Anyone has any experience with a puppy/golden retriever?

[partis]

GOLDEN RETRIEVER.

Thought to be the result of crossbreeding between a yellow flat-coated Retriever, and the now extinct Tweed Water Spaniel, the Golden Retriever originated in Britain during the 1860’s, where for many years it was known as the Golden Flat-coat. The breed was further developed by the introduction of labrador, irish setter and bloodhound stock, to produce an excellent hunting companion, with a keen sense of smell, and the ability to retrieve game birds from both land and water. Intelligent and easily trained, with an affectionate disposition, the Golden Retriever is still used as a gundog, and excels in field and obedience trials. However it is also widely used as a therapy dog, a guide dog for the blind, and is employed in drugs detection by police forces and customs officials. Additionally, it has become one of the most popular of all family companion breeds

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Got furniture you like, shoes you want to remain nice? A carpet, or a nice rug? Coffee table height - tail height of an adult medium-large breed dog? if so I hope you don't use that table to hold stuff, once a tail starts wagging all bets are off.

Look. Dogs are animals, and if you are going to have one you are going to have to lower yourself a wee bit from living human and live like an animal.

I don't do wall to wall carpeting... I have dogs. I have the cheapest throw and area rugs - real cheap, because the dog can start feeling sick in the bed room and will run to the living room to puke up on the rug... the only rug in the whole damn house....

Puppies - they chew until about 2 years old. Sirius, my 17 year old blacklab/rotty mix - I left her alone in the house for 30 minutes.. I came home to three legs chewed off my dinning room table, and the last being gnawed half way through...

Dogs are smart... I have a lock on the pantry because Ebony (the Black Lab Ridgeback mix) knew how to turn door knobs - she taught that to Sirius.... I store food in the pantry... Dog, alone at night or during the day able to turn door knobs... it does not end well...

Sirius leared how to roll down a hand crank window (1965 Mustang)... Thankfully the rear windows on the newer cars have child safety lock controls.... it only took her one car ride to figure out how to roll down the electric windows.

Yes dogs can be fun and great company - but they are dogs.... My couch - my poor, poor couch... Sirius has claimed it and has licked the whole damn couch from end to end... When she got to the age where being outside in the cold was a bad idea, I came home to my couch wet from lick...

Yeah... she doesn't do it when we are around... Dogs are smart.

BTW I live in an area that people dump off unwanted animals, cats, rabbits, ducks, dogs..... the people buy an animal thinking they can humanize it and end up realizing that its an animal, so they bring it out here and release it into the 'wild' where most of them get hit by a car, or shot or something horrific...

Oh and its doesn't matter which breed of dog you get... seriously dog is dog. Dog will act and behave like a dog and do dog stuff like shit then turn around and eat the fresh steamy shit. or shit on the front step, or piss in the house, or vomit on the most expensive/newest rug... Stuff....

[havikryan]

Got furniture you like, shoes you want to remain nice? A carpet, or a nice rug? Coffee table height - tail height of an adult medium-large breed dog? if so I hope you don't use that table to hold stuff, once a tail starts wagging all bets are off.

we got 2 tables, 1 is fairly high, doubt his tail can reach that 1 the other is fairly low, thankfully we don't put allow of stuff on the small table.

Look. Dogs are animals, and if you are going to have one you are going to have to lower yourself a wee bit from living human and live like an animal.

not entirely sure what you mean with this

I don't do wall to wall carpeting... I have dogs. I have the cheapest throw and area rugs - real cheap, because the dog can start feeling sick in the bed room and will run to the living room to puke up on the rug... the only rug in the whole damn house....

the living room, hallway and my mothers bedroom has carpet, in my own room I got laminate, so do you think I should maybe buy a rug then to put in my room?

Puppies - they chew until about 2 years old. Sirius, my 17 year old blacklab/rotty mix - I left her alone in the house for 30 minutes.. I came home to three legs chewed off my dinning room table, and the last being gnawed half way through...

yes i had read chewing could be quite a problem, i had thought of crate, but I'd rather not imprison it since that's sad for the dog, it's sort of a last resort.

