Puppies and the Christmas Tree

I sent out an email the other day to some friends with a photo of my sons by the Christmas tree with one of my dogs.  A friend of mine emailed me back to ask if the dogs had access to the Christmas tree.   I hadn't thought about it like that, but yes, of course they have access to the Christmas tree because they live with us.  The funny thing is the dogs reaction to it.  Emma, our oldest, noticed it right away and barked at it incessantly as if it were a person who might play with her.  It took her a few minutes to learn that the tree just stood there and didn't do anything so she got bored and doesn't even notice it anymore.

Bella hid behind me when she first saw the Christmas tree.  She wasn't sure what it was or if it was friendly or not so she was very cautious.  As with Emma, after about five minutes she went up to it and started to sniff around it.  She hit a couple of ornaments (the ones that don't break) with her tail and they clinged together which caused her to jump for a moment.  And then she noticed the bows on the presents.  My goodness, did she have some fun with the bows!  I have noticed that she gravitates to blue bows.  Fortunately I only had two of them under the tree so I let her tear them apart and I put new bows on the presents.  Now she isn't that interested in the tree or the bows, but she's also not afraid of it either. 

Max was hysterical.  Max is my explorer.  He went right up to the tree, walked on the presents, sniffed everything around it, knocked the ornaments with his tail and when he realized it wouldn't play fetch with him, talk to him or pet him, he passed right by it and hasn't looked at it again since. 

Finn had a similar reaction.  He went up to it, sniffed it for a moment and then came to me to try to sit in my lap.  He hasn't seemed to notice it since either.

We put up three Christmas trees in my home because we love the holiday.  Perhaps my dogs are just used to seeing Christmas trees as they've been up since before Thanksgiving.  Or perhaps they are so smart they understand who can actually play with them and what just stands there all day.  Whatever the situation, the dogs and the tree seem to be able to happily co-exist in the Martin family. 

Happy holidays to all and to all a good night!

Puppyhood with English Goldens

Puppies rock!  They are sweet, full of boundless energy, loving and such joy to be around.   I can play fetch with mine until my arm is about to fall off.  They never tire of fetching.  It's that gundog instinct in them.   But my puppies can be a challenge too.  Take for example the garden I used to have.  I had the most lovely backyard complete with blooming azaleas, hibiscus and hydrangea.  My Indian Hawthorn plants were thriving and my laurels were growing quicker than I ever imagined, some surpassing six feet in just three years!   That is until puppies landed at Goldensglen.  Now my yard looks like a barren wasteland.  All of the shrubs have been trampled or eaten.  Even some of the trees were not safe.   And I always thought about putting a pool in my backyard, but now I don't have to worry about excavation.  My dogs are professional diggers!

Teaching puppies can be a challenge too.  Thankfully for me, the Golden Retriever is a very intelligent animal.  They learn quickly and want to please their owners.  In fact they are in the top four of the smartest breeds there are.  The thing they don't tell you is that the owner needs proper training to be able to train their dogs.  I'll let you in on a little secret...dog training is less for the dog and MORE for the owner!    But it's necessary because you want your dog to be a part of the family where he/she can be enjoyed and not continually scolded for eating furniture, jumping up on people or using the bathroom on the floor.   Now if children could be so easily trained!!

One issue we are dealing with now is my five year old and our new puppy, Zoe.  Zoe is only nine weeks old and she's sweet as sugar.  But she is a puppy and puppies teethe.  Zoe likes to put anything and everything in her mouth.  In the past two weeks she's eaten through my computer power cord (unplugged of course) and the power cord to the dog bowl that filters their water.   Yes, I was thrilled about that!   But she is constantly looking for things to put into her mouth.  As my five year old would have it, he thinks it's funny to put his arm in her mouth....until she bites down too hard and he cries!   We are trying to teach him that she's a baby and she doesn't know any better and he would be better served to put toys in her mouth, but that hasn't stopped a few alligator tears for teethmarks in his arm.  Gosh it would be easier if children and puppies came with instructions manuals!! 

