# I need help with my Golden Puppy



## Michelle11502 (Oct 5, 2015)

I know I will probably spark a fire when I say that I bought my Golden from a less than reputable breeder. However, I did and I have a lot of issues with her. Her name is Abbigayle and she is 13 weeks old. I got her when she was 9 weeks.

At first Abbigayle had her tail between her legs 24-7, and on leash she would not budge an inch. Now she does wag her tail, and comes when her name is called. As soon as she is in front of one of us, close enough to be pet her tail goes back between her legs.

On leash she will now walk, but she will not follow if the leash is pulled on even in the slightest way. 

We have been giving her rewards only when she pees or poops outside, and we ignore the bad potty behavior inside. She goes inside a LOT. 

She can be playful, such as chase a ball. She is not playful with my husband, myself, my 12 year old or my 18 year old but she is 100% playful with my 7 year old and any dog she sees!

Every time I think we are making a break through it turns out that we are not. I was wondering if anyone else has been through trying to train a timid Golden? We have come further than a few weeks ago, but barely.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

It takes time, but it will happen! She may always be slightly timid, but as long as you keep on working with her, she will come along. Honestly, my youngest golden we adopted from the rescue we work with, but he came from a pet store prior to being turned into the shelter. He STILL tucks his tail when he approaches people. He's a sweet, loving Therapy Dog, but it's just part of his personality.

Potty training will come along, that takes longer when they haven't had any training at all before you get them. You may want to start with a harness for walking her instead of a collar. Once she's better at walking, then switch her back over to a collar.

She's adorable!


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## Michelle11502 (Oct 5, 2015)

Thank you! Yours are precious too. I tried the harness first actually, with that she would lay down and refuse to move at all! I can't eve train her to sit, she will tuck her tail and cower her head if I try. I know she may always be timid. I can accept that easily. I'm more worried about how to train her. I have trained many dogs, I just can't figure out the proper approach on this lady.


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## 4goldengirls (Jun 10, 2014)

I agree with Fostermom who's given good advice. Keep working with her and try to keep your mood and your tone upbeat. This is important even if you get frustrated. Try to find a high value treat (boiled chicken, freeze-dried liver, microwaved hotdog) to use as a lure in front of the pup while trying to get her to walk. If she takes a step or two, use a lot of praise and give her a treat. Reward her for her positive steps forward. I will add, the rewards are very small pieces, as you don't want to get her sick and give her a tummy ache. High value means it's something she gets only when you're training her, something she doesn't usually get otherwise. Another way to get her to walk with you on leash is instead of going forward, step backwards a few steps saying her name in an upbeat manner. When she gets to you, praise, praise, treat. Then try going forward doing the same thing. Right now you just want to get her comfortable on the leash/harness.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Lack of socialization- positive experiences - exposure to new people and new things- which often happens in situations that are less than ideal, can lead to a puppy who is fearful of many things. Start with having those who she is reluctant to interact with offer her yummy treats any time she chooses to approach, being mindful of their body position, sitting on the floor, crouching down, turning sideways and avoiding direct eye contact, can help her feel more comfortable with them and make it easier for her to do that. For teaching a timid dog, reward based methods, using lots of yummy treats, are a 'must', lure and reward - sit, down, etc. and simply 'capturing' (rewarding offered behaviors we like) can go a long ways to help them learn and build confidence as well. They are already fearful, don't know what to expect from us, so we want to avoid behaving in ways that may cause them to be fearful of us. Avoid using corrections, pay attention to your tone of voice, and your body language, and whenever possible, allow her to choose to approach/interact with you and reward her for it.
Be patient, understand that she is afraid, with time and encouragement, she will gain confidence, and trust in the world.


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## Taylorsmum (Sep 30, 2014)

Welcome to you and Abbigayle. You have been given good advice here. She is still only very young and continuity and perseverance are really your best friends at the moment. To give you hope I got Taylor at over 5 months old and for the first 3 weeks he wouldn't approach me at all - indeed anyone who came within a few feet would be viewed as frightening. But now he is a confident little man, loves meeting new friends those with two legs as well as four. He still has his scaredy cat moments, a flapping carrier bag, a dropped pan lid or his nemesis men with walking sticks. These are things we continually work on and without exception he has become more tolerant. These are early days for you, and no doubt you are second guessing yourself all the time. Its a stage many of us recognise with our pups.


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## Michelle11502 (Oct 5, 2015)

I guess my biggest fear is pushing too hard too soon. I understand that I need to remain calm and not scold her or anything like that. I worry about how to get good results with out using my stern training voice versus a calmer voice because I am not used to a timid puppy. I have Huskies who are very well trained and they both know when I am talking firmly I expect them to do as asked and when I am relaxed it is play time. For Abbigayle I need to be different and it is a bit of an adjustment I guess. I am almost afraid to try to teach her to sit lol. It sounds silly, but I don't want to over whelm her. At the same time the "Doggy owner"in my says there is a short window of time to begin training. Yesterday she walked up the stairs on leash to come in the house. This is the first time she did it on her own with out us having to place her half way up the stairs, so I suppose we are making progress. Thank you all for the warm welcome, for the help and for being understanding. I really appreciate it a lot.


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

"We have been giving her rewards only when she pees or poops outside, and we ignore the bad potty behavior inside. She goes inside a LOT."

