# Golden Pup 11 weeks old



## pburchins (Mar 11, 2009)

Hello, 

This is my first post to the Golden Forum. While being new here I am not new to a Golden Retriever. We lost our 13 year old on Valentines Day. It was the toughest day of our life, however, we were privileged to have him in our family for 13 years. As many of you can say, He was the perfect dog!

We got a new golden 4 weeks ago and he currently 11 weeks and 22lbs. He is getting huge. My wife and I were chatting about how kids are different and I am sure the same goes for Goldens. 

Riley (our new golden) is overall a good boy and he is soaking up the information as soon as we are giving it to him. So far he is sitting, lying down and speaking on command. He walks on a 6 foot and retractable leash without problems. I have been working on jumping up and getting off furniture and such to teach him that he can only get up with permission. Overall he is really doing well.

Riley has a stubborn streak in him that our other one did not have (Our Senior's name was Riker, by the way) so he is certainly a challenge. When you tell him no or to stop he will go right back to what you told him to stop doing and this can go on for minutes, hours or days later. 

The biting and nipping is driving us nuts. We have done the patient but firm No and he ignores that. We have tried to re-direct him with chew toys and bones. We have tried to gently hold his mouth closed and tell him no and this only pisses him off. We are a firm believer in a tired puppy is a tame puppy. Exercising is not a problem. We have found that at night he just goes a little nuts with the biting and nipping. We have put him in time out and crated him or put him in another room with a gate. 

I have done some research here and it sounds like 10 weeks is like the human terrible two's and is a common problem. My question is does anyone have access to a time machine or a Delorean with some Dr. Brown plans ?? If not, how about some tips and suggestions that we might be missing.

I know this time will pass and I know he will be a good dog. It is just a challenge and of course it is night and day dealing with a puppy when we had gotten use to a 13 year old senior golden. I do miss the daily conversations with our Senior Golden. The puppy is not very conversational yet. That will change with time!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Here is Riley getting into trouble with the Dishwasher.....Of course, it was so darn cute it was tough to get mad!


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## SoGolden (Jul 17, 2008)

Great looking dogs! Welcome to the Forum. I hope you enjoy it here. I've seen several pics of Golden's and the dishwasher--don't know what that's about. LOL


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Welcome to the forum. Your past and present goldens are gorgeous. It sounds like you are using all the right techniques with Riley to get through the land shark phase. It will pass, I promise. My Caue is almost 2 years and I get bit much less now.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Stick to one anti-biting technique. I favor the quiet "no" (loud voices add energy to an already excited dog) and a redirect to a toy. He will not get it on the first dozen or two tries, especially if you've been varying your techniques. Nonetheless, there will be a day, maybe around fourteen weeks, when it starts to click with him and he starts grabbing toys instead of flesh when he's feeling mouthy. The trick is not to overcome the urge to mouth, but simply to transfer it to an appropriate object.

Remember, when he bites, you become boring and make a quiet, low "no" sound. That's not fun for him. When he grabs the toy you're wiggling, you become animated and exciting. Now that's fun! Most Goldens can't stand when the human gets all quiet and boring, so the key is to use that sense of fun to your advantage.


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## Heidi36oh (Feb 27, 2007)

He is a little cutie, I promise the land shark stage will soon be over..LOL

Chloe is 6 month old and has not been biting us anymore to much...LOL


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## RummysMum (Jan 9, 2009)

pburchins said:


> Riley (our new golden) is overall a good boy and he is soaking up the information as soon as we are giving it to him. So far he is sitting, lying down and speaking on command. He walks on a 6 foot and retractable leash without problems. I have been working on jumping up and getting off furniture and such to teach him that he can only get up with permission. Overall he is really doing well.
> 
> 
> 
> Riley has a stubborn streak in him that our other one did not have (Our Senior's name was Riker, by the way) so he is certainly a challenge. When you tell him no or to stop he will go right back to what you told him to stop doing and this can go on for minutes, hours or days later.


Your first dog sure has a friendly face, he looks alot like my girl Holly I had years ago. I'm so sorry you lost him. 

Your new guy is doing really good, especially at 11 weeks. And gosh he sure is cute!

Try Bitter Apple/Lime for nipping/biting. It tastes nasty, and if they bite or nip, to spray bitter apple on the object... and if that fails in the mouth. 