Perhaps the most interesting interaction we've experienced has come this past week between Emma, our oldest who is in her first season now, and Finn and Max.  For the first ten days of her cycle, they didn't act any differently around her.  They played, fought, chased and did all the normal puppy things they usually do.  But on day 10, EVERYTHING changed!  Max, our Camrose with a pedigree to die for, suddenly found his inner stud.   Now at 7 months old, he's not doing much, but he's trying really hard!  Finn, our lovely Majik boy from Finland with another amazing pedigree just stays by her side and sniffs her every time he sees her.   It's times like these that I wish I was a dog whisperer.  Oh, to be in the mind of these young dogs at this time in their lives! 

Puppy Socialization

Making sure that a puppy has proper socialization is key to having a friendly, loving adult dog.   This means taking your puppy with you out in public to places where there are many people.  Your puppy should get used to all sorts of sights and sounds and one of the best ways to do this is to bring her with you as you run errands to animal friendly places.   Your local home improvement store is a great place to socialize your puppy.  There are lots of people and sounds in a store like that.  Even the electric doors that open and shut can be a lot for a puppy to take in.  Some pups will walk right through doors like that while others will hang back and be somewhat afraid until you show them there's nothing to be concerned about.  And she's sure to get a lot of attention from people while you're there because who can resist a sweet puppy??

Your pup should also get used to having strangers come up to pet her.  My Bella is a loving, sweet natured girl, but in new surroundings she can be a bit timid.   I brought her with me to our neighborhood Halloween party yesterday.  I thought having her be around lots of children and adults would be a good way to further socialize her.  She was somewhat timid as we approached the noise, people and especially when she saw the bounce house.   That was a bit scary to her until she realized it wasn't going to get her.  But as soon as some of the neighborhood children saw her coming, she was in her element.  She couldn't wait to be petted and loved on by the neighborhood kids and their parents.  She just sat still or laid on her back for her favorite thing...a tummy rub!   On our walk home, she was quite proud of herself as she had been the "Belle" of the ball!  

One thing you should never do is leave a puppy with young children unsupervised.  Children (especially toddlers) don't have a good understanding yet that it's really not ok to pull a puppies tail or poke them in the eye and that can set the socialization of your puppy back.   Showing children at a young age how to treat an animal is good for both the child and the animal.   It helps both the child and the animal develop confidence with one another.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on how you socialize your puppy, we'd love to hear from you!

Puppy Body Language

The more time I spend with my dogs, the more I think they are so much like humans.  Have you ever had to scold your dog for doing something wrong?  Do you notice how they act like children?  It's amazing how similar they can be.   And their body language says so much!

This is Max (left) with Bella.  The life of a dog is hard work!

I had to scold Max the other day because he is completely fascinated with toilet paper.  I keep rolls of it in baskets in my bathrooms.  He was inside playing with me one day when he decided to walk around the house.  After about five minutes of "quiet" I knew he was up to something.  I came into the sunroom to find shredded toilet paper all over my floor and in Max's mouth.  This was not the first time Max has done this, but he just couldn't help himself.  It is such fun to shred!  But when I said, "Max, naughty boy!" he knew he had done something wrong.  He put his head down, his ears down and his tail between his legs.   As upset as I was with him, I couldn't be too hard on him because he looked so pitiful.   I scolded him and put him outside for a bit to run and get some of that excess puppy energy out.   The photo above shows him after he ran himself ragged!

Interestingly enough, dog body language really says a lot about how they are feeling. For example:
Tail between the legs says "I'm afraid" or "I know I'm in trouble."
Ears down with the head down says "I know I'm in trouble."
Lying on their back with their four paws bent up says "I'm very comfortable."
Drooling says "I'm hungry."
Tail wagging says "I'm happy."

I'm sure there are many other things dogs do that convey how they are feeling.  These are just a few of the things I see with mine.   Pay attention to your dogs body language in different situations.  It's fascinating to learn what each position means.  Email your findings!

The Scary Doggie Door

This is Reagan, my puppy I co-own with a fellow breeder.  He's the best puppy.  He has wonderful manners, he never jumps on people, he loves people and will give you lots of kisses if you pet him, and my breeder friend says he's house trained.  He lives with her most of the time, but he's living with us right now because one of her dogs just had puppies.   I believed that Reagan was house trained until the morning after his first night with us when I walked in a puddle of pee in my sunroom. 

