Hi all,
I was doing a great amount of research about golden retrievers and babies and I come across this lovely website. I'm glad I found, I've got lots of questions.
Me and my wife have adopted an adult golden retriever about a year ago. He's a boy, around one and a half years old when we got him, and right now he's around two and a half. He has been living with us since, we've got a garden with a large balcony, he spends most of his daytime in the balcony with me, walking around the garden and playing simple games with me and my wife. He's a very quiet boy, only barks just before I take him to his daily walk (early in the morning) and sometimes right before dinner. He becomes very playful between 4pm and his dinner time, around 7pm. In the mornings, he is pretty lazy, sits with us while we're having breakfast (very rarely begs for food from the table in the mornings, but almost always begs for food in the dinner time) and he loves fresh water, I change his bowl of water almost five times a day!. Overall, he's a very easy to look after boy, and gives me and my wife much pleasure and happiness to have him with the family. My wife, who has high criterias about cleanliness, dog hair and tidiness, has made a 15x6 feet space, lined with chairs and small obstacles in our living room for the boy so that he can sleep there at nights and go in and out of the house from the garden to be near and around us. Neither she nor me has had a dog living with us before, let alone a golden.
I absolutely have no idea about the puppyhood and young adulthood of the boy except that he's a shy dog, and probably treated bad by previous owner(s). The rescue organization I took from him found him abandoned and could not reach to his owners. We think he's been dumped to the streets (how nice!!) when he either became too big or takes too much time. Same sad story over and over all around the world. Now he's micro-chipped, getting the best care we can, having the highest quality dry kibble we can afford (Purina's dog chows, and believe me dog food and items are expensive in here). Nevertheless, when he's happy and safe, we're both happy and safe. I also spend long afternoons with him in the garden, he really likes lying by my feet when I read a book or write this message.
He has done some mischiefs by the time he is with us. The biggest of all was he bit the ear of another golden retriever, younger than him (another boy) who ran towards us without my permission. It was awful, but my boy had no idea what was happening. We were in front my house, and some other golden retriever owner decided we look like a playful and a friendly couple, decided to send his golden amongst our way (the owner of the other golden was just a boy... probably didn't think through). Luckily for everybody, it was not a major bite, and everybody is fine now (checked on the other golden several times after the accident).
Now the thing is we're expecting a baby. We didn't have one, and this will be our first. I have no idea how my golden will get along with a baby. I am a little bit afraid too. I don't think he would harm the baby, at least not deliberately (a tail hit or a small knock over are things I can live with) but still, I have so many unanswered questions about what may happen. We do not have many professional vets or dog care centers, dog trainers in here. Pet culture is very limited in Turkey, unfortunately. However, once or twice my three-year-old niece was here, he was on a leash, and she fed the dog, they were both happy, with my supervision. On another occasion, a friend's 1 1/2 year old daughter was here, my golden was NOT on a leash, and they both loved each other, no harm or injury done. He also lets little kids pet him on the street too, on a leash. (in order to prevent him from jumping). Overall, he's a nice dog who gets excited very easily.
I would love to know from some experienced people how can I manage the baby(ies) and the boy getting along well. I do NOT want to isolate the boy to teh garden most of his time. He has potty training but other than that does not respond to commands (like come or go) all the time. He just enjoys coming and going whenever he likes. I tried to train him a little bit but without too much success, however I love the way he is, he's happy, than I am happy. He was very frightened when we first adopted him. He's now slowly regaining self-confidence.
OK then, any comments and any ideas are more than welcome. Thank you all, very much, for reading this rather long post all the way.
I was doing a great amount of research about golden retrievers and babies and I come across this lovely website. I'm glad I found, I've got lots of questions.
Me and my wife have adopted an adult golden retriever about a year ago. He's a boy, around one and a half years old when we got him, and right now he's around two and a half. He has been living with us since, we've got a garden with a large balcony, he spends most of his daytime in the balcony with me, walking around the garden and playing simple games with me and my wife. He's a very quiet boy, only barks just before I take him to his daily walk (early in the morning) and sometimes right before dinner. He becomes very playful between 4pm and his dinner time, around 7pm. In the mornings, he is pretty lazy, sits with us while we're having breakfast (very rarely begs for food from the table in the mornings, but almost always begs for food in the dinner time) and he loves fresh water, I change his bowl of water almost five times a day!. Overall, he's a very easy to look after boy, and gives me and my wife much pleasure and happiness to have him with the family. My wife, who has high criterias about cleanliness, dog hair and tidiness, has made a 15x6 feet space, lined with chairs and small obstacles in our living room for the boy so that he can sleep there at nights and go in and out of the house from the garden to be near and around us. Neither she nor me has had a dog living with us before, let alone a golden.
I absolutely have no idea about the puppyhood and young adulthood of the boy except that he's a shy dog, and probably treated bad by previous owner(s). The rescue organization I took from him found him abandoned and could not reach to his owners. We think he's been dumped to the streets (how nice!!) when he either became too big or takes too much time. Same sad story over and over all around the world. Now he's micro-chipped, getting the best care we can, having the highest quality dry kibble we can afford (Purina's dog chows, and believe me dog food and items are expensive in here). Nevertheless, when he's happy and safe, we're both happy and safe. I also spend long afternoons with him in the garden, he really likes lying by my feet when I read a book or write this message.
He has done some mischiefs by the time he is with us. The biggest of all was he bit the ear of another golden retriever, younger than him (another boy) who ran towards us without my permission. It was awful, but my boy had no idea what was happening. We were in front my house, and some other golden retriever owner decided we look like a playful and a friendly couple, decided to send his golden amongst our way (the owner of the other golden was just a boy... probably didn't think through). Luckily for everybody, it was not a major bite, and everybody is fine now (checked on the other golden several times after the accident).
Now the thing is we're expecting a baby. We didn't have one, and this will be our first. I have no idea how my golden will get along with a baby. I am a little bit afraid too. I don't think he would harm the baby, at least not deliberately (a tail hit or a small knock over are things I can live with) but still, I have so many unanswered questions about what may happen. We do not have many professional vets or dog care centers, dog trainers in here. Pet culture is very limited in Turkey, unfortunately. However, once or twice my three-year-old niece was here, he was on a leash, and she fed the dog, they were both happy, with my supervision. On another occasion, a friend's 1 1/2 year old daughter was here, my golden was NOT on a leash, and they both loved each other, no harm or injury done. He also lets little kids pet him on the street too, on a leash. (in order to prevent him from jumping). Overall, he's a nice dog who gets excited very easily.
I would love to know from some experienced people how can I manage the baby(ies) and the boy getting along well. I do NOT want to isolate the boy to teh garden most of his time. He has potty training but other than that does not respond to commands (like come or go) all the time. He just enjoys coming and going whenever he likes.
I tried to train him a little bit but without too much success, however I love the way he is, he's happy, than I am happy. He was very frightened when we first adopted him. He's now slowly regaining self-confidence.OK then, any comments and any ideas are more than welcome. Thank you all, very much, for reading this rather long post all the way.
