. :wavey:

 

[mylissyk]

She is a cutie, and looks like a Golden Retriever to me, beautiful red head. Totally normal puppy mouthing behavior, she is just playing the way she would with other puppies. You can try using a high pitched "ouch" when she puts teeth on skin, actually put a toy in her mouth to redirect, or even teach her to "kiss" instead. Put some peanut butter on your hand and when she licks it say, "good kiss", practice that, and then when she starts to bite tell her to "kiss" and she will learn to lick instead of chew on you.

 

[Pemphredo]

the pup looks like a beautiful golden retriever to me. :O)

She is a cutie, and looks like a Golden Retriever to me, beautiful red head. Totally normal puppy mouthing behavior, she is just playing the way she would with other puppies. You can try using a high pitched "ouch" when she puts teeth on skin, actually put a toy in her mouth to redirect, or even teach her to "kiss" instead. Put some peanut butter on your hand and when she licks it say, "good kiss", practice that, and then when she starts to bite tell her to "kiss" and she will learn to lick instead of chew on you.

MAN, good advise! I will be using some of these LOL Sharlette is such a mouthy girl LOL

 

[Discoverer]

Where did you get her? Does she have any paper at all? She looks like a golden, but a little too big for 13 weeks. Is she a bit overweighted? Even so, her paws are huge and legs are very long, very cute though On the other hand "mouthy" is 100% golden pup's behavior. It's not aggression by any means and very normal and common for all golden pups. It usually gets better with age and best way to deal with biting is to have a toy handy so you can distract her from biting your hands/clothing. And please for the God sake - DO NOT TRAIN her not to be dominant, forget everything you heard and read about alpha, dominance and pack leader. For the young puppies like yours gentle and positive reinforcement works much better than correction and force. Be patient, make sure she got enough exercise every day and soon (in about 6-12 months) mouthing will be a history. I promise :wavey:

 

[HiTideGoldens]

She looks like a normal golden to me. And sounds like she's acting like a normal golden puppy!

 

[Golden999]

Biting is just her way of trying to play with you.

Look at the size of her teeth. As hard as the biting may seem to you, if she was trying to injure you, she'd break skin and you'd be bleeding all over. If you're not bleeding, she's just playing rough.

If you see two dogs play, especially puppies, they often do the same thing. I take my dog to visit some relatives' dog, and they're always running and wrestling and biting each other. Every once in a while someone witnesses it and is sure they are trying to tear each other to shreds, but they're very careful and never even break skin. In fact, they're always pestering me to take them outside when I'm there so they can frolic and roughhouse with each other.

Golden retrievers in particular are very mouthy -- bites, licks, etc.. The shredding paper stuff is pretty normal. My dog loves to try to get his hands on tissues and paper towels and stuff and shred.

Obviously, particularly with the biting, you want to train them out of doing that as best you can. My dog has always been really bitey, and the best I can seem to do is get him to stop trying to nip other people, but he'll still nip me- I guess because I'm a member of his pack and, therefore, he assumes acceptable to play the biting game with no matter how much I seem to object. But most dogs you can train not to bite at all. The golden I had as a child gave up on biting pretty quickly. Temperament plays a factor, obviously.

When I first went to look at him when he was a little 2 month puppy, the first thing he did was march right up to me and bite me. Then I gave him a gentle pat on the side of his head, he flipped on his back and spent the next 10 minutes biting my hand. For some reason, this made me say "I'll take him!". I actually preferred that behavior to some of the other puppies who were still available who just ignored me and didn't try to interact. I knew it meant he was fun loving and enjoyed playing with new people, which is a good trait in a dog in my book.

 

[Discoverer]

...most dogs you can train not to bite at all.

Yes you could, but why would you? Biting is a natural behavior and teaching otherwise doesn't seem like a good thing to teach. What you'll definitely need to teach your dog is the biting inhibition, so your dog doesn't play rough and hurt you. That's when the high pitch ouch and teaching to lick your hand instead of biting get handy.

 

[tania]

Thanks for all your comments!!

I 'yelp' when she bites me (forgot to mention that). It doesn't really work when she is her "angry" state. But as you guys said, it might just be her 'puppyness' state! : o )
I am reading a lot about positive reinforcement, thanks for all the suggestions!

