Hello and welcome. It definitely is doable. Here is a thread you may want to take a look at. Good luck and enjoy the forum!

https://www.goldenretrieverforum.co...m.com/golden-retrievers-main-discussion/503264-golden-retriever-apartments.html

 

Thank you so much for passing this thread along! I really appreciate it!

 

Totally fine for a golden in an apartment. My dog lovers to chill in the house. You're never know she was there until you get to and walk meat the front or back door. Outside she's on race fuel. Never stops, runs like a deer.

You just have to make sure you give them plenty of time and ways to get that energy out. A golden with pent up energy is potentially a destructive dog in the house. Plenty of walks and games of fetch plus training and other activities. Also, mental stimulation suck as problem solving and hide and seek can do more for wearing them out than physical play.

 

Absolutely doable but you've most likely waited too late. A puppy ready to come home at the end of June was born last week. Most puppies from good breeders are spoken for before they are born. With a lot of networking and some luck you may be able to find something if you are willing to travel. You would need to get on it today.

The apartment is not a problem, it's your full understanding of what it means to walk multiple times a day at all hours and in all weather. It also means aerobic exercise on a daily basis in all kinds of weather. If you have to take a few days off because of the flu, your puppy still needs walked and without exercise he will make your life miserable.

The other thing is making sure you are truly understanding of what a huge full time commitment it is to training classes, practicing obedience at home and daily aerobic exercise for the first two years of the dog's life. When done properly, this won't leave you much time for any other major projects like training for a race, getting your masters degree etc. It's like having a toddler and it's wonderful that you can crate a dog and go out to dinner but the rest of your waking hours will be spent playing and training because he's had so much sleep while you were gone.

Use the search feature on the site and you can use it to bring up threads on good breeders in surrounding states and Canada. Use Facebook to help locate any that you can't find a website for. Most good research takes time but if you are on it and willing to travel, you may be able to meet your June goal. Fingers crossed for you.

 

Awesome advice, thank you!

 

100% doable. I have had Goldens of my own for nearly 20 years, and never in a single-family home. I had my first one in an apartment, moved to a second apartment, and then to a townhouse with her, and my current one has always lived in the townhouse. They hang out wherever you are - no dog needs a big house to run around in. They just don't. They are in the living area with you, the kitchen when you're cooking, and your bedroom at night (and if it's a Glden, likely in the bathroom with you when you shower).

if you are dedicated to daily exercise, using your parks, walking your neighbourhood, driving to places where they can run, you will be totally fine. I always tell people that taking your dog out on leash first thing and last thing every single day, rain or shine or ice or snow, is just a part of life. Housetraining is the biggest challenge - but totally doable (I trained my first puppy from a third-floor walk up - I was in great shape from running those stairs constantly carrying a puppy in the first few weeks!). Taking them out when it's nice is great - taking them out when it's crummy is not so bad. You learn to dress for the weather!

 

Thank you all for your advice! I am actually really excited about all of the walking. When I'm not teaching I walk dogs in my neighborhood so it will be fun to be able to do the same with my own! I appreciate all of this useful information!

Something that does concern me is the risk of Parvo. I am going to call a local vet to find out more about the risk in my neighborhood. There are a ton of dog owners and dogs in the neighborhood. My assumption is that most are vaccinated but I of course am still concerned.

Thank you all!

 

Yes - definitely do that. For me, in both places where I was raising my baby puppy, the parvo risk was zero to none. So I could bring my pup outside to go to the bathroom with no worries. I stayed only in out little side yards of my buildings until both pups were fully vaccinated, and I always checked with people walking by with dogs to make sure they were vaccinated before there could be contact (they always were).

 

Do it :0)
We did something very similar, getting Scott at 8 weeks just as school broke up so everyone was home for the summer. After summer he had 2x a day puppy visits, and then progressed to a walk from me at 6am in the dark and freezing rain before work, then his dog walker later, then kids back from school in the afternoon. In between he was crated. We also used baby gates to keep him within line of sight whilst we were home. No sneaking off to harrass the cat or puddle on the carpet! Our small house was 3 bedrooms with a small garden, which really helped with toilet training in the summer, but was too small for any form of real excercise.
We did puppy training one evening a week, and just went with the flow! Scott chewed up a few things when he was young, bored, and not properly supervised - shower puffs (!!) and (unplugged) phone chargers come to mind - but at 2 he was good to stay at home with the crate door open, and by 3 he'd monopolised the whole place as his den. (We had to get a leather sofa cover made to keep it clean...) Mostly he snoozes whilst were out, and is very happy to be with us when we're home.
It's all doable so long as you plan, and you put your dog's welfare first.
Good luck and enjoy!

 

Denver is our first puppy and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment. We live on the first floor of our building. We purposely chose this apartment because we knew we were getting Denver and wanted quick access to the outdoors. We luckily live right across from a recreation complex with soccer fields, baseball fields and a walking trail that connects to bigger hiking trails. It is super convenient for exercising Denver and taking him for off leash walks. In the beginning we took him outside, on a leash every 30-40 minutes. We keep him pretty active, we hike or swim with him every weekend when we can too. He doesn't seem to care that the apartment is smaller than a house would be, he really just wants to be where we are.

Definitely crate train!!

We lived in Boston for the past 2 years and then lived in Chestnut Hill before we moved to Vermont. Totally doable in Boston. Medford has some great spots to take dogs for off leash walking/hiking. Middlesex Fells Reservation is awesome and super close to the city. If we had stayed in Boston another year we would have 100% still gotten Denver.

So exciting! I would reach out to breeders ASAP (today) and see if you can get on any waitlists. I am a teacher too and initially was really hoping to get a puppy in June so I would have the summer to spend training him/her. That time frame just wasn't in the cards for mother nature...the breeders I liked did not have females in season until much later than expected, so we got Denver in November. I took 2 days off when he first came home, and then had 2 weeks off for Christmas/new years, then a Feb. break etc. It really wasn't bad doing it during that part of the year. Also I am SO exited that Denver will be 9-11 months old this summer and is trustworthy now to take everywhere and do fun things with. We are taking him to the cape for 5 days and then to Martha's Vineyard for 2 weeks. He's going to love it.

Best of luck!!

 

Thank you so much for the advice! I am living in Southie right now and there are a ton of dog parks, dogs, and green spaces. I will definitely look into the hiking in Medford! Your dog will love the Cape! My family's dog spends his summer at the Jersey Shore and swims everyday.

Thank you again!

 

Southie is honestly probably one of the best locations for a dog in Boston! My two best friends live in Southie currently. Can't wait for you to get your pup!