Dogs are smart... I have a lock on the pantry because Ebony (the Black Lab Ridgeback mix) knew how to turn door knobs - she taught that to Sirius.... I store food in the pantry... Dog, alone at night or during the day able to turn door knobs... it does not end well...

well I do have a lock on my own door, do you think I should lock it when I go to sleep to make sure they stay in my room then?

Sirius learmed how to roll down a hand crank window (1965 Mustang)... Thankfully the rear windows on the newer cars have child safety lock controls.... it only took her one car ride to figure out how to roll down the electric windows.

didn't knew dogs were that smart :o

Yes dogs can be fun and great company - but they are dogs.... My couch - my poor, poor couch... Sirius has claimed it and has licked the whole damn couch from end to end... When she got to the age where being outside in the cold was a bad idea, I came home to my couch wet from lick...

Yeah... she doesn't do it when we are around... Dogs are smart.

we have 1 couch made of leather, i suppose licking it doesn't matter that much, besides the smell maybe.

BTW I live in an area that people dump off unwanted animals, cats, rabbits, ducks, dogs..... the people buy an animal thinking they can humanize it and end up realizing that its an animal, so they bring it out here and release it into the 'wild' where most of them get hit by a car, or shot or something horrific...

Oh and its doesn't matter which breed of dog you get... seriously dog is dog. Dog will act and behave like a dog and do dog stuff like shit then turn around and eat the fresh steamy shit. or shit on the front step, or piss in the house, or vomit on the most expensive/newest rug... Stuff....

I would never do such a thing and can't even imagine how people could push themselves to do that.

I'm aiming to get the puppy in the summer vacation, that way I have ALLOT of time to play with him and train with him and such.

also I completely forgot to put this in my main post so here is the other question:

can a dog and 2 rabbits live together peacefully? I read that it's possible but only if the rabbits are there from the start, is that true? jsut want to make sure!

[Bowyn Aerrow]

My point...

If you are going to have animals you have to live in an animal based house. Wall to wall carpet and pets (animals) and children does not mix well. Getting the dog its own rug won't matter - its the nearest rug and the most expensive rug, or carpet the dog will go to to do whatever it needs to do.

Puppies piss - sorry, they have poor bladder control. It is BS to say that they can be trained to go outside... that does not cover excitement piddling nor territorial marking. The more dominant the personality of the dog the more its going to mark its territory. Our little terrorist is a really dominate bitch - hell she even heists her leg to show us that she is marking her territory... BTW female dogs are supposed to squat...

I have had real push overs for dogs. Pit bulls are reputed to be mean spirited dogs - my pit bull was a big baby, terrified of everything and a total pansy - it was his personality.

When you get a dog you can't judge its personality and character based on its breed. That is total BS that those folk at the pound are basing their opinion on what a dog will be like based on its breed. Its as bad and saying that a person is going to be X because of their race.

Whilst true various breeds were breed for specific traits for various things, terrorists, erm, terriers were bred for rat hunting (to replace cats I suppose), so they are diggers and will go after small prey... in general. Some won't their personality/character just doesn't have it in them.

So if you are getting a setter, a Labrador, a bull - there is really no telling what you will get in the way of temperament and personality.

Rabbits - if a dog is socialized with a critter it will take nicely to it. Introduction of rabbit to dog should be while the rabbit is in a cage - let the dog sniff it, let the rabbit get used to the scent of dog. Slowly, over time, introduce the rabbit to the dog outside of the hutch/rabbit cage - say a week of several hours/times a day of playing, lets sniff the rabbit.

Most dogs will accept household pack mates of other species. When we had cats all of our dogs got along with our cats - all bets were off if a strange cat came into the yard. So while your dog may actually kill and eat a rabbit, if it knows the scent of its rabbit pack mate it most likely will not do that (well unless really hungry).

Most of the dogs I have ever had were 'rescue' dogs... they came from abusive/neglectful homes. Trust me humans are the cruelest animals on earth. I have seen such interesting behaviors from dogs (And other critters) and have had a few years to learn how to cope with 'messy' personalities that animals can come with.

You may be getting a puppy, but that doesn't mean you are getting a sane or healthy puppy. There is always a risk that the dog will have 'issues' Dogs (and cats and many other species) can come with psychological problems, anxiety issues, depression, etc. This will affect trainablity and personality of the dog.

