# First golden puppy HELP!



## kahla

I just got my first golden retriever & she's a bit of a handful compared to the few other puppies I trained & raised. I feel so bad because I want her to know I love her but I have to keep pinning her to the floor and telling her no because she doesn't know when to quit. She bites and nips hard & when I tell her no and put the toy in her mouth she just goes right back to my hand. I don't know what to do to. I don't want her to end up being aggressive and I want her to have a sweet demeanor but how she is acting now is making it very difficult for me to believe she'll end up that way. I know she is a puppy and she is going to bite but I was wondering what you guys did to raise your goldens right! I would love some tips, and especially some on the biting. I would also love to hear your stories on how your golden was in the beginning and how him or her turned out Thankyou soooo much!!!


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## Sammy&Cooper

to redirect the biting I would always say no and then give them a toy right away. if that didn't work I would say no then walk away and end play time (mine eventually learned that if they bite the people they are playing with then play time is over) I wouldn't suggest pinning your pup down at all. this can lead to worse behaviors (your pup when older/bigger might react even stronger/harder, they can become scared/fearful of the human hand, among other issues that can arise) just keep redirecting the behavior to a behavior you want. you can also try to teach a "gentle" command by rubbing a little bit of peanut butter on your palm say gentle then open your palm and let the pup lick off the peanut butter.


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## honeysmum

Oww bless I feel your pain Goldens are very mouthy as pups but the good news is they do get better and grow out of it, but when teething it is tough, I will leave it to others way more experienced than me to give advice but I would say pinning her to the floor is not the best way to go about it.


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## Karen519

*Kahla*

Kahla

Congrats on your puppy! This is normal behavior for a puppy!
Here is a lot of info on training a puppy:
Google

There is also a puppy section on here that I think you will find helpful.
Crates are wonderful training tools, too. Just make sure to remove her collar, before putting her in the crate, so she can't catch it on the crate and choke.
Crate Training a Puppy or Dog


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## nolefan

welcome to the forum! Sounds like you have a normal golden puppy! It can be awfully frustrating though, especially when you've raised other breeds. Goldens (retrievers in general I think) are a bit more challenging than many other breeds. I hope you'll check out the "search" feature and type in your topics. It will bring up plenty of other threads that deal with the issues you're wondering about.

I hope you will stop pinning your puppy, if she has any aggressive tendencies whatsoever, this will only make it much worse. You will get better results from your golden puppy with positive reinforcement and re-directing her nipping and biting. If you aren't signed up for puppy kindergarten yet, that is a very good use of your time. Obedience work will be a huge boost for your relationship and her behavior. 

Hope you enjoy this forum, I've learned a lot here, the people are very supportive and have been through just about everything you can come up with


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## kahla

Thank you so much! I've only pinned her twice because I was told it would teach her I'm in charge, but I will stop. &Thanks for letting me know this is normal!


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## mooselips

Welcome to my world...lol
Bridget has just turned 8 months and I am STILL dealing with her jumping, snarling, and biting me. I leak when I drink water.
I am positive it is puppy-growing behavior, but criminy, I've had Labs, and English Setters in the past, and NEVER experienced this hyperactive, crazy behavior....This pup gets over excited and NUTS!

MY advice would be to be extremely FIRM, (which I wasn't) now that she is young. Unfortunately, you need to let her know YOU have the upper hand.

I have tried EVERY single method to stop this behavior.
The ONLY thing that works is a pinch collar, (I didn't use until she was 6 months) and a quick jerk puts her in line.

I am also using calming techniques...(oh ha ha, those work well...NOT)

I am open to ANY suggestions.


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## dmist

I or should I say my (adult) son feels your pain.My poor son feels like a pin cushion lol.He tries to walk away but my pup bites him all the way.My pup growls at him also and some days its hard to stop him from biting.We have tried everything from the pennies in the can to the water bottle and also the calming techiniques.None of these worked but on a postive note he is biting less..Thanks to this board I learned that this too will pass .


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## kahla

I feel like my puppy is hopeless. she isn't grasping the concept of the word no.


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## kahla

I know she is still a baby but ive never had this much trouble raising a dog..


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## Jennifer1

What has helped me with the biting Phase (I have an 11week old) is o hold a toy about 10 inches from her and shake it. For whatever reason that seems to work better for me than just trying to replace my hand in her mouth with a toy in her mouth. What I've also noticed is that she often gets the mouthiest when she is tired, so I will put her in her crate when she is really out of control and she usually will crash without protest


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## MikaTallulah

The best advice I was ever given. Is when you are frustrated or angry just walk way! Then take some long, very, deep breaths. It works with kids, adults, pets, etc.


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## Tayla's Mom

I feel your pain as I am dealing with this at 9 months and have since we got her at 4 months. What makes it worse for my is that my dog loving husband has completely given up on her and wants nothing to do with her so I'm trainer, play mate, and everything else then on top of it I have to make sure she stays away from him which is easier said than done because she doubles her jumping efforts and biting with him because she wants his attention. I'm hoping that by age 2 she will calm down some. I only have 1 year and 3 months of this to go yet.


