[kevinandheather]

Hi All!

We are new to the Golden Retrievers forum and Golden Retrievers.

I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction. We brought Cody home about 7 days ago and he's 12 weeks old. Overall he has been pretty good and seems to learn really fast. The major issue right now is every morning (seems to only be in the AM) he likes to bite our legs, jeans, shorts, robes etc... we give him a stern NO!! every time he does this and try to put a toy in his mouth instead but doesn't seem to be getting the point. Is there anything else we should do to prevent this now before it gets worse as he gets older?

Also how much water should we be giving him a day? We currently have been giving him 3 bowls a day but always wants more I know its vital to his health.

Thanks for reading any help is Greatly appreciated.

 

[LuckyPup]

Kevin,

I am sure there are people a lot more informed than me but we go through this every morning as well! Especially with my kids. We adopted Lucky 2months ago and he had no training at all (but potty) so we had to start like he was a little pup.

We tried redirecting with a toy. It did not work with Luck. We also tried ignoring. Forget about it.

We were able to teach the drop it command and it has been marvelous since! yes he still does it and loves it and it is annoying to us. But at least we can stop it now. I also have my kids carry a few treats in their pockets in the AM. I watch them very carefully by sometimes it is hectic and Luck is fast. So if all else fail, the kids will just pull out a treat and have him sit and wait. Works like a charm.

As far as water goes. I always have a fresh bowl of cold water out.

Hope this helps!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Tailer'sFolks]

Welcome and just keep giving directions to your little one. Be consistent and make sure everyone is saying and doing the same thing...consistency will work, just don't let it go on n on...it will become a bad habit otherwise. Good Luck! I'd love to see a few pictures too, Please!

 

[Slowpoetry]

I was writing asking for help with the same problem just awhile ago. Molly is now 14 weeks and the biting/mouthing has really decreased. I took a few of the suggestions I was given on the forum and this is what worked for me:
1) Putting something else in her mouth. It doesn't work all the time but it really helps when she is meeting new folks or kids.
2) I taught her 'drop it' while playing a retrieving game and now it works when she does start after people's clothes.
3) When she really got crazy I would put her in her 'play pen'. She hates to be away from us.

That's it for me. She is absolutely wonderful now but there were times when I thought she was going to be the 'bitey' dog (as one little boy called her) forever.

 

[marshab1]

Puppies are known for this. Golden puppies are even worse about it since they are so "mouthy" anyways. As others have said be consistant, it will get better. When your children are runnign around, puppy thinks it's play time. Mouthing is part of that. but at this stage it also hurts, and can ruin clothes. I think I have thrown out everything my daughter and I owned when Tinkerbell was that age. lol Everything had a hole in it.

Redirecting the puppy's attention will be a huge help, and one day you'll realize hey she's not doing it anymore!

 

[Willow52]

Just as everyone else has said so far, this is a typical golden thing and just a phase. I have some old painting clothes that have the holes from when Maggie was a puppy (14 years ago!) that I look at now and smile. Hank's not too bad about doing this but I do remember how frustrating it is especially with kids.

 

[kevinandheather]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and help we really appreciate it. We're going to obedience classes for the next 5 weeks so I have fingers crossed :crossfing

 

[wagondog]

Just to add to the really good suggestions you have recieved. The "leave it command" in my opinion is the important command (other than "come back") to a well mannered dog. Work your leave it with a treat on the floor right under his nose he will drool for the treat......then reward and praise (but never with the same treat he refused). Put that one in your pocket for later.....
Wagondog

 

[Maya's Mom]

One thing that helped me was a braided fleece toy with a loop on one end. When my pup was in this phase, I always had it around my wrist. Everytime she went for my clothes, I tried to redirect her to the fleece toy. If she bit the fleece toy I praised her and it started a fun game of tug of war, petting, and happiness. If her teeth touched my clothes, I said "game over," crossed my arms, and froze like a statue staring at the ceiling or else left the room and closed the door. Play stopped and I was totally boring. She learned within a week or two that it was more fun to grab the fleece than our clothes. The fleece toys would be very easy to make for anyone with the slightest bit of talent at that sort of thing. I don't make things, but even I considered it. I was going to if we needed to buy another one, but it held up pretty well and she learned pretty fast, so I didn't need to. It would definitely save you some money though, because ideally you would have one for each family member. Good luck. It is a phase and it will pass!