I strongly suggest that BEFORE you get a dog you find a local obedience school that trains both humans and dogs together. As if you can sit in and watch for a few classes, express to them that you are seriously considering getting a puppy and you want to have a better idea of what it is exactly you are getting yourself involved with.

Most trainers will be tripping over themselves to welcome you and allow you to sit in, because way to many people arrive having gotten a dog and then discovering 'oh, I guess we need to train the dog'....

I'm not saying dogs are bad critters - they ain't. If you can live with shed, piss, vomit, poo landmines in the yard, barking, begging, and all of the other stuff dogs can do, you can end up with a steady, extremely loyal friend who, unlike anyone you may know, you can tell any secret to and they won't judge you, nor gossip behind your back....

Dogs do make great companions, but they are social creatures. Its fine and well that you will be around almost all the time in summer - what about when school starts? IF you will be gone more than 8 hours - 10 tops daily, then getting a dog is a really bad idea.... Dogs are highly social - and you will be 'training' this puppy right off that its going to be with a human being nearly around the clock, then you are going to suddenly stop being around - that will do odd things to the dogs behaviors and personality because it won't understand why it is you have suddenly decided to punish it by not being around for most of the day.

[havikryan]

My point...

If you are going to have animals you have to live in an animal based house. Wall to wall carpet and pets (animals) and children does not mix well. Getting the dog its own rug won't matter - its the nearest rug and the most expensive rug, or carpet the dog will go to to do whatever it needs to do.

Puppies piss - sorry, they have poor bladder control. It is BS to say that they can be trained to go outside... that does not cover excitement piddling nor territorial marking. The more dominant the personality of the dog the more its going to mark its territory. Our little terrorist is a really dominate bitch - hell she even heists her leg to show us that she is marking her territory... BTW female dogs are supposed to squat...

I've discussed it with my mother and we're both aware the puppy can piss in the house.

I have had real push overs for dogs. Pit bulls are reputed to be mean spirited dogs - my pit bull was a big baby, terrified of everything and a total pansy - it was his personality.

When you get a dog you can't judge its personality and character based on its breed. That is total BS that those folk at the pound are basing their opinion on what a dog will be like based on its breed. Its as bad and saying that a person is going to be X because of their race.

Whilst true various breeds were breed for specific traits for various things, terrorists, erm, terriers were bred for rat hunting (to replace cats I suppose), so they are diggers and will go after small prey... in general. Some won't their personality/character just doesn't have it in them.

So if you are getting a setter, a Labrador, a bull - there is really no telling what you will get in the way of temperament and personality.

I didn't exactly look at the breed because from what I've read(just like you said) breed doesn't decide personality or how they will be, I was searching for a dog which I found looking beautiful, I just love the golden retriever for that

Rabbits - if a dog is socialized with a critter it will take nicely to it. Introduction of rabbit to dog should be while the rabbit is in a cage - let the dog sniff it, let the rabbit get used to the scent of dog. Slowly, over time, introduce the rabbit to the dog outside of the hutch/rabbit cage - say a week of several hours/times a day of playing, lets sniff the rabbit.

so for the first week the rabbit has to stay in it's cage then? I tend to let the rabbit out for 10 hours usually if not more, but if it's the safest way then I will do it.

Most dogs will accept household pack mates of other species. When we had cats all of our dogs got along with our cats - all bets were off if a strange cat came into the yard. So while your dog may actually kill and eat a rabbit, if it knows the scent of its rabbit pack mate it most likely will not do that (well unless really hungry).

so it would not be wise to leave the puppy and rabbit alone when out of the cage? not that I would do so at the beginning but after for example half a year when they're used to each other.

Most of the dogs I have ever had were 'rescue' dogs... they came from abusive/neglectful homes. Trust me humans are the cruelest animals on earth. I have seen such interesting behaviors from dogs (And other critters) and have had a few years to learn how to cope with 'messy' personalities that animals can come with.

it saddens me when I read news articles about humans hurting animals, I cannot even imagine myself lightly hurting any animal.

You may be getting a puppy, but that doesn't mean you are getting a sane or healthy puppy. There is always a risk that the dog will have 'issues' Dogs (and cats and many other species) can come with psychological problems, anxiety issues, depression, etc. This will affect trainablity and personality of the dog.

the person who I'm buying the puppy from told me this and will notify me if this is the case(as they have to stay there for 8 weeks before they can leave so she will I assume notice it then)

I strongly suggest that BEFORE you get a dog you find a local obedience school that trains both humans and dogs together. As if you can sit in and watch for a few classes, express to them that you are seriously considering getting a puppy and you want to have a better idea of what it is exactly you are getting yourself involved with.

Most trainers will be tripping over themselves to welcome you and allow you to sit in, because way to many people arrive having gotten a dog and then discovering 'oh, I guess we need to train the dog'....

I had already planned to do 5 courses with the puppy right soon after I would get him, however I will discus the possibility with my mother, if I recall correctly it was fairly close to where I live.

I'm not saying dogs are bad critters - they ain't. If you can live with shed, piss, vomit, poo landmines in the yard, barking, begging, and all of the other stuff dogs can do, you can end up with a steady, extremely loyal friend who, unlike anyone you may know, you can tell any secret to and they won't judge you, nor gossip behind your back....

Dogs do make great companions, but they are social creatures. Its fine and well that you will be around almost all the time in summer - what about when school starts? IF you will be gone more than 8 hours - 10 tops daily, then getting a dog is a really bad idea.... Dogs are highly social - and you will be 'training' this puppy right off that its going to be with a human being nearly around the clock, then you are going to suddenly stop being around - that will do odd things to the dogs behaviors and personality because it won't understand why it is you have suddenly decided to punish it by not being around for most of the day.

the max amount of hours I will be gone from home would be about 7 hours as I never have full school days, furthermore 3 out of my 5 school days I would only be gone for 4 hours.

I also plan on from the start make him get used to being alone, first leaving him alone for 10 minutes, 20, 30 ect ect and then keep building it up, I've asked around and they say this should work to not make it as bad.

[jimcrackcorn]

Under the best of circumstances,,, if your gonna be gone for more than 3 hours,,, it would be preferable to have a doggie door so your dog can go outside when it needs to pee or poop. Of course this means you need a backyard that is fenced in so the little fella doesn't go wondering in the neighborhood and get lost.

If the doggie door is not a feasible option,,, and you have to be away from home for more than 3 hours,,, then you can expect your puppy to pee & poop inside the house.

As he gets older, he will not need to go out as often to pee & poop.

Leather is the best material for furniture when you have a dog. It's easy to clean up, and hair doesn't get stuck in it (smile)... But be warned,,, some dogs may decide leather is great stuff to play with. I had a Shepard named Susie (the one in the picture with me) that tore the leather out of the seat of a $1000.00 dollar recliner. I made the mistake of leaving her alone one day while I made a trip to the super market. I was gone less than an hour and she decided to tear something up!!!! It only takes a young dog a couple minutes to make your home look like a disaster zone. Once she reached the age of three years old,, she settled down and I could leave her alone in the house without having to buy new furniture the next day (smile).... Oh,, and did I mention the time she tore-up the upholstery on the car door when I left her in the car while popping into a convenience store for 3 minutes!!!! Oh well,,, I needed a new car anyway. Or about the time she jumped up on the dining table to get a better view of the front yard from the window,,, and knocked a heavy glass vase onto the tile floor and cracked the tile!!!! (broke the vase too, but that was easier to replace than a tile). She lived to the ripe old age of 15 and was the best dog I ever had.

I now have two little bitty dogs that weigh about 10 pounds each, If I have to go somewhere, I just put them in my pocket and take them along - nothing has been damaged yet.......................

If you have furniture, books, cars, etc. that you don't want to replace,,, it might be a good idea to either crate your dog while your gone,, or put him in a "safe" room where there's nothing he can destroy. At least until he reaches the age of 3. I say "3" sparingly,,,, as some dogs may continue to be destructive for a much longer period of time. Toys and rawhide chew sticks may do the trick with some dogs, but not all dogs will be satisfied with only tearing up a toy or chew stick. Each dog is different and you will have to figure out what works best.

I have had 7 dogs over the years,, including the two I presently have, and they have all been great companions ( I should include my husband here). My Shepard Susie was the only one that would tear up the house if I left her alone.. She was also my favorite of them all.