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## mylissyk

kahla said:


> I just got my first golden retriever & she's a bit of a handful compared to the few other puppies I trained & raised. I feel so bad because I want her to know I love her but I have to keep pinning her to the floor and telling her no because she doesn't know when to quit. She bites and nips hard & when I tell her no and put the toy in her mouth she just goes right back to my hand. I don't know what to do to. I don't want her to end up being aggressive and I want her to have a sweet demeanor but how she is acting now is making it very difficult for me to believe she'll end up that way. I know she is a puppy and she is going to bite but I was wondering what you guys did to raise your goldens right! I would love some tips, and especially some on the biting. I would also love to hear your stories on how your golden was in the beginning and how him or her turned out Thankyou soooo much!!!


She is NOT being aggressive. She is a puppy playing with you the way she would play with her littermates. Golden Retrievers are bred to use their mouths, the are bird dogs, so it is totally natural, and normal, for them to be more mouthy than other breeds of dogs.

Stop pinning her down, you are making it worse, pinning her makes her fight back. Keep putting a toy in her mouth and praise her when she plays with the toy instead of putting teeth on skin. If she is too wound up and won't quit, pick her up and put her in her crate or puppy pen for a very short time out, until she calms down. 

I encourage you to go to the Puppy Under 1 Year section of this board and search for "biting". You will find hundreds of threads about the biting, all exactly like yours. You are not alone, everyone who has raised a Golden puppy has had the joy of dealing with a "land shark". Be consistent redirecting her to appropriate chew toys and she will learn, but be patient it does take time.

How old is she?


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## Alaska7133

I've found that exercize can really help. Is is possible that maybe your pup is not getting the time fetching and running that it needs?


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## GDOG

*Hang in there! *
*It will get better! *
(This was advice I got on this very forum and they were right!)

The first week I brought Georgia home (at 7weeks) there was NO nipping. At about 8.5 weeks the nipping started. She had turned into an alligator. The way I understood it is that as she became comfortable at home and the change in location/shock wore off she started "playing" again. Only now she was playing with me and not her littermates. So she had to learn bite "inhibition". This is something they learn by playing with their littermates is weeks 8,9,10,11. But she wasn't with them anymore. She was with a human.

So here's what I tried:

1) Always have a toy in your other hand to put in her mouth when she gets mouthy...so you can keep playing and walk away without bloodshed.

2) Yell "ouch" when she nips you and walk away from her. That's what her littermates would do. When puppies play too rough they get ostracized and shut out from the play. Then they will conform so they get accepted again. Be careful, continuing to interact even saying no etc can just seem like more play to them. Also, I didn't want to say NO in the first month because I wanted to establish trust and only use positive reinforcement in the beginning. 

3) Spray bitter apple on your hands, arms, legs, shoes, toes, everything! I did this around the house on baskets and shoes etc....I wish I had done it on people sooner. I was worried about a negative association....but now I think it would have helped more than hurt. 

4) my breeder told me to bite her ear when she bites me.....I was desperate and tried that.....not really my thing.....but seeing her play with other puppies that's how they correct each other so maybe this could succeed.....I was worried about going Mike Tyson on her.

This brings me to the thing I think worked best: 
5) Have her socialize vigorously with other puppies and maybe even more important....with some safe Adult Dogs.

#'s 1-3 worked well in tandem but I really think the most helpful was letting her learn bite inhibition by testing her bite while playing with other puppies. It's not just play. They are learning. 

Georgia was being very dominant too. Not aggressive, but dominant. I arranged a play date with a well trained, well socialized adult 90 pound black lab. 5 minutes into their first introduction my 24pound golden jumped on his back and nipped his ear. He turned so fast and nipped her back sternly that she YELPED and ran like hell (on leash). He could have killed her if he wanted to but he just gave her a corrective nip....probably like her mom would have if they were still together....then they played the rest of the night (3hrs) and that was the immediate end of her dominance issue. I think it also helped the nipping some....

Anyway, sorry for the long response. But I felt your pain ... physically and emotionally...it's frustrating as all heck. But it does get better....and all of a sudden it's gone. Georgia is 21 weeks now. I have to say, I can't say when the nipping actually stopped but one day it was just gone. Probably at around 15 weeks??? Now it's really just a distant memory until I read posts like yours! So hang in there! And good luck! It will pass. 

PS...I personally don't attribute it to teething as much as just playing and not understanding bite inhibition or just how needlelike their puppy teeth are!


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## Mom of Maizie

I feel for you because we went through much the same thing. A puppy class may help you get the hang of using positive reinforcement. And it will feel like they'll never improve until one day you realize they've made tremendous progress!!!

Also, our golden still doesn't like to be told "no"...really stirs her up for some reason, that's why I suggest staying with reinforcement of what you want. 


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


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## Vinnie's Mom

I feel your pain (literally) my puppy is now 5 months old and it is getting better. I have thin skin and my arms looked like I climbed through a barbed wire fence. There were times I got so frustrated that it made me cry. It's much better now that he lost his puppy teeth. When he is out of control I put him in his crate for 5-10 minutes for a time out and that usually helps. 

Hang in there!


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