You need to manage her better so she doesn't have the opportunities to have the inside accidents.
She is very young and from your words timid. Think when we as humans are fearful we usually need to eliminate more often ourselves. When pups are so young it isn't up to them to make the choice to tell us they need to go out it us up to us to have a schedule to make sure they don't have accidents. 
Start out with every 20 to 30 minutes during the day taking her outside on a leash for potty time. Reward and praise every time she goes on those outings. If she goes out and doesn't eliminate back into the house and crate her for 5 or so minutes and again out on leash. Do this until she goes. Then reward and praise when you come in you now can give her some supervised freedom. When she is doing 30 minute potty outings without accidents move the time up 5 minutes between outings. Again when she is doing good at 35 minutes move the time up 5 minutes etc.

The object of crating her when she doesn't eliminate is not to punish her but for you to manage her so she cannot have accidents in the house. Every accidents sets your potty training back. Routine and structure are your friend. By moving the time between potty outings you are slowly building up her sphincter muscles to hold it. The more you train using a routine (repetitions of success) the more she will learn that potty is only to be done outside.

You can worry about her learning to give you signs later on right now it is more important for you to be in control so she doesn't have the accidents. If you follow this type of plan eventually she will understand with all the repetition and will then later give you signs that she needs to go out. At this time that isn't the most important part of potty training. The important part is no accidents in the house and building up ther muscle control. 

It is important with a timid pup to make sure all her experiences are good experiences. Lots of rewards for all good behaviors. Since you will be doing so much rewarding set aside some of each of her meal just for that so you are not over feeding her through out the day.

Every time you call her to you using her name make sure she comes all the way to you and give her a yummy reward. You want to have her associate you with all good things.

Welcome to the forum. She is adorable. Building confidence is the key to success. Training isn't just about sits and downs but having a pup willing to come to you and you be able to touch her and her be comfortable. Learning her name and associating it as a good thing etc. I would start on the very basics like sit but I would make my training very short letting her take breaks. You may start out with only 30 second training sessions teaching her to sit maybe 3 or 4 repetitions then giving her time to calm herself down. 

Some pups do go through a fear period around the 11 week mark but from your post it sounds as if this is not just enviromental but a genetic predisposition. That just means she is a softer type of a dog and you will have to think ahead and adjust your training style to keep her happy and confident.


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## Michelle11502 (Oct 5, 2015)

Thank you very much for the tips. I can easily take her out more often and I usually do. We are battling an issue though. She has a UTI. So, she pees just about every 5 minutes and apparently will do so until she completes her antibiotics and feels better. This is only day 3 of the treatment for that so far. 

I honestly believe that Abby had no interactions with people judging from her past behaviors. Although in the last few days she has made great improvement. Not that I would normally condone jumping on people, but for her it showed confidence, yesterday she jumped up on my legs and was wagging her tail. I gently put her paws on the floor and pet her and she was fine with that. 

Abbigayle is also a bit under weight. Our vet is seeing her on Friday afternoon for the second time to see if she gained anything and give her, her second series of shots. So I am hoping he can assess her better this time now that she isn't so terrified.

It's some what ironic, funny and also frustrating that we have new neighbors. Abbigayle knows her name very well, obviously it isn't a common name. However our new neighbors have a toddler daughter who just happens to be named Abbigayle. 9 times out of 10 Abbigayle gets distracted outside by hearing the mother call her daughter lol.

I do have another question. Abigayle also had severe fleas when we picked her up. At first I didn't notice but I gave her a bath that night and she was crawling with them. Our vet gave her a treatment, but I still see a few. Is there anything anyone can recommend for getting rid of them? A safe way considering she was treated already a week ago. I hear some brands of shampoo are good and others are not very safe so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

You've been given great advice. I'd also suggest getting her into a group puppy class at a reputable training school, one that uses positive training methods. I went with a friend to her puppy class last night, and there was a very timid poodle pup in the group (of about 12 pups). By the end of the one-hour session, there was a visible difference in the poodle's behavior and ability to interact with humans and dogs. It was wonderful to see.

One thing I did with my golden when she was about the same age as your pup was to have a weekly "stranger bag": a bag containing 40 treats. My weekly mission was to find 40 strangers to give her a treat. We'd walk around the neighbourhood, go and stand at store entrances, visit daycare facilities: whatever it took to find 40 new people a week to give her a cookie. Every single person we approached was delighted to be asked to give a treat to the puppy. Because your pup is more timid, you might want to start with calm people, adults or well-behaved children, until she gets used to them. 

I wouldn't worry too much at this stage about lack of playfulness. The main thing is to build a connection with her. Teach her the basic commands, using treats: sit, stand, lie down. Ask her to look at your face, and reward her when she does so. As others have said, make sure all her experiences are good ones. Don't give her a command (come, etc.) if you're not 100% sure she'll comply. Use treats abundantly.

Best of luck, and have fun.


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## geardaddy737 (Jul 4, 2014)

Everyone has given you great advice like some have said,take a puppy class . It will do wonders for both of you . 

JMO. But if you can stay away from the box store classes ( Big Pet stores )I think you will get more out of the class. The AKC website has some great info. On it .


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

Everyone has given you great advice. Just take it slow with her and continue to introduce her to new things slowly. She might always be a "soft" type of dog. This means she will react to loud voices, etc. We had one of our previous Goldens who was very soft. There was a neighbor who had a very deep, loud voice. Whenever our guy heard him talking he would get very nervous. We would just happily call him to us and distract him with something fun. Regarding the fleas, get some organic apple cider vinegar. Mix a 50/50 solution with some doggie shampoo. Lather her up, let it sit on her for about 10 minutes and then rinse her off with a light solution of the vinegar and water. Dry her well. Fleas do not like vinegar and you should see some come off of her.


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