The only paper I got was her vaccination routine. She had a previous owner before who had problems with the landlord. It only stayed with that other family for a few days and it went to me. She has her first set of shots done.

I just got a 800 series crate for her yesterday and put a divider so it will be muuuch smaller. I left it with the door open and played with her a lot around it. She didn't seem to be afraid at all. She actually spend this past night in there with the door open. She is almost potty trained. She does all her business in the newspaper. (but there are still some accidents).

Gotta love her!

 

[Discoverer]

She does all her business in the newspaper. (but there are still some accidents).

Are you planning to let her do business in the newspapers when she's grew up too?

 

[ozzy'smom]

She looks like a Golden but it's possible she is a mix. If it matters to you your vet can do a DNA test to deteremine her breed. I don't think it's as expensive as you'd think.

As others have said that mouthing is SO normal of puppies. Ours was AWFUL as a pup. I understand it seems angry and agressive to you but it's not. That doesn't mean you don't want to try to stop it but don't worry that you're raising a mean dog. Ozzy got MUCH better about 4 months but sill occassionally will try to play bite with us. He's old enough now to stop when I say a firm no. When I watch him play with other dogs they look like they are killing each other but it's all for show.

 

[Pemphredo]

Did you mean 3 months instead of 3 weeks? She is a cutie and looks GR to me. :wavey:

I think maybe she meant 13 weeks

 

[Willow52]

She looks like a normal golden to me. And sounds like she's acting like a normal golden puppy!

ditto

and congratulations!

 

[bioteach]

She's one lucky pup to have found a loving home. It's extremely difficult to know if a youngster is a purebred just from an adorable photo. I concur that the DNA test will give you much more information. I assume that she came without papers of any kind.

I would guess that she has a lot of golden in her even without the photo. Young goldens love to explore the world mouth first. You are living with a dog going through a very difficult but hopefully brief developmental stage. I remember Nugget just a year ago - we stocked up on band aids! Now he bites tennis balls instead.

Whatever her lineage, she's darling!

 

[tania]

Are you planning to let her do business in the newspapers when she's grew up too?

Well, I was thinking about leaving always the newspaper on the bathroom. Is this a terrible idea?

I am walking her twice a day and she also does her business outside.

--

To avoid confusion, she is 13 weeks (end of 3 months). The breed does not really matter so much to me, but in her vet notebook it says Golden. She is from Mexico apparently. I don't know much of her history..

Thanks for all your messages! It is the first time I have a dog and this forum is great!

Tania

 

[Discoverer]

Well, I was thinking about leaving always the newspaper on the bathroom. Is this a terrible idea?

For the large breeds like Golden eliminating indoors is a bad idea. The fact that you train her to relieve herself inside the house can extend the housebreaking training for a very long time. Your puppy never really understands why it is okay to eliminate inside sometimes, but not always. Why can she pee on this piece of paper in bathroom, but not on a carpet? There is lot of reading on the web and this forum of how to properly house train your golden, read it and teach her right from beginning, it will save the puppy a lot of confusion.
Here is some good article to start with: How to Successfully House Train a Puppy | The Real Owner

 

[bonacker]

Good luck with the mouthing! My Hunter was the worst. I tried EVERYTHING I read and nothing helped. I was really worried that it was a behaviorial problem and not just typical puppy mouthing, but as time passed, so did Hunter's passion for flesh and blood. Just remember .... THIS TOO SHALL PASS! Enjoy that beautiful puppy! She's gorgeous!

 

[Sally's Mom]

Looks like a GR to me!!!

 

[tania]

And please for the God sake - DO NOT TRAIN her not to be dominant, forget everything you heard and read about alpha, dominance and pack leader. For the young puppies like yours gentle and positive reinforcement works much better than correction and force. Be patient, make sure she got enough exercise every day and soon (in about 6-12 months) mouthing will be a history. I promise :wavey:

Thanks Discoverer! I have been reading a lot about different methods of training and just learned now that actually I don't need to treat my dog as a wolf. :doh: I never used *any* force, but I said NO sometimes.

What I am still confused is.. what about eating? Should I make her wait to get her food as I have been doing? Is this also a "dominance thinking" type of training?

I certainly just want her to be very happy and safe in her new life.

Also, about the crate training: thanks for the link!

ps: sorry about my English.. second language! :