Dogs are pack animals.  Older dogs are wonderful teachers to the younger ones.  I have four older English Goldens and they are all house trained.   They sleep in our heated/AC sunroom at night in crates that I leave open so that if any of them need to go potty, they can go through the doggie door outside to do so.  All of my dogs use that doggie door and don't have accidents.   I assumed Reagan would follow his teachers and learn to do the same thing. 

What I didn't count on was his fear of the doggie door.   No, we didn't do anything to it for Halloween.  For some reason, it just scares Reagan.   I tested my theory one day when I walked outside and called my dogs to me.  One by one they all came out until it was Reagan's turn.  I called him by name.  I looked at him through the window and called to him.  And he just sat there not moving.  My five year old (who is Reagan's best friend) went through the doggie door to show Reagan it was easy.  He still wouldn't move.   I opened the door, let him out and then went inside.  All of my dogs followed me in except Reagan.  Again, I called him and saw him looking at me through the window, but he would not budge to come in through that doggie door.   I thought once he saw the dogs do it a few more times, he'd start doing it too.

Three weeks have passed and guess what?  He's still peeing every night in the sunroom!  Tonight I finally did something that I hope will make a difference.   I brought treats outside with me.  Every dog that went through the doggie door got a treat.  When it was Reagan's turn, I lifted the doggie door flap just a bit, let Reagan see the treat, and Voila!   Out came Reagan!   I screamed so loud you would have thought I won the lottery!  We tried it inside and outside about a dozen times until he was comfortable going in and out that door.  I can't promise that I won't have a pee pee puddle in the morning.  But I think we're off to a good start!

If you have good doggie training tricks to share, please post them!

Do I really want an English Golden Retriever?

I got my first dog at age 23.  I had the greatest childhood in the world except that my Dad would never let us own a dog.  My brother and I begged him but he wouldn't budge.  When I finally bought my own place, my Dad finally did buy me a dog, a dalmatian puppy.  We named him Pongo and he was the best dog.  He was friendly, loving, and very smart.  He could also be extremely stubborn, but that's another story.    What my Dad didn't know was that I had always wanted a Golden Retriever.  I finally got my first one from a rescue shelter.   He was the best dog.  But I always wanted to raise one from puppyhood.  Twenty years and three sons later, enter Emma, the English Golden Retriever.  She reminds me so much of Pongo.  She's intelligent, beautiful and the sweetest thing!  But she's also got a stubborn streak.  And she LOVES to chew.  I used to have a garden in my backyard.  All of my plants are now dead and it's not because of lack of water.  It's because Emma loves to chew my plants.  Even at a year old she still digs and chews.  

But she’s a lot of fun too.  She loves to play fetch, she LOVES being in the water and she just adores my children.  She’s the first dog to greet visitors and if you’re not careful she might lick you to death.   For the most part, Emma is a very laid back, friendly, insanely smart girl.  She completed her Star Obedience Puppy class at five months and could do all the basic commands even without food treats.  That’s saying something!!

 Let me give you the pros and cons of owning an English Golden...

Pros
They are great with kids....extremely patient.
They are very smart and easy to train.
They are a lot of fun to play with.  Playing fetch is a favorite!
They are people dogs so they need human interaction and in return provide unconditional love.
They don't need a lot of room.
They are very laid back.

Cons
They are diggers.
They are chewers.
They sometimes think they are people and can be rather stubborn.
They need attention and a lot of it!
Exercise is good for them.   If it's not something you enjoy (ie. walking your dog) these dogs might not be for you!

Notice the picture at the top of this page.  See what I mean about having a mind of their own?  This is Emma (above) who decided she wanted to get in the water with my five year old during bath time!   And myson thought this was the greatest thing!   He loved it!  This is what I mean about them thinking they are humans.

These are not the types of dogs to lock up in a yard alone all day while you work.  These dogs are extremely loyal and want nothing more than to please you and BE WITH YOU!   If you don't have the time for a dog, this is definitely not the one for you.    But if you have time, energy, and a lot of love to give an animal, an English Golden Retriever will give you so much joy in return!