Rummy was chewing the baseboard, so we went and bought a bottle. We sprayed the baseboard but he still went back for more, so then we did one very small spray in the mouth then all over the baseboard, all we have to do is show him the bottle and he runs the other way. He no longer chews the baseboard.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Welcome to the forum,
In the puppy section there is a wealth of information especially about the biting and nipping.
Your Riker was a gorgeous guy and I love the smile on his face, it shines right thru his whole face. Riley is a cutie too. Sounds like he is a typical puppy and it will get better Good luck


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

Beautiful dogs!! You are so lucky to have had your Riker for 13 years, he looks like a special dog. All of Riley's "issues" sound like normal puppy stuff to me... and he sure is cute.


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## Finn's Fan (Dec 22, 2007)

I'm so sorry you lost your Riker. He looks like a sweetheart. It's hard to go from the wisdom and serenity of old gold to obnoxious (but oh so cute) piranha puppy. Consistency will cure it, along with some maturing on Riley's part. To protect from permanent scarring, I suggest Kevlar gloves


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## sophiesadiehannah's mom (Feb 11, 2007)

this to shall pass. i have a 10 week old pup, but the poor thing only weighs 8 pounds. she is not a nipper, but tries to chew on the table, cupboards and cords. i just say a firm no, redirect, if that doesn't work i have a spray bottle. all in all, i have been blessed, but you never know what tommorrow will bring.


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## 3SweetGoldens (Feb 28, 2007)

I am so sorry you lost your precious Riker. He was a Beautiful guy, and looks so kind and gentle.
Then there is your new little guy....he is cute as can be, and just full of it, like all puppies!  He will definitely get better....just try to curb the biting now, by replacing the biting with a soft toy, I know worked for Klondike. Then he would prance around so proud of himself, that he had that toy. Also, the Bitter Apple works well. If he is biting your arms or hands, you can spray some on yourself, that is what the trainer told us to do with "mouthy" puppies. They soon learn not to grab hold of your arm. Even now,at 18 months, Klondike knows if I show him the bottle, that I mean business! Just the past couple months, he has been grabbing hold of us again, wanting to take us everywhere with him, so we are back working on it again.


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## pburchins (Mar 11, 2009)

sophie said:


> this to shall pass. i have a 10 week old pup, but the poor thing only weighs 8 pounds. she is not a nipper, but tries to chew on the table, cupboards and cords. i just say a firm no, redirect, if that doesn't work i have a spray bottle. all in all, i have been blessed, but you never know what tommorrow will bring.


My wife wants to know if you want to trade ???  Riley was 10lbs when we brought him home at 7 weeks. We are expecting to him to weigh in at 100lbs when he is full grown. His father is 90 lbs and mother was around 65 lbs. I feed him one scrambled egg a day and I am thinking of buying egg beaters because of the amount of fat. 

I keep telling my wife that I want to back in the next life as a Golden Retriever. My wife corrected me one day saying I need to come back as my own Golden because I tend to spoil.


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## avincent52 (Jul 23, 2008)

I found that with our Tessie there were kind of two distinct stages. The nippy land shark stage, which peaked at maybe 13 weeks, where she's just kind of exploring everything--including us--with her mouth. The advice here has been great. Be firm and consistent and redirect. The "yelping" strategy didn't work. It only got her more excited.
Ultimately what stopped it was a week with Uncle Jester wherein she got to bite an adult dog to her heart's content--at least until he had enough and put her in her place.
There's a second stage, which is happening now at around five months, where she's gotten all her new teeth. It's almost like she's getting used to them, and I think literally chewing and biting to get them "set." It's much less insistent than before and generally easier to deal with.
Also take advantage of this time to teach bite inhibition. Make sure the pup understands the difference between a hand in his mouth and a chew toy or a stick. 

Here's an Ian Dunbar link that explains the process.

http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

He's a real sweetie and he'll grow out of it soon, don't worry. That first bite phase is a distant memory, but it was really only six, seven weeks ago.


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## pburchins (Mar 11, 2009)

tippykayak said:


> Remember, when he bites, you become boring and make a quiet, low "no" sound. That's not fun for him. When he grabs the toy you're wiggling, you become animated and exciting. Now that's fun! Most Goldens can't stand when the human gets all quiet and boring, so the key is to use that sense of fun to your advantage.


This sounds great.....however, when his guillotine sharp teeth dig in it is difficult not to scream out. LOL It does sound very reasonable though. We tried the loud OUCH and yip to act like he was hurting us. He was not phased with the Yip.

I can understand why they separate the poor mother from the litter. I can't imagine what she would go through if they didn't.

Thanks for the tip!


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## pburchins (Mar 11, 2009)

I thought I would share a photo of his first bath at 6 weeks and one at 11 weeks to show you how much he has grown in 5 weeks.


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## Tailer'sFolks (Feb 27, 2007)

Did you get your Little Piranha at 5 weeks old? That's young and the training Momma would have given may have helped with the nipping. I so well remember my Hubby saying..."I'm gonna die of 10,000 puppy bites!" But he survived, it did take months for us to go through this with Tailer. You guys are just part of his Litter n He wants to Play! These weeks n months are the bets time to teach him the rules...be consistant & after a while he will become a wonderful companion!

So sad about your Riker, It's so hard to let them go...Keep the Memories.

Riley (Tailer's middle name is Riley) is a real cutie...I do love the two bath shots...not too many more months will you be able to use the kitchen sink!! That's Funny! Oh how they grow! More Pictures Please!


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## artbuc (Apr 12, 2009)

SoGolden said:


> Great looking dogs! Welcome to the Forum. I hope you enjoy it here. I've seen several pics of Golden's and the dishwasher--don't know what that's about. LOL


LOL! The first thing my beloved Buster (died 9/30/09 from hemangiosarcoma) did when I brought him home was to jump up and sit on the dishwasher door just like the OP's puppy is doing. I have the pic but it isn't digital so I can't share it with you.


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## artbuc (Apr 12, 2009)

RummysMum said:


> Your first dog sure has a friendly face, he looks alot like my girl Holly I had years ago. I'm so sorry you lost him.
> 
> Your new guy is doing really good, especially at 11 weeks. And gosh he sure is cute!
> 
> ...


I am really enjoying this forum as it is bringing back so many sweet, and some not so sweet, memories. Our first Golden was Mollie who came to us as a puppy in 1979. She had severe skin allergies and eventually had to have surgery on her front leg to remove tissue damaged from constant licking & biting. We tried the bitter apple spray and guess what? She LOVED it!


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

OMG Gilmour does that too LOL Whenever I open the dishwasher, he tries to climb inside LOL


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## pburchins (Mar 11, 2009)

We got him at 6 1/2 weeks old. In hindsight, this was probably a little too young. However, he came right to us and played and played. Combining this with the loss of our original Golden in February. We could not help but bring the little guy home.

We always laughed at the instinct of a Golden to lie in front of a fireplace. It seems genetic in them. The last few days he has learned to climb on the couch and the fireplace. Since the winter season is over, we figured it was better to surrender the fireplace than the couch. Plus, it is cute. Here he is on his new territory.......


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## pburchins (Mar 11, 2009)

One more for fun...................


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## Sienna's Mom (Oct 23, 2007)

OMGosh what a face LOL! Absolutely adorable!!!

I actually have a picture somewhere of my arms on how bad they were from Sienna's biting. I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been said- we did the bitter apple, holding her snout firmly and saying NO BITE, and the substitution. These all worked, but we had to do them over and over again, wore us out.

We got Sienna at 7 weeks and I have the feeling her Mom was given away a week or so earlier than that in that, unbeknownst(sp) to us, the breeder was going through a divorce and closing down. She still tries to "play" with me like I am a dog at 2 years old, but is MUCH better.

I wanted to say your words about having conversations with your senior (I'm so sorry for your loss) really touched me and made me realize how much I am starting to do this with Sienna. She is very much a people dog and is always looking into your eyes.

Welcome to the forum! :wavey:


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

It's the cool rock. Gilmour does it too, except mine is slate.



pburchins said:


> We got him at 6 1/2 weeks old. In hindsight, this was probably a little too young. However, he came right to us and played and played. Combining this with the loss of our original Golden in February. We could not help but bring the little guy home.
> 
> We always laughed at the instinct of a Golden to lie in front of a fireplace. It seems genetic in them. The last few days he has learned to climb on the couch and the fireplace. Since the winter season is over, we figured it was better to surrender the fireplace than the couch. Plus, it is cute. Here he is on his